October 31, 2006

chiangrai 2005 - 16 Mae Salong to Ban Pakhasukjai trek

all photos in this post by YK, unless otherwise stated

[151205] first leg of e Mae Salong to Ban Klang trek - from Mae Salong school to e Akha village of Ban Pakhasukjai....

e trek starts from a paved road leading downhill on e right of e school. strange that this boy was walking home right after morning assembly, while everyone else was heading for class:

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Lomi Akha women stopping by to chat with a friend grinding coffee beans:

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photos by YK

end of sealed road & start of forest:

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interesting plants along e way:

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e insides of this fruit look totally revolting - not sure if they are really like this, or just rotten:

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photos by e cat

& then we spot something familiar!

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'taboo sign' made from bamboo strips & nailed to a tree - we are on e boundary of an Akha village =) indeed, a spirit gate appears soon after:

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photo by e cat

complete with e male & female figurines & a 'taboo sign' dangling from above....spirit gates on both ends of an Akha village mark e boundary between e human world (within e village) & e spirit world beyond. every year, village men build a new set of gates, while leaving e older ones untouched to rot in place, hence e multiple pairs of 'pillars'. e one with e horizontal crossbeam across e top is e newest gate. they remind e cat of e 'torii' that mark e entrance to Shinto shrines in Japan =P

seems like many tourists have found their way here, making it necessary to put up this sign:

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touching any part of e spirit gate is tantamount to defiling it, & if that happens, a pig has to be sacrificed (paid for by e guilty party!) & a new gate built immediately to protect e village.

path into village:

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Ban Pakhasukjai:

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photos by e cat

Akha houses are raised above e ground, with thatched roofing & bamboo walls, & a bamboo platform 'balcony' that is nice to relax on =) e interior is divided into e men's & women's halves by a partition, each with their own 'fireplace' & entrance. everyone can pass through e men's entrance, but only women may use e door on e women's half.

tamarind:

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photo by e cat

reminds e cat of e time in e Lahu village of Ban Yafu where YK & others helped some kids to knock tamarind fruit off a tree using a pole =)

as we walked out of Ban Pakhasukjai, we heard e noise & laughter of kids coming from this little building just outside e village:

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photos by e cat

Ban Pakhasukjai preschool, built with e help of e Rotary Clubs of Taipei, Osaka, Mae Fah Luang, Phra Khanong (where Jim & Kip's families stay!) & Siam Cement Public Co.:

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it starts with a few pairs of curious eyes, enthralled by digital photos of themselves & their friends....

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e ensuing rugby scrum, with e cat lost somewhere in there:

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then everyone fell on e cat....

when we all got up:

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e kids sang us songs, & reciting e Thai 'rhyme' that teaches e days of e week & years of e month & half-singing half-chanting e 'kor1 kai3 khor2 khaai3' (lit. K for chicken, Kh for egg) Thai alphabet song with them was a total riot =P

shy kid who clung to us:

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& then it was time for lunch for e kids, with many of them taking out plastic bags containing a few handfuls of rice from their shoulder bags to supplement some soup/stew stuff e teachers were dishing out, & time for us to continue on our trek....

October 29, 2006

chiangrai 2005 - 15 more mae salong

[141205] plant covered vegetarian restaurant in Mae Salong:

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photos by YK

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wonder what kinda plant those big fat giant leguminous-y pods come from. nobody seemed to be around when we went in & sat down, & so all we got from this restaurant were photos ;)

honeysuckle:

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Salema restaurant, aka. 'Salima' in many travel guidebooks:

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photo by YK

kai phaat met mamuang himmaphan (chicken fried with cashew nuts - one of e cat's favourite Thai catfood) with rice + kuay tiaw phaat sii ew (drier Thai version of Chinese hor fun) for lunch:

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photos by YK

when we returned e next morning for breakfast, e restaurant owners plucked a shoot from their tea plants for us =)

Shin Sane Guesthouse friends:

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this super manja black & white tom kitten smashed its face into e insect screen of our room while trying to jump through e window....YK said that e cat was really mean for laughing so hard at this silly kitten =P

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e big fat group of Malaysian missionaries had checked out, & we could move into e bungalow we had reserved:

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photos by YK

meat drying in e sun:

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that evening we decided to avoid returning to 'little horse elder brother', & walked into Tian Tian 天天 restaurant, another living room-like establishment nearby, only to find e lady owner of 'little horse elder brother' sitting in there chatting with her friend....! & she lit up on seeing us & asked us to give her nephew our addresses in Singapore....

as usual, we were e only customers - tour groups end up in e restaurant of e hotel across e street from e 7-Eleven. back at Shin Sane Guesthouse, Mr Ho gave us his frank opinion of Xinghua School - too 老土 (old-fashioned), sticking to traditional methods of teaching, slow to update e curriculum, with students being force-fed stuff like 三字经 & other classics & stuff that they cannot relate to e.g. History & Geography of e Republic of China (don't forget e Kuomintang influence & that e school is Taiwanese-funded)....even after graduation e kids are still unable to speak Mandarin with confidence or read a newspaper in Chinese....he feels that e school should move ahead with e times & just teach Chinese as a language - when e kids are already burdened with a full curriculum at e Thai school, what is e point of repeating subjects like Math just for e sake of teaching it in Chinese?