Back from a wonderful few weeks in the mountains of Mae Hong Son Province. It went so quickly- I cannot believe it is already over and almost time for our last course! Yikes.
We started and ended the trip with an extremely windy 8 to 10 hour bus ride to the small city of Mae Hong Son from Chiang Mae, and on the way there, I am pretty sure that we rode the World's Slowest Bus. It was truly shocking. But we made it there without it breaking down, so that's a bonus. The next day, my group had another crazy drive, only this time in four-wheel drive trucks along partially paved roads on beautiful (but so windy) mountain roads and ridges. It is the only road that connects the villages to the city, and most people drive it on motorbike. I can hardly imagine. Oi.
Before we got to our first village, we had two meetings: one with the NGO that does a lot work with the Karen villages that we would be staying with, and one with the government subdistrict office. It was really interesting to have these meetings back to back and to compare their (often contradictory) answers. But before I get too carried away, here's a bit of background on the Karen villages: all of the ones we stayed in were around 30 household or less, 3 out of 5 have community based tourism (CBT) set up, and they all rely on swidden agriculture as their main form of subsisitence. Swidden refers to a slash and burn style of agriculture done on the slopes of the mountains. It involves farming one plot of land for one year, then letting it lye fallow for around ten years before farming it again. The idea is to let the forest reclaim the land, and usually it does, allowing it to be a pretty sustainable system (as long as the population is not too big). One day, we went out into the Rai (ag plots) of Huay Hee village and did a biodiversity study on 5 different fallow plots- one that had been fallow for 1 yr, 3 years, 5 years, 8 years, and 25 years. Each plot had such different vegetation and it was really interesting to see how swidden agriculture affects the landscape.
But anyways, our first village stay was in Huay Tong Kaw (village of fan palms) were I stayed with Pawti and Mugaw and their two year old son. They have 3 other kids, but they are all off in the cities studying (either in Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai, or Bangkok). This was a pretty common trend throughout our trip- the Thai government requires that all citizens graduate from 12th grade, but there are hardly any schools in the villages (and practically none past 6th grade), so pretty much all kids go into the city. It is a pretty interesting predicament, with most students acquiring debt and not being able to return to village life becuase they must work int he cities to pay off their debt... but that's a story for another day.
Huay Tong Kaw was a wonderful little village. One day I went with Pawti and Mugaw to their rai where we (tried to) help harvest rice. It was pretty ridiculous though, I could hardly walk up and down the slope without slipping and falling every few minutes, while of course Mugaw and Pawti never fell once and worked 4 times faster than us. Per usual. Everyday in the villages was full of new sights and beautiful mountain scenery. Their Rai was right along a river bed which had since been planted with paddy rice (different from upland rai rice) and it looked like a flowing golden river of rice. Other highlights of the village was learning traditional blacksmithing, herbal medicine, basket weaving with bamboo, and trying to learn a traditional Karen song. Sidenote: bamboo is the greatest- you can really make anything out of it, i.e. cups, floors, walls, baskets, twist ties, steamers... the possibilities are endless!
The average morning in each village consisted of waking up around 5:30 or 6 (but reallly being awake since around 4 from the roosters). Usually, we went to stay warm by the fire in the main part of the house- turns out it gets REALLY cold at night, as in wool hat and socks status. who knew? Some mornings, we would help pound rice or cook breakfast, or sometimes just simply sit by the fire. It was always a pleasant start to the day. I think I like the village sleep schedule- early to bed and early to rise, with a consistent afternoon nap. Premium.
My favorite event of the Huay Tong Kaw was a cultural exchange. the villagers and students took turns performing different dances, songs, etc. So obviously we taught them the makareena, some Cat Stevens, but most importantly the Limbo. We got the villagers to join us, and it was such a scene, complete with traditional Karen garb, the medicine man and his wife limboing, and all the village kids. Such a good image.
The next day we hiked through many different forest types, across a few rivers to Huay Hee (about 6-8 hours away when we walked with our packs). This village was the first to do CBT in the area, and it definitely felt more like bed and breakfast than a host family. But what can you do- we tried to help cook and wash dishes, but we really had to force ourselves in. While in Huay Hee, we had midcourse seminar on the nearby mountain , Doi Pui. It was absolutely beautiful as it is the second tallest point in Thailand with some awesome panoramas.
Next we hiked over Doi Pui's adjacent ridges and through a bamboo forest to Nam Hoo, a tiny village of about 10 household with a fictional backdrop of mountains, caves, and tropical folliage. I think this was my favorite village. Stayed with the cutest 29 year old whose husband and son live in the city during the week. Her house was made entirely out of bamboo, palm leaves, and a bit of hardwood and it had a sunporch that looked out on the mountains. It was wonderful. we spent a day with her cutting firewood from the forest, visiting the village cave, harvesting herbs from the rai, and taking a shower in a tiny waterfall. Overall, great life experiences and a beautiful village with lovely people.
Unfortunately, we were only there for two nights before we moved on to Hua Nam. Highlights from Hua Nam include weaving lessons, more rice harvesting, seeing a tarantula in the road then seeing the largest regular spider of my life next to my bed, and eating wild boar. The next village was Pakalo, which is only about 5 k from the town of Mae Hong Son, and it is accordingly developed. All of the villages had their defining characteristics and it was so cool to be able to see them all one after another.
Now we're back in Chiang Mai for a week until the Oceans course. Holy moly this is going much too fast.
Thai Thai for now,
Hannah
