As we got ready to leave Chiang Mai we met our wonderful guide and interpreter Chulee. She is an absolute joy to be around, and is an amazing and knowledgeable help.
We started our trip to the eco-village Maeta by stopping at the shrine of a former Thai queen. Everyone paid their respects to her; some local individuals brought goat meat to the shrine, an indication that their prayer was answered. As we made our way to Maeta, we saw trees with orange cloth wrapped around their trunks; this indicated that they had been ordained (as monks, thus their orange robes) and couldn't be cut down. This act was a sign of peace between two warring nations close to a thousand years ago.
When we arrived in Maeta we ate a delicious lunch prepared by our hosts. We found out that there had been a death in the village of 800 the night before, so our plans changed. They still were going to host us for the night, but as everyone would in the village would attend the funeral, our host families would have been out late so we stayed in a lodge building instead.
After lunch we took a tour of the agricultural grounds, seeing the family plots in the communal gardens, as well as the frogs, fish, monkeys, and chickens. The frogs, fish, and chickens are part of the farm, and the monkeys are injured rescues.
This was lead by the head of the village. In the past 25 years he had turned his village around from a life of crime and the destruction of teak trees to a sustainable society. He was recently honored as one of the ten most influential people in Thailand of the year for his work with his community. (Chulee translated all of this for us.)
We took a quick ride over to a lake which we crossed on a raft which we pulled across. This was followed by a two hour jaunt in the woods where we learned about herbal remedies and foraged for food with the help of a knowledgeable man from the village. Near a river we saw a spirit house which the villagers had built to appease the spirit of the river which had been flooding. They bring offerings there yearly before the floods.
As we made our way back to the common area we approached the house of the newly deceased where the funeral was taking place. We were asked to stop there, and at first we all were uncomfortable, not wanting to interfere with their personal lives. However, they were pleased that we stopped and showed our respects. His casket was there, and everything was beautiful bright oranges, reds, and golds. His sister gave us incense to place in front of his casket. It was a really intense moment for all of us because we were in conflict between our Western beliefs coming in contact with another culture's ritual we were not familiar with.
When we returned to the main area we prepared to be visited by two monks who were going to welcome us to the village. The ceremony began with one monk chanting for a long time while we knelt respectfully. After he completed the chanting he tied white strings on to each of our wrists.
Dinner we ate seated on the ground in groups. As we ate we watched a performance of a traditional Thai dance consisting of several of the younger village girls in traditional costume. We also were serenaded by other children with both American and Thai pop songs in the form of karaoke. The night evolved into almost all of us trying our hands at karaoke and bonding a lot in the process.
We spent the night in a big room on mattresses with colorful mosquito netting strung overhead. Throughout the night we could hear the funeral. Buddhist funerals end with joy at the departed's journey to rebirth so there were fireworks, music, monks chanting, and lanterns flown through the air.
It's late here, so that's all for now.
Good night!
-Helena and Celeste
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