Mae Nam Khun

This past weekend Dan and Anna joined six Cal Poly engineering students and traveled to a small rural village in the hills of northern Thailand, Mae Nam Khun, near the Burmese border. It is considered a hill-tribe village because the people who live there are not really of Thai ethnicity. For this village the residents included Chinese, Lahu, and Akha tribe members, and they predominantly farm tea for a living. We mostly stayed with and worked with the Lahu people; Cha-Sha-La means Hello (and Goodbye) in Lahu. Most of these tribal settlements started as refugee villages when people were kicked out of other countries (usually China).
Our Goal in Mae Nam Khun was to work on two engineering projects, one ongoing and one just beginning. The existing project involved design and installation of a water filtration system on the overlooking hillside. It mechanically and biologically filters water that comes down to the village via a set of water tanks on the hilltop (pumped from some river as near as we could tell). We successfully added a flow restrictor valve to make the filter easier for the villagers to use and modify. The second project was to explore the feasibility of implementing an alternative trash processing method. The current methods involve burying trash in the jungle, dumping it in the river, or burning it in or near the home. We collected data on what is in their trash (a lot of plastic, foil, and, and ag waste), how often it is eliminated (many homes burn their trash on a weekly basis), what health problems arise from the practice (burning trash in or near one's home has very bad effects on respiratory systems and buried trash can cause harmful agents to seep into the river). We will summarize our trash findings in a report and make a recommendation on alternative processing technologies (e.g., burn with an air filter) to the Cal Poly Engineers Without Borders student club.
Anna got to participate in all of the activities, including hiking up to the water filter, surveying villagers, and sifting through trash. We slept on mats in a small dormitory (two-story thatched hut). The little kids of the village were constantly staring and giggling at the white visitors (us), especially Anna and her blonde hair. Overall, we learned a lot, got to talk (somewhat) to some of the villagers, ate lots of 5 Bhat (about $0.15) ice cream cones, and had an amazing ride in the back of a pickup through the beautiful highlands of Northern Thailand.

Max's birthday

Max turned 7 yesterday! While Dan and Anna were off visiting a hill tribe village in the mountains (working on a project for Engineers without Borders), Max got to plan the day for us. So we started the day with breakfast at his favorite breakfast place (french toast with mangoes), then we went off to the zoo again. Although it was a pretty hot day, we trekked around to see all the animals of his choice, and since they are a bit looser with regulations here, there are often opportunities to feed the animals with food purchased by people stationed by the animal's area. So Max got to feed an elephant, some giraffes, and a hippo. Then we saw an animal show, and a seal show, topping the day off with several fishy-smelling birthday kisses from the seal. Dan and Anna returned in time for dinner at his favorite dinner place, with presents from everyone. All in all, not a bad day.

To see what else we're up to, we have posted new pictures on our share site at: http://lonswaywaldorfsinthailand.shutterfly.com/ They are from Ginger, and they cover our daily life, as well as some past activities like Easter brunch and Songkran festivities. Just a few more days here in Chiang Mai, and then we leave for the weekend in Sukothai, and the next few weeks in Nong Kai, on the banks of the Mekong River across from Laos. Hope everyone is doing well at home!

Songkran

Sawatdee Be Mai khop! That means (I think) Happy New Year in Thai. Songkran is their three-day new years festival that we helped usher in on Monday with the Chiang Mai Songkran parade through town. It is insane. It is like a regular parade, but under water. There are bands, floats, dancing girls, banners, costumes. Many of the floats have a shrine with a Buddha statue. Apparently, Songkran is the one time of year when the Buddha statues get washed, so the Thais all get a bucket of water and douse the statue as it’s going by on the float. There are a lot of Thais and a lot of buckets of water. And the poor guy (or monk) who is responsible for wiping off each Buddha statue gets entirely soaked – for about 5 hours. And this is just the start of the water throwing. It has become tradition also to throw water on each other as a sign of good luck for the new year. Since it is generally hot, this is a nice refreshing tradition. To a point. After five hours of constant spraying from squirt guns, buckets, cups, hoses, barrels, and sprinklers, we felt very blessed by the Thais. Since we got to march in the parade (with the University International Center) we got much attention, and water. It was an amazing, crazy experience.

