Forests.

I am now back from forests, on spring break, almost ready to start my last course at ISDSI: oceans.  Time flies so quickly!

Forests began with a week of lecture in Chiang Mai, where we learned about the political ecology of forests.  We discussed the issue of who has the right to access the resources found in the forests of Thailand.  At the end of lecture every day, we spent some time learning the basics of the Karen language.  And so, supported by our new base of knowledge, we headed out into the field.

Our trip started with an 8-hour bus ride to Mae Hong Son on a cramped bus.  Upon arrival, we walked to a guesthouse in the city of Mae Hong Son.  We stayed two nights so that we could spend the next day in meetings with and NGO, and the former and current Obadaw (leader of the local government.)  After these opportunities to talk to people with varying perspectives, we were ready to head to the villages for our first home stay, in Huay Tong Kaw.

Sarah observing our Pati feeding the pigs in Huay Tong Kaw

I stayed with a woman named Mugaw (Aunt) Naypaw, and she was quite the personality.  She taught me and my friend living with me a song, and would proceed to sing it in the voice of a woman, then a man, then a small child.  We would sit by the fire and laugh and laugh.  The first full day in Huay Tong Kaw was a free day to spend with families, and I along with most of the village walked to a nearby village for a wedding.  We sat in a house and watched the ceremony, a large group of farangs (foreigners) amongst the friends and relatives of the couple.  But, we were welcomed very happily, and served a delicious lunch afterword.

The next day was one of two “culture days,” in which we had the opportunity to learn and practice some of what the Karen do.  So we began the day with blacksmithing.  There are a few men in the village who still blacksmith, making machetes and swords as well as agricultural tools.  That day, the men were going to make two machetes out of a piece of scrap metal, and so after watching for a while, we each got to try our hand at pounding on the red-hot metal.  Although fun, I don’t think I’ll be making a career of it anytime soon.  Next, we moved to the salah (meeting place) to learn the Tah, or traditional songs.  We learned courtship songs that men would sing to women, and women would then repeat the song if they were interested.  Unfortunately, we did not pick it up very easily because it seemed like each syllable had about 10 or 15 different notes; a bit hard to transcribe onto paper.  The final activity of the day was a visit to a man in the village that continued to practice herbal medicine.  He showed us some of the plants that he collected from the forest, and told us what uses they served.  It was really fascinating, the variety of ailments that were said to be addressed through the use of local forest plants.

Eva trying her hand at blacksmithing

Our teachers who taught us the Tah, and Pi Toto

Learning about herbal medicine

The second culture day was focused on men and women’s traditional crafts.  In the morning we got to participate in the entire weaving process.  Starting with the collection of leaves to dye some cotton string.  We made a dark green color.  While waiting for it to set, we got to try making loose cotton into string.  It’s a bit trickier to keep the cotton from breaking than I had thought.  From there we moved on to setting the loom and then the weaving itself.  I have to say, weaving is quite satisfying, watching a scarf or purse grow in front of you.  In the afternoon, we practiced the men’s traditional task of basket weaving.  I ended up with a bamboo basket, which actually became very useful to have in hikes to come.  That evening was spent in a “cultural exchange” with the villagers.  They started us off with very impressive sword dancing by a few grown men, followed by the younger generation.  They also played instruments and sang various songs.  We, on the other hand, coming from various states with no universal cultural offerings made do with a few songs, and juggling bamboo cups.  It was a very fun evening nonetheless.

Me spinning cotton

Pati Souchai has sword dancing skills

 The next day was our first hiking day.  We said goodbye to our wonderful host families in Huay Tong Kaw, and made our way to Huay Hee, in two different hiking groups.  That first day was pretty rough, especially as I have never been backpacking with a giant pack before.  The last couple hours of the hike were spent in pouring rain.  It may sound awful, but it was actually very refreshing as the heat was quite overbearing, and the rain made us move faster towards our destination.  We managed to reach Huay Hee before dark, dry off for a minute by a fire in the salah, before following our new host family home.  After a shower, we were told to “gin khao yeu yeu” which means “eat a lot of dinner,”  (literally eat rice a lot) which we did happily.  That night was an early bed.

