Week in Mae Chan

We have spent the last week in Mae Chan (an hours drive from Mirror, located near the Thai/Burma border). We knew that we were going there for community development work; however what we didn't know was that we we would end up having one of the most fulfilling weeks of our lives (or at least for me anyway).

Before heading out into the hills for homestay we stopped at Mae Chan for lunch and a walk through the markets. I've never seen so many strange looking fruits, live fish waiting to be bought and eaten, and so many bugs (I couldn't bring myself to eat bugs sorry).

We spent the week at a 'homestay' area owned by P'Van. He had a huge area adjacent to his house that had a few different rooms for us to sleep in, as well as a common outside area (where we ate) and a kitchen. We had western toilets (yay), and there was even a gas powered hot shower (which was only hot if you could figure out how to work it). Six of us slept on a huge cement slab which was extremely uncomfortable and freezing cold for the first night. My hip ached and I couldn't get comfortable, but I ended up working out that it was a lot warmer and more comfortable if I slept ON my blankets - so I actually got some sleep for the next five nights.

The first thing we had to do while at Mae Chan was to cement parts of the playground at the childcare centre. This was basically P'Van's 'pet' project. He donated his own money to build the centre and playground and also provides the milk for the kids for the entire year. I absolutely loved doing some physical work and we soon worked out the easiest ways to get things done - like forming bucket production lines and getting all of us to lift the cement tub rather than trying to bucket it all out individually.

All of the cement works were done without the use of machinery (which was definitely an experience). To outline the cement and create a structure for it we used bamboo that we had to chop down, cut, de-branch, and then strip into pieces. We mixed sand, stone and cement mixture by hand rather than in a cement mixer, and we had to transfer everything by bucket. 

We had plenty of chances to play with the kids at the childcare centre. On the Wednesday and Thursday we taught at the school for a couple of hours; making pasta necklaces, colouring pictures and playing Bingo. They all loved the chicken dance and having their photos taken and we're the most gorgeous kids I've ever seen. I even got my butt kicked at table hockey. 

I washed my clothes just once while I was in Mae Chan - it took me about 40 minutes to wash 10 things because all i had was a tiny bucket the size of a saucepan. 

We had the chance to go down into the village and learn how to weave bamboo into baskets. It was definitely a team effort, with a local man helping us out. It probably took us 10 times as long what it would have taken him but we managed it eventually, even with a lack of communication skills. There was the cutest kid that watched us weave. He had the runniest nose, couldn't speak any English or Thai but was amazed by our cameras. I let him push the button on mine a couple of times which was a huge mistake because he became obsessed with the cameras and even tried diving into my bag to get to mine. 

We went on the most amazing drive through the jungle to get firewood and help P'Van lift a huge piece of timber he wanted to use in his house. We stood in the back of the ute and drove down streams and up into the mountains. There was barely a road and the the scenery was amazing. 

Movie nights became a tradition of our Mae Chan stay - all of us crammed into P'Vans house infront of the fire (it was freezing outside and he hadn't yet installed glass windows in his house). We somehow managed to fit 20 of us infront of a laptop and we sorted through P'Vans collectors edition action movies and managed to find something to watch most nights. We also feasted on pineapple cookies and coffee cookies - our one treat that we still talk about now (they were the best cookies in the world).

We managed to get through our concreting and construction duties fairly easily and the dam building that was planned for the end of the week was cancelled as doctors were coming to the village to do dental and medical check ups on all the village people. So for the last couple of days at Mae Chan, P'Van was kind enough to show us a few of the sites. 

The village is just a couple of minutes drive from the most amazing (and only) winery of Mae Chan. The winery (Doi Hom Fha) was so gorgeous, on top of a hill with beautiful views and everything was made in traditional and local wooden materials. Everything was so placid with water running down pots, Bhudda symbols, elephants and the bluest pool I think I've ever seen. I would honestly consider going back there for my honeymoon. 

On our final day we took a two hour trek through the hills to visit the local animal sanctuary. Unfortunately we could only get in to see the birds because the keeper wasn't there. The walk was all up-hill and my knees were aching by the end of it. 

The week we spent in Mae Chan really encompassed everything I dreamed this experience would be. It was a chance for us to help Mirror and the community and to get to know some amazing people from all over the world. 

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The funniest thing about being among people, all of whom could speak English, was the fact that we had more of a fascination with the English language than the Thai. We were more interested in the ways English based countries use different words. Every non-Australian wanted to know what a 'jumper' was, as well as a 'beanie', 'goon', 'doona', 'thongs' and 'pants'.