TERRA FIRMA

The owners of our sublet in the sky are back in Chiang Mai for a few months, so before we head to BKK in December, we are staying at our friend Marisa's house. Marisa and Fee got their masters in public health together at UNC, and now Marisa is working for Johns Hopkins on several research studies here.

Marisa's house is terrific, its vaulted ceiling and plaster arches give it a Mediterranean feel, while Frida Kahlo would approve of the vibrant blue throughout - and the yard (pictured above) is beautiful. Our return to terra firma has also reawakened us (sometimes literally) to the sounds of city life, especially during these firecracker-happy days surrounding the Loy Gratong festival.

So, from the shade of the tamarind tree, three cheers to Marisa!

MO' CORN, MO' PROBLEMS

A week or so ago we hopped aboard a bus, and headed 5 hours northeast to Nan, a mountainous province bordering Laos. We were visiting our friend Amalia, an Italian anthropologist who is researching the forest conservation/slash-and-burn cashcrop agriculture conflict.

We arrived for the weekend of the final dragonboat races along the Nan river, and the typically sleepy town of 25,000 was abuzz with a big festival market along the river.

Though the highlight of our weekend visit was a motorbike ride up into the mountains. Amalia was interested in checking out the scene in some areas she hadn’t visited – we had heard there were some isolated villages, so we decided (laughingly) to invoke our inner-old-school anthropologist, and go in search of the ‘true natives’.

We climbed the main road for 30km out of Nan town, then turned onto a stunning sideroad the ran along the spine of the mountain ridge. It is amazing to think this is corn country in Thailand - the landscape is a far cry from the Cartesian flatscape of Iowa. Too steep for any machines, the corn - all large-kerneled feed corn for the cattle industry - is hand-picked.

We parked at the end of the paved road, then walked a couple km to a village for noodles and shelter from a passing rain cloud. The cook there told us we had overshot the Mabri village.

Perhaps I'll let Fee tell the rest, including listening to an older gentleman, dressed only in dustly loin cloth, vent about his role as spokesman for a 'model village'. Stay tuned for more...

LET GO LIGHTLY

Wow. Last night Fee and I headed north to Mae Jo, acting on a recommendation to check out the annual lantern ceremony there. We had heard rumor of the launching of upwards of 3,000 paper lanterns. So we followed our intrigue.

Passing stand after stand of folks selling hand-made paper lanterns – complete with fuel-soaked slice of bamboo shoot – our drums of anticipation began to beat. We parked the bike and joined the throng, grabbing some food (including a delicious spicy noodle salad) as we walked alongside a canal, accompanied by the ‘pop-pop-POP’ of firework-happy kids.

The main event took place on the temple grounds, a massive circular field the seemed to be made for this event. The monks were leading meditation over the PA system, but most folks, distracted by the prospects of the great launch, chatted in small groups of family and friends. Finally, the moment arrived. A vast grid of tiki torches was lit across the field, some final call-and-response chants were offered, and away we went.


With two or three people spreading the lantern lengthwise, the bamboo ‘engine’ was held over the torches until the flame took. Then the lantern begins to fill with hot air, fully inflating and becoming ever more buoyant until – LIFTOFF! – and it joined the ranks of our swirling, man-made constellations of wishes, floating up into the night sky.

DELICIOUS

Sweetened soy milk with tapioca balls - oh, doctor!
One of the many pleasures to be found right around the corner.