I've just gotten back from a week's solstice in the mountains of Northern Thailand, where we stayed in a village called Mae Chaem. At first we didn't know what to expect, but if you read, you'll come to see how I fell in love with rural Thailand.
Monday, 8/23/10
An early morning (up at 7, left at 8:30) kicked off our day. Although I napped through most of the twisted trails of the mountains, I wasn't obtuse enough to not notice the general splendor-so much green! Tall trees characterized the slopes as we drove among the peaks, one of which is the tallest in Thailand, Doi Inthanon. The driver was going at quasi-suicidal speeds, so before our expected 3 hours there we were- Mae Chaem (maah jem). After unloading the vans, we hit the bathrooms, where I had my first Mae-Chaem-meets-Anna-K-Limbrick moment. Priceless. I handled the squatters with grace (thank you Egypt! At least here there are significantly fewer flies…), however when I went to look around, I stepped on a rock that was much slipperier than it looked…Needless to say one sore butt, scraped palms/elbows, and a change of pants later, I re-joined the group just in time to be assigned my host mom (mae is the word for mother) and the other girls I would be staying with, Skylar and Burgundy.
Our house, as well as two others which are in the family, are behind the Wat (temple), further away from all of the other houses in the village. I'm not quite sure why…Anyways. The house we stayed in was beautiful! Our room was in the upstairs/loft, which is accessible by an outside staircase. A corner of the loft was surrounded by a mosquito net tent, and contained 2 large pallets, 3 comforters, 3 pillows, and a fan. After putting our stuff down, we went downstairs for water, and to give our hostess gifts (A tin of chocolate chip cookies), and then in limited Thai and no English, with many hand gestures, she showed us her daughters, who we gathered had graduated from university-a big deal in the rural villages. After a little pow-wow we went to have lunch at the temple, our new meeting center, and then had Thai language class for a few hours. After class we had a break before dinner, so a few of us took a walk out through the paddy fields - they were beautiful! You could see the mountains all around an dolts of trees. It was breathtaking. It hit me…I'm standing in a rice paddy. in the mountains. in Thailand. It was a phenomenal moment, to say the least. After our walk we met some younger family members while dinner was being prepared. At least one of the girls was family, but I'm still not sure about the rest. There were 4 students, ages 16-18, and between our limited knowledge of each others' languages we asked the basic questions, and then when it hit a lull, they ran upstairs and got notebooks, a dictionary, and class books so that we could translate questions and comments and talk more. It was an experience, and definitely fun! Our dinner was delicious, chicken [probably one I had tripped over earlier], rice, and an egg-and-green-pepper scramble. After dinner we headed to the local massage/sauna place. You haven't had a Thai massage until a little old lady is finding every ache and sore spot you've ever had and POUNCING on it like a rabid jungle cat. Whew! I held off on the sauna for now, but I'll be back! Some rice whiskey/moonshine later, we found ourselves in a roadside pavilion overlooking the rice paddies and mountains, with the moon up, illuminating the clouds and heat lightning added the perfect final touch to a beautiful night.
Tuesday, 8/24/10
Our culture class began today, in addition to our language class, and our Ajan for that class is Ajan Napisa [who went to NIU!]. She made class super fun, so time flew, and before long it was a nap break before we headed into another part of the village to learn how to cook Thai food. We made 2 desserts, a soup, and stewed veggies. We were already full from lunch, but by the 3rd station we were about to bust! We spent an hour at each station, cooking and eating the dish, then moved on. I had my hand in every dish, although my favorite was the first one. It was a palm sugar dessert called _______, or "push-pull" because of necessary actions. The second station was the stewed veggies, easy enough to comprehend, and the woman was kind enough to have sticky corn, pumpkin, lingonberries, and yummy juice for us while we waited for the dish to cook. Our next station involved a lot of prep work, Rob chopped the chicken while I used a pestle and mortar [yes! i've always wanted to!] to make a chili paste, and then mix it with soy beans to put in the stew, which I put in with veggies and the chicken. We let it stew and had a different kind of juice while we waited, but when it was done I only had enough room in my tummy for a few pinches of sticky rice [you eat sticky rice with your fingers] before I called it quits. Our final station was another dessert, which I wasn't such a big fan of. It has an interesting history, though. Women would make it for their men going off to battle, but in order to avoid finding a place for them to pack the snack, it would be molded to fit inside their helmets so that they could just wear it out with them. Ajan Napisa and I sang songs while we all took turns with the super size mortar and pestle to keep the beat up. Finally, it was time to go. I took some of the ____ and an organically grown cucumber back to my host mom, which I think she really enjoyed!
