Paw Gep

Paw Gep

A RECENTLY DISCOVERED "EARLY" PHOTO OF PAW GEP

Shortly after we met him, Paw Gep gave us a recipe for shampoo. Cheryl was a little shocked by the number of essential oils in the recipe, but Paw Gep said, "There's a little bit of something for darn near everything in there! If you use this liquid shampoo every day you too can have have hair as beautiful as mine." Even so, Cheryl insisted on calling it "Exuberant!" to bring attention to it's unusual recipe. It is made with organic or wild Chamomile flowers Matricaria recutita, wild Lavender flowers Lavandula angustifolia, organic or wild Clove buds Syzygium aromaticum and the Pure Essential Oils of Lemon Citrus limon, wild Lemongrass Cymbopogon flexuosus, Peppermint Mentha x piperita, wild Rosemary Rosmarinus officinalis, wild Lavender Lavandula angustifolia, organic Tea Tree Melalueca alternifolia, Basil Ocimum basilicum, Bergamot Citrus bergamia, Camphor (White Fraction) Cinnamomum camphora, wild Ginger Zingiber officinale, Sage Salvia officinalis and Thyme, Thymol Thymus vulgaris. It was our first shampoo and it is to this day our most popular shampoo, Paw Gep's Exuberant, All-Purpose Shampoo.

After a while and especially after Paw Gep bought the water pump the land surrounding his house became covered with flowers like these showing the bright and wonderful colors one sees every day in Thailand.

Paw Gep's Flower Garden.

We first met Paw Gep in 1981 in northern Thailand when we went there on tour with the Sadlers Wells Ballet and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He seemed smaller then. He carried a big stick and he always knew a shortcut. One of his now infamous shortcuts once put us far into Laotian territory and we nearly missed our flight home while explaining to authorities just exactly what we were doing there.

The afternoon view from the great room at Paw Gep's house.

Sunset in Udonthanni.

Years later we saw him again and he seemed much taller. We never could figure that out. He hadn't aged a bit but we could swear he had grown several inches. Two things that never seemed to change: wherever he went he was always followed by children and with whomever would talk to him he shared his love of the plants.

He was always surrounded by children crying "P'Gep!" this and "P'Gep!" that. Sometimes he could hardly move for having children clinging to his legs. Maybe that's how he got so tall, walking around with kids pulling on his legs, stretching them out. He was always teaching them something about the plants. Often, he used to say, it was he who learned from them. When he was hungry he might reach up and pull down a mimosa pod, strip it open and munch on the seeds, or stop beside the path and rustle up a few green leaves and munch away.

Cheryl says he is a legend in his own mind and he does not dispute that. But if you are ever in northern Thailand, about 60 km south of Vientiane, Laos, you might ask the whereabouts of Paw Gep. You might refrain however from taking directions from a very small (or very tall) gentleman with long arms and a big stick who says he knows a great shortcut.

All the recipes that bear the Paw Gep name are his except for

one or two which were made by Cheryl for him.

Paw Gep Products

All the recipes that bear the Paw Gep name are his except for one or two which were made for him by Cheryl.