Chiang Rai

This past weekend I went to another hill tribe with my class. This was in Chiang Rai, which is a 4 hour windy drive from Chiang Mai. Before we went to the hill tribe we stopped at the White Temple. This is a very famous temple in Thailand that was built by a famous modern artist. It’s easy to recognize because it is entirely white on the exterior, where as most temples here are gold. To my surprise there was a mural inside depicting the evil in our world (mainly the western countries), which included the twin towers, but also kung fu panda, Michael Jackson and angry birds. It was quite interesting to see how Buddhist feel about many of the aspects in our western culture.

Entrance to the White Temple

Hands from underworlds. If you put money in their hands, it is said to help bring your ancestors out of the underworld and into a higher human world in their next life.

We then went to the Akha village. We stayed with different host families, and ate with them as well. We slept in a straw hut outside their house for the night, which was very loud because of all the animals around us.  Before having dinner we played with the children of the village for a long time, which wore us out! But later we participated in a ceremony with the other women of the village. We dressed up in their traditional clothing and danced around the fire with them.

Playing with the kids.. this circle multiplied with kids every minute!

I'm on the right dressed in traditional Akha women clothing

Dancing around the fire

In the morning we ate with our host family and had another ceremony before we left. Here they tied strings on our wrist for good luck. They also gave us each a hard boiled egg to eat once we were outside the village, again for good luck.  Then we took a boat trip through the golden triangle, where Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and Thailand all meet. We cruised along the Mekong river and visited each side for just a short time. Before heading home we went to the Opium Museum. This was a really well done museum about the history of Opium. Opium is not illegal in Thailand but is still a problem in the golden triangle area where it is often illegally grown.  

Map of the Golden Triangle

Boating through the Mekong River.. you can really see me but I'm there!