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Published: September 11th 2010
Our ride
Our sorgun tao to Mae Salong. We sit in the back...We ventured up North to Mae Salong, perhaps the most beautiful place we have seen thus far. The endless hills were filled with rice paddies, corn and coffee beans. Farmers were working on vertical hills with apparent ease, carrying bags full of freshly picked produce to their houses. Along the roads, hundreds of peanuts were dumped on a towel, perhaps drying out, perhaps something else. Ears of corn could also be seen left out in the sun to dry and later be used for the chickens.
Wanting to visit some hill tribes but not wanting to appear as gawking tourists, David and I set off for a walk. We wandered up and down hills for nearly three hours and seven or eight miles, wandering into some tribes along the way, but mostly seeing the agriculture and beautiful views.
The following morning at the market we happened upon a white woman, and often when I see another white person I say hello, curious to find out where they are from.
“Colorado, and yourself?”
“Oregon.”
“Oh, well I grew up there! What part?”
“Salem.”
“Me too. No way…”
Turns
Village homes
A home we saw during our walk in Mae Salong out, Lorrie from Salem grew up on Justice street, just a few blocks from where I grew up. And, she graduated from the same high school as I did. What a small world. She and her husband have been living in Mae Salong for nearly five years. They traveled back and forth to Thailand for the past 12 years ( I think) and loved it so much they wanted to permanently move here to learn the language. They have one daughter, Abby, who is adorable and another daughter on the way.
Lorrie invited us over to her village, which we of course accepted. We arrived to her home two hours later; she was sitting out front with four or five other Thai woman, her husband was hoeing with several young Thai children, and a handful of other kids were on their back porch playing. Their home was made from cheap wood and bamboo and it had a hard, concrete floor. They built this home two years ago because Abby was beginning to crawl and they didn’t want her crawling on a dirt floor, like the one in their first home. The kitchen was connected to the bathroom, if you
can call it that. It was a room with three squatter, no flush toilets, and the kitchen was bare bones, too. They have a guest bedroom, too, that is used frequently and another room for their current live-in, a 17 year old girl who has lived with them for a couple of years now. It is clear that they are living as minimalists and they repeatedly said that they love their lives.
While we were there, we spoke with Lorrie for an hour or so while several children surrounded us. The boys were rowdy, wrestling and running around the house, while many of girls sat coloring; although, occasionally they too would join in with the boys. Two young boys, who were the size of three year olds but where probably six, were very intrigued by David. They ran their toy car up and down his back while David tried to snatch it from them. Their giggly laughs filled the air.
Before we left, Lorries husband came out with a huge tub of cookies and all of the children came running, as if they were cattle being herded. Today, Lorrie said, the cookies were being handed out based on
Corn
Corn left out to dry who worked the hardest, which was predicted by who had the dirtiest feet. Within moments the noise level went from kids screeching and laughing to absolutely nothing except for the sounds of grateful children chewing their cookies.
We thanked Lorrie and her husband for having us into their home and while they went into town to fill water buckets, we walked back to our 100 baht a night hotel, grateful for the opportunity to see Thai culture in a different scope.
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