FLOOD UPDATES

 BREAKING NEWS #1   October 5th, 2024

      September is always the wettest month by far, and this year was the worst. There was serious flooding back in Sept. 2013 and again in Sept. 2022, but just a week ago, September 26th, 2024, Chiang Mai suffered the highest flood level ever recorded. On the other hand, the city has worked extremely hard to improve its flood controls, dykes and sluice gates, and the beautiful Old City stayed dry  -- that's where we recommend you book your guesthouses! Downtown Chiang Mai (south of the City from the Worarot Market to Nong Hoi and Wiang Kum Kam) was under water for 2 full days, but Thais are used to that. Indeed many of the noodle shops in the affected areas remained open, and who would be bothered by a bit of water around the ankles? Rice culture is a water world -- Thais know it, deal with it, and move on. And of course the temperature remains balmy, and the mood always positive.

   We flooded too this year, but all but one of our bedrooms are in houses on stilts, and our one room downstairs stayed dry -- by just an inch! In fact it's one of our best bedrooms and with a private bathroom to boot, and the lucky student who got it preferred not to move to the new bedroom we offered upstairs!

   We never missed a day of the class or a meal during the flood, and to compensate for the inconvenience we laid on an extra study-day free of charge at the end. Not everybody loved it all the time, but we don't think anyone regretted the experience.

BREAKING NEWS #2.   October 6th, 2024

    On October 4th, 2024,  a 2nd wave of flood water arrived from Mae Sai and Chiang Rai in the North. The first had come down from the mountains in the East and was, for 5 days, history-making. But it was nowhere near what this second wave has been. You could hardly keep your feet in the torrent that swept across our car park -- driving back to our house I felt our beautiful new Isuzu song taew was going to be swept off the road!

     Our community has never been hit so hard in the 30 years we have been here, and there's irony in that. The only flood barrier not yet completed on the Ping in Chiang Mai  is our own 300m long bank just downstream from the old McKean Leprosy Mission. The irony is that for the first time in 150 years McKean remained dry behind a beautiful new dyke with stainless steel handrails completed just a few weeks before. By contrast, our village's make-shift sand-bag wall collapsed, and a wall of water struck us directly from the West. The whole of our village was swamped in a few hours, just as the lepers and care-givers had been at the McKean Mission so many times in the past. (There are no lepers at McKean anymore, a cure having been found in 1954, but the island remains a sanctuary dedicated to them, and we feel honored to live in their shadow.)

BREAKING NEWS #3.   October 8th, 2024

     The flood level started to go down early this morning, and we very much hope that in the next 48 hours we can at least get 1.) a toilet working, 2.) some fresh water flowing,  and 3.) our domestic kitchen functional. We expect to begin the big clean-up in a day or two: downstairs in our 9 houses first, then the two steam baths, the paths, the garden, and car parks (fortunately our 2 big training salas remained dry). We'll need a week for that with all the staff and family working.

     Fortunately the next class is not until October 20th -- plenty of time for us to get washed too!

     We apologize with all our hearts to the 6 students who we won't be able to welcome here for the 60hr Womblifting Course from October 6th to the 15th.  They each get a free deposit for any of our courses in the future, and we so hope they will be able to get back to us soon.

      We will be posting more news for the 14 students that are signed up for the 60hr Herbal Therapies coming up, October 21st to the 30th. A wonderful group including a number of important herbalist friends. And  we will make it happen!!!

BREAKING NEWS #4.   October 11th, 2024

    More information  for any of you who are still worried about whether or not we will be ready for the 60hr Herbal Therapies with Food as Medicine from October 20th to the 31st -- and the answer is as always, and with regard to Deluges in particular: "God Willing!"  -- also as in every other language under the sun:  "MERCI BEAUCOUP!"

      So we thank you all,  dear friends, for your encouragement, for your good thoughts, and for your trust in Baan Hom Samunphrai.

