Naan's Hmong Neighbors in Paklang

A few weeks ago I met a very nice lady [lady sounds really old...but Brenda's just a little older than me; I'm tryin' to be polite in my blog...] at church named Brenda. She has a 15 month old (who is absolutely adorable!) named Thomas. Brenda's husband, Jacob, is a Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago workin' on his dissertation. They live in a village outside of Naan close to the Laos border. The village is primarily populated by Hmong hilltribe peoples.

(Everywhere Thomas goes, he immediately locates the broom and dust-pan. This kid is in trainin'. His future wife will love him! Not to mention his mother when he's older and does his chores around the house!)

Ralph, the students, and I were invited to stake out with them for the week. We had an excellent time.

Wednesday we went to the Wednesday-Only Market where I made my first purchase that wasn't food. :) I bought a zebra headband for 10 baht and a really cute red polk-a-dot shirt for slightly more baht (130 B). I had a delicious banana/coconut smoothie will jelly thing-a-ma-jigs and two fried chickens on a stick.

After the market, we went and played volleyball with the villagers. I can't tell ya how fun it was! And I love those people so much. Basically the whole community comes out to play. I've never felt a sense of unity from a group of people so strongly and sincere in my entire life. I immediately fell in love with this little girl that had a blue ribbon in her hair and a boy wearing an orange hawaiian shirt. The kids were shy of us 'farangs'...we look funny...and they've never really seen white people before. But it didn't take long for us to crack the shyness and steal their hearts, too. Especially Chelsea. She's so good with children. They also have an incredible delicious ice cream that the lady sells. They gave us cones with lime and mango for 5 baht apiece. I was in heaven.

(All of the village people would laugh when Ralph would hit the volleyball over the net. Here's the farang that is as tall as the Jolly-Green-Giant...and he doesn't even have to jump to spike the ball. They thought this was absolutely hilarious!)

Thursday we had the most magnanimous breakfast that consisted of banana pancakes with syrup, french toast, bananas, mangos, and scrambled eggs. We also broke social barriers for our Thai driver [apparently they are not suppose to eat, mingle, befriend us...and usually they are quite ethnocentric concerning the Hmong and other hilltribe peoples...]. We invited him for the twenty millionth time to eat with us...and he finally said yes! So there we were--ten farangs (Alex, Nate, Stanley, Chelsea, Kimi, Ralph, Jacob, Brenda, Thomas, and myself) a Hmong named Vah, and a Thai...whose name I never caught--eatin' the classic American breakfast with a Mormon prayer for a blessing. :)

After breakfast we drove up Doi Phu Kha which has one of the highest peaks in Thailand. We visited a couple of the Princess Projects, the National Park (sort of), a natural salt mine, and some kind of incredibly famous, rare tree of which Thai people...or Hmong people are very proud. I, personally, didn't think it was that incredible. But the people there loved to take pictures with us because we are white. I think amusing people is one of my favorite things...and it's so easy here because all I have to do is be white...and that comes quite naturally I must admit. :) haha.

(Sometimes Thailand reminds me of Louisiana. I especially delight in how they mowed AROUND the broke-down truck. At least it ain't up on blocks!)

(These are my favorite flowers. I want these at my wedding...)

(This wasn't the tree that all the fuss was about. I actually didn't take a picture of that tree because it was very small and seemingly insignificant.)

(The photographer was suppose to get this shot of me sitting with the bags of salt. I fired them thereafter.)

Then we went to some waterfalls, ate lunch, and proceeded to swim and jump from small cliffs. It was rather pleasant. I had a superb time.

Oh yeah, Kimi got a leech. She's the first one to get a leech in our group. The rest of us are pending on our leeches. I'll keep ya posted if I ever get a leech. Pretty cool though. Those suckers (literally) get alot of blood.
After our day of adventure, we went back to the village and played volleyball again. This time the farangs won twice in a row! But I think it's largely because they were takin' it easy on us. Either way, I had the time of my life. After our sports time, we went home--ate some delicious Hmong dinner...then we eventually watched the most intensely incredible movie, "Crash." The sociological significance was astounding. And I can't wait to watch it with my buddies back in Utah [namely Michael and Kelli]. I don't know how old it is...and I've never seen it or heard of it until on Thursday. But it was really intense. I loved every minute of it and actually stayed awake to see the whole of it.

Friday we got up and went to the bakery...needless to say, I spent 73 baht on delicious bread products which are fairly rare in Thailand. Thais eat rice and farangs eat bread...this is the common notion. I don't think I eat that much bread. But a long time without bread is quite unnecessary. After the bakery we hit up the morning market where I again made a purchase. I bought the most delicious fruit in the world called mangosteen. I hear they sell them in America at the Thai markets. I'll be a frequent shopper when I return in August. I also bought some cool shoes in a bright shade of blue and another blouse.

(The boys and Ralph purchased "ninja masks" so they could be cool like the ninja trash collectors. We tried the mask on Thomas...Let's just say he didn't like being a ninja.)

Then we went to a little cottage where a family of Hmong people live. The older man is the spiritual leader of the community and performs all the rites, etc for the cottage. The younger man has two wives (yes, polygamy is alive and well here). They specialize in sewing.

(Yes, babies ride on motorcycles like this in Thailand. What's even more astonishing is when they put four or more people to ride along!)

(I love pictures [and just the moments] of when babies kiss each other. I think it is probably one of the most adorable things in the entire world!)

(A bedroom in one of the hut/house.)

We got to dress up in traditional Hmong garb which was rather flamboyant and beautiful. They are rather talented in they sewing. I ordered a special, yellow skirt of the traditional type. The ones they had were not long enough for me. I'm a little bit taller than the average Thai woman as it turns out. :)

After this excitement, we ate lunch then began our six hour journey back to Chiang Mai. We arrived safely and decided since it wasn't too late that we would hit up the theater and watch "Terminator Salvation." Pretty good flick. No one else knew that Arnold was going to be in it. I felt special that I already knew that. haha. Then I went home to be with my beautiful Muslim, Thai family. I was sad to leave the village of unity, but happy to see my own family of familiar faces.