On Day 2 we went on a field trip right on the school campus where we entered a massive herb garden filled with various herbs and plants. The variety of plants there and the space allocated to growing them was staggering.
Here we got try many different herbs and spices using all our senses. Some of us even took up the challenge to eat some tiny red chilis. We managed to touch, taste and smell many of the herbs from cool mint, sweet stevia, and bitter berries. We realized that a lot of these herbs were used in Thai cooking and was an integral part of Thai culture
Afterwards, we went into the learning center next tot the garden. We learnt more about the value of these herbs in traditional Thai medicine in this learning center. We even found out which herb could help treat symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, etc. Interestingly, we learnt how Thai medicine and food are intertwined. They were thought to value these herbs as medicine unlike in Singapore where we see medicine as a pill. It was indeed an eye-opening experience
For our final activity of the day, we were given some butterfly nets to go fishing. Specifically, we went to the pond in the herb garden in order to determine the biodiversity of this natural pond. We found a variety of different organisms in different areas of the pond and discovered that there was a greater variety of creatures living in the reeds than in the open water.