      The 'klong' (the irrigation canal that runs beside us) is all the way down, our drains cleared, and our toilets, showers and water pumps functional. In addition our 7 refrigerators and 3 water coolers are safely back on the ground and humming (they'd all been jacked up above the first  flood 2 weeks before). And last but not least, the red bricks of our pathways are slowly but surely being scrubbed to their warm red welcome, and the tiles on our floors to their gleaming.

      Still the big kitchen to go -- it's all cleaned up but not yet reassembled. Yesterday Nooey and Aie spent all day with a big soapy tub between them washing all the dishes cups, glasses, pots, pans, and implements, and today they're all rinsed and laid out on bamboo racks to dry in the sun.

      Getting the washing machines back in place and going again is next - such piles of brown laundry!

      So it's still not all done by any means, but fortunately we have over a week left to attend to the details, like rinsing off the medicinal shrubs, bushes and trees that Homprang will be showing you in her garden. And she'll soon be taking an all day trip up north to Chiang Dao as well, the largest Herbal Market in Thailand. She will return with baskets full of fresh roots, leaves, fruits and bark for you to slice up and grind in your mortars and pestles.

      And before you get here we'll be looking after ourselves too, and be fully ready to welcome you to Baan Hom Samunphrai -- (in Thai "Baan" means house, family compound, or village, "Hom" fragrance, and "Samunphrai" herbs.)

BREAKING NEWS #5.   October 15th, 2024

      Five days to go and Homprang has already driven up to Chiang Dao and returned with a truck load of roots, tubers, stems, and bark which you will all slice, grind, and smash to make new, very-old medicines that really work!

     The big kitchen is all done, and a new refrigerator and washing machine were delivered just yesterday morning, and the old ones junked. In addition, this computer is just about to be returned to the Baan Hom Samunphrai office in Baan Uii Kham -- the old office got totaled in the flood. We had to throw away most of the old shelves and have already had new ones constructed, which  will be  installed tomorrow.

     There's a big story here. Household detritus after flooding is a monster issue everywhere in the world. Chiang Mai has piles and piles of ruined furniture, much of it little more than card board, along with soggy rugs, cushions. mats and mattresses. The junk piles are the saddest in those areas which suffered the deepest water -- that means up to two meters (6+ feet) in some of the very old, low lying areas. That's where the poor still live in shanty towns. 

     We built Baan Hom Samunphrai in an old area too, but 'low lying' not because it was poor but because it was near McKean,  the old Leprosy Mission. The big Real Estate investors in Bangkok did not finance any Developments in our area when all that started way back in the '80s and '90s, so we were  spared the over-development of so many of the Chiang Mai suburbs to the north and east -- the tycoons felt that nobody would ever want to live near McKean!!! For that reason our neighborhood  still has the 'country village' quality that we love so much with its daily taalat din ('earth markets'), orchards, rice paddies, fish farms and old country Wats. And all this is such a special blessing for us -- as you will see very soon!

BREAKING NEWS #6.   October 18th, 2024

      We're ready -- indeed, in some ways we look even better! All our antique chairs, benches and tables have been scrubbed and rubbed with teak oil, and our most important electrical appliances are sparkling  new. The only give away is that despite our best efforts the grass is not as luxuriantly green as it was before, and there are still watermarks on our white walls which record just how high the water reached -- we have scrubbed them all but you can still see if you want to look, which we don't.

     Not for the faint hearted would be a walk to the villages around us. Koh Klang, for example, shows water marks up to 5 feet (1m 80) on some houses, and those houses are not on stilts like our bedrooms, dry and fresh and beautiful as ever. In Koh Klang the piles of old split sandbags show just how hard the villagers tried to stay safe, and just how catastrophic the floods were when they failed. Almost everything they owned is now piled up outside waiting for the government trucks to cart the mess away.

     But Thais are always strong and resilient. At heart they are all still rice farmers just as they were when  their houses were still on stilts, and they waded into the flood water with their hearts full of gratitude. Because some years the rains never came, and then how they suffered -- drought was the nightmare condition, not the life-renewing flood waters of the South East Asian seasonal cycle. A blesséd place it was, and in many ways it still is.
                                                               Blessings on you all, Christopher (Homprang's husband)
 

THAT WILL BE THE LAST NEWS BULLETIN AS THE NEW CLASS IS JUST ABOUT  TO ARRIVE.
 

