It seems like the days here are starting to get a little
less hot, but more humid. It has been raining everyday either in the morning or
afternoons, but it hasn’t been constant throughout the day thankfully. I have
yet to buy an umbrella though. The rain is pretty pleasant and makes everything
so green. It also keeps the stray dogs away when I’m walking back to the hotel
from roaming about. Those stray dogs are scary! They don’t really react to
yelling no and they bark a lot. I seriously need to find a stick to carry
around, because they seem to be afraid of them since the shopkeepers keep
sticks outside of their shop to chase them away if they cause any issues. I do
kind of feel like I’m living in constant fear, haha. The dogs here are a lot meaner
than other areas that I’ve been in though.
Oh and update on my shampoo/conditioner and hair dilemma,
because I know you all care so much. I ended up buying two conditioners so my
hair is really gross today again. I also cut myself finger taking the lid off
of the razor I bought so I’m really struggling with my hygiene and showering. I
bought some shampoo this morning so hopefully this time it works around. It
also doesn’t help that I don’t have a blow dryer and it’s so humid so my hair
never really dries either. I can’t wait
until we stay at a hotel with blow dryers. I have never felt like they were
that precious of an amenity, but now I know!
Each day we are here, we are getting to know to know more
and more about our group members and I’m very thankful for that. They are
really great people who live amazing lives and care a lot for those around
them. They are also very knowledgeable of the topics that are important to
them. I also have not killed Ryan so that’s a good sign, too. I was worried that
if we were together 24/7 we would go crazy since when we’re together really
often at home we tend to have some contention, but it helps that we are keeping
busy with our own things throughout the day, but are still able to have dinner
and roam around town together.
Ntais invited us to go to church with her today from 6-9.
I’m not really sure what kind of church she goes to, but it’s some type of
Christian church I believe. It was a really interesting experience. Ntais came
and picked us up on her motorbike, but could only take us one at a time so I
went first. She drove through this area of the town that I had never been. It
was definitely a much humbler side. We arrived on this lot filled with little
chickens running around and there was a tiny house at the back. From what I
could tell it was about 500 square feet or less. She left me there with her
Karen friend who seemed really nervous to be left alone with me since there was
a definite language barrier. She spoke a little bit of basic English, but not
much else. A few moments later a 23 year old man walked in and she looked quite
excited. She turned me to and said that he spoke English and lived in the US
for a while. I spoke to him for a while and he was a really funny guy. He told
me that he used to live in California for about 10 year, but he got kicked out
of school and was causing trouble so his parents sent him to Thailand. He had
been in Mae Hong Son for two years now. I thought it was really interesting
that he was sent away to live in a random place in Thailand. He was all-alone
and didn’t have any family. He really wants to go back to the US, but is not
really sure how or when he will get back. (He’s Thai, fyi) I then met another
girl who was Hmong. She’s Ntais’s cousin, Ma, and she was so sweet. I asked her
if she was White Hmong and she said she was, but she only spoke Green Hmong.
Huge disappointment! Their service soon started after everyone arrived and
Champ (the Thai guy), Ntais, and Ma helped translate everything for us. I think
most of it was summarized, but we appreciate. Prayer was really interesting. I
didn’t really know what was going on, but it kind of seemed like Buddhist
chants mixed with Christian prayers. They started singing next and that was so
beautiful. They all had wonderful voices and you could really hear the feelings
and faith in their voices. I really enjoyed that part specifically even though
I couldn’t understand what they were singing. We also learned that it was Ma’s
birthday together so they got her a little cake and we sang happy birthday to
her. It was very sweet of her to invite us and it’s definitely letting us see a
different side of Mae Hong Son than the usual touristy, backpacker type
experience. We then took Ntais and Ma out to eat at our favorite place in town,
Salween, where we shared a wonderful meal and had many laughs. I’m really sad
to be leaving Mae Hong Son so soon after making such wonderful and kind friends
here. They are such humble and lovely people and I hope that I will be able see
them again soon. Luckily, I added both of them on Facebook (woo! For social
networking world wide)!
I have really enjoyed being in Mae Hong Son compared to
Bangkok. It’s a lot more peaceful and quiet, whereas Bangkok is bustling all
the time and it’s very crowded and busy. There also aren’t any mountains with
jungles near by so its physical beauty is a lot different than the views from
Mae Hong Son. Mae Hong Son is basically a lush of green jungles and mountains,
while Bangkok is a concrete jungle. The parks and temples are very fascinating
and it has a lot of quirky things you’ll see as you watch out of the window of
a taxi. There’s also an abundance of shopping to do while you’re there. Mae
Hong Son shops are basically touristy ethnic trinket shops with some local
shopping centers and grocery stores mixed in. We did meet a couple of NGO workers
here who are from the US, Australia, and some other countries and they said it
was hard to live in Mae Hong Son because you’re quite lonely since most of them
don’t speak the language and since it’s such a small town there’s not a lot to
do either. I think short term this place would be wonderful to be in, but I
couldn’t imagine living away from my family and friends for a long time. I
already have a hard time being in Utah while most people I know live another
state. Today was a really great day and I hope the rest of my time here in Thailand
is just like this. I
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