Mae Chan (1/17 - 1/23)

Hello again. I know it’s been awhile, but there was no way for us to get internet last week. I want to start off by saying that I did not chicken out of eating that damn grasshopper, which I didn’t want to eat anyway. The guy passing them out knew I didn’t want to so of course he handed me the biggest one. I think they must use hormones on their grasshoppers or something. It’s like when you go to KFC and know that no chicken could grow that big naturally. Same thing with grasshoppers here. So I bit off about 2/3 of the thing and chewed a little bit. I didn’t like the texture so I tried to swallow it. Sam said she chewed too long, but I don’t know if I chewed enough. I could feel the hard legs going down my throat. I washed it down and then looked at what was left on my hand, which was basically the squishy end of the insect. After eating the first part I had no need to follow it up with intestines or whatever is in the back end of a grasshopper, so I just gave it to someone else who wanted to try. The taste was nothing to worry about, it was fried so it just tasted crunchy. But the texture was the hard part to get over. Maybe Sam will try again this Friday, but I’m not going to. By the way, I think there are a few pictures of Sam eating it that will hopefully make their way onto the blog.

This week was different than most weeks at Mirror. We went to a small village outside Mae Chan, about an hour and a half away. To get there we loaded up a Song Thaew (truck taxi) and another truck. These people really know how to load a truck, I will give them that. On top of the Song Thaew they loaded as much luggage as would fit. You will see what I mean form the pictures. But miraculously none of it fell off on the bumpy ride, even without strapping anything down. The driver has two people with him in the cab, and then 12 of us cram in back. They put the rest of the bags in the other truck (a regular looking one) along with 5 people in the extended cab and 3 people in back. About 20 minutes from our destination we had to stop so that Me, Sam, and another person could move from the Song Thaew to the back of the other truck. The last part of the journey was up some very steep hills on dirt roads and the Song Thaew wouldn’t be able to make it the way it was loaded. Looking out the back of the truck down the hill, it occurred to me that if they would just import a couple of Chevrolets, we probably wouldn’t need to be rearranging loads and worrying about the terrain. But I guess this is what you get when you rely on Toyotas and Asian-built Fords…. Nonetheless we made it. The village we went to had a daycare that was mostly supported by a wealthy man named Mr. Van. He put us all up at his little “guest village”. The accommodations included one hot shower for us to share, which even worked most of the time. The place was pretty nice except for the fact that there were no mattresses, just concrete or wooden floors. I was wishing for the hard pad that I had back at Mirror, but I got used to it. The first two or three days we worked on a playground, pouring concrete bases for the equipment. The concrete pouring was quite an experience. Mr. Van had someone deliver a truckload of sand, a truckload of gravel, and numerous bags of cement. We mixed ten buckets of sand, eight buckets of gravel, 2/3 bag of cement, and (usually way too much) water together in a big tub. Two people took turns mixing it with crude hoes and shovels while everyone else helped set flimsy bamboo forms. While we were doing this Mr. Van recruited a few old men form the village to cut down bamboo trees. It was amazing to see them climb up the trees to cut off the tops. I also think it must be a requirement for all males in Thailand to become expert machete users. Then they cut the trunks into strips about two inches wide and a quarter to a half inch thick. No one knew what these long strips were for. Mr. Van spoke relatively good English but he was a little lax about sharing his ideas, which meant that the master plan was in his head only, so nobody else had a clue. So we kept mixing concrete and making the forms as he instructed. Before pouring, the bamboo strips were laid inside the formed area, green side up, and nailed together in a grid fashion. At that point I finally figured it out. Where we use re-bar or wire mesh grids for reinforcement, they use bamboo strips. We poured the concrete over this grid just like the wire grids at home, only maybe they were spaced out a little farther. At this point the concrete had to be carried in buckets from the tub to the forms. Only a small amount could be mixed at a time, so this process repeated itself over and over the whole day. I had no way of measuring things, but my guess is that we poured over a yard of concrete the first day, maybe more, and probably equally as much the second. Mr. Van and a couple of the Thai interns apparently do this type of thing often, so they were the ones who leveled and finished off the pads. I should also mention that there was no level involved anywhere in this process; I don’t think there will be water sitting on these pads anytime soon, to say the least. After letting things dry for a day or two we moved the equipment onto the pads, and then the kids could play again.

The rest of the week was occupied with a variety of other things. We learned how to weave large baskets out of bamboo, which we set up in places as garbage receptacles. A different group took turns each day taking care of the kids at daycare. I guess little kids at home are rambunctious and easy to occupy as well, but these seemed especially energetic. At night we usually hung out under the pavilion or watched movies on a laptop in Mr. Van’s house. He is still in the process of building it, so the fireplace didn’t keep us warm until the second or third day, when he got a few windows installed. One of the Thai interns bought some Thai moonshine from a villager. It was made by fermenting Sticky Rice, and you could get a liter bottle for 40 baht; about $1.35. He offered me a little so I tried a sip. It kind of smelled like rubbing alcohol but tasted like really strong vodka or gin or something. I didn’t have much more, but two other guys tried glassfuls of the stuff. I’m glad I stopped with one try, because those two guys felt awful for the next day or so. The one guy must have gotten up in the middle of the night four times to “call Ralph” as he put it. Interestingly I don’t think the alcohol content had anything to do with his visits. What I think happened is that the villager who made it probably used the regular water supply to dilute it for sale. We can’t drink that water, only they can, so that’s probably what happened. I think they learned their lesson though. On the last day we took a long walk uphill to a “zoo”, which was really a small animal breeding facility. Most of the cages had birds in them. There were supposedly larger animals somewhere else, but we didn’t have access to those because the keeper wasn’t in. As far as zoos go I would rate it pretty low, but the scenery on the walk was nice to see, even if walking up the hills was a little strenuous.

That put us back at mirror on Friday night. We went into town for our meal and to the night bazaar (market) like we do every Friday, but instead of going back to Mirror we stayed at a guesthouse in town. One of the Australian girls was having a birthday party, so we went out with them. It was quite an interesting night, but I think Sam covered that part. The next day we headed to Chiang Saen, the heart of the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos, and Burma (Myanmar) meet. Disappointingly, they meet in the middle of a river so you can’t stand in all three at once, but it was still nice to see. We had a great meal along the river and explored the rest of the town. What’s so nice is that the public bus system up here is incredibly cheap. The hour and a half bus ride to get there cost $1 per person. It makes exploring other area extremely easy, even if the buses aren’t as comfortable as we are used to at home.

We ended our weekend back at Mirror on Sunday night. This was the first access to internet we had in a while, and sadly I once again received bad news from home. We are distraught all over again and wish we could be home with our families. I received the news too late to make it home even if we tried, but we are going to continue on here. I’m sorry we aren’t there and hope you all get through this together. We are hoping for everyone else’s safety and that no other tragic events hit our families. We miss you all and love you very much.

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James