Full Moon of the Rainy Season

The cool misty air hung low in the Mae Chaem valley as people flocked to the temple grounds dressed in traditional textiles. Massive drums and cymbals created a rhythmic pattern that filled the lowlands with a slow movement. Full moon day in the heart of the rainy season is a special time at the temple.



The local villagers arrived and paid respects by creating their form of “Christmas trees” made of bamboo and native vegetation. The bases of the trees are made from natural items such as long grasses tied together with vine, or a stalk of a banana tree. Splitting bamboo in to thin strips and inserting them in the base creates the branches of the offering tree.

The thin bamboo branches are adorned with soap, toothpaste, pencils and paper, laundry detergent, incense and candles, money, and other basic essentials offered to the monks and temple. Umbrellas woven into the bases sheltered many of the offering trees adding a modern cap on the ancient tradition.

Many of these traditional festivals still survive, although Thailand is rapidly becoming more and more westernized. Less than 40 years ago this valley had no electricity and rarely saw a vehicle on the dirt streets. Local villagers bathed in the streams and traveled mostly by foot and ox and cart. Rarely was a western face experienced in the valley.

Today, a new 7-11 fueling station is being completed in the town of Mae Chaem where you can grab a Coke or Heineken, a new cell phone card, bag of chips, and purchase popular fashion magazines.

Hopefully it will be a few years before the strip malls over-run the local village market, but that may just be wishful thinking for those longing for a simpler time.

The Hill Tribe School - Part 1

Side: Mudslide puts boys dorm in jeopardy


Below: A teacher and residence on school grounds












Before her death, the Kings' Mother made a request to Boonthan Mahavan to do anything necessary to improve the standard of living for the hill-tribe people in Northern Thailand. One of Boonthan's projects is a small school near Mae Chaem that houses and educates around fifty hill-tribe kids. The kids come from various groups such as the Aka, Lisu, and Hmong located near the Thai-Myanmar border areas.

After the death of the King’s mother, the vow help the hill tribe people was passed on to her beloved daughter-in-law Queen Sirikit. The Queen had forever been a humanitarian with a deep interest in the environment and the people who relied on it. The Queen fostered many royal projects around Thailand while creating new preserves in the mountains of northern Thailand – the land of the hill tribe people.

Shortly after settling on a location near Mae Chaem, the Sungwan Foundation purchased six ‘rai’ of land (approximately 2.5 acres) in the hills surrounding the lush valley. Doi Inthenon, the highest peak in Thailand, stands guard over the lush valley and the school.

The Sungwan foundation initially started in 1967 as a mobile medical unit dedicated to improving the health of the mountain people. Equipped with four-wheel drive vehicles, the team of volunteers travel to remote villages administering medical attention to the isolated people. Today, the volunteers consist of over 200 dentists and doctors from throughout Thailand. The mobile unit uses a laptop, linked through satellite, enabling the volunteers in the field to communicate directly with a doctor in Bangkok.

Back at the school, hill tribe children are taught how to farm various crops using organic fertilizer, raise animals such as catfish and frogs, create handy-crafts, and grow mushrooms. The kids are also taught music with a minimal amount of "traditional" school topics most of us are familiar with.

I will return the hillside school this week to double check my facts in this post and gather more information. I will also update you on efforts to retain a small mudslide that put one of the boy’s dorms in jeopardy during my last visit. The rainy season is flourishing in northern Thailand.