The Land of Northern Thai... and I

The Countryside just outside of Pai, Mae Hong Son Province

I don’t know how to start this post off other than to say that I LOVE THE LAND OF NORTHERN THAI. I love it. I can’t believe I have lived in this country for over 10 months and this past holiday was my first visit to this beautiful place. I got up to Chiang Mai after a long morning and afternoon of travels. The easiest/quickest way to get up there from where I am is to take a mini-bus three hours south and then fly from Hat Yai directly to Chiang Mai, which is a two hour flight. Since I only had 9 days and wanted to make the most of them, flying was the only option. Plus,  although I wasn’t aware of the severity at the time, bus and train routes to Chiang Mai shut down around that time due to all the flooding. Anyhow, the method of transportation to and from Northern Thailand was just about all the planning I had done for this trip, aside from jotting down a few things into my journal regarding what I wanted to do/see based on word of mouth. I was so excited! 

For the record, 9 days to explore all one would like to explore in Northern Thailand just isn’t enough. There are three provinces I really wanted to see: Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, and Chiang Rai- all three border Burma and they are supposed to be some of the most breathtaking places in Thailand. I only made it to two of them- Chiang Mai, where I stayed in Chiang Mai proper, and Mae Hong Son, where I stayed in a little bohemian town up a windy, windy, windy road up in the mountains called Pai. From these two bases, we explored many other parts of the provinces.

Literally, as soon as I got to the actual city of Chiang Mai from the airport, I was blown away by the place. Everything about the north was breathtakingly beautiful- everywhere I went, every place I explored, I was in love. The skies, the landscape- terraced rice fields, lush mountains, jungle giving way to a more temperate terrain as the elevation increases- and the people are different. I can’t really say what it is exactly. Walking down the streets, exploring the jungle, mountains, and countryside,  meeting people- there’s simply a different energy than down here in the south.

So what I did was write down my “List of things to do in the Land of Northern Thai” verbatim, and then below each one, I commented on the experience (or lack thereof, as there just wasn’t enough time to get to everything and I added a few other things on the way.)

1.    Take a Thai cooking class.

      DID IT! And I loved it. I was trying to decide whether to do a course in Chiang Mai or in Pai, and eventually went with Pai. I’m glad I did- there were only four people total with one chef who was just lovely. First, we went to the evening market for a little lesson on essential fresh ingredients- galanga, ginger, tamarind, mushrooms, shallots, onions, garlic, chili peppers- how much, what kinds, etc. Then, the cooking began. I made Som Tam, Red Curry (even the curry paste- people complain about it, but I thought it was fun), Tom Kha Gai, and Cashew Chicken. Obviously, it was all amazing, because I cooked it. I learned a lot, laughed, and ate. Perfect.

At the Market

I made Som Tam! Yum!

Making Red Curry Paste

Me and My Tom Kha Gai

Red Curry and Cashew Chicken!

2.    See the tigers and hug one.

DIDN’T DO IT. I couldn’t- or wouldn’t- after the elephant experience. I just didn’t have it in me. I would love to touch and be around tigers for a day. But not at their expense. Life is full of double standards, I know, and this is one, because I do other things that are not animal friendly, like eat them (not tigers, but other animals, clearly.)

3.    Ride and elephant.

My Sweet Elephant. Mein.

DID IT. I was really excited about it, and it’s something my mom had me promise her I’d do. It sounds exotic and  unforgettable, and like hugging an orangutan or having a macacque attack you, or getting stung by a jellyfish, it’s something fun to tell people about. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all it cracked up to be. I had been warned about this by a couple people- that people who run these elephant businesses are in it for pure profit and have no regard for the well-being of the animal. I was told to the Elephant Nature Park or Thai Elephant Home were more humane options, as these places are more sanctuaries/reserves for the elephants. But, I didn’t listen. I think it was something I needed to experience for myself. I don’t want to go into it in detail, but my heart hurt for this animal, and I actually got a little teary-eyed afterward. Leaving ethical reasons out of it- it was an experience being atop this giant animal. But I got the same feeling just standing next to her, touching her trunk, and feeding her. They are magnificent animals. And, riding her was rather uncomfortable as we rode bare-back. Actually, it was incredibly uncomfortable unless I was sitting close to her neck. My rump was pretty sore the next day from the spine. Knowing what I know now, I would have just spent the day with one or more on a reserve. I think it would have been a better experience all around. So I did it, but am not proud of it. To anyone thinking about doing it- go to the reserves instead. Sorry mom!

