Northern Thailand

Well well my friends...

It has been one looooong bumpy drive, and worth every bit of it. We started off with a ride up to Chiang Mai where Daeng, our driver/tour guide picked us up in his cushy 4wd (yay for air-con!). We took a quick tour around Chiang Mai and headed to Doi Suthep. It was up this massive hill, and there were a whole raft of people biking up there!! CRAZY! At the moment Northern Thailand is in it's dry season and are in the middle of doing their crop burn-outs so the sky is filled with smoke and visibility isn't very good. We could still see a lot of the town though. It's remarkable how the style of temple here is different from the south, where in the north most temples have Naga Steps (two snakes running down the stairways).





We then took a massive trip to Mae Sariang. We passed a temple having a celebration for the opening of a new building, so we had a look in. I dont think the village ever had tourists, because little old ladies were getting up off their chairs and craning their necks just to get a look at us. It was pretty cool, they had a boxing ring set up for later in the evening, and had three stages set up for plays and singing and dancing. We also made our way to Ob Luang, a popular camping spot for thai people, with a canyon and nature hikes. In the 1980's (I think) anthropologists found prehistoric remains there, and cave paintings.




We got to Mae Sariang eventually and watched a terrible movie and went to sleep. The next day we met up with Pat's other tour group - 3 Americans and a Norwegian (a father and his 2 kids, and his son's girlfriend). Pat and a driver (dont know his name) are lookng after that group and Daeng is staying with us but we're doing roughly the same tour so we'll bump into them a lot. We first went to a museum about the hilltribes, and found a place with weird swings. Then we went to a small village where Pat had heard that there was a ceremony/celebration to ordain men into monkhood. This meant the whole village would get together and cook up a storm, and the monks-to-be would get dressed up in silly clothing as a last hurrah before settling into serious monk life. A band was set up consisting of the older village men and a vast array of loud percussion instruments. Our American amigos had a blast trying every single instrument, while Stacy was hauled up to dance and wasnt allowed to leave until the song was done, and he had his taste of rice-whisky moonshine. This black toothed little old man who spoke no english whatsoever decided we had to try his jungle tobacco, which is a cigarette made in the old Northern Thai style, tobacco wrapped in a banana leaf, and is sealed with Bael fruit sap (I think he didnt have any Bael fruit on him though, because we had to hold it together). It was so lovely, they showed us the giant pots they were cooking in, and tried to explain all the food. A lady had a giant pot of coconut flavoured icecream and there were people constantly handing you icecreams. There was a fair bit of gesturing and miming what we were trying to say, as most people didnt speak english, but it was the greatest day! As we left people ept wanting to shake our hands and thanked us for coming, which was nuts because we felt honoured to have been invited to come!!







We then took a tour of a coffee plantation. This plantation actually supplies Starbucks with their fair trade coffee (16 tonnes of it this year anyway). It was the nicest coffee, and then they took us down to see the plants, explained how they process it, and showed the other plants and things they grew there (mushrooms, macadamia nuts, chickens, pigs, etc).




They took us up to a hilltop to see the view, and to do a bit of thai-boarding... The local kids go up to this spot, where the pine needles fall from the trees making it slippery. Using their mats from home they slide down the hill. We could only go a short distance because it wasnt really the right season, but it was heaps of fun :D



On the way back we stopped at a local village where their only power came from solar energy, and it was only really enough for a couple of lightbulbs each - no fridge, tv, or computer! The kids in the village were pretty much freaking out that we were there (the norwegian is blonde!) and gathered around to have a look. We were invited into this lady's house, which was such a great opportunity! She was quite excited when I asked if I could take her picture and ran to get her pipe, and wanted me to be in the picture with her. She showed us how she used her loom for weaving, and let us into her house. I wonder if they have huge fire issues, as they have open fireplaces in the middle of their wooden houses, but when I ask the question people always just smile and shrug.





After that we went to Ban La Up, this awesome village high in the hills. We stayed there in a homestay with the village silversmith. They are such an awesome family. Lah is their youngest son, and he speaks english really well because he spends a lot of time with the missionaries that come by. It was great to have someone local to sit and talk with, and not just about his village and Thai culture, but about regular stuff like dirtbiking and coin collecting. Me and stace both wanted to learn how to make our own silver ring, so Lah's dad took us through step by step with Lah and Daeng translating. It starts off with a mixture of pure and nearly pure silver being measured out so the right percentage is reached. We then put the silver into a crucible and heat with a blow torch (foot/pedal powered!) until the silver is molten and liquid. We then pour it into a watery mould, shaped like a line. Then take the cooled line of silver and beat it with a hammer until it is a rectangular prism. We then measure it so that it's the right width and length, and put it through a flattening machine. We then take the flattened strip and beat it with a buffalo-horn hammer into a ring shape. Then we beat it a bit more for good measure. Then Lah's dad put silver shavings into the gap and heated it until it welded the join together. All we had to do now was file away any rough edges, make sure the ring was even on all sides, and sand it. As a final touch we scraped it with a wire brush and then polished it. And it only took 3 hours :D






The La Up village is so peaceful and quiet, and the family we stayed with were so nice. Their Oma is 90-something and still running around :D






Wow, nearly up to date! Today we left the homestay and went to the Karen Village. On the way we bumped into this monkey:




The Karen/Paduang people are most commonly known as the "Long-Necks". It was a bit weird going there. They are obviously used to tourists coming and gawping at them, and have made selling tactics purely for them. It definitely wasnt like any other village we've been to, where people are as interested in you as you are in them, and there's an exchange of ideas and smiles. At the Karen village it really felt like everyone was trying to sell you something, and that's all they were interested in, which is understandable, but a pity. I didn't really just want to go there and take pictures, I wanted to talk to the people and learn a bit more about them, but they would divert the conversations back to selling their goods. They would gesture to us to sit with them for a photo, and then talk about the goods they were selling, so you felt a bit like you had to buy something. One lady was quite nice and explained a bit about her rings, and another had a costume set of rings and clothing for me to put on for a picture. There are actually two tribes of people there, one with the neck rings, and the other with earrings which cause their ears to stretch like flesh tunnels.







And now we're all up to date!!
We have another 3 days up north, then around a day in Bangkok before we fly out to Japan! Thailand has been so amazing - the people are lovely, the food is fantastic, and the culture is just amazing! I'll definitely be sad to go :(

till the next update!
xx Laura