Monday, August 31, 2026

Update 1 (of 3)

As promised, a quick update first. Parts of this story are already in earlier published blogs but just to make it easy to 're-connect' again. 

I had to stop working at The Pavana Chiang Mai (holistic wellness) Resort, before The Spa Resort, because it closed it's doors. I felt and still feel very sad about that. Working and sharing insights and talents there with so many, often returning, international guests and groups made me really happy. I still feel energy connection with many guests I was able to work with.

I met my, nowadays, wife Phatsamon on a dating site while I was still working at the resort. She was born in Surin, North-East of Thailand 900 km away from Chiang Mai, but lived and worked that time in Bangkok. 

After I lost my work at the resort, we decided to create a small private spiritual place at one of the four pieces of land in Surin she got as a gift from her parents. Together with my biggest friend that time, dog Kadhow, we chose the one Kadhow felt the most happy and comfortable energy. And he was right! 

It is a plot of 9.372 m2 rice field land (about 52 x 180 m). My girlfriend’s dad, over ten years ago, heightened about 2.250 m2 of that plot for about 2 meters with good soil. This heightened land looks and feels as a kind of terrace above the lower rice field. A pond of about 400 m2 is part of this raised area.

Monday March 2, 2020 we got building permission for the first part (Knock down home / temporary living place / shipping container) of the process. Also my name was added on the landpaper paper of Phatsamon. Not to get owner of the land (for a foreigner in Thailand that's never possible) but to get legal lifelong use of the land. The place also got a formal address. 

First things we had to organize were electricity and water for our place. 
Because our chosen land (ricefield with permission to build) is about 500 meters from the village, we had to organize electricity input (lines) by ourselves. At December 31 2019 we got the first electricity poles to our land. 
Short after that we got our own private 5 inch, 60 meters deep water well. We created a "control-room" with electricity switch boards, pumps, water storage and a generator for basic energy supply in case of a power-break, all already ready to serve every building we had in mind. 

After that we designed a shipping-container on stilts as our temporary living area and created a veranda at the east side. 
At present this place is our TED's (Talk, Eat and Drink place). The bar, relax and breakfast area. 

To get and keep the right energy, directly after having water, electricity and our temporary place to live, we created a "Petit-Chartres" labyrinth (opened October 4 2020) in the garden and a campfire place. 
As usual the entrance of the Labyrinth is at the East-side. At the West-side we put the, in my opinion, beautiful Buddha bust. This bust origins from Indonesia. It travelled to my house in The Netherlands, after that to Chiang Mai in Thailand and now it's final location is at our place in Surin. 


Kadhow, September 2019, crazy happy discovering and 'choosing' our land.



Building permission on my (Frans) name and including my name
at the land paper of Phatsamon to make it for me legal to
build (work) on our own land on a retirement visa. 





















Situation January 2024

Present TED's




Note:
I think all my guests still remember my friend Kadhow, he sadly passed away on May 15 2025, because of a terrible and unexpected blood disease at the age of nearly 13 years.  


Frans Captijn (Gangey Gruma Báisjá)

Captijn Insight. 
Catalyst in developing tranquility & in-sight to get in a sustainable way real connection, purpose, pleasure and flow in life, love, family, business, career and work (again).

Ban Na Sam, Na Bua, Muang Surin, Surin, Thailand
email: captijninsight@gmail.com
Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/RdQezE2CeiPcw5yq6


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Tuesday, August 25, 2026

After more than 5 years back again

It took over five years to start up this blog again. And...

Here we are again!

June 4, 2021 we took a time out because of several reasons.
The main reason was we started our building process to create a private small spiritual center in Surin Province, Thailand.

I am happy and thankful still several former guests I worked with as a life- & talent coach and meditation/Kundalini yoga/tantra teacher stay in touch or only once asked or mirrored me something related to their private situation they were or are in.
Some only asked or replied on their personal outcomes working with 'The Game of Gifts' (discovering talents and life-mission) or their Numerology session.

Don't get me wrong, these contacts are not 'regular' stuff at all, but it's heartwarming people still know to find you for some personal reason.

The Spa Resort / The Pavana Chiang Mai resort where I worked, till now on, closed its doors. So, I could not and was not allowed to work there anymore and lost my work-permit and work-visa.
Still I am happy living and retiring in Thailand but now in Surin province.

