A Day in the Life of a Cannabis Bonsai Artist, Starting at a Cat Cafe in Bangkok

I’ve been noticing a lot lately, the kind of “wait, when did I figure that out” moments happening almost daily. My twenties and thirties were so packed with experience that I think I’d quietly convinced myself I’d seen it all. But forties are starting to come into view, and once the question shifts from “what will I accomplish in life” to “how do I actually understand life,” a different kind of life seems to start. That’s roughly what was running through my head this morning while getting ready.

I had plans to head to Green House around midday to work on a cannabis bonsai piece for an upcoming exhibition, so I left a bit early and made my way to a cafe I’d had my eye on for a while in Bangkok’s Bang Na area: Shelterhood Brew & Chill, known for its cats and its smoking area.

Petting Cats and Smoking at Shelterhood Brew & Chill

There’s a certain kind of person who’s just irrationally into cats, and I think I’m one of them. Whenever I find a place with cats, it goes straight into a saved list on Google Maps. Scrolling through that list one day, looking specifically for “a cafe with a smoking area that also happens to have cats,” I came across Shelterhood Brew & Chill. It’s a bit removed from central Bangkok, but Bang Na is genuinely one of my favorite areas when I want that local, unpolished atmosphere.

The first thing I noticed walking onto the property was cat graffiti painted on the wall. I got into design after seeing graffiti for the first time at 18, on my first trip to New York, and I still can’t walk past graffiti without stopping to look.

I found out later that the cat painted on the wall is actually modeled on a real cat living at the cafe. The moment I learned that, I felt an immediate, slightly irrational kinship with the owner, like they were a cat person on my level.

Walking inside, it was cats everywhere. Cats, cats, more cats. Surrounded by that many cats, some kind of “adventure mode” kicked in, and I found myself wondering what the actual signature drink would be at a cafe this committed to cats. That train of thought led me to order something I’d never normally touch: Black Lemon Honey.

I’m not really a coffee person, and it was surprisingly drinkable, but I still ended up leaving about 70% of it. A pure adventure-mode misjudgment on my part this time. That said, I could absolutely see someone who actually likes coffee calling it genuinely good. The crowd seemed to agree: even out in this local neighborhood, the place was already busy with customers from the morning.

At this point I realized I hadn’t actually seen a real cat yet.

I walked through the place a couple of times looking, no luck. Wondering if they were all hiding somewhere that day, I stepped outside, and there one was, sound asleep in the shade by the entrance, looking thoroughly content. Just looking at it brought an immediate sense of calm. Staff told me there are three cats total, though I only managed to spot one that day. It didn’t seem to mind being petted, or even lightly disturbed, and just kept sleeping through all of it. That’s exactly how it should be. That’s cats for you.

I ended up spending about an hour there, smoking, working a bit, and going to pet the cat whenever I needed a break. A genuinely peaceful morning. Once it was time to head to Green House, I checked Google Maps and found a route combining the BTS with a motorbike taxi, so I headed for the station.

Building a Cannabis Bonsai at Green House

About an hour combining train and motorbike got me to Green House in Nuanchan. For the cannabis bonsai I’m building for this exhibition, I wanted to use ceramics I’d picked up on a trip covered in a previous article, sourcing cannabis bonsai pottery in Pattaya, so the first step was drilling a drainage hole into the bottom of the pot.

The pots used for cannabis bonsai start out as ordinary ceramics with no drainage hole, so a hole has to be added before planting anything. The process is simpler than it sounds: pack the inside of the pot with soil to absorb shock, tape off the spot where the hole needs to go with paper tape, then position a sharp tool there and tap it with a hammer. It comes out cleaner than you’d expect.

Next was cleaning up the driftwood I’d picked up on the same pottery trip. I’d soaked it overnight to help dry it out, so the bark peeled off fairly easily. A few spots still had stubborn residue, though, so I took a deep hit and went into a kind of zoned-out sanding session with the sandpaper.

I’m still figuring out exactly how much human intervention works best with driftwood, so I prepared a few different pieces to test this time around. The seedling I’m using is in its second week of flowering. I’d stopped by a week earlier to remove some large leaves and adjust the growth, and it had reached pretty much exactly the size I’d been picturing.

This is also the origin of a well-known saying along the lines of “the more accomplished and learned a person becomes, the more humble they grow.” It comes from the image of a rice stalk bowing its head under the weight of fully ripened grain.

