We were browsing in a local bookstore when we learned that Richard has written a book about Thailand!
Because there are a lot of hill tribe people still living in villages around Chiang Rai, a lot of people come up here to do treks, where they hike out to hill tribe villages with a guide. Richard and I knew some people who had gone on treks and loved them, so we figured we might as well do it. We checked out the Chiang Rai hill tribe museum first, which made us a little wary about the whole operation. It gave lots of good information about the different hill tribes, which include the Akha, Lahu, Karen, Hmong and Lisu, but it also made sure to point out all the ways that trekking contributes to the destruction of their way of life. That gave us pause, but we decided we'd regret it if we didn't give it a try. We did a trek with the Akha River House, which was the guest house where we were staying. The guest house and trekking business are all owned and run by Akha people, and profits all go towards their village fund, so it seemed like a pretty socially responsible way to do a trek. We just went on a one-day trek, and it was a lot of fun, but the hill-tribe interaction was definitely disappointing and kind of pointless. We walked through or around four different villages, most of them located in a national park, and the people either ignored us or aggressively hawked their goods. I feel like we've gotten a much better glimpse of the Thai traditional way of life, just by walking around the neighborhoods where we teach, or in any town a few blocks away from the tourist center. So, that whole part of the trek felt silly, and I did feel a little bad for contributing to the whole business. On the other hand, the hike through the national park was beautiful and our guide was awesome. He knew a lot about the plants and wildlife, gave us a few edible plants to try, and explained a lot of the hill-tribe farming methods while we were walking through their planting areas. We saw and played in a beautiful waterfall.
All in all, it was a fun day, but not worth the hype. All the people we know who loved their treks did an overnight trek, where they stayed with a hill tribe, had dinner, drank their homemade whiskey, etc. Perhaps an overnight trek is more exciting. Speaking of exciting, and to change the subject a little, Richard and I went to see the coolest wat today, Wat Rong Khun.
Because there are a lot of hill tribe people still living in villages around Chiang Rai, a lot of people come up here to do treks, where they hike out to hill tribe villages with a guide. Richard and I knew some people who had gone on treks and loved them, so we figured we might as well do it. We checked out the Chiang Rai hill tribe museum first, which made us a little wary about the whole operation. It gave lots of good information about the different hill tribes, which include the Akha, Lahu, Karen, Hmong and Lisu, but it also made sure to point out all the ways that trekking contributes to the destruction of their way of life. That gave us pause, but we decided we'd regret it if we didn't give it a try. We did a trek with the Akha River House, which was the guest house where we were staying. The guest house and trekking business are all owned and run by Akha people, and profits all go towards their village fund, so it seemed like a pretty socially responsible way to do a trek. We just went on a one-day trek, and it was a lot of fun, but the hill-tribe interaction was definitely disappointing and kind of pointless. We walked through or around four different villages, most of them located in a national park, and the people either ignored us or aggressively hawked their goods. I feel like we've gotten a much better glimpse of the Thai traditional way of life, just by walking around the neighborhoods where we teach, or in any town a few blocks away from the tourist center. So, that whole part of the trek felt silly, and I did feel a little bad for contributing to the whole business. On the other hand, the hike through the national park was beautiful and our guide was awesome. He knew a lot about the plants and wildlife, gave us a few edible plants to try, and explained a lot of the hill-tribe farming methods while we were walking through their planting areas. We saw and played in a beautiful waterfall.
All in all, it was a fun day, but not worth the hype. All the people we know who loved their treks did an overnight trek, where they stayed with a hill tribe, had dinner, drank their homemade whiskey, etc. Perhaps an overnight trek is more exciting. Speaking of exciting, and to change the subject a little, Richard and I went to see the coolest wat today, Wat Rong Khun.
It was designed by Chalermchai Kositpipat, a Thai artist who does a lot of melding of Thai traditional Buddhist art with modern pop culture, and this temple definitely did that. Every part of the temple represents something important in Buddhism. I won't get into much of the symbolism, because I didn't actually grasp all of it. One of the unique elements was what seemed to be a depiction of the underworld, but I think actually represents the evils in the mind:
Then there was a bridge, symbolizing the path to the Abode of the Buddha. But first you had to get past this guy:
Inside the wat, we weren't allowed to take pictures, but it was amazing. Along with the standard Buddhas was a huge mural of all sorts of pop-culture, sci-fi elements, all mixed up with the images of demons that you see in many other wats. There were some star wars pictures, Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, and even a picture of a plane crashing into the twin towers. According to Wikipedia, the pictures represented an "escape from the defilements of temptation to reach a supramundane state." I'm not really sure what that means but it was awesome. Chiang Rai has been tons of fun, now we're heading back south a few hours to Chiang Mai.
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