24/09/2025
Somtow's World
At dawn, the land in Khaoyai speaks. What was once empty earth has become a canvas alive with dreams, a forest that breathes alongside me. I call it Somtow’s World, a name that carries the love and legacy of my parents, Sompong and Thaithow. In that name lies both memory and hope—a reminder that I do not build this dream alone, but upon the foundation they gave me.
This land once was a little more than wilderness - an untouched canvas waiting to be transformed. Yet even in its emptiness, I saw a world waiting to be imagined. I remember nights of restless imagining, sketching the lines of a future forest. The saplings I once planted with trembling hope now stand tall at the foot of the hills, whispering that my labor was not in vain. A sapling does not grow merely because it is planted; it requires care, knowledge, and above all, patience. Nature is not an easy partner - it demands devotion, and in return it teaches humility. I once believed their worth lay in what they could be sold for. But today, I cannot part with them. They are not possessions to be bartered; they are witnesses, companions, chapters of my life rooted firmly in the soil.
Yet as they grow, they ask for more - more air, more space, more room to stretch their arms towards the sky. They push me to reimagine the landscape, to reshape by moving some to give others room as though the estate were a living canvas. Each season paints its own colors, each dawn rearranges the shadows, and with every change, a new story unfolds.
My world becomes an endless painting, a story without end, a living dialogue with nature where each day tells a new story. It taught me that happiness is not something you find—it is something you create, nurture, and grow.
Here, in Somtow’s World, I feel the quiet joy of creation - the closest one can come to being god of one’s own imagining.
Premika Sucharitkul