The theme I settled on for this piece is “bowing the head.” It’s a Japanese phrase used to express respect for someone, deep reflection, or a humble attitude, and it happened to be exactly what was on my mind lately. That’s why I wanted to build a piece around it specifically.

わたくし、コウベヲタレル時期です pic.twitter.com/PYDAWH8kVl

— Kei | 大麻文化を作る大麻盆栽家 (@smallnycer) June 24, 2026

All that sanding paid off. The driftwood ended up working genuinely well as part of the piece. A piece of driftwood with that much presence changes the whole atmosphere the moment it’s in place. That said, finding driftwood of this size is genuinely hard. Collecting it means fighting the heat, and depending on the location, stray dogs too, so it’s a more dangerous task than people might assume.

I only finished three cannabis bonsai pieces this session. Since the plant is still only in its second week of flowering, I trimmed off the unnecessary leaves while keeping the larger ones for a bigger piece I’m planning to build next week.

Working through it, I came away with a clearer sense that this size of cannabis bonsai really does call for driftwood at that kind of scale. Which means, somewhat dispiritingly, another trip to Pattaya to collect more driftwood is probably unavoidable. But cutting corners here means accepting a lower final quality for the whole piece, and that’s not something I’m willing to compromise on. So I’m going, no way around it.

I do feel slightly bad imposing on a friend’s place again, but he always greets me with a smile, so I’ll happily take him up on it again this time.

By the time I noticed, I’d been working for about four hours. I packed up my tools, cleaned up, and left Green House.

Checking Out Plants Right Before Harvest at Revana Café

Next stop was Revana Café in Silom. They happened to have plants right at the pre-harvest stage, so I went to catch the flowers at their most visually striking point.

They’ve long prioritized terpene-focused cultivation, and the growing room right before harvest was filled with completely distinct aromas strain by strain. Beginners tend to fixate on THC numbers, but comparing the actual aromas in a room like this is a real reminder that terpenes are what actually build a strain’s individual flavor and character.

Revana Café doesn’t mass-produce. They grow only what they need for the shop, which means it’s not unusual for a single harvest of a given strain to come out to just a few dozen grams total.

The classic, well-known strain on display this visit, OG Kush, was expected to yield around 25 to 30g per plant, and they only had three plants growing. Combined, that’s under 100g total, and they told me they expect it to sell out within days of going on the shelf.

マジかよ…タイの大麻農家さんとの裏話が想像以上に引いた内容だったので長文になりますがシェアします。

僕の知り合いはバンコク郊外で1万本以上の大麻を合法的に栽培してるんだけど、このエリアは何故か大麻農家さんが集合してるエリアでもあった。…

— Kei | 大麻文化を作る大麻盆栽家 (@smallnycer) June 24, 2026

As I mentioned on X, part of what circulates in the Thai market gets referred to as “trash weed,” grown to prioritize yield over quality. Hearing growers talk through their actual cultivation process has driven home repeatedly that looking clean on the surface doesn’t tell you whether something is genuinely good.

So lately, the question I find myself asking has shifted from “which dispensary should I buy from” to “who actually grew this.” That shift has genuinely changed how I see dispensaries overall. Based on everything I’ve heard directly from growers, Revana Café is one of the dispensaries genuinely worth checking out for anyone who prioritizes quality in how they choose cannabis.

I ended up smoking and talking cultivation for nearly two hours without noticing. I always lose track of time once cultivation comes up. Right around then, a message came in from staff at GANJA MEN with some good news: something we’d been discussing for a while was finally coming together, so I headed over right away.

Ambushed by the Cats at GANJA MEN in the Evening

The moment I arrived at GANJA MEN, Haku came running over. It had been a while since I’d seen her. Haku is the affectionate type, to a fault, and she had zero interest in letting me actually smoke. After playing with her for a while, she eventually wandered off satisfied, which finally gave me a chance to sit down properly, right around when the staff member who’d texted me showed up.

The reason for this visit was hearing that more cannabis enthusiasts have been showing up at the shop after finding it through this site. I wanted the details: which articles people were coming from, what kind of people were showing up.

It hit me that I’d been running this site for about half a year at this point. Things turned out a bit differently than my original plan, but overall it feels like it’s heading in a good direction.