Together with, now, my wife Phatsamon, I picked-up my basic profession as an architect and constructional engineer.
At a nice piece of land, Phatsamon got from her parents we started to design, calculate and develop our ideas. After all formal permits and permissions, she stopped working in Bangkok to become a daily 'construction worker' with me.
We created (building as meditation), as the only two workers, our plans.

During the years we regularly shared our progress and hick-ups at our 'Pyramidhouse Thailand' blog (link below).

Not a project but an ongoing process that, till for whatever reason we cannot work anymore, will never end.
The main buildings, although we use them all already, will be totally finished in around three quarters of a year.

We called our private place (location see link below as well):

"Pyramid Retreat Thailand, Surin" 

Going on with this blogs again:
I don't intend to write blogs on a weekly base anymore.
Depending on construction workload, experiences, inspiration and insights, slowly, I will share my thoughts again.

As everywhere and for everyone, a lot of changed appeared in the last couple of years. So also with us.
So the next few post of the new series of the "Captijn Insight Thailand blogs" I will share some more explanation of our place here, the changes of our lives, living with all our animals here, and other things that happened. All just to 'close' the information 'gap' a bit of the last years you possibly have.

I promise you, I keep you posted again.


Frans Captijn (Gangey Gruma Báisjá)

Captijn Insight. 
Catalyst in developing tranquility & in-sight to get in a sustainable way real connection, purpose, pleasure and flow in life, love, family, business, career and work (again).

Ban Na Sam, Na Bua, Muang Surin, Surin, Thailand
email: captijninsight@gmail.com
Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/RdQezE2CeiPcw5yq6
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Friday, June 4, 2021

Time out

For three months now I did not publish weekly a Captijn Insight blog. Sorry about that. 

I take a temporary time out because we are too busy with building (and still I publish in Dutch my week blog and our building blog in English). 

Building will take some time (years) but hopefully that does not say there will not be a blog in English for years.

I hope and think things will work out fine and the 'Captijn Insight Thailand' blogs will be back some time. 

If you have any questions about former blogs (or former guests of The Spa Resort or The Pavana Chiang Mai resort, about retreats, yoga, meditation or other classes of me they once joined) feel free to write me an email. 

Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)


Captijn Insight. Catalyst in developing tranquility & in-sight to get in a sustainable way real connection, purpose, pleasure and flow in life, love, family, business, career and work again.

 


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Friday, March 5, 2021

The message and the messenger

"Do you sometimes find yourself rejecting the message along with the messenger?"

It was a sentence I came across in a document last week. It got me thinking. Because yes, when I thought about it for a moment, I caught myself there.

At school, at work, at meetings in past days, and even at church, the message stopped coming because I did not feel any connection (sometimes even more an aversion) to the messenger.

Communication is about sending and receiving. And there are a lot of disturbances on that line. We often use the time others send to prepare our own story. We think that others are waiting for that and listening to it, but often they use your conversation time to make their story again. So many times, nobody is listening at all. A waste of time. I wrote a blog about it before.

And indeed. Teachers, managers, board members, politicians, but also for example, a priest or pastor appeals to you (you feel a connection) or does not appeal to you at all. And if he or she does not address, it sometimes happens that you throw away the (often good) message with the bath water (or, for example, no longer visit the church). And that is actually a shame and yet also very human and natural.

In communication technology a lot of attention is paid to how to communicate and present your message well, but not or hardly to that, I call it biological, preference or disapproval of the messenger who certainly plays a very important role.

Do you ever find yourself rejecting the message through the messenger? No more than normal in my opinion and to say ... "nothing missed" can be a bit too short-sighted.


Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)


Captijn Insight. Catalyst in developing tranquility & in-sight to get in a sustainable way real connection, purpose, pleasure and flow in life, love, family, business, career and work again.

 


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Friday, February 26, 2021

Miraculous life path. Not a movie but reality ...

It is sometimes said that just before you leave life here, you see the movie of your life flash by one more time.

Well, first of all I wonder why you should wait for that moment. In addition, such a ‘flash moment’ is certainly not long enough for me. I think I would need a several hours lasting (flash) moment. Last week, again, I took the time to look back on my life path so far. 

I had to laugh. If you had told me this beforehand, neither myself nor anyone else would have believed this. And yes, I will certainly have had an influence on it myself, but it feels more like going with the flow of many many changes that were waiting for me. I also hope that quite a few are still ready to receive. It's miraculous.

In 2010 my Dutch book “Speurtocht naar persoonlijk meesterschap” (Quest for personal mastery) was published. For close friends I had added a thick supplement with my life path up to that point. It has grown fantastically for more than ten years now. 

