Powerful Women

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The other day I met a travel agent named On. She owns her own agency called 'Travel On'. Clever, eh? She grew up, the only girl and youngest of five, in a small village 100km north of Chiang Mai. As soon as she graduated high school, she moved to Chiang Mai to work in the markets. She worked 7 days/week from 10am-10pm and in return was given room and board and 400 Baht a month ($12). She did that for eight months..."long enough to learn to put sentences together in English," On said. She then got a job at a travel agency where she fell in love with meeting new people everyday, making connections and giving travelers useful information. She stayed until she'd saved up the money to open 'Travel On'. She's been in business for 3 years now and could not love her job more! Between booking transportation for us, we met her office cats (I held an adorable orange and black kitten for the majority of our first visit!) and saw photos of her home (that she own's herself!) and her cats Gizmo, Smart and Jessie. Her parents and four older brothers still live in her home village as farmers. She is very proud (as she should be) of her accomplishments. I am very impressed with her ambition, her English skills, her vibrant personality! She joked about wanting a sugar-daddy, about having a urinal in her home bathroom (as she showed us the photo) despite no men living with her...unless you count the ladyboy next door who helped her decorate. One of the first things On said to us was, "My best advice as a travel agent is to cancel your tickets home and stay in Chiang Mai foreverrrr," in her sing-songy cheerful voice. If only..

The other powerful moment of this particular day came on our taxi ride up the mountain to see a famous Wat. We drove through the campus of Chiang Mai University (CMU) and it just happened to be graduation day. I saw so many beautiful, strong, young women in their caps and gowns posing for photos in front of their college signs (Engineering, Arts & Sciences, etc.) or with their families in front of the semi-kept gardens. I was so proud of them.

Since coming from Bangkok where young women and men alike are selling their bodies around every corner and in every bar...since coming from Koh Chang, an island so close to Bangkok that it's equally infected, where the majority of tourists are old, fat, disgusting white men with their young, beautiful yet worn-out, well-paid prostitutes. I am sure this is prevalent in Chiang Mai as well, but it has yet to be thrown in my face like before and I am immensly grateful for the blessed life that I lead. And I am even more happy to have seen the beautiful Thai women who are now college graduates or who, like On, have made a life for themselves out of nothing. I am glad these parts of Thailand exist and I wish more people knew instead of believing the entire country to be as contaminated as Bangkok.

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