So now I'm well and truly off the beaten track! For two weeks I've been staying in remote mountain villages in northern Thailand and learning about the culture of the Akha hill-tribe, a group of people living throughout neighbouring regions of Thailand, Laos, Burma, Vietnam and China, whose population numbers 2.3 million in total. Why would I go and do a crazy thing like that you ask? Well I am one crazy guy, and it looked far too interesting to miss. As a traveller I am a fly buzzing on the cake of life, and here comes another cherry.
The volunteer camp I've gone on is run by a Thai organisation called AFECT, who have been working since 1981 to try and preserve Akha culture. The Akhas' traditional way of life is under threat, as they have few democratic rights in Thailand, and evil Christian missionaries from the US are seeking to convert as many of their villagers and villages as possible to Christianity.
The Akhas inhabit hundreds of little villages in the border region known as the Golden Triangle, which historically produced a lot of the world's opium. Their people have been left to struggle with opium addiction and poverty, unsupported by the government. AFECT is trying to help these communities, and to raise international awareness of their plight.
Last week we spent four nights in a place called Hue Yo, which is a tiny village up in the mountains that numbers fifty or so inhabitants. There is only one street, lined with simple wood and straw houses, and no electricity. Dogs and chickens run around everywhere. Children play in the street, running wild and free. One time I saw a pair of kids playing with a dead bird as if it was a toy doll!
The Akhas live by simple means, supporting themselves through crops of vegetables and plants, and keeping chickens and other livestock. As a guest of a local family, I lived as they lived, sleeping on the ground in a bare-floored breezeblock building, and bathing in a small bamboo hut by pouring bowlfuls of cold water on myself from a trough (not to mention having to master the dreaded squat toilets). It was an experience far-removed from the Chiang Mai Plaza Hotel, and I didn't miss the scented hand-towels one bit!
Also on my volunteer project are people from Oklahoma (Zach), Italy (Sonia), Norway (Mathilde), Austria (Julia), Canada (Danelle), and - like on my last project - lots of Koreans! (I won't attempt to spell their names.) They are all great people and I've enjoyed meeting them and travelling with them very much. The two weeks have flown by 'like a speeding antelope' (as I opined at breakfast this morning) and it will be a shame to move on. I feel like I've gained a great insight into this region's culture; a culture that may sadly vanish before too long.
The guides take care of the ten of us well, providing us food and shuttling us round in two flat-back trucks. Up and down the dusty mountain roads we go, travelling through kilometre after kilometre of unspoilt woodlands sprinkled with tiny hill-tribe settlements. It's exciting to travel on the back of a truck - it feels like doing a road-trip in the American desert! Despite our general bonhomie the rest of my group possibly suspect me of being an alcoholic, due to my frequent sulks when I am unable to obtain beer.
During our stay at Hue Yo we helped the villagers to sweep up leaves in the forest, as a defence against forest fires. This was quite a tiring task and our guides Miti and Aiyo treated us to a buffet lunch of roast pork and dog (yes, dog!) served on banana leaves for our troubles. My curiosity got the better of me and I'm ashamed to say, I tried some dog. To all the dogs I have ever patted, I apologise. It actually tasted okay. The meat is a bit fatty and I guess it is quite similar to duck. Oh, and we saw an Akha guy make a bong from a length of freshly-cut bamboo!
Bonus fact: did you know that the only word the country of Laos has contributed to the international vocabulary is 'bong'? (Bong technology originates from Lao hill tribes apparently.)
The next day we went to see all the nearby villages take on each other at a local sports day! With a sports field, a marching band and a bloke compering the festivities on a microphone, it reminded me a bit of an English country gala! Our group got to take part in the procession, where all the villages paraded along in their finery to the sports field. The women wore traditional Akha headgear and dresses, while in something of a break in tradition, the men wore knock-off replica football shirts!
