More of the same, really

Just back from a weekend at a nature camp.
This week we planted on a 60 degree slope.
Here are some of the happy snaps!

Lots of Planting and Going With The Flow

Not exactly what I’d anticipated as being low key ……..

On Saturday we had our pinnacle tree planting day in the National Park, in the hills above the Hmong hill tribe. I roped in a group of Chiang Mai buddies to help with the 10,000 tree task. We were joined by a lot of other volunteers, some villagers, an army group and a whole circus of journalists from Bangkok. Might have gotten an action shot and some quotes in the national English-speaking paper, we’ll see. Quite a fun day, and without a doubt the best soil I’ve ever planted trees in. Digging the holes was almost a pleasure.

Language class, aussie volunteer buddies and media at the planting day

And then on Sunday…….. there is absolutely no need for me to embellish this experience (not that I’m in the practice of embellishing my blogs mind you!).

It’s the start of the main white water rafting season and I’ve never gone before. A friend from Bangkok was in town - she’d been a rafting guide in Colorado for 2 years. She swinged an invite for us to tag along for a paddle with a world class rafter from the US and a group of his Bangkok friends on a nearby river called the Mae Teang. I ended up in an inflatable kayak with a local guide, tagging along with the group of solo kayakers. In hindsight my guide and I probably should have stopped BEFORE the grade 4+ rapids. Many of the kayakers did, especially one who dislocated his shoulder on the first one….

However my guide took a “may pen ray” (no worries!) kind of an attitude, who was I to argue the point, and so we continued. We cleared the first rapid fine – “THE MOST EXTREME KAYAKING RAPID IN THAILAND” I found out later, but on the second and much, much longer one we came unstuck (or stuck, I can’t remember) and bounced around in the drink for most of it. Found out there’s not a lot to grab a hold of on an upturned inflatable kayak. Lots of bruises, lots of swallowed water, but I survived. We regrouped. Guide confessed that he really didn’t like that 2nd rapid very much – yeah, thanks for that mate….

There were many more rapids that afternoon, with no more major spills, happily. Again, it was an extreme experience the usual tourist groups don’t get to have. Easily my most terrifying experience in Thailand so far (and, I hope for the rest of the trip) - I’m pretty proud I kept my cool throughout it.

I’m still paying the price for all this fun, in alternatively blue, black, purple, red and yellow splotches.....

Children kebabs, anyone?

So I’m helping out a friend by agreeing to supervise a school tree planting day at the local reservoir. And not just any kids – some of the highly pampered variety from a UK international school south of Bangkok. The weather’s OK, we’re all set to go and then we get to the planting site and there’s a big “home-made” rocket festival happening on the adjacent field, a couple of hundred metres away........ What to do, what to do? The area’s not restricted, so we make a start. I’m trying hard not to think about relaxed Thai safety precautions and that most Thai rocket launchers are made out of bamboo. These were big rockets too – travelling hundreds of metres before whine-ing their way back to earth. I think all of the teachers were thinking up emergency evacuation plans just in case. Would a bus or a clump of bamboo save us if we were in the firing line? I wasn’t all that confident. And a few were pretty close for comfort. We soldiered on anyway, with no rocket-skewering-children mishaps. Would not have been a good advertisement for the volunteering program.... phew! Kind of made the pre-planting “OH&S Site Induction” about wasps and digging equipment seem a bit trivial........

Yesterday I saw what I’ll call a poignant moment. I was in the local shopping mall to escape the heat and see a movie, when in the distance I saw a hill tribe family confronting an escalator for I think the first time – causing quite a commotion. Casting an eye around the consumeristic westernised interior of the mall I could only imagine their bewilderment at this new world (a.k.a. locals experiencing culture shock). Such a highly divided country to live in – witnessing that really made it obvious.

Last week I went to see the English-teaching afternoon program in an urban “slum” area. I’ve enlisted as a substitute teacher – there are lots of willing helpers already which is great. The volunteers are lovely, caring people – all from America. Lots of expats here.

