The minute we got to our homestay village, my classmates and I explored the area and stumbled upon a vast field of cassava crops and rice paddy fields. Cassava is a starchy root vegetable, like the potatoes that are common in the U.S., and they are an important crop in Thailand. The rice paddy field was arranged in such a way that you could walk through the crops. The wind rustled through the grass of the rice paddy fields and the sound mirrored waves at a beach. My classmates and I also interviewed a medicine man, a type of traditional healer, and he gave us all a tree to take back home with us. He said that growing trees is one of the best ways to save the environment. The scientific name for the tree he gave me is Dolichandrone.
