I would think that, normally, a trip to the border for a visa extension would be a small part of a larger story/blog. In fact the intended two day trip, beginning on Saturday, looked to be going that way. As I arrived last night at 8 pm I realized that this was a story in and of itself. The trip begins, as many have in the past month, in Chiang mai as i got on a scooter to head somewhere for the day off. Since I had to renew my visa, or incur the wrath of imagration at $10 a day per day, I was doing what many travelers do and heading to the northern tip of thailand where the town of Mae Sai sits on the Mekong river across from Mynamar (Burma). I asked people around the gym if I should go through the standard route up the middle through chiang rai or up to the north and west past Mae Salong. Many people agreed it would be "safer" to go the standard, shorter route to chiang rai and then to Mae Sai.
So I set off through the short mountain pass towards Chiang Rai and really enjoyed the first hour. Green mountains, slowly winding curves, rivers and blue skies gave the promise of a great ride. After that the road ran out into open fields and small towns. While still very pleasant I felt that it was a bit mundane compared to Pai or even nearby Chiang Doa. I took my time and stopped in Chiang Rai in the afternoon for an amazing lunch of Penang Kum, curry with shrimp. Altogether the trip was around 270 km's and I arrived in Mae Sai at 4:45. Since all I had to do was walk across the border and back again for my re-entry stamp I figured I had plenty of time. Yet, as I drove up to immagrations a kind but stern guard asked me to return the next day at 8 am. I was initially discouraged but after 10 minutes with my guide book decided I would take the time to venture west in "The golden triangle."
The golden triangle lies 30 Km's west of Mae sai at a point where Thailand, Myanamar and Laos meet along the Mekong river. In the past this area was a massive producer of opium for sale through out asia. Now the area is a center for tourism since they have many hilltribes living in the area. "Hilltribes" is the comman name given to all the groups of people who have migrated across the thai border over the years. They come from Burma, which is now Myanamar, Laos, Tibet and China. Many migrate to avoid violence, persecution and discrimination. That evening I arrived in a small town called Chiang Saen and found a nice guest house. Even as early as 7 pm the town was closing up and it took me a while to find a place that would take the effort to fight through language barriers and feed me. I went to bed early with nothing to really do in town and to get ready for my drive the next day.
In the morning I left early and headed back to the golden triangle and then on to mae sai. Crossing the border wasn't to hard and pretty soon I was on the Myanamar side. They sell everything on that side at about half the cost of thailand. This is great except I hadn't grabbed more money since I'd left Chiang Mai and I only had 1000 baht on me. There are no ATM's on that side of the Mekong I found out so I had to spend what I had and then leave. After grabbing a few more gifts on the thai side it started raining and I had to wait it out. Now it was mid day and I still had the whole drive to Chiang mai left. I decided to head back a different way then i had come. I chose the less "safe" route towards Mae Salong that led through the high mountains near the Myanamar border. Here's where things got interesting.
Immeadeatily after leaving the main high and going to the side roads I knew I'd chosen correctly. Towns were replaces with villages and highway replaced with little roads winding through the hills. The higher I climbed the better it became. Now I was riding through vast hillside terraces being worked by rural tribespeople. I jumped off the state road and was soon traveling along even smaller tracks higher into the hills. The temperature dropped even more as I rode higher and it got even more beautiful. As I drove up a hill I saw a teak wood vilalge hugging the steep hillside above. Each time I stopped to take a picture I would see more and more of this village spread out and realized I was heading towards it. I drove straight by the tiny enterance to the village the first time. As I was looking to turn around a man waved to me and I waved back. I passed him again as I went back to see the village and he yelled "Hallo!" I yelled back and drove on. I went down the hill through the village and quickly realized that I was a rare sight this high in the hills. Feeling a bit ackward, like an univited guest, I chose to leave. As i passed that guy for the third time he signled me to stop.
I got off my bike and asked if he spoke english. He told me he spoke a little and we began to talk. I asked if this was an Ahka village and he looked suprised and said that it was a Yao village. He told me his people had come from china originally, which explained his name Ae Tong. I asked him if he would write his name in chinese in my journal. He smiled broadly and said he would. He asked if I wanted his cell phone number, to which I replied yes. After he had written that he also wrote my name in chinese. Then he said, "we are friends now!" "Of course!" I replied. I asked if he would show me the village and he told me to head down to a house he pointed at. He had to go collect bamboo and would be back shortly.
