Hey! My name is Yulia, but people know me as Yul.Po. I am from Russia, I am 21 years old and I love traveling around the world with my pink microphone. I am a participant of Thailand Village Academy Program. It is a great honour to be a part of it.

I’ve always been excited about exotic parts of life in the world. Being from Moscow, skyscrapers and big cities have always been a part of my everyday life … It has always been a dream of mine to visit one of the Villages in Thailand. Now that dream has finally come true!

The Ban Tha Mo-O community is in Lampang which is located in the Northern part of Thailand. I spent a week there, and I want to tell you why it was the best trip of my life. Are you ready?

Lampang means incredible people around you.
As soon as we arrived, we were met by the representatives of the Lampang province who put necklaces covered with jasmine flowers on us. They treated us every day with respect, love and care. I realized at once that these people would become the closest one for me. I want to say thank for leaving the part of my soul here…

Lampang is an entire story.
Legend has it that the Buddha once visited this city. We also visited 4 temples and were amazed at what we saw.

I have never :
I have never talked to a monk, taken my shoes off before entering the temple, given alms to the monk early in the morning. Never. I can endlessly continue this list of “never things”.

I would never have tried so many things in my life if I hadn’t visited Lampang.

I found myself on another part of the world but on another part of the world I find yourself. While studying something else, you begin to understand YOURSELF even better. And this is the most important thing to understand where do you belong and what is really yours.

Lampang for me is a leap of faith and your own difficulties and troubles.
We have been going through the jungle to the top of the mountain together with the guide for 3 hours. It was raining cats and dogs, giant-sized bamboo was underfoot, there was an incredible smell of freshness and stuffiness at the same time, and she even managed to chop off bravely everything that was in our way.

When you are at the top, you feel an ultimate freedom. You finally understand why you are here.

I am here and it’s the only thing that matters.

How important it is for us to feel ourselves needed, loved, worthy of what we have.

• Lampang is a horse and carriage. This is the only province in Thailand that has horse carriage service.

We bought food at the market from rot keen (these are special travelling food carts), visited the best restaurants of Lampang, tried and felt the true life and its beauty.

At first I was scared to buy food at the market, but then I realized that there is nothing better than such food on the street. Food in the market is a true love.

Everything in Lampang is about love, it’s about life, about the meaning of existence that you begin to find in simple and ordinary things. You find a TRUE self in the village. This is of extreme importance. You can finally understand and accept yourself as you are and finally begin to love yourself.

I realized during these 6 days that your heart has different pieces and one of them can be 5000 km from Russia, in a an Tha Ma-O community.

Thank you for becoming my second home.

I feel that it can become your second home too…