Boyums in Asia: Wats, Hill Tribes and Opium… (Dec 8)

Yes, it is Jan 3rd and I am posting on Dec 8th... the time zone and internet time warp. If you have a brown paper bag you can put it over your head and sing the song now. If this doesn't make any sense, just move on :-)

We began our day (Dec 8th :-) meeting with our tour guide, Mr. Noom. He was a spunky 20-something year old Chiang Mai born Thai. His name means “young man,” and he had quite a sense of humor and was a wealth of information.

As a side note: in Thailand you go to school for 4 years to be certified to be a tour guide. His previous job was as a mahout (elephant trainer) at Mae Sa Elephant Camp, which we had visited the previous day. We had a few things in the line up of the day for Mr. Noom to show us: Hmong Hill Tribe Village, Wat Pratap Doi Suthep, a few more Wats, and maybe some parts of downtown Chiang Mai….

In Northern California, we enjoy fields upon fields of orange poppies, but all poppies are NOT equal! While visiting one of the northern Thai hill tribes, we began our opium education (vicariously, mind you!) The historically alluring opium pod has had major impacts on the world, especially Asia -- financially, culturally and politically.

Most of today’s hill tribes of Northern Thailand live in the hills because they are, or were (generations ago), refugees from the surrounding countries of China, Myanmar/Burma, Laos, and Cambodia. The Thai government has allowed them to live in the hills, on reservations of sorts. We visited the Hmong village where the Hill Tribe Museum is located:

The cultivation of opium began late in the 19^th century when hill tribes arrived in northern Thailand from China, where opium has a very long history (remember learning about the Opium Wars?) It needs to be grown at high altitudes and with poor soil, both of which can be found in the “golden triangle” area where the current borders of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand meet. It became a HUGE cash crop, but was outlawed by the Thai government back in 1959, then unfortunately kicked up again during the Vietnam War. There were major power struggles over the this region (called the golden triangle because for many years opium purchasers had to use gold as their currency as well as being the area in which three countries - Thailand, Llaos and Burma/Myanmar, meet), and in the mid 20^th century, the Thai government actually gave control over the illicit drug trade to the KMT (the Chinese Nationalist Army which fled China as Mao Zedong defeated them and established the People’s Republic of China in 1949). Since that time, opium production in

Thailand

has decreased by 80 percent due mainly to efforts and programs made by the Thai King to help the Hill Tribes find other ways to support themselves. Note, though, that there’s still 20% of that production happening!

While I knew opium was made from a type of poppy, I never really pondered how it is actually made, nor did I connect it to heroin, which is also made from the opium pod. During our visit to the museum, we learned that when the pod is full, slits are made in it and the thick substance that oozes out is dried and then processed various ways to produce both drugs.

After learning more about the tribes (yes, there is much more to them than opium J ), we enjoyed walking through some gorgeous hillside gardens which outshone the primitive dwellings of the tribes.

I have never seen poinsettia growing in anything but pots at Christmas time in the US, but it grew naturally here!

Even with the processing of opium being outlawed, the tribes were able to (or just did it anyway) grow the opium poppy – here it is in all its glory:

And a few more pictures of the locals who agreed to pose with the crazy tourists J

Did I mention that the walk between the parking lot and the museum was through some shopping stalls? Very convenient for the Hmongs trying to sell their wares… and we did oblige them by making a few purchases of their handcrafts:

And their kids are soooo cute!

After the village and a bit of shopping, we loaded in the van and drove some seriously skinny, winding roads (with no railing – we chose not to focus on this fact in addition to the fact that we are in a HUGE van in the land of no seatbelts) up to Wat Prathet Doi Suthep.

An important word to know in Thailand is the word “wat.” It means temple… of the Buddhist variety. In this case, the name Wat Prathet Doi Suthep is literally translated temple (wat) of Buddhist relics (prathet) on mountain (doi) called Suthep. The temple is about 309 steps up a hill on the side of Doi Suthep, with an incredible panorami view of the city of Chiang Mai in the valley below.

This was the first of what I know will be many Wat experiences during out stay in Thailand. We were fairly prepared from talking with Bill and Sally (Kev’s sister and brother in law) – we wore modest clothing (long pants, long skirts or pants for women, nothing sleeveless) and knew to not touch a monk or hand him anything directly – we knew to put the item on a cloth and set it before the monk, or to give it to a male for an untarnished delivery :-) We knew we would need to take our shoes off at some point. That’s about what we knew. Well, we learned a few things, and I’ll share a few with you:

· It is believed that if you ring one of the (many) bells on the grounds, it will bring luck. Our family (or at least those with y chromosomes) REALLY enjoyed the bell ringing. Some of the x chromosomes got headaches.

· Many Buddhists will show respect to Buddha by offering sacrifices during their visit. What do they offer, you say? Lotus flowers and incense, both of which are for sale on the grounds.

Buddhists making incense and lotus flower offerings...

The flower amulets were found everywhere in Thailand... more on that in a different post.

· Buddhists, or at least Thai Buddhists, all know what day of the week on which they were born. Most, if not all, of the wats have figures of Buddha in 7-9 different poses. One for each day of the week, two for Wednesday which is a special day (1 for Wed am, one for Wed pm), and sometimes 1 for celebrating Buddha’s departure from this world to the next (this is the reclining one). At these altars of sorts, people will offer money in a donation receptacle under the Buddha figure for their day of birth. The money is used for the monks and upkeep on the wat.

· If you see people running around town w/ cotton string/rope on their wrist, you can guess they have been in a wat. There are often monks on duty to receive offerings and/or give a blessing of sorts to visitors. When they do this they tie a rope onto the visitor’s wrist. Our guide led us into the room w/the monks to do this – there was the quick quandary of whether our doing it would be disrespectful/dishonoring to Jesus. We ended up doing it and then were able to have some good conversations about the whole topic later with the kids.

Papa and the monk.

· Wats are comprised of many many buildings within some type of wall, or enclosure -- it serves the purposes of monastery, temple and community center (as well as a place for tourists -- especially children who want to see as many as possible... well, maybe not). There are a LOT of wats in Thailand, approximately 30,000! Part of Buddhism is making merit -- basically the idea (and associated follow through) that doing good deeds leads to good outcomes -- in this life or the afterlife. Many of the building of the wats is funded by patrons making merit.

Lots of bells, lots of people.... lots of motrin...

· Most men in

Thailand

will do some time as a monk during their life. For a few weeks, a few months, a few years. It is believed that if a man has not been a monk, and marries, his wife and kids will not pass into nirvana if he hasn’t done monk time.

· Monks usually wear the typical saffron color outfit, but there are different colors. The brown outfits are for those monks who are learning on their own in the jungle. A totally green outfit indicates a monk who has “had a girlfriend” (in our tour guides phraseology) but still wants to do the monk thing.