Each village adopted a football team's strip. Hue Yo wore AC Milan shirts. Other villages wore Man U, Chelsea, Marseille, Roma and Argentina shirts. It was definitely a football-themed day. (There was even talk our volunteer group would take part in an exhibition match, but thankfully for me that was probably just someone's joke!) The villages' men took on each other at football and takraw (foot-volleyball), with winners and losers seeming to enjoy the fun equally. The women spectated, while some danced in cheerleader troupes or sold ice lollies.
We were unable to determine if Hue Yo won or lost in the championships - when we asked Aiyo he issued the rather ambiguous reply, 'yes... no', and didn't clarify further. As with much I've seen on this project, you have to shrug and accept it only makes sense in the context of life in Thailand!
After the games finished we went to see a museum dedicated to opium warload Khun Sa, housed in his derelict former forest hideout. The Golden Triangle area produced up to 70% of the world's heroin back in the 80s, and Khun Sa was one of the world's most powerful figures in heroin production.
Later in the week we took a memorable trip to the top of a mountain called Doi Tung that lies on the border with Burma. We dismounted from the trucks and climbed the hill, emerging in a stunning vista of untouched green pastures that was bisected by a stern wooden fence running the length of the border, wreathed in barbed wire. Staring across the hill to the Burmese guardpost on the other side, I saw the two armies are very much interested in keeping their two countries as separate as possible! (Interestingly, the countryside in a totalitarian state looks much like the countryside in any other. And they say the grass is greener!)
It's been fun to travel in Thailand, but by Christ I've found it difficult to master the Thai language. It is a tonal language, meaning you have to put the correct emphasis on every word and speak it in a certain pitch. Different tones/pitches give words entirely different meanings, so trying to pronounce the words right is not enough; it won't be understood unless you use the right tones. I quickly gave up and resigned myself to being a dumb tourist yet again!
We've also been learning the Akha language, which is completely different from Thai, but shares the similarities of being a tonal language and hence difficult to master. We were given comprehensive printouts with lots of phrases on, then we discovered the phonetic spellings made no sense! I can just about manage 'uddu tamar' (hello) and 'goo long hooma' (thank you) after two weeks. Give me a month and I might manage to learn the Akha for 'make me a cup of tea'!
Our group quickly struck up a rapport with one another, and we all spent a weekend back in Chiang Rai (where I attempted to write that last blog in a hungover state). After several days of roughing it, we treated ourselves to hot showers and western-style toilets at the friendly (but mosquito-riddled) Ben Guesthouse. Miracle of miracles, they even let guests help themselves to beers from the fridge at any time of day or night, on condition we noted it down on the tab at reception! Heaven on earth indeed.
Every day at breakfast the crazy old guy whose job it was to hands out flyers to travellers at the bus station would walk into the reception/restaurant room and cheerfully announce to us, "I'm off to the moon, to hunt for the mafia!" Maybe he is some form of crazy genius who only converses in abstract metaphors. Or maybe there's just something in the water round here.
On Saturday (8th March) a group of us went trekking to a remote waterfall on our day off. That was one intense day of hill-climbing. I decided to wade into the waterfall fully-clothed, rather than let the others see my nipples. Physical exertion in the day was followed by much drinking in the night, as we treated the weekend as an excuse to go and sample the Chiang Rai night market and get uproariously drunk. We ended up in a western-style rock bar called the Teepee Bar, run by a young Thai guy who seemed to have created the bar as much as for a place to get drunk as to make a living! The next evening I went for a Thai foot massage in one of the town's many massage shops. The sign on the door proudly proclaimed 'no hill tribe workers - and no ladyboys!'
This week we've stayed in another remote village (sometimes it's hard to ascertain the names of these little places but I think it's called Heel Kaulag), visited our project leader Miti's grandparents in her home village, and done more sightseeing. This project has involved lots of sight-seeing and being the tribes' guest - there's hardly been any work to do! I've found this a bit frustrating, but there's been lots of happy times and interesting experiences to be fair. The people at AFECT are brilliant and have looked after us really well, especially compared to the shambles of the Delhi project I was on.
After the camp finishes we all go our separate ways, which is sad. I am off to Laos. Maybe I will find the origin of the humble bong?
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