Visitors travelling to Thailand on holiday and wishing to maximize new experiences may now take off from a grass runway and indulge in skydiving out of a Cessna or enjoy the view from above in a microlight.

Whilst Gecko Villa already offers unique holidays, guests may now enjoy a day of adventure and action away from the villa, at the property of another Isan native and fully qualified instructor.  Inject the thrill of a  tandem skydive, or  challenge the tallest climbing wall in Thailand. Licensed skydivers can bring their own equipment to enjoy jumping from varying heights over a number of days, and burgeoning pilots can arrange to take instruction in microlights or paramotors.

For those who doubt the sanity of skydiving, simply remember that the hardest thing about skydiving is...the ground!

Ben Davies is a British photographer and writer based in Bangkok, who has contributed to many prestigious publications including Asia Money, National Geographic and Time - some of his winning words fortuitously penned during his recuperative stays at our rural Thai retreat with his family.

Having previously authored  the largely photographic books Isaan -  Forgotten Provinces of Thailand, and Laos, as well as a work on the illegal wildlife trade entitled Black Market, he has now published his latest work, five years in gestation: Living with Spirits.

Far from being a tome about alcoholism, Living with Spirits investigates the perceived presence and power of spirits and superstitions in Thailand. To open the cover of this photo journey, shot exclusively in black and white, is to open a creaking door to a shady, black magic realm where sacred tattoos are imbued with special forces, where animist rituals, palm readers, astrologers and shamans prevail. In a  world that admits no colour and seems itself to be a ghost from a monochrome past, curses and prayers needle both malevolent and munificent threads,  in the ethers and in the flesh.

Far from being an ecelectic charm of bumpkin villagers, superstitions and spiritual beliefs permeate all levels of Thai society.  A villager will seek the support of a spirit for a fulsome crop, a five star hotel owner wil plant a phallus forest, whilst,  as Ben says “Military coups start the exact second an astrologer says it’ll work best.”

Enraged spirits are an excellent neck around which to hang ones bones of contention. Notes Ben, "it seems to me that all these beliefs and superstitions have another far-reaching consequence. They allow politicians to ignore the plight of the vast rural population who barely live above subsistence level.   Who cares if there is a drought in the northeast...so long as locals blame the spirits."

Discover more on Ben's photos, books and biography here, or order your copy of Living With Spirirts here.

Makua Puang - Solanum torvum

In the kitchen at our rural Thai house, we are often quizzed about one vegetable more than many others. Europeans may mistake them for peas, whilst some Asians assume they are unseasonally large green peppercorns.

A common ingredient in many Thai dishes, the Pea Aubergine (or Pea Egglpant) is a traditional ingredient in a Thai green curry or in Nam Phrik chilli dipping sauces. With a very slightly bitter flavour when raw, cooking these in a curry dissipates the bitterness and adds a subtle rounded flavour to the dish, whilst also enlivening it with the interesting popping texture of the baby aubergines when consumed.

In front of Green Gecko, our traditional Thai country villa, we grow our own pea aubergines. The berries of the 2-3m plant would normally turn yellow when ripe but for cooking we pluk them whilst still hard and green. Whilst we always prefer to use them fresh, those with only intermnittent access to them will be pleased to know that the pea aubergine can be frozen.

Quite why the pea aubergione should be known in some countries as the Devli's Fig or the Shoo-Shoo Bush is unclear, but consumption of the berries does seem rather limited, predominantly to Laos, Thailand, India and the Ivory Coast .

Thai Silk gained a global reputation for its quality in the 1960s, thanks to Jim Thompson, a now legendary American who served with the Office of Strategic Services (a precursor to the CIA), lived in Thailand and established the Thai Silk Company -  before disappearing mysteriously whilst on a walk  in the Cameron Highlands of  Malaysia, on March 26, 1967.

Shunning automation, this cottage industry of northeast Thailand sees villagers prefer small-scale, private enterprise, producing unique hand woven pieces.

Silkworm consume mulberry leaves and then  transform from a larva to a pupa, spinning a cocoon of silk that is produced by their salivary glands. Unravelled by immersion in boling water, the single silk strand that comprises the cocoon separates into a thread anywhere from 200 metres to over a kilometre long. These threads are combined into thicker fibres before they are washed, dyed and wound into drums.

In Northeast Thailand, the village weavers use hand looms to create blended patterns and textures unique to Thailand and often particular to a certain village or locale. Near Gecko Villa, you can visit these looms and purchase your favourite piece directly from the weaver.  The design most redolent of Isan is traditional mudmee (or mutmee) with intricate geometric and zoomorphic motifs, spirited into the fabric primarily via using various colors in the weft (left to right threads) of the fabric. This is a time consuming process, where a weaver can take around  one day to create just four metres or so of silk, but such a labour intensive process belies the purpose of the cloth: it is generally used as a special fabric for weddings or funerals,  ceremonies at the temple, or as a suitable ornament when dancing attendance on  high ranking officials.

In the grounds of Gecko Villa you cannot fail to notice our large "Traveller's Palms" (Ravenala Madagascarienis) - each with an impressive fan of thick leaves. These resemble enormous paddles and can grow up to 3 metres in length.

The astonishing symmetry of the plant, in conjunction with its distinctive shape and size, make this one of the tropics' most emblematic and dramatic trees, although they are in fact not palms, but are related to the orange-blossomed Bird of Paradise flowers you see around our Thai house (so both part of the Strelitziaceae family.)

The plant came to bear the mantle of the "Traveller's Palm" for reasons that are twofold. In hot and sunny climes, a weary traveller seeking to quench his thirst would know that the leaves of the tree act as giant funnels channeling fresh rainwater into the trunk of the plant, where it is stored. Slaking one's thirst was easy, as the base of the leaves could each hold around a litre of water.

In addition, if you walk around the gardens and grounds of Gecko Villa and concentrate on the palms, you may notice another of their peculiarities: the fans grow along an arc from east to west, acting as a natural compass.

Some believe that the tree has special powers, and that if one makes a wish whilst standing in front of it, this wish will be granted. When your next travel to Thailand to holiday at Gecko Villa, you may want to investigate this!