This morning we went first to the Hill Tribe Museum and Cultural Center in downtown Chiang Rai for an orientation and overview information session about the various hill tribes that live up in the mountains in this region of Thailand. Many of these tribes have migrated from Myanmar (Burma) and China. They live up in the mountains, in the forested areas. The different tribes have different customs, modes of dress, ways of making their living and different belief systems although most of them are animist. A couple of the tribes, especially the Hmong and Karen have been heavily missionized by Christian missionaries and so tend to be Christian and some of the tribes have absorbed a lot of Thailand’s Buddhism, although they’ve not abandoned their own animist beliefs. The government runs a series of programs through the cultural center to try to improve the conditions for the hill tribes and to help them adjust to modernity while also preserving their own unique culture. They focused initially on family planning - the hill tribe people tend to have many children which only exacerbates their poverty. The government launched a heavy and persistent family planning campaign with the hill tribe people which they call “Cabbages and Condoms” in an effort to promote the use of birth control and safe sexual practices. There are a couple of stores/restaurants called “Cabbages and Condoms” which really go to town with the condom theme, having very funny posters, mugs, glassware all promoting condom use. They adopted the slogan “Our food guaranteed not to make you pregnant.” These shops are part of the government outreach to the hill tribe people and everything sold in the shops is made by the hill tribe people and they get a substantial portion of the revenue from the sale of their goods. The museum has a wonderful exhibit explaining how the hill tribe people have lived in the mountains for centuries, their way of life and their involvement in the opium trade. Many of these tribes were huge producers of poppies until the government outlawed the growing of poppies in Thailand. The tribes themselves suffered from the ravages of opium addiction as well, and the government ban on poppy cultivation is aimed at that as well as at eliminating the illegal drug market for opium.
After we left the cultural center, a guide from the center joined us and we drove up into the hills to visit a village of the Akha tribe. This is a real, living village of Akha tribespeople who make their living farming rice and corn, weaving and making clothing and bags and other textile products and also doing silver smithing, making beautiful silver jewelry that they sell to tourists. At this point, tourism is part of their sources of revenue. They welcome groups like ours to their village to demonstrate how they live and they earn money for their village from the entrance fees and souvenirs that they sell to the tourists. It was like stepping back in time to the days of early cave dwellers when we entered their village. Their homes are all made of bamboo, with no windows. They have dirt floors, and two rooms – one where the men sleep and one where the women sleep and do the cooking. We went into one home and it was amazing to see how completely primitive were the conditions, while at the same time they have a satellite dish with a TV and VCR/DVD player in their little hut! The interior is very dark, lit only by a couple of fluorescent bulbs, one in each room. The combination of modernity and primitive living was a bit disconcerting to say the least. We were shown how they trap animals, with traps they make out of bamboo and metal that they forge. Then some of the women demonstrated one of their traditional dances and several of our group joined in the dance, including Sam! We walked all through the village and saw the church that the missionaries built (a much more modern structure and more solidly built than anything the Akha people live in , I noticed). It was quite an experience to be in the midst of this time warp. It was fascinating to learn from them how they use the various plants and herbs that grow in the mountains for cooking and for medicinal purposes. They truly know the land and know how to live off of it. Their lifestyle is simple and ancient, but with this odd fusion of some aspects of modernity, like the TVs and a plethora of mopeds zipping around the dirt paths. Walking around their village is a workout. They are in the mountains so the little dirt paths that make up their roads are steep, and muddy and rocky. While it is fascinating to learn about their culture and visit the village, I felt like there was nothing to romanticize about their lives. It is a hard life in those mountains, living in small bamboo huts, cooking over open fires inside the huts (with the attendant smoke just part of the atmosphere – useful for discouraging mosquitos) and tending to rice paddies and corn fields spread out over the mountains, a good hike from the village. The children of the village are required to attend Thai schools, but have to get there on their own. There are no schoolbuses, so the families in the village have to provide their own transportation to school. In the area we visited today there are a lot of hill tribe villages so there is a school just for that population not too far away, but for some of the tribes that are more remotely located, it can be a real challenge to get the children to school.
From the village we went to lunch in a lovely restaurant in the mountains where we were seated in an open air dining area with the mountains surrounding us. We returned to our hotel and had a brief break before reconvening for our Thai cooking class. The first part of that class was going to the local market in Chiang Rai to buy the ingredients for the three dishes we were cooking. That market makes most American farmer’s markets look like child’s play! Every imaginable fruit, vegetable, fish and animal product you could think of was there somewhere and the place was bustling with activity. The locals here go to the market every day to get what they need for that night’s meal. The market is open a few hours in the morning and then a few hours in the late afternoon/early evening. When we got back to our hotel from the market the chef showed us how to prepare three different Thai dishes. The food was delicious. A shrimp and pork salad, a chicken in coconut soup, and a green curried beef dish were on the menu. The curried beef dish was HOT but excellent. After cooking the meal, we enjoyed eating it on a veranda at our hotel and then retired early for the evening, much to my relief. These days have been long and exhausting, so I’m looking forward to an early night tonight.
More tomorrow….
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