Had to make this photo big so you could see the look of sheer enjoyment on my face. Poor Mein. 

4.    Go to Pai and get my portrait done by the guy on the street

Looks just like me! HA!

DID IT! And loved it. Two teachers came back from Pai with these quirky little portraits they’d had done while in Pai, and I was on a mission to get mine . The second night there, we found him, and for 50 baht, he drew me in his quirky little way. I’m pretty proud of it. Pai was such a great town. I could have stayed there for many more days. I’ve never been any place quite like it, but in some ways, it reminded me of the little towns up on the coast of Northern California by where we have a family house- Inverness, Point Reyes, Bolinas. Very bohemian, very friendly, and when I left, people I’d met were coming out of their shops and waving, like we were old friends. It was a good feeling.

An Evening Shot of Pai

5.    Ziplining through the rainforest.

DID IT! And loved it. It was so much fun, and the views were just spectacular. It was about 1 ½ hours outside of Chiang Mai and we climbed high up into the mountains. Seeing the jungle from above instead of down below presents quite a contrast. I never once felt scared- I think as long as I’m attached to something. I am fine. The guides were thorough with safety and were also incredibly funny and fun.  We did the B course, which had more ziplines, drops, and canopy walks. I loved the getup they put us in also. Definitely recommend it and this company- Jungle Flight.

The Hot Spring @ the National Park

6.    Go to the “Cave Place” where they send you trekking and draw the map for you by hand and you explore alone. (yes, Kevin, after all that work you did for me, this is all I wrote down.)

DIDN’T DO IT. There just wasn’t enough time, and it made me really sad. The Cave Lodge is the name of this place, and I asked about it when we were in Pai. Alec (our guide for the hill tribes and longneck village) knew a lot about it and was pleased that I wanted to go there. I hope I get to someday.

7.    Go trekking/hiking

DID IT… sort of. It was a mix of driving and mild hiking. We went to 2 of the national parks and walked to the hot springs, walked to the villages, and  I explored a lot of Chiang Mai on foot, especially the first day I was there. Once again, it was all about time. This is why I wish I had more of it- another week, and I think that would have been enough.

There were also things that we did that were NOT on my list- as we got to know the area and more about what it had to offer. One of my travel buddies took a massage course. I took one day and dedicated it to exploring Chiang Mai for food (big surprise, right?) since the city is probably one of the more health-conscious parts of Thailand and a lot of the country’s produce and grains come from that area (plus I had a great guide who had lived in Chiang Mai previously!) We also spent one day traveling through the Mae Hong Son province while we were visiting Pai.

One of the most memomarble parts of my trip was not on my list- it was planned while we were staying in Pai. On our second day there is when we decided to take a trek through the Mae Hong Son Province. I think our experience was different than most (or I would like to think that, anyhow), in that it was much more intimate and personal. Our guide, Alec, originally tried to sell us this one-day tour, where you stopped about 7 times, did something like the Chinese fire drill in/around some sight with about 10 other tourists, and then piled back into the car to trek to the next tourist place, stopping at shops along the way. We didn’t bite at the offer, and I could tell he was a bit frustrated- most tourists just book a tour and want to pack as much in as possible. As we talked with him more, he learned we were teachers, that we were living here in Thailand, and he got very enthusiastic. So enthusiastic that he told us HE wanted to be our guide, and he would take us to the Longneck Karen village and to the Lisu village, and then see what else we had time for. “I just get very tired,” he told us, “So I have to make sure I have lots of coffee and be home by six, otherwise I will fall asleep while driving.” Hmm. Okay. Comforting thought. He said that he was friends with the people there and that we would have a good time. He was right.

At the Primary School in the Lisu Village

Alec had asked us to bring biscuits for the children (not because they are starving, just because everyone likes cookies!) that we would be seeing in the villages, so we stopped along the way and bought huge tins of cookies. We stopped at the Lisu village first, and almost immediately went to see their school, where we met the children and the teacher and got to hang out and play. Then after about an hour there, Alec took us to see his friend’s wife, who was sick in bed. She had been for over a month, and Alec said no one could explain what was wrong with her, but that she was paranoid and the spirits kept telling her things and giving her warnings about her and her family. So she was refusing to leave her house. When we met her, she was smiling and came to sit outside a bit with us. My diagnosis: she wasn’t crazy- she was depressed. In rural village terms, she was tormented by spirits. In Californian “there’s a diagnosis for everything” terms, she just seemed like she was unhappy in her life and was depressed. After spending some time with her (she gladly took some cookies as well, by the way), we explored the rest of the village, kids in tow. They followed us everywhere, pointing things out, playing with us, and grabbing our hands. They were all so sweet.

