Village Life

As you know, I was quickly introduced to village life upon my arrival, so I figured I would fill you in on what it's all about.

The villages we have been visiting are generally accessible by four wheel drive truck only and are up to 45 minutes off of a regular road. So getting there involves piling into the back of a truck, holding on tight, and preparing yourself to jump in the event you roll off the side of a mountain or a bridge gives way! It's fun, trust me.

The villages we've seen are made up of about 10-25 houses. All are pretty primitive. The houses are made of teak or bamboo and are all open air. Most consist of one or two large rooms and a porch out front. We've just been sleeping on the floor under mosquito nets. Each village also has it's own personal zoo, which without fail, wakes you up at 4:00 am every morning. Between roosters, dogs, pigs, and small children, it's quite the wake up call!

Bathrooms are fun too! Squat toilets get very interesting when trying to balance with wet flip flops on. I'm anticipating an injury in the near future. It brings back memories of Nepal, and reminders that my quad strength has dwindled since the ride last summer.

Most of the villages have no electricity and run off of solar cells.

Overall, the villages have been really receptive to us coming in to help. An interesting situation came up the other day though when we went to a village that is becoming a popular stop on trekking routes. We explained to the head of the village that we would like to come in and do a service project for them. They were excited about this, but told us that we would have to pay to come into the village. Apparently, trekking companies have been coming through, so the village is capitalizing on this. They had a hard time understanding at first that our intentions were different and we would be spending lots of money on the project, so it wasn't right to charge us an entry fee as well. We aren't sure if we will end up sending students to this village or not, but it definitely led to an interesting discussion........

We had the opportunity to visit our friend Bay's village as well. Bay is one of the Thai staff, and one of Jason's best friends over here. He will be guiding with us on all of our trips this summer. He's crazy! Pretty much the funniest, most upbeat guy ever. We're really excited to have him on our trips. We went to his village the other day and got to meet his mom. His mother makes the most beautiful bags and clothing, embroidered in traditional Akha style. I had told Bay I wanted to get a bag and he said I should get one from his mom. When we went to the village, he mentioned this to her, and she got out a bag to show me. Unlike many villages, where the woman want to sell you things, Bay's mom almost disregarded the fact that this was an opportunity for her to make money. Instead, she simply wanted to show me her work. She proceeded to pull out a closet full of clothing that she has stitched for Bay and his future wife to wear on their wedding day. Apparently, the women begin working on this as soon as the children are born. It was really cool to see how proud both she and Bay were of her work. I did end up buying a bag from her as well!

That's all for now. Time to go pack for the islands..........!!!!

written by  brookejason on June 16, 2009 from Chiang Rai, Thailand
from the travel blog: Thailand 2009
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