After dinner, I waited at the temple for some friends to go to the sauna with, when the abbot, or head monk, strolled by. He stopped for a while, and we had a great conversation! I was so nervous to be in his presence, but he was really a great man. I found out later that he sat with Burgundy and Skylar for over an hour working on their Thai with them!
One steamy sauna session later, our grope took a leisurely stroll back. Tim's host dad produced yet another bottle of rice whiskey to pass around. That, with the ever-present cloud fiesta and mountains gave us a sense of the subtle beauty of village life, unknown to much of the world. With the added bonus of a full moon and the promise of a storm to come, it was truly awe inspiring. When we got back we met up with more people at Tim's host family's house, and we hung out there, they even gave us more whiskey and made us some food! They were so accommodating!
The party continued until about 9, when half the group left to go to bed. The other half of us went out to the rice paddies to hang out in the moonlight. Yet another amazing night in Thailand!
Wednesday, 8/25/10
Up at 6am [ugh!] for the offering to the monks, we were excited but crazy tired! Our family didn't come, so we didn't know what was happening or what we were supposed to do. It was cool to watch, although because our family didn't come so we had no food to offer. FROWN! We went back and showered before breakfast [gai yang/grilled chx] and class. Again I was super tired in culture class, and luckily our Thai language teachers let us out early so I had a great nap in the temple before lunch of fried chicken, rice, veggies, sweet peas, bananas in their natural size-small, sticky corn, and packets of sweet rice given to us by the monks [badass! They can't keep food for very long so after this morning's crazy amounts of food, they were okay to share!]. Then we were off to another village to see the sights. First was a brass hairpin maker. He and his daughter are the last 2 metal workers in the area, and he has been honored many times, even by the king! His wife weaves bags, and I got a cute gold and burgundy one. We saw a few more shops, and then went on to see Wat Buddha-En. The story is that the Buddha went there and was thirsty, and from where they gave him water there has since been a continuous stream of water, which scientists have repeatedly tested and have found pure enough to drink - which we did! You're supposed to make a wish first, but I wasn't aware so I guess my real wish was "please let me not get sick from this!". It was pretty delicious, I must say. Very watery! The temple was really cool, it contained 10 scenes depicting the Buddha's previous ten lives. After this we moved on to Wat Gong Gaan. This Wat was about 700 years old, and was so cool! I had the chance to meditate before we went on an adventure! As Cornelio says in this Antonio Banderas voice, "adventure is my passion!". We went through a corn field, crossed a rickety bridge that could only hold ten people at a time, up a muddy slope, then took stairs further up to the top of the mountain. Whew! We were all sweaty, but none more so than Cornelio and Matt, who decided it would be "fun" to RUN up all those steps! The sights were breathtaking [there has been a lot of taking-of-breath on this trip]!! You could see the whole village, the river, the mountains, the fields, the Wats, everything! Definitely worth the exercise! It was a lot easier going down [although I thought I was going to fall down the muddy part], and then after we rounded everyone up we went Mae Chaem Market. It was cool; Baeng bought me this crepe-esque-waffle-thing with banana creme, raisins, and chocolate - yum! We came back to the village, and I had a great shower ['ab naam' in Thai, in the village my ab naam took the form of a bucket of water and a dish used to pour the water…not as bad as it sounds, although I never felt truly clean..probably because I didn't have a washcloth or loofah to scrub with], then laid down in my bath cloth [a piece of fabric sewed into a circle, which you wrap around you and tuck in like a towel] when all of a sudden our grandma busts in [followed by grandpa] to bring us belts to go with our traditional skirts. Apparently it was time to get dressed! Mae Pah and Granny helped us get our skirts right, and then we were off to the temple to kick off the paa baa. At the temple we met up with the grope and took some pictures. It was cool to see everyone in traditional garb! Tim's outfit was unfortunately thick AND had shoulder pads :(. Some of us put flowers in our hair, as the Thais do, and then we danced and played instruments down to the concrete bridge and then back again to the