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Published: March 12th 2008
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An ad in Pai lured us to a small village near Soppong, about an hour and a half from Pai. Albert, an eccentric expat American, married a Lisu woman and offered a home stay program in her village, where he now lived. The Lisu people are a semi-nomadic people originally from eastern Tibet. They have been around for thousands of years, gradually making their way down to Thailand, Laos, and Burma. Compared to other ethnic groups, they remain largely as they were many years ago.
Wow, you really should see these buses the locals use for means of transportation. They've gotta be 40 years old. The gages are simply decorations, well past their working years, and the seats were obviously not intended for Western sizes. Leg room shmeg room.
So this is a great way to be around the locals and see some hill tribe folks. An old smiley man about 150 years old greeted us as we sat next to him. Happy people. In this shitty little bus, going 5 miles an hour through the mountains, picking up anyone along the way and dropping off others whenever they rang the bell. Completely inefficient by American standards, but nonetheless
functionable.
So, we got to Albert and Susanon's village, not knowing a whole lot about what to expect. Really glad we did go. They had a garden to grow veggies, and also fruit trees--banana, papaya, tamarind, etc. The house was very traditional, made of teak. Usually, the second floor is finished, and the first floor is just a common area with an open dirt floor. Albert was a real interesting guy. He has a Master's in counseling or psychology, and has taught meditation, yoga, counseled, done detox programs, for many years. Susanon taught Lisu massage, cooking, etc. Others in the village taught basket weaving, clothes making, musical instruments and dance, and many other things.
He sees cultural value in the trades and customs that these people have passed down for thousands of years, and even though he acknowledges that modernization is inevitable, he tries hard to get them to preserve the culture by continuing to pass their customs on to the next generation.
So, we liked the idea of it. We decided to do a little intro to detoxification. My stomach has been acting up lately, so why not try something a bit drastic? It has all
sorts of health benefits--cleansing the system, clearing skin rashes or irritations, reform our bodies of addictions to sugar, salt, junk food, bad carbs, plus many more. A health detoxification is pretty simple. Herbal shakes, tea and water. You get rid of anything that puts extra pressure on your digestion system--meat, processed sugar, flour, salt, hot peppers, rice, dairy... everything. Albert was pretty relaxed about it and let us go on a more lenient diet. We ate fruits for breakfast, and vegetable broth for lunch and dinner, along with 4 herbal "shakes" a day. It was hell. Ely couldn't sleep on account of the hunger pains. She needed her dose of sugar. She couldn't get out of her head why we would pay to do this to ourselves. But, we realized that the break was nice for our bodies, and we're set on doing a month long semi-fast when we get back.
So...a really interesting couple of days. We walked around the village and observed their way of life. So peaceful here. Kids were playing soccer barefoot on a dirt plot of land, old men were chatting and chewing some plant that makes their teeth black (which they think is
attractive, though the younger generation generally refuses to blacken their teeth), and women were walking around, tending to the baby they tie to their back. The air was a little hazy because of slash and burn farming. The government has been trying to persuade locals to use other methods, with little success. Other than this, it was a really peaceful place. We walked down the hill one day and had a swim in the cold mountain stream. The bank was peppered with fool's gold. Ely thought it was real gold. (no, i didn't)
After a few days, Albert suggested we travel further to a mountain monastery.
We said our goodbyes and walked to the bus station. After an hour of twists and turns, we were there. The scenery changed dramatically in 20 miles, taller peaks and greener greens. The setting of the monastery was fairy tale like. We had to walk about a mile off the main road. In between tall karst-like structures, we came upon a beautifully manicured green pasture and checked out the premise.
The smiley head monk is quite famous in Thailand. He spoke great English and said he travels to the US 10
local meal
Susanon with her son and Aaron times a year. He was very welcoming and of course seemed to be levitating with happiness.
So we didn't exactly know what we were doing there. Albert said they had simple bungalows for travelers and that the place was beautiful. Most of the travelers we met were interested in meditation as part of Buddhism. Not the case we us. If anything, we are interested in it as a way of mental training, not so much tied to religion. The devout woke up at 4:30 AM to meditate at 5. They did so multiple hours of the day. Breakfast was rice porridge and vegetables, and lunch was similar. There was no eating after noon, and we had arrived at 2:00. Ely had had enough of the fasting so she snuck off to a nearby Chinese village and found herself some milk and banana bread.
We attended a chanting and meditation session, the main monk leading the way in a calming, monotone voice. As others sang and proclaimed their faith to the great Buddha, heads to the floor, we simply watched, uncomfortable at times, yet extremely interested and feeling lucky that we could learn something about another religion in such
an way.
After breakfast, we headed off to our next destination. While waiting for the bus, I walked across the street into a small Chinese village. A good chance to brush up on my shabby Chinese. I talked to several Chinese people, originally from Yunnan province. They emigrated 20-30 years ago. Not a bad place to move too, definitely one of the most beautiful areas we have seen.
Strange that I am interested to learn Chinese after leaving. But, after being in Asia for some time now, it is more obvious to me that power is shifting to the east more and more every year. Asian culture, language, and living skills seem to be more valuable to have than we first thought. Strange to think that China is indirectly financing our $10 billion/month war by buying $1.5 trillion in treasuries, and sovereign wealth funds from Singapore buying into our shredded banking sector. More interconnected and intertwined than ever. Bla Bla Bla. Next stop, visa run!
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