I had a hard time finding my way out of the greater Pattaya area. My Garmin kept trying to put me on the bypass road. I found out the hard way that it's a busy crowded road with no shoulder at all. The police were at intersections controlling traffic. When I got off of the bypass and tried to get on to Sukhomvit, I ended up at an area under construction. I dragged my bike over some barriers to get to the correct side, and then just followed Sukhumvit.

I stopped before a big interchange to try to figure out how to bike through it. There was a new (and big!) fly over, but it didn't have a shoulder. I was trying to figure out whether I could go straight if I didn't take the flyover when a policeman stopped and asked me where I was going. I told him I was headed to Sriracha, which was the next big town, and he told me to go straight. As he walked back to his motorcycle, I took his picture. He seemed to like that, and gave me a thumbs up. Then he escorted me through the intersection, helping navigate the traffic and the complex interchange. He offered me a bottle of water, which I didn't take since I was well supplied, before leaving me on my own.

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Shortly after that I reached an area was traffic was backed up and stop and go. Even the motor bike lane was filled by cars and trucks and was static. I was riding start and stop, too, and getting really frustrated when I was able to take a break at an Amazon Cafe. They seem to be separate from 7-11's in this part of Thailand.

Neil, warmshowers host and Daruma Eco Farms owner and teacher, had told me he wouldn't be home until 4 pm. As I got close, I pulled over a few times to burn some time. I stopped at World Bike in Sriracha to add air to my tires. I stopped at an Amazon Cafe which had a 5 Star next to it, and had some chicken for lunch and then an iced coffee. I spent an hour at Amazon, until my time on their Wi-Fi was used up. Then I rode closer to Neil's place, and found a 7-eleven in the town, Bang Phra, where I hung out for another hour. I arrived at the farm right about 4. School lets out at 4, so parents were collecting their kids, too.

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Neil welcomed me in, showed me my room, and let me take a shower before a tour of the farm. We were joined on the tour by Tom, a new volunteer teacher at the school.

The complex is more school than farm. The students are age 6 to 13, and are learning in English. The school is formally a language school, but teaches the full Thai curriculum. The students seem to have fun and enjoy being there.

The older students watched a video about the history of clean water and sewers, and eventually clean air while I was there. The video ended with a cleanroom where chips are made. I had told Neil that's something I used to do, so he included about a half an hour for me to talk to the students about what I did, and about science and engineering. The students were engaged and asked good questions, and it was fun.

The farm is really just a demo permaculture farm. There are fish ponds and a pig and lots chickens (which are part of a student project) and plants that are edible but that I don't recognize. There is a compost system using soldier flies, where the larvae is collected sand used as animal feed. Neil is an interesting guy, a physicist, and he sees most things in terms of whole systems, so permaculture fits into his worldview, even without the environmental and sustainability concerns.

On my second day, before I caught the train, he took me on a quick neighborhood tour to show me how the late king's sustainability campaign is supposed to work. He also showed me that the various plants in the border areas, not on owned property, are edible and are used by people.