Today I planted some trees with kids at a Children’s Home. They are learning about gardening at the moment. They all knew me from last week’s lesson and are really sweet. I'll be taking a group of them up to the national park research nursery this week.

The kids with their "big people" gardening gloves Abby with her "weed flower" thankyou

I’ve been enjoying the cycle to work every day and went for a kayak up river in town with some friends last week. Been swimming a fair bit in the uni pool. Wish you were here......

The next few weeks are going to be pretty low key as I plan the itineries for my sibling’s visits – both at the end of July and intercepting long enough for a dinner somewhere – there’ll be lots of photos. Alison will be passing through for 3 days from a holiday mostly in America, and will be heading to work in the UK soon for 2 years. Graham will be passing through for a week following a short term mission in Bangladesh.

Rural Rovings

FORRU runs a local education program that provides forest restoration support to 12 rural communities in northern Thailand.

3 of us education staff are just back from a visit to one of them, a 5 hour (jeep) drive away. We had a lovely homestay with the local coordinator, and crammed a lot of activities in.

We planted trees with some school group kids and visited the local group of senior citizens who are developing a bush foods & herb garden in the temple grounds.

We visited some of the beautiful (rustic) stilted teak houses, saw local biogas setups and traditional rural artifacts such as bamboo water mills and rice threshers.

The main activity was heading along with a group of Thai and Hmong villagers to the watershed forest about an hour away. There was a pig slaughter to thank the forest spirit for providing water, and then the following 2 hours involved chopping the pig up for a feast. On this occasion I managed to miss the big event by going on a challenging group hike up through the river to see some waterfalls. When I got back the cleaning of the entrails was in full swing. Sorry if the photos are a bit gory but it was a very interesting biology lesson! Traditional forest ceremonies are not available to the average tourist – this day was certainly an experience I should treasure.

One of the waterfalls enroute Our journey with the pig into the jungle


Feast preparations and lots of home brew rice whisky


Pork mince – just add chillies and you have yourself a delicacy Entrail stew anyone?

I was saddened by the amount of forest clearing I could see continuing to happen in the Pha Yao province, and especially the disregard for erosion and land degradation caused by planting maize right into drainage lines and on steep slopes. Also in maintaining traditional forest ceremonies while destruction of the watershed forest which is the sponge for the water source continues. Lots to ponder. How to kick off Landcare with uneducated subsistence farmers?!?!

Some all too common scenes of land degradation in the hills

Not two hours after writing this yesterday I found myself sitting in a sustainable agriculture conference run by an organisation called ECHO that provides support to Christians working in the agricultural sector in developing countries. How about that!

Also I should mention that I’ve actually been planting willows in the last week and I’ve changed my way of thinking and now believe that willows are an excellent plant choice for stabilising river foreshores (I’ve joined the dark side!). He he he…………

Thai travel is not necessarily confidence building

Some amusing / brutal encounters this week:

- heading into a clothes shop and being greeted enthusiastically with “Come in, come in! We stock lots of Extra Large!”
- on a similar vein, having a few helpful “perhaps you could try slimming” comments from Thai friends

Thai’s can be as subtle as a brick when it comes to commenting about appearances. We were warned about it in the cultural training, and it’s surely true.

I just spent 3 days in a Thai farming village without seeing another westerner or hearing much English in that time. I kind of gathered that it was off the tourist trail with the amount of commotion made when I headed to a school planting event and down to the local market. Still feeling like I have the Thai conversational skills of a 3 year old. I was very privileged to be there though- I experienced what few tourists could. An account and some ripper photos to follow shortly.

Unfortunately the farang tendency to sweat a lot makes the task of planting trees a very muddy one. I've worked out that it's not only the weather that causes thirst. A 3 letter acronym: MSG.

I have 3 nights of Thai classes left. It’s been a very full couple of weeks. I’m in an all male class, so there’s plenty of Thai talk about beer and girls. And eating in toilets? Funny but perhaps not so helpful for work communications!

By the way the new FORRU website (developed by previous aussie volunteer) is up & running: http://www.forru.org/

Myanmar market mayhem and unfriendlies of the animal kind

Just "freshly" back from a weekend up the north - about a 4 hour bus ride away.

