Perfectly Imperfect: And So The Story Goes...

Arrival at Frangipani Resort and Spa.

This is where we were to spend the night.

Shock shock horror, the family with the monkey for a child sitting behind me in the aeroplane also arrived at the same hotel!!!!!

It was prettily designed with a kind of rustic feel about it. Not grand or pompous but simple and, for the lack of a better word, green. Yes, green.

Ah, I spot the board and now I know why. This eco-friendly resort has won accolades for it's efforts to preserve our environment by carrying out various green and environmentally friendly practices. We were to find out more, later during our Eco Walk. But for now, Spa??

No. Let's visit Laman Padi.

Laman Padi is a Paddy field! (no prizes for guessing) We visited their garden and learnt a whole lot about plants and herbs. There is also a museum that gives us insight on how rice is planted and harvested, and what the rice farmers do for alternative income off-season. They sing in pubs.

Haha gotcha. They actually catch fish. And we had a look at some of the interesting tools and gadgets used for fishing.

Oh and note, during planting and harvesting, much of the work is carried out by women. (?!!?!) Yeap, apparently, women are "gentler" and thus are able to carry out these tasks "better". (What a great excuse for men to slack off!)

We later moved out to take a sneak peek at their spa (SPA!!!) and that was it. Nope no trial massage. (Dang.) But you can get more info on that right over Here.

But that was it for the entire tour. I was eager to experience more so I asked if I could have a go on the Padi fields. The very brave soul of a Padi farmer agreed. (Poor crops!)

So off I went! It was so muddy I loved it. Funny though, the water was of different temperatures. It would be very warm in certain areas and cool in others. Or really warm deeper but cool on the surface. I asked why and somebody said "maybe he peed in it". Honestly I don't think anyone of the right mind would consider contaminating with his pee something that he would eventually eat. It was obviously the water buffaloes that did it.

So I managed to successfully carry out the traditional padi planting process (with the very awesome Eleanor of Ageless) of moving the rice plants from one place to the other. (But I FORGOT what the process was called!!!) And unfortunately it wasn't the right time of the year to carry out "trashing"- the process of separating the grain from the stalks and husks. That would be fun wouldn't it?!