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.  

A Thai Massage School & Herbal Health Centre.

We are a Thai Ministry of Education school offering courses in the following (you can click on what interests you).

Traditional Thai Massage;

Thai Therapeutic Massage;

Womblifting & Post-Partum Care;

Food as Medicine;

Traditional Herbal Compresses & Health Care.

All our classes are taught by our director, Homprang Chaleekanha. They are in English, last from 10 to 25 days, and have a maximum of  12 students in a class.

We are unique in that we are a  Live-in School -- almost all our students live here with us. But we also welcome guests and non-studying partners, and a few students even come with children. Everybody enjoys eating together around our big table, and of course sitting in a chair like this on the porch of one of our old wooden farmhouses.

 

We are also well-known for our Massage Treatments and Herbal Steam Baths, but it's essential to phone  a few days ahead -- tel.  053.817.362. We have just reopened  after being closed for 2 1/2 years and don't yet have our full staff of therapists, so you may have to be patient. But do try -- we're doing our best!.

And finally, this is the home of Homprang's family which includes her husband, the poet Christopher Woodman, who has been assisting her for almost 30  years. He is the one who writes all this, and may even answer the phone.

Introducing --'BAAN ROM YEN -- Cool & Purified!

      Having only just survived the hottest Dry Season on record from March to the end of May, 2023, and realizing this is likely to be the norm for years to come, we have now completed a new Training Sala which can be air-conditioned when it's simply too hot to work in our much loved, beautiful but entirely open Baan Rusi (scroll down to 'HOW TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT US' below to see Baan Rusi).

      As to the name, BAAN means 'House' in Thai, and ROM YEN means 'Cool' -- in every sense of the word. Baan Rom Yen is not only air-conditioned but also has a built-in air purifier to filter out the smoke and dust which comes with the seasonal  heat. The space is 20% bigger than Baan Rusi as well, so there is even more space between the mats, important as most of our classes are full these days. And we have a special Ventilator System which brings in fresh filtered air from  the outside whether the air-conditioning is on or not.

      Homprang likes Baan Rom Yen so much she has decided to use it now for all her Massage classes regardless of the weather, and to reserve Baan Rusi for the Rasidaton each morning, and for Massage Treatments, Yoga, and of course special events and pujas.

   

2024-25 COURSE FEES

As announced, we have raised our Course Fees by 10%.

The new Course Fee is now Bt 2,400 per Study Day, and Bt 1,200 for Days-off & Extra Days.

The  Course Fee covers all of the following: 

1.) 1 hour of Rasidaton (Thai Yoga) at 7am;

2.) 6 hrs of Teaching & Supervised Practice -- 9am to 4pm;

3.) a Private Room with 3 meals a day (Full Pension);

4.) Herbal Steam Baths everyday at 5.30pm.

5.) The use of all our Facilities including our Pool, Bicycles and Wifi.

To reserve a place in a class there is a 25% Deposit -- the PayPal Buttons are to the right of each course on our Calendar Page:  https://www.homprang.com/courses_forming.htm

We now charge Bt 1,200 per day for Partners and Guests for Full Room & Board.

There is also a 10% increase in our charges for Treatments & Steam Baths.

                           [Today's Exchange Rate (July 7th, 2024):  $1.00 = Bt 35.62; €1.00 = Bt38.91]     

2024 CALENDAR

Click on Titles for More Information

October 7th to 15th, 2024
 60hr WOMBLIFTING & POSTPARTUM CARE - CANCELLED
(9 study days & 1 day off)

October 21st to 30th, 2024
 60hr HERBAL WORKSHOP with FOOD AS MEDICINE - FULL
(9 study days & 1 day off)

November 23rd to December 17th, 2024
150hr THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE COURSE  LIMITED PLACES
(22 study days & 3 days off

2025

January 3rd to 27th, 2025
150hr ADVANCED THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE COURSE    LIMITED PLACES
(open only to students who have  taken the 150hr Therapeutic Course at least once.)
(22 study days & 3 days off)

January 30th to February 5th, 2025
60hr FOOT REFLEXOLOGY   OPEN
                                          (6 study days) Priority to 150hr Advanced Therapeutic Students.