And indeed, people who know me better know, I was and am a little "different". Different in the sense that my basic talent of "jester" is quite dominant in my life. It makes things a little light, so to speak. 

But my upbringing, the schools I could and was allowed to visit, the jobs I had, not to mention my relationships. Two world citizens of children. The places where I have lived in the Netherlands and abroad. The total life change after the one-sided accident I had in 2010 with that deep burnout as the cause.

From hospitality branch to construction and architecture (in Saudi Arabia), to management jobs in the fire-service, crisis & disaster manager and director of a safety region. And from 2012 meditation teacher with afterwards the qualifications for yoga and Tantra teacher. It's all something different.

And now, for almost nine years in Thailand, the building with our own hands of a small spiritual private center of pyramids. So, actually back in construction again. 

I have now built four labyrinths in my life. In fact, with all the changes that entails, an image of a life path in the seasons of your life. You just have to walk it. 

And although this blog is very, very brief, of course everyone knows the miracle of his or her own life path. The earth is a school of learning and I think it is good to look back on your life path every now and then, to learn, to be grateful, and to build that labyrinth of your life while you walk it step by step.



Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)


Captijn Insight. Catalyst in developing tranquility & in-sight to get in a sustainable way real connection, purpose, pleasure and flow in life, love, family, business, career and work again.


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Friday, February 19, 2021

Leave traces in your life.

Last Sunday, on the internet, I came across the beautiful Ten Commandments and Ten Precepts of the Indians. They call on me to think more deeply about it and to compare it with what you see in practice in the world and in people around you.

I paste them here in this blog:

The 10 Commandments of the Indians

1 * The earth is our mother, take good care of her.

2 * Cherish your relationships.

3 * Open your heart and soul to the great Spirit.

4 * All life is valuable and fragile, treat it with respect.

5 * Take from the earth what is needed and no more.

6 * Do whatever it takes for the good of all.

7 * Thank the great Spirit for each new day.

8 * Speak the truth, do good to others.

9 * Follow the rhythms of nature, get up and rest with the sun.

10 * Enjoy your journey on Earth, but don't leave a trace.

************************************************** *********** 

The 10 Precepts of the Indians

1 * Treat the earth and all living things with respect.

2 * Stay close to the great Spirit.

3 * Respect your fellow man's property.

4 * Work together so that everyone benefits.

5 * Give assistance and kindness wherever needed.

6 * Do what you know is right.

7 * Pay attention to the well-being of body and mind.

8 * Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater good.

9 * Be truthful and honest at all times.

10 * Take full responsibility for all your actions.

************************************************* *********

Not a bad idea if those commandments and precepts were followed. Certainly, the world looked different and people and animals had more fun in my experience.

The tenth commandment tells you not to leave any traces in your life. In addition to all those other assignments, this one made me doubt. I share the vision of not harming the world with our pollution from our ways of life or leaving a trail of destruction through your life. Not always easy in, for example, the consumption and throwaway society of which we are part. Clean up your mess and do not throw it in nature is not only simply said but also very simple to do on the other hand. 

But shouldn't you leave any traces? I don’t think so. It is not for nothing that you are here on earth and every person has a mission. By hanging limply and looking silly you achieve little yourself, but you do not really contribute to the well-being of yourself and others. Work together and deliver your unique and specific talents and contribution so that everyone benefits from it, would be the interpretation of rule four.

And the great thing is, your talents don't require you to envy, adore, or try to adore others. Don't be blinded by those beautiful exteriors. Just be nice and simple yourself. After all, all those other places (people) have already been taken.

Please leave your positive mark. Everyone benefits.



Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)


Captijn Insight. Catalyst in developing tranquility & in-sight to get in a sustainable way real connection, purpose, pleasure and flow in life, love, family, business, career and work again.




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Friday, February 12, 2021

3 times a year New Year. Happy New Year!

Yesterday, the sound of many fire crackers. It showed it is the second time New Year this year today.
It may sound a bit strange, but we have and celebrate New Year’s here three times every year.
 
The Western New Year, the Western New Year in now the year 2021 (Buddhist 2564 that you can see here on all kinds of official documents).
Today the Chinese (beginning of the year of the ox and also the spring festival in China).
And every year Songkran, the Thai New Year on April 13. The change of the position of the sun.
 