For the remainder of the three day holiday, there are constant roving gangs of street thugs who ride in the back of pick-up trucks and dump water on whomever they can. Shop owners set up a barrel of water in front of their store and douse anyone walking by. Kids all have squirt guns and feel obliged to spray you as you go about your activiites. Even little old ladies, seemingly so innocent, typically have a bucket of water nearby and will politely wish you well as they pour a cup of cold water down your back. Our group of family and Cal Poly students are taking turns going out and participating in the madness and hiding out in the relative safety of our hotel. Happy New Year!

Easter

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. The Easter Bunny did not exactly find us in our hotel room here in Chiang Mai, but we did go for a terrific Easter brunch at a local restaurant. They had all kinds of food, most including fried pork, but also lots of desserts and fruit. Ana and Max got to play some traditional Easter games like hunting for Easter eggs and trying to put the egg on a Coke bottle with chopsticks. Catherine (my mom) went to an Easter worship service and learned how the Thais are constantly finding ways to pay respect to their elders: asking for blessings, advice, etc. She is starting to feel a bit entitled to some extra respect just by virtue of her wisdom and experience in the world. All in all, it was a nice holiday, and by the end we were all getting ready for Songkran (Thai New Year) by spraying water on each other.

Pictures, pictures, pictures

We have posted quite a few new pictures from our adventures here in Thailand at our Shutterfly site:

http://lonswaywaldorfsinthailand.shutterfly.com/559.

There is an album for our visit to Doi Ithanon National Park, where we visited with two hill tribes. First, we visited a Hmong village where the Chief spoke to us (through a translator) and we watched a traditional dance with a unique musical instrument. Then we hiked down the mountain to a Karen village (with a break to swim under a waterfall), where we stayed in fantastic accommodations developed as an ecotourism project, with support provided by the King of Thailand. We were also treated to a show there, with music and dancing.

Next we visited the King's Garden. The King and Queen of Thailand have done an extraordinary amount of work -- funded with their own personal money -- to support development and sustainability for the hill tribes. This garden is on the site of an extensive agricultural research station, developing new products and technologies for hill tribe people. Where they used to slash-and-burn the forests and grow poppies for the opium trade, they now grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers -- and host ecotourism like the village where we stayed.

On the way home, we got to ride elephants -- the main reason the kids wanted to come to Thailand. Elephants have been used in Thailand for many purposes, and most recently for logging. However, now that logging has been curtailed significantly in the interest of sustainability, many elephants are out of work and now give rides to "farang" (foreigners) like us. Finally, there are pictures from ziplining. Dan, Grandma, and the kids took a day trip to the "Flight of the Gibbon," where they did ziplining, rappelling, and hiked to a waterfall. Way to go, Grandma!

Life in Chiang Mai

Life in Chiang Mai is excellent. The weather is warm and a bit humid, but not uncomfortable (at least most of the time -- yesterday was pretty hot). There is usually a slight breeze that moves through all of the open-air buildings, including our guest house. I have posted a few new pictures at our site, including another temple (wat) and the night market here in town:

http://lonswaywaldorfsinthailand.shutterfly.com/

Our neighborhood is near Chiang Mai University, and we are told that it is somewhat "trendy." On every block, there are adorable cafes, restaurants, and bars, and we want to try every one of them. The food is consistently fabulous, whether it is Thai or western. While Dan and I could eat Thai food every meal, we do try to make sure the kids get some more familiar fare as well. Yesterday we had "breakfast for lunch," with pancakes, french toast, and eggs -- almost all served with mangos, which are in season and absolutely incredible. We can't get enough of them.

We cannot believe how much English there is on signs and menus, and most Thai people can at least manage in English, so we do not have to embarass ourselves with our extremely limited knowledge of Thai language and a game of charades. At least in Chiang Mai, life is very easy for us "farang" (the Thai word for "foreigners"). Oh, did I mention that the coffee is great ... ?!