While Duffie (sister) and Brook (niece) were visiting we did some fun "touristic" things such as a visit to an elephant camp, where they were able to have a ride on an elephant, a forest trek with our Red Lahu friends, a Kantoke dinner(traditional food, music and dance show) and a trip on zip lines through the jungle canopy! (Not for Bev!)
Zipping through the canopy video!
The trek (about 6 miles RT) through the jungle to a waterfall and back was fascinating and fun. The hills can be quite steep at some points and the hardest part is not sliding down the slopes. This is the dry season so the path was quite dry and at times covered with a lot of loose leaves which made it extremely slippery. The trek is run by the Red Lahu villagers and they see this as an opportunity to share their way of life. They took only a little food with them such as rice, chillies and some fish. The rest was gathered along the way and the meal was prepared using the edible greens they found. It was truly delicious. Bamboo in all it's shapes and sizes is an essential part of this process as you will see in the pictures. They also took time to show us some of their medicinal plants and some that were to be avoided, though of course I cannot for the life of me identify any of them now.
Red Lahu trekking slide show:
Ban Wanaluang
From Feb 25-27 we visited Baan Wana Luang School. Kids Ark was very helpful in the early days of this school and it is now a model school that others come to see and learn from. The principal who started it almost from scratch 14 years ago is a very dynamic woman. She had requested Kids Ark help to find a contributor for some wind instruments for the school band, so when we started asking questions about the school, Rita suggested we visit and see for ourselves. I drove the KA truck and Meow and Tu accompanied us so that they could check on some sponsored children and take some photos. It takes about 3-4 hrs to get there and the drive is spectacular with lots of steep hills and many, many, many hairpin curves!
Baan Wana Luang School trip. We stayed near the school at some nice bungalows, which are run by a German man and his Thai wife.
The school is in Soppong on the road past Pai, off Highway 1095. It was started about 14 years ago with almost no buildings and those that were there were bamboo and thatch construction. Today it is designated a "special opportunity school" for hill tribe children.
At the moment there are about 229 children at the school, mainly Lahu and some Karen and 1 Lisu. There are 9 Grades from "Anubahn" (Kindergarten/Daycare), PS 1-6, and MS 1-3. PS is our elementary and MS 1-3 is middle school in the US.
There is a boys' dormitory which can sleep 24, and a girls' dormitory which can sleep 22 for students who live too far away, or the roads are so bad that they cannot commute daily.
At the present there are over 60 children sleeping in the dormitories – sometimes the beds sleep more than one! I suspect this is because the children are lonely rather than because of lack of beds as we saw several beds that seemed unused.
Ajarn Kanya is the headmistress and there are 14 teachers. She is a real dynamo and has improved the school through finding private donations from KA, UNESCO, and other sources. She also has many Thai benefactors. Of those 229 children, 33 of them have Kids Ark sponsors who give 700 baht/month ($22 ) for each child. In some cases the sponsors will continue helping the children with further education.
On Tuesday, Feb 26th we went to the school early in the morning to hear the school band play. They really have no instruments to speak of – they have drums, cymbals, chimes and melodicas - but they did really well, so now we have a better idea of what instruments are needed and how many.
After that we visited a Karen hill tribe village 13 kms (8 miles) from the school with BoonDii as our guide. The village is Baan Muang Paeem and it is BoonDii's home. He is 14 years old, in MS1 and boards at the school. He goes to his village on the weekend when his brother comes for him on a motorcycle. The road steep sections of the road is cement and very narrow! The landscape is very rugged and the village is quite isolated but compared to 30 years ago the cement roads make a huge difference for travel. Many of the houses in the village have been provided with solar panels for electricity; the panels charge a car battery which run lights etc in the house. The school in the village also had a very large solar array for its power. Thailand started manufacturing solar cells some years ago so as to provide basic electricity to remote villages. On our arrival back at the school we met a gentleman from the Provincial Authority who was there testing the children for drugs. The main purpose is preventative because in the past the area was well-known for drugs.
On Wednesday, Feb 27th we headed back to Chiang Mai and on the way stopped to interview a girl sponsored by KA at School No.22, a Gov't boarding school for hill tribe children. There are 700 students at the school with 70 teachers. It goes from MS 1-6. The school is located just outside of Pai. We also stopped to visit Huai Nam Dang National Park to see the Pong Dued Geyser. The geysers are not like old faithful but do shoot boiling water 3'-5' into the air.Baan Wana Luang Video
Baan Wana Luang Slide Show
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