temple. I held the hand of little Fohd, the cute little boy who was somehow related to us, either son of my Mae or grandson…or nephew. Not quite sure. He's super shy so this was the first time I got to really be near him without him hiding behind Mae's skirts. We danced around the temple three times [3 is the magic number in Buddhism, representing the Buddha, the Dharma his teachings, and his followers, the monks] with the money tree [students and villagers donated money and robes to the monks. The money we raised would be used for a toilet for the monks, as well as improving the public restrooms in the village. Because the money can't actually be held by the monks, a committee oversees everything. After our third round we danced into the temple where we then knelt for the ceremony. Pete represented the group for the process, lucky him! Girls aren't allowed to touch the monks, nor can we directly hand anything to a monk, it must go through a male intermediary. It went well, there was a bit of changing, then we poured water while all holding the elbows of those in front of us, making a chain throughout the temple so we were all linked in a single blessing. This symbolized the sharing of the boon [we got a merit for the donations, which could then be shared with one's ancestors in the pouring water ceremony] and really showed the sense of unity present. After the ceremony was done, I took a picture with a family who wanted a picture with me, and we all hung out until it was announced that although he couldn't give us souvenirs [because he couldn't own anything and had no money to spend], the village abbot hand hand made us bracelets. He and some elders put them on us [one white, one pink] and blessed us. Awesome! That wrapped up the ceremony, and it was back home for some yummy dinner [pad thai!] followed by a dessert of guava and bananas. Yum! Then while we were journaling/reading, our host sister brought Fohd up and I got to hold him! He was the cutest thing, resting his head on my shoulder and holding my hand. Aww!
After a bit, we went and got Champ, Tyler, and Tim [as well as a mat, whiskey, and a giant candle], then headed to Kathryn's to hang out for a while with the group before we went back out to the paddy fields with a few more people. It was MUCH better with a mat, and we lit the candle, setting the mood to beautiful, but eerie, under the full moon. Ghost stories were called for, and Tyler succeeded in scaring the pants off myself and Jenny, as well as creeping out the rest of the group [for your sake, dear reader, I won't repeat the tale here!]. We talked about other paranormal encounters and other topics, but no one could top Tyler, and soon half of us decided it was time for bed. I swore up and down that I would have to cry myself to sleep curled up in my blankie, but as it turns out no tears were necessary - I was out the moment my head hit the pillow!
Thursday, 8/26/10
Today was KILLER to get up! Breakfast was on amazing porridge-y dish of rice with garlic and bits of meat [probably chicken]. With it was another fried whitefish-yum! Then we had both of our classes, then lunch of rice, pad thai, and another unidentifiable dish of yum as well as plenty of fruit, which we learned the names of in class…SO delicious! Mangoes, rambutans, oranges, pineapple, bananas, and more! Following lunch we had a break, then observed cotton weaving [amazing-I even saw a lady hand-weaving the intricate design for the bottom of a custom-ordered sarong, with real silver string woven into the design!], coconut leaf weaving [I braided myself a headband], and fresh crab paste making around the village. The crab paste was made at my house, and we even got to go into the rice paddies to catch the crabs ourselves! I didn't want to catch any, but I did splash in the mud! Then I made my Mae proud by grinding up the live crabs [although every once in a while some mush would squirt outlaw!], which were mixed with leaves for flavoring, and then stored overnight. The next morning the concoction would be boiled into a black sticky mess that was crab paste! After everyone left, I ab-naamed and had a nap before dinner and quality time with the family. We played "set" [a card game], then played with Fohd for a while before going out for the evening. He is honestly the cutest thing alive! I WANT HIM!
The party was at Kathryn's again, so we all hung out there for a long time and, as Cornelio said, 'painted the town red!'. After a while, the parents were ready for bed, so we moved to Maggie's for a few minutes before we wen tout to the paddy again- this time with the WHOLE group! It was insane and out of control, so as soon as I found other people ready to go back, I headed home.