This little girl followed me everywhere- we had a
connection <3

Lisu Children- such Sweethearts!

Lisu Boy

After the Lisu village, we piled back into Alec’s truck and continued another few hours to the original longneck village, stopping for noodles for lunch on the way at a place where Alec is a regular. And he’s a bit older and forgetful, and he forgot to pay them. So on the way back, we stopped again. Getting to the longneck village was rather perilous. It's deep in the jungle, beautfully set but hard to get to. If it rains too much, there’s no way in or out, as you have to cross this river with no bridge- just drive right through the water. If it gets too high, then you’re out of luck. And the roads are dirt/mud and rocky and it’s very easy to get stuck. But we made it. Alec doesn’t really have any teeth, so he was taking a really long time to eat his lunch and told us to go in without him, and to ask for his friend, Maloot, and to give her some lunch, and he handed me a bag of noodles for her. The three of us walked down the dirt road and into the village, which was quite small, maybe a tenth of a mile long? Right away, we found Maloot, a beautiful young and pregnant woman who spoke English impeccably well. She walked us around the village, introducing us to her mother and grandmother and telling us a bit about the history of her village and family.

Maloot's mother

Maloot doesn’t wear the coils around her neck. In fact, most people in the tribe don’t anymore. They are beginning to embrace this change/evolution in their culture. She took her coils off when she was 16, after having them on for about 12 years. Her neck is scarred from infections the heavy decoration caused. It was hard for her mother to accept, but she eventually did.

We came when school was in session, and Maloot took us to the village school. It seriously blew me away. It was in a raised bamboo hut that was divided into classrooms by partitions. The walls left about a two to three foot gap between them and the ceiling, and desks and chairs were fashioned from logs that sat on the floor in a couple of the classrooms. But what was being learned in these classrooms- these children are learning FOUR languages. They study math in English, Geography in Thai, and then they learn their village language and Burmese as well.

Maloot's little cousin who
followed us everywhere

Other members of the village augment
their ears instead of their necks

I probably should have said this previously, but the Thai government does not recognize these people as citizens of their country. Instead, they are deemed refugees, even though their village has been around for generations. As such, they are confined to their village since they do not have Thai ID cards. They cannot get jobs, they cannot leave and go anywhere else (although due to U.N. aid, this is changing). They survive off tourism. And they hadn’t received a donation in over 5 months. You see that they are living on, in spite of the increasingly modernized, westernized world around them, but you also see they are beginning to fade. It isn’t just loss of tradition (there was only one girl of about 30-40 who was wearing the coils on her neck, which, by the way are incredibly heavy. Sometimes, they get up to 15 kilos!)- I really think it’s just that there’s no place for them. And they’re starting to see and know and be educated about the world around them and they want a piece of it. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. I was shocked at how the children are getting a rather good education despite circumstances. Members of the community leave and go to the refugee camp for a few years, and there they receive education and knowledge about the world from U.N. workers and volunteers and then come back to their village to teach.

The School from the Outside

Math Class

Typical Classroom Setup

Another Shot of the Karen Village

I loved sitting and listening, observing the students, and chatting a little bit with the teachers in their “lounge”. No electricity. Nothing on the walls. No books other than workbooks. Yet learning, meaningful learning was taking place.

The wat next to our guesthouse

Blind Musicians at the Night Bazaar

After being in the Mae Hong Son province for a few days, we went back to Chiang Mai. We attended night markets and bazaars, ate delicious food from around the world, and perused many a bookstores. There’s all kinds of great art and this one man sells these great postcards- fabric on cardboard, with little quotes and watercolor paintings on them. I was sad when I reached my last night in Chiang Mai. We went out to Mexican food (SO SO delicious- it was almost like being back in California, no joke, I ate there twice) and had a chili martini at a posh little bar near the university. 

At another Wat during the Street Fair

I really fell in love a little bit with the place.

Longneck Karen Heading Home