Hearing that one of my articles led someone to a friend’s shop is genuinely satisfying, and hearing specifically that a cat-loving cannabis enthusiast found GANJA MEN through the site and stopped by was a real moment of joy.

たくさんの日本人大麻猫愛好家の方々が来てくれてるみたいです。嬉しいみたいでハクが全力で襲いかかってきて一服できません。タイに旅行に来る日本人大麻猫愛好家の方々はアソークにある大麻薬局"GANJA MEN 驚奇甘蔗店"に遊びに来て！詳しい詳細はコメ欄へ pic.twitter.com/KeXG1tcD6y

— Kei | 大麻文化を作る大麻盆栽家 (@smallnycer) June 26, 2026

If you’re a cat-loving cannabis enthusiast visiting Thailand, definitely stop by GANJA MEN and see if you can find all five cats.

A Rare Strain of Seeds Coming Soon at Duckies Dispensary

After leaving GANJA MEN, the last stop was Duckies Dispensary in Ekkamai. New flower had just come in, and they’d mentioned wanting to show me something interesting in terms of seeds, so I headed straight over.

I arrived right as they were checking through a fresh batch of flower. The owner’s partner spent roughly four years working at Coffeeshop Dizzy Duck, a well-known Dutch coffeeshop, and that depth of exposure to flower and growers shows in every selection. What he chooses always comes with cultivation background that holds up, not just whatever’s trending, and I learn something new from him pretty much every time.

Privilege Seed Club is a cannabis breeding brand focused on developing original genetics. Breeders cross and select from existing strong strains to produce new strains with their own distinct aroma, plant structure, and growing characteristics. In recent cannabis breeding, the focus has shifted away from chasing high THC alone, toward terpene profile, flavor, and cultivation stability. Privilege Seed Club is recognized as one of the brands working within this more modern breeding philosophy, building out a distinctive lineup of genetics.

What he wanted to show me was a pack of seeds from Privilege Seed Club’s “Modified Melon.”

It’s apparently the strain he’s most excited about right now, and he floated an idea: having THE MELLOW FACE, a grower I personally know who already supplies flower to the shop, grow it out as a project exclusive to Duckies Dispensary.

Genuinely interesting to hear. I’ve known both the Duckies Dispensary owner and THE MELLOW FACE for a long time, and the idea of this specific combination has me genuinely curious about what the flower would turn out like. It’s a project I’d love to see actually happen.

These are people I talk with often about where cannabis culture is heading. We tend to land on similar ground: that value isn’t just about the product, but the background and story of the people growing it, which is probably why “should we try doing something together” comes up so naturally between us. It’s still in the early planning stage, but I’m hoping something interesting takes shape by the end of the year, so stay tuned a little longer.

By the time I noticed, I’d been chilling there for about two hours, and the clock had passed 7 PM. I’d been moving since the morning, and both body and mind were thoroughly worn out. I closed out the day at a favorite local sauna in Srinakarin to sweat it all out before heading home.

Closing the Day at a Local Sauna Near Srinakarin Market: “Srinakarin Sauna 42”

Whenever something’s on my mind, or my brain feels genuinely fried from overthinking, the sauna is where I go. Bangkok has plenty of proper hot-spring facilities and full-spec saunas, but I’ve always preferred the local, no-frills ones. Clean facilities and a good ice bath setup have their appeal, but that distinctly local atmosphere and the price you can casually afford to go often are things only the local sauna scene really delivers.

Srinakarin Sauna 42, in Srinakarin, is known for its absurdly high sauna room temperature. It’s hot enough that skipping the cold water rinse on the way out genuinely stings, which makes it more of a “sauna for sauna people” than something I’d recommend to a first-timer. And despite all that, entry is only 280 baht, which somehow includes drinks and fruit every single time, which still surprises me.

I usually aim for 8-minute sets, but 6 minutes was my limit this time. Stumbling straight from there into the ice-cold plunge pool, then sitting down in the smoking area and closing my eyes. My head was still spinning with various things, but somehow, gradually, a bit of space opens up, and things settle.

After three sets, sitting in the smoking area, it suddenly started raining. I figured it would pass quickly, but it turned into a genuine downpour, far heavier than expected. By the time I got home I was soaked through and ended up needing a second shower.

This is exactly why rainy season in Thailand keeps you on your toes. But even a curveball like that ends up feeling like part of what makes a day here genuinely full.

Note: This article is based on content originally published on the Japanese edition of OG Times .