Feb 19th to March 5th, 2025
150hr THAI MASSAGE COURSE     OPEN
(22 study days & 3 days off)

March 19th to 28th, 2025
 60hr WOMBLIFTING & POSTPARTUM CARE   OPEN
(9 study days & 1 day off)

April 23rd to May 2nd, 2025
60hr HERBAL WORKSHOP with FOOD AS MEDICINE   OPEN
(9 study days & 1 day off)

May 8th to the 20th, 2025
 80hr THAI MASSAGE COURSE     OPEN
(12 study days & 1 day off)

You can visit  our CALENDAR or TRAINING  PAGE for more information.

HOW TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT US.

You can go to our Training Page for more Information on what it is like to study and live at our school.

You might want to look at our Credentials page. We are a Ministry of Education School and award official MOE Certificates.

Our Calendar Page lists all our courses with their dates and a detailed description of each.

Click here for questions about Reservations & Fees.

And click here for an 11 minute Video: LIFE AT BAAN HOM SAMUNPFRAI.

A Massage class in our original Training Sala, Baan Rusi.
(photo by Tobie Stevens)

HOW TO GET HERE from CHIANG MAI CITY:

You can go to our Where We Are page for maps and instructions. It takes 15-20 minutes from the Chiang Mai city centre in a tuk tuk, song taew or blue & yellow taxi -- they all cost about 200 baht. Our phone number is there too so when the driver gets lost he can phone us.

HOMPRANG CHALEEKANHA

 (Click on the Photo to see other things she does!)

Baan Hom Samunphrai is the home of Maw Samunphrai ("Herbal Medicine Doctor") Homprang Chaleekanha, 64, a specialist in Traditional Thai Massage (Nuad Boran) and Thai Yoga (Rasidaton) who also practices Thai Therapeutic Massage, Midwifery and Herbal Medicine. In the photo above  she is making a compress with fresh herbs, one of the favourite activities of her students from all over the world. (If you click on the Photo you can see some of the other beautiful and mysterious things she does with her students.)

'Maw Hom' grew up in a small village on the Burmese border with no road or electricity, the only 'doctor' being her rice-farming grandmother who doubled as the local mid­wife and herbalist -- there's more about her grandmother here.

Homprang is now not only licensed by the Thai Ministry of Public Health as a Traditional Doctor but as a Herbal Pharmacologist, a Traditional Midwife, and a Massage Teacher, and her school is approved by the Thai Ministry of Education. She has also travelled widely in Europe and North America, and is fluent in English as well as Thai, a very rare facility among genuine traditional healers. And finally, Homprang has for years been very active in the local Thai community, and has volunteered her time and expertise to Thai patients as well as to the growing number of Thai students who are rediscovering their roots.

    

Maw Hom comparing notes with a Canadian Botanist; enjoying her friends by the pool; working with two professional colleagues, one Thai, one English; leading the Rasidaton (Thai Yoga) at 7am.

     

Introducing her western students to Acharn Suwan, a Buddhist philosopher & herbalist, at his simple garden retreat in Chiang Dao; demonstrating 'Womb-lifting' at an International Health Exhibition; with her colleagues at The Association of Thai Traditional Healers -- as a group they are heavily involved with teaching young Thai students old medicine!

     

All the above roots, stems, leaves, flowers and fruit have medicinal value, and Maw Hom will show you them if not in her own herb  garden then in her community or earth market. In the final photo, Maw Hom is showing Thai children from an International School how medicines were made when she was a child.  The students all left with a little bottle of Tiger Balm made by themselves. This, she feels, is some of her most influential work.

For FLIGHT & VISA  INFORMATION please visit our  'WHERE WE ARE' page.