Many celebrations here so the possibility to party a lot. And why not? Make a party of life as much as possible.


Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)


Captijn Insight. Catalyst in developing tranquility & in-sight to get in a sustainable way real connection, purpose, pleasure and flow in life, love, family, business, career and work again.

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Friday, February 5, 2021

Determine your last personal CO2 emissions in time. In the ground, out of the chimney or dissolve?

Last Sunday our village crematorium had a busy day. As many as three people from our village were cremated. I was present at one of those cremations.
 
In Thailand, saying farewell to someone after this life (actually cleaning up your packaging) is enclosed in an enormous number of rituals. It is all so different from Western culture and it is nice to be able to experience the differences without expressing any judgment about them.
 
An article that I recently read somewhere flashed through my mind. It was about your last personal CO2 emissions. I had to laugh about it (again). Apparently, this differs quite a bit from the choice you make to ultimately have yourself buried, cremated or dissolved (‘resomation’ with a new nice word).
 
Cremation is the most polluting form of saying goodbye to earthly existence, according to a study by TNO (Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research) from 2014 into the environmental effects of burial or cremation. According to this institute, an average cremation, at least in the Netherlands, means a CO2 emission of 208 kilograms, which is equivalent to a car journey from Amsterdam to Prague (compared to 95 kilograms for burial and only 28 kilograms for dissolving). One hundred kilograms of this can be attributed to combustion of the body and the coffin with natural gas. The remainder is spent on the transport of the coffin from the funeral home to the crematorium, and on the production of the urn.
Yes, you can make a study about everything 😉.
 
Despite this investigation, mu choice still is to go for cremation and not be locked up in any urn. It will be selfish not to take this into account. After all, if the entire current world population of more than 7,800,000,000 people would do that, then a lot of affecting CO2 would enter the worldwide environment.
 
My preference before was always burying, but when I see how often I have visited the graves of my two grandpas and grandmas to find a "place to connect" of comfort… not bitterly often. I guess I'm not alone. After a few generations, the visit is over and maintenance and costs nobody remember anymore continues. And solving the CO2 problem, even though it would be better for the environment, is not part of my thoughts at all.

No, people who love me (and who I love) just always keep a place very close in their (or me in my) heart. And candles to connect, my experience, create miracles.


Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)


Captijn Insight. Catalyst in developing tranquility & in-sight to get in a sustainable way real connection, purpose, pleasure and flow in life, love, family, business, career and work again.


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Friday, January 29, 2021

Surin province in Thailand. Rural, relaxed, simple and attractive.

Last week we went out for a few days in our own province. It's just great fun to explore and get to know your own environment a little bit better.
 
Many people have an opinion about it. And yes, something for everyone of course and… luckily tastes differ. “Hot”, “nothing to do”, “far from everything”, “end of the world”, and more of those mostly negative stories. And it is not because we are now building here, but my experiences of the past days were completely different.
 
We left the small provincial capital of the same name, with many influences from student life, for what it is. Surin actually offers a wide range of possibilities and I don't really understand why tourism lingers in the famous Elephant Roundup, the ruined temple Prasat Sikhoraphum, the monument of Phraya Surin Phakdi Si Narong Changwang and the handicraft village.
 
Surin is rural and that translates into the appearance of agriculture and animal farming. Mainly in the cultivation of rice, sugar cane and rubber. Also in cows, water buffalos and elephants. And mainly in the south, near the border with Cambodia, some forestry on the hills.
 
No burning / smoke season. I was surprised to see how sugar cane was harvested by hand and with machines. Rice fields are barely burned. It gives the cattle something to eat.
Fantastic Isaan food wherever you want along the streets, and prices more than reasonable.
 
If you want to experience the real rural life of Thailand, this is the place certainly attractive to experience. And as a Dutchman, from the cycling country par excellence, I think this largely flat area is fantastically attractive to discover by bicycle, scooter and motorbike. Especially in the cool dry season at the end and beginning of every year.
And if it is too hot… then you stop at one of the beautiful reservoirs or small waterfalls to relax or cool off in the water.
 
I think there will never be mass tourism to get to Surin. How wonderful isn’t that actually. Just face to face contact with interested locals enjoying a simple lifestyle, and rural nature.
 
Surin, not such a crazy idea to discover.
































Gangey Gruma (Frans Captijn)


Captijn Insight. Catalyst in developing tranquility & in-sight to get in a sustainable way real connection, purpose, pleasure and flow in life, love, family, business, career and work again.


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