Friday, 8/27/10
Another 8am morning followed by our 2 classes, although culture class was shaken up by us going to the daycare to hang out. The kids were so cute! A bunch of them pulled Nathan down and enjoyed going crazy with him, and were so riled up that they tried to pull down Matt's shorets when he got there. A lot of the kids were really shy, but they danced for us, and we sang the ABCs with them. Because it was a Friday, they were all wearing little matching traditional clothes - adorable! Even though he had just declared children to be "tiny demons waiting to be realeased", Tim quickly found a little cutie who he held the ENTIRE time! When we left, the kid just sat where we had put him and stared. So cute!
After class, of course, was lunch, and then all the Thai Buddies except Champ wen tback to Payap-sad! Then we went to the Raks Thai (love Thai) foundation to learn about their foundation, which had been taking us around to all of our activities. The RTF has helped many of the ethnic groups in the mountains to earn a living and learn to subsist on their own agriculture. I was so tired that I dozed off during the presentation (oops!), but soon we were up with the Karen (kah-ren, not my mother...) peoples, the largest minority that inhabits the mountains of the North. They took us around and showed us their trees (they're important, mostly because the roots help prevent erosion), we forded the river (really shallow, not too tough at all, but quite fun!). The Karen have a mixed belief system of Animism and Buddhism, later melded with Christianity thanks to the missionaries. Two of their more interesting rituals involve trees. The first is that trees can be ordained as monks (Buddhist, obviously), and because they are monks they cannot be hurt! These trees have orange fabric tied around them like a belt to show their importance. The other tradition is Animist; when a baby is born, it's umbilical cord is tied around a tree, and from that day on there is a bond between the spirit of the tree and the person. The person cares for the tree and protects it, and in return the spirit of the tree, like the dryads of the West, commonly female, will protect the person. Really cool! After that they showed us their cash crop fields (not as entertaining when you live in a cornfield, but beautiful because they were on the slopes of the mountains), then to 7-11, where Champ and I got matching banana creme, raisin, and condensed milk "crepes" (they're really quite good!) before we went back to the village. After a shower and a quick rest, our Mae got us dressed for the going away party. We went, and after playing with Fohd for a bit, we sat in a circle, and the village elder blessed us with a song that calls 32 Kwan (good spirits) to us to protect us and give us happiness. After, our Maes tied parts of the string used in our blessing circle around our wrists so we could carry the blessing with us (the bracelets are wracking up!). Then came a yummy dinner, followed by a cultural talent exchange. The village kids danced traditional dances for us. They were so cute, all dressed up in traditional garb, with their hair and make-up done! Our host sister was the youngest and at the very front, we were so proud! Next came Gina, hula-hooping to one of Cornelio's Bolivian songs - that girl has so much talent! She can do the craziest things! We had a series of following talents, Bupe & I taught the Macarena (we pulled up kids from the village and students, and even our Mae came up!), Tim sang, 2 kids did fake Thai boxing, we did the Hokey Pokey, Cornelio did a traditional Bolivian rain dance (which Tyler, Matt, and Rob attempted to mimic...to our great amusement!), the kids sang a traditional song about Mae Chaem, and we finished it off by attempting to sing a Thai children's song. Luckily they chimed in so it wasn't too awful! :) The adults started leaving then, so we played a game with the children, but I was pretty wiped so I headed home after not too long to pack and go to bed.
Saturday, 8/28
We rose, showered, ate, and then met at the temple at 9:45. There we took pictures with our Maes, and it was very sad. Our Mae gave Skylar, Burgundy, and I cute scarves! Many of the other students got gifts as well, some scarves, some traditional shirts, etc. We were sad to go, but before long we were on our way home. Luckily there were only a few people in my van, so I got to stretch out and sleep! We stopped twice, once in the pouring rain at a covered Hmong market (potty break!), and another time at a gas station. I mostly just slept! After getting back and showering, we headed to Carrefour to pick up some things, before dinner and going out to celebrate our return to Chiang Mai! I had an amazing time in Mae Chaem, and wouldn't have missed this opportunity for the world! I am glad to be back at Payap, but Mae Chaem was beyond words! Rob is planning on going back for fall break, but I have the islands in mind...we'll see if next semester brings me back to bucket ab naams and rice whiskey!
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