Within minutes I found myself sitting on a rustic teak wood porch amongst curious villagers. I just kept saying "Ae Tong, Ae Tong" so they would know why I was there. A man about my age came up and asked, in fair english, where I was from. Soon I found out that he studied in Chiang Rai in hopes of becoming a tourist guide. He told me he was form the mong people, out near Chiang Saen originally but had married a woman from this village. We talked for a while and he interpretted all the questions villagers had for me. The most common question was about my marital status. Every time I told the mothers I was unmarried they would go find their single daughters and bring them back to stand there with us. Soon i was surrounded by single tribeswomen and feeling a bit overwhelmed. Ae Tong arrived just in time to save me, announcing that we would be eating. The mothers left reluctantly and I have a feeling the young women left in a bit of a hurry. ;-P
As we ate Ae Tong invited me to stay the night with him and his family. I replied that I would love it and soon he asked if I liked Karaoke. Thinking back to the few times I'd done that with friends I replied that I did. He asked if I wanted to go with them to town to sing that night. He also mentioned that he was poor and could I pay for it. I was more than happy to since they were sharing so much with me and after dinner we left to go to "town" Town is a relative word depending on where you are. In this case town was an area that had one restraunt next to a river and 5 houses nearby. Still, it had the prerequisite karaoke machine so all was set. Until i looked in the song book to find that the only songs they had in english were love songs from my parents generation. I kept trying to explain that I didn't know all the words to the songs, just the choruses, but they kept putting songs on and asking me to sing. We got more dinner and everyone had a great time, even me when i avoided singing. I found out something interesting though. All the songs they sang, perhaps all thai songs in general, are about two subjects. Being in love with a person who feels the same or being in love with a person who doesn't. For three hours I watched videos showing that theme, ad nauseam, with only the actors changing. Still, for 10 people to sing, drink and eat for an evening it only cost me about $20.
We returned to the village whereupon I realized that the issue of where to sleep was coming up. First, though, i was taken to see where the bathroom was in case I needed it. We headed down to the basement where Ae Tong flipped on a light, then plugged in a cord next to a door, through that door down to a second basement where he open the latch out to stairs, then down the long flight of stairs under the open sky to the bathroom. I mention all of this as foreshadowing for later. We went back up and he opened a door in the upstairs leading into a 8X5 foot room with two sleeping pallettes. He pointed to the left one and saif that was mine, then said good night and flopped down on the one on the right. All this only after opening the wooden windows to let the night air and misquitos in.
So there I am in a teak house in the mountains of thailand, in a hilltribe village, next to a guy I've met hours before and the whole rest of the family a thin wall away from me in the only other room upstairs. That's when the monsoon started. I thought the roof would collapse under that much water to be honest. It was as loud as driving my scooter at full throttle into the wind. I'm from seattle, so when i say this was a lot of rain I mean it's a lot! And then I realized I had to go to the bathroom. I'll let you re-read the description of how to get there if you want. Still, I was somehow alive by morning.
Ae Tong and I went to visit nearby Ahka people and to buy some Yao goods to bring home to friends. Then I left, after asking which way to mae salong. I went along mist shrouded roads that hugged the steep hillside up to Doi (mountain) Mae Salong. I arrived just as the rain came down and found myself sitting with three old women drinking tea. Through hand gestures and halting thai I told them where I was going and where I'd come from and they offered me oolong tea. I gladly accepted since the temperatuare was now even colder due to mist and rain. After the rain let up I thanked them and began moving on towards Chiang mai. I thought I must be close after all the driving I'd done but as I left Doi Mae Salong I saw a sign informing me that Chiang Mai was 200 Km's away still. That didn't sound to horrible since I loved the scenery so much. Then it started raining again. And it rained for the next 4 hours.
I arrived home at 7Pm on Monday night after leaving the previous saturday at 10 am. I had traveled 700 km's, which is just about 420 miles, in that time. I had learned a few things on the way as well. One thing I learned was the importance of the kinds of teachers we listen to. I feel there are four kinds of teachers: those who have done, those who have seen, those who have heard and those who listen to those who have heard. I had asked people which way to go at the beginning and the told me what they had heard from someone else who had heard it. If I had listened to them and gone the "safe" way both times I would never have had the adventure I did. I kept thinking of Robert Frost's "the road less traveled," and it truly did make all the difference. I realized that I must always look at where each of my teacher's get their information and to remember that every time I listen to a person they are a teacher to me right then.
The second thing I learned is that no matter how much you think you have seen and done you can still have massive moments of culture shock. Sitting in the village in the morning I suddenly went "Whoa! where the heck am I?" I watched as tiny children ran around their mothers legs playing and laughing in mixed Thai and chinese. The mothers wore various items of Yao clothing that was unlike anything I'd seen before. They were going out to chop bamboo and work the feilds nearby, all the while carrying there farm tools and wicker baskets. Next to me a tiny old man with a huge ear to ear grin was "waiing" (thai bow) to me and laughing. I wai'd back and looked back at the mist covered hillsides surrounding the village. Suddenly, i heard a chicken clucking and looked back to see the hold man contendly holding the chicken in his lap and petting it with that smae big smile. As I watched this my friends wife came up holding the phone to me saying merely, "sing." Forgetting that this was her husbands name, I thought she wanted an encore of last nights karaoke performance for a friend. As I talked with Sing, it hit me that i was having a moment of total culture shock.
Lastly, I saw more and more of the hearts of the Thai people. They had Jai Dii, open/ free/ sharing hearts. They gave me shelter and food for no other reason than to be kind. They didn't ask anything from me and were very, very grateful when i gave them anything. This spirit of kindness, openess and friendship was one I doubt I will ever forget. When I told this to my friend Bao he replied, "Man, that's like a real adventure!" I think it was.
Adam
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