The main purpose was to cross the closest border into Burma to get another 3 months on my visa - it was a great excuse to see some of the Chiang Rai district though. Beautiful mountains and river scenery.

I spent about 40min in Burma, walking through the markets in the border town - checking out the animal products on sale, looking at the different ethnic groups and steering clear of the children beggars and particularly the cigarette hawkers. Talk about pester value!

Myanmar border - bridge crossing View across to the Myanmar mountains

We had to stop at 3 police checkpoints between Chiang Mai and the border - lots of effort goes into making sure that refugees stay in their restricted areas. A doctor friend in Chiang Mai said that 12% of the population in the bordering Burma provence have malaria. Big problems there....

I headed back to Chiang Rai for the night, passing some terrific karst (limestone) mountain scenery - plenty of caving to do in the next trip. In Chiang Rai I learnt more about the 9 hilltribe groups in Thailand (6 main ones) - almost 1 million people at last count in 1994. I also headed to a nearby cave system to check it out. The picture below should indicate my adrenalin levels at being in a dark cave on my own with bats - no that didn't scare me - it had more to do with a close encounter with a couple of territorial alsatians on the way in.... Thai dogs can be scary, with about 6% of them at any given time being rabid.

Couldn't-quite-hold-the-camera-steady vs Chiang Rai street - minus adrenalin

Seismology and Stretches

Last Wednesday we had a 6.3 richter scale earthquake! Definitely felt it, but more along the line of "wow, an earthquake" than "get out of the office" panic stations. And just as well - I don't think our 1960's concrete box-style building would have been built with earthquakes in mind (or in the budget). No major damage reported anywhere.

It's been a week of mixing it with the locals.
I've been the odd one out in large Tai Chi and Yoga classes on campus. Strange but fun. Unique.
On Saturday I headed by train to Lampang, a large town 2 hours away. I didn't see any other westerners for hours. It's evidently not on the tourist trail like Chiang Mai. I've been having some very random "I'm going to practise my English on you" moments. The Lampang ones involved an elderly monk, and a station master dressed in military-like attire. He quickly whipped out his English cheat sheet to extend the conversation. My Thai workmates want to have Thai days and English days. My progress continues to be slow, very slow.

view from the train in the Chiang Mai valley

Rentals, Work Ethics and Refugees

Well, I've been in Thailand 2 months this Wednesday. Time seems to be flying along. As have I: I won't be letting on to the program about the amount of driving and pillioning on motorcycles I've been doing.....

On Wednesday a workmate and I hired a car for a morning's school program, and then spent the afternoon touring the mountain-top winter palace of the royal family (it was about the 10th public holiday since I've arrived). Nice gardens, with extraordinarily large insects...... they make them big here.

While I'm on this subject, I've solved the mystery of where those annoying cuckoo birds head to after an Aussie Christmas - I think they reside here for the rest of the year, and boy are they annoying! Almost as bad as the local cicadas on steroids (the rain seems to shut them up). Frogs have now come out in force, and the geckos continue to bellow throughout the night whatever the weather.

I also managed to drive around Chiang Mai a fair bit without having any problems. Having so many motorcyclists darting in and out in all directions requires a lot of extra attention.

I've been going to some evening studies hosted by friends I've made at church, and I've met up with the OMF Serve Asia team at their offices. I'll probably get involved by helping out with kids programs at conferences as I'd anticipated, but also might get involved a few afternoons a week teaching english to Thai children in an urban slum area. All this travelling around town has resulted in a few motorcycle lifts, and I'm now keen to make progress on the scooter (and helmet, and extra insurance) purchase in the next few weeks, so I can get around town easier.

On Saturday I rode a bicycle (am allowed to ride those!) out to the town reservior, where swimming is permitted, but only in full attire. The picnic hut set up there is extensive, very elaborate and scenic.