The next day we spent a large portion of the day writing essays and reflections as they were due the next day.  But in the afternoon, my friend and I went to our Pati’s rai fields (swidden agriculture plots) with a bunch of little boys to go shoot down birds with slingshots.  They did not end up finding any good birds, but on the way back, the boys eagerly showed off their knowledge of the area by telling us plant names and their various uses.  So the trip was not entirely unsuccessful. 

We had reached mid-course by the next day, which was marked by a hike to the top of the tallest mountain in the area, Doi Pui.  It was actually quite chilly upon reaching the exposed top of the mountain.  But it was so beautiful; we just had to eat lunch at the peak.  After lunch, Ajaan Laura (Our professor for the course) gave her mid-course seminar, at the top of a mountain.  Pretty amazing.

The next day found us ready to survey some rai fields.  Rai agriculture is more commonly known as “slash-and-burn” or “swidden.”  It involves clearing a field, and then burning it in preparation for planting.  After the field is used once, it is left alone for about 10 years, during which time, it turns into a secondary forest.  So, our project was to measure the growth of a 2 year, 4 year, 10 year, and 35 year fallow rai.  We measured the diameter of trees and counted all the different tree, seedling, and sapling species.  This was also our last day in Huay Hee.  So the evening was spent in another cultural exchange.  Huay Hee is a Christian village, and so they had the advantage of just reading songs out of their songbook.  Once again, we pulled together a few songs that we all knew, and ended with a rousing game of the hokey pokey.

Hiking again the next day, this time while hiking we had to take careful note of our surroundings to compile into a transect later in the course.  Our hike brought us to our next home stay:  Nam Hoo.

Nam Hoo was a very small village (only 9 households) but it was full of life.  On our day with the families, all the little kids in the village took us to a bat cave and a small waterfall to explore.  After eating lunch, my roommate practiced our basket weaving skills by helping our family make part of a chicken cage.  We only spent one full day in Nam Hoo, but everyone left wishing we could have stayed longer.

The next day was back on the trails, heading to Hua Nam village.  The family day in this village was marked by the exciting event of falling through the floor.  There was a porch outside the house made of wooden boards, and there were many people sitting on the porch, eating a delicious tray of som dtam (spicy un-ripened papa ya salad).  About 5 or so teenage boys were looking to partake in the som dtam as well, but as they began to pile on the porch, the weight of many hungry people cause the porch to give way.  The supporting beam fell out, and everyone slid down the wooden boards to the ground.  Not only that, but the porch was also the dishwashing station, so we were all quite wet as well.  Luckily, everyone was fine, and the porch was re-built within 15 minutes.

School in Hua Nam

Playing a game of Ta Graw (like volleyball, but you can only use your feet)

 Our last hike brought us to the village of Pakolo.  Quite different from the rest of our village stays, Pakolo is located just 5 km outside of Mae Hong Son city by paved road, and so most people work as laborers in town rather than farmers.  My house had tiled floors and cement walls, as well as an indoor bathroom, all firsts during the forests course.  We only stayed the night in Pakolo, the next morning going on a short hike to Mae Hong Son city.

On our way to Pakolo

Loving those river crossings

 We finished up our course with one more meeting with an official from the Royal Forestry Department (RFD).  We had been hearing a lot of negative things about the RFD from the villagers, so it was interesting to get a different perspective.  Our last night on the course, we all went our to dinner at a restaurant in Mae Hong Son and feasted on an array of delicious foods.  The next morning as we were getting ready to leave, we witnessed a very elaborate parade celebrating the event of some young boys going to become monks.  The boys were dressed very elaborately and carried on shoulders all through the city.  Quite the send off as we packed up and hopped in vans, embarking on an 8 hour drive back to Chiang Mai.

Whew.  Forests course complete.  Such an incredible few weeks, and I am very grateful to all my host families along the way for providing me with such good hospitality and delicious food.

I will try to make one more blog post about Songkran, the Thai new years celebration before I leave for the last course of the semester: oceans!