The woman, who lived without belongings for about six years in a hut in Thailand, is now back in the UK running a thriving business.
After training in Thai massage, 51-year-old Sam Clark from Huddersfield sold his home and embarked on an adventure that combines training with travel.
After volunteering at an elephant sanctuary in Thailand, she helped launch a project that eventually ended up living in the community there.
She lived in a hut for five and a half years. This hut was an empty room, but it had a mattress and a mosquito net, and she lived and cooked in her single electric pot on the balcony.
Most shared an outdoor toilet, but she was a “shy foreigner” so she built a wall of breeze blocks to create a cubicle.
She said: ‘You live out most of the time’
“You really adjust to the lifestyle. It’s really free.”
She didn’t pay rent for the hut, but had to pay people to build the hut and contribute to the community, which made her financially difficult.
She said she never imagined staying in Thailand this long, but “it has that effect on you.”
Due to her father’s illness, she eventually returned to the UK and decided to stay to support her mother who was alone.
One of the biggest adjustments was to wear normal shoes again as I had been wearing flip flops all my life in Thailand.
Today, she has a successful business based on aromatherapy products after starting her Etsy shop.
After meeting other professionals in a shared work space, Sam was able to grow his business and now runs an aromatherapy brand. blissful therapy.