A perspective on Thai work ethics
Lots of Thais work extremely long, hard hours. On closer inspection though, most of the hardest workers are the Shan state labourers - once-refugees from Myanmar (Burma). They seem to work 6-7 days a week on building sites and live onsite in temporary, crude structures or crowd onto the back of utes to commute. Definitely there is a division of labour and financial status here depending on your ethnicity.
Lots of central Thai's seem to have very menial tasks and basically get paid to watch the clock tick. I'm surprised that many of them aren't more enterprising in finding ways to increase their earnings, but hey, I'm still a tourist and my knowledge about how things work here is pretty limited.

More details about the plight of the Burmese refugees
Some fellow Thailand volunteers are working for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Just as a snapshot, in Thailand there around 140,000 mostly Myanmar (Burma) refugees from a number of ethnic groups who live in nine government-run camps along the border. Myanmar has long been plagued by an oppressive militarised government, internal ethnic insurgencies, and refugee harassment.


The UNHCR has an interesting webpage I'd recommend having a look at:
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/photos?set=thailand

A view of part of Mae La Oon Refugee Camp, home to approximately 14,000 people. The camp, which straddles a river flanked by steep hillsides, is plagued by landslides during the rainy season.© UNHCR/J.Redfern

Rainy Ramblings

Well, the rainy season came early this year. 76 hours of basically continuous rain so far. I was about ready to build a boat in our 5m sq tiled backyard, but it's cleared up now. Temperature is much cooler & pleasant. It should hot up with afternoon storms for the next 6 months. August usually has 22 wet days and 225mm of rain. Really looking forward to that month. Sorry Goulburnites - would love to send some down to you. As yet I haven't been able to find real-time local radar imagery. HNCMA living has made me a meteorological nut. I'll confess to heading to the BOM website occasionally to keep track with how you are faring.

With all this rain I've been trying to find things to do and to get lots of my "to do" things done (though language classes will be next week!).

On (rainy) Friday night I met up with Alison Doughty whose mum attends Toonie Anglican. Alison teaches year 5/6 at Chiang Mai International School - originally established to teach missionary kids about 60 years ago. We went to the same high school, proving the world is small and getting smaller.

I spent (rainy) Sunday afternoon at a local Children's Home about 20km east of town. Cute kids, from 4-9 yrs old. I'd met the teacher, Averil at the ANZAC service. She's from NZ. There's a very good chance I'll help with their gardening and environmental syllabus while I'm over here.

There are some really good opportunities in Chiang Mai for me to seek out volunteer gigs and mission-related travel. I hope to use my time here to gain a lot of these experiences.

I've been reading a book about South East Asia's recent environmental history that leaves me very sad. It was written by an environmental reporter for one of the English newspapers in Bangkok. I'm part way through and up to the armpits in tales of mass species extinctions, government corruption, westerner arrogance and social inequality. I've read about Bangkok pollution, dam building, tourism encroachment in coastal areas and the now-illegal timber trade. Western cultures seem to have imparted technologies without the benefit of hindsight of the problems they can cause. The book is very useful in understanding what is happening up here, but leaves me feeling sad and unsettled.

Doi Inthanon weekend

Last weekend I travelled to Doi Inthanon with a work mate and two of her friends. It's Thailand's highest mountain, at 2590m, and is about 100km from Changers.
We hired a red jeep with squeaky brakes and no power steering. I ended up driving up near the top - mostly in 1st gear, despite the good roads.
What an adventure we had. Started with having to pay 400 baht entry - the locals pay 40 baht. There is a fair bit of foreigner discrimination when it comes to paying for some things in Thailand...
Anyway, shook that off and headed to some great waterfalls, before heading to the summit, which in itself is a bit of anticlimax, requiring a 20m walk from the carpark. My workmate loves bird watching, so most of the weekend involved the use of binoculars, and for me, a camera.
I particularly liked the unique cloud forest, sphagnam moss and alpine savannah vegetation types near the top. We had fresh rainbow trout for dinner and stayed overnight in a very cute bamboo/palm leaf 3mby3m cabin on the edge of a Karen hilltribe village, surrounded by rice fields (currently empty). You just don't get that kind of experience anywhere in Australia.....

karen hill tribers gardening at a tourist stop off; The roof of Thailand