Pls Info On Huay-yuak-pa-so Village

[Krub]

Hi,

I am supposed to go and visit this village in early March and would like some info on the region along the Maekham River (west of Mae Fah Luang on the Chiang Rai-Mae Sai road).

How far from Chiang Rai ?

What kind of roads (would it be ok to go with a civic or beter rent a 4x4) ?

Is it mountain area or only hills ?

I plan to spend the night before in or around Chiang Rai, any recommendations apart from the Golden Pine resort which seems an over-kill although I prefer somwhere with a hot shower.....

ANy accomodation in Mae Fah Luang ?

Thanks for your help

Edited February 7, 2006 by Krub

[TLT]

Hi,

I am supposed to go and visit this village in early March and would like some info on the region along the Maekham River (west of Mae Fah Luang on the Chiang Rai-Mae Sai road).

How far from Chiang Rai ?

What kind of roads (would it be ok to go with a civic or beter rent a 4x4) ?

Is it mountain area or only hills ?

I plan to spend the night before in or around Chiang Rai, any recommendations apart from the Golden Pine resort which seems an over-kill although I prefer somwhere with a hot shower.....

ANy accomodation in Mae Fah Luang ?

Thanks for your help

Hey,

I checked with some of my Lahu friends and they said there is a Lisu village by that name is in mountains past Thoed Thai. However this may not be the one you are going to.

Mae Fah Luang is just a couple administrative buildings on the side of the hill. If this happened to be your village you may consider staying in a guest house in Thoed Thai.

I would suggest a 4X4 I suppose. An odd rain can come at times as happened a couple of days ago.

If you want nice accomadations better stay in Chiang Rai.

[Limbo]

Do you mean the Ban Maekham of the sunflower festival every year?

I mean the small one, also called Mexican sunflower, not the big one of the Tantawan festival in the Ban Lao area.

The village after Hin Taek and Thoed Thai (the old stronghold of Khun Sa)?

From Ban Pasang after Maechan to the left, the road to Doi Mae Salong and straight on on the T-crossing about 12 kilometers before Santikiri (at the Akha village)?

The road is nowadays amazing superdeluxe! You won't believe your eyes!

In Thoed Thai there is an excellent guesthouse at a little river. It is called Rimtaan guesthouse.

You can't miss it. It is about fivehundred meters after the school on the left side. I guess about 400 Baht for a bungalow.

Keep us informed!

Limbo

I plan to spend the night before in or around Chiang Rai, any recommendations apart from the Golden Pine resort which seems an over-kill although I prefer somwhere with a hot shower.....

ANy accomodation in Mae Fah Luang ?

Thanks for your help

The Golden Pine is about fourteen kilometers north of Chiang Rai. Two kilometers to the right at the traffic light Ta Kao Pluak (or Kao Ta Pluak ). Nice bungalows around a swimming pool, very good but certainly not cheap. Quite isolated. Mostly for package tourists. Good food! Massage 1800 Baht, one hour internet 160 Baht. Shuttle into town 300 Baht.

Limbo.

[Krub]

Hi,

I am supposed to go and visit this village in early March and would like some info on the region along the Maekham River (west of Mae Fah Luang on the Chiang Rai-Mae Sai road).

How far from Chiang Rai ?

What kind of roads (would it be ok to go with a civic or beter rent a 4x4) ?

Is it mountain area or only hills ?

I plan to spend the night before in or around Chiang Rai, any recommendations apart from the Golden Pine resort which seems an over-kill although I prefer somwhere with a hot shower.....

ANy accomodation in Mae Fah Luang ?

Thanks for your help

Hey,

I checked with some of my Lahu friends and they said there is a Lisu village by that name is in mountains past Thoed Thai. However this may not be the one you are going to.

Mae Fah Luang is just a couple administrative buildings on the side of the hill. If this happened to be your village you may consider staying in a guest house in Thoed Thai.

I would suggest a 4X4 I suppose. An odd rain can come at times as happened a couple of days ago.

If you want nice accomadations better stay in Chiang Rai.

Hi TLT and Limbo,

Thanks for your replies.

According to the handwritten map I have it does indeed seem that the village I am looking for is further out after passing TOAD MAE (as it is written on my map...). I can also see the village of Santikiri.

What is this area like ? High mountains, forests ? What would be the weather/temperatures be like in early march ?

I am told the house I will be visiting does not have electricity or latrine facilities, what would be appreciated as gifts (the family has 2 kids -boys- 12 and 6 living with the divorced father) I am thinking of food (rice, cans + pop & sweets for the kids) clothes and some bedding for the cold nights.

Any more info on the Rimtaan guest house ?

I have also seen some info on the Phu Chaisai resort. Is it near there ?

Any further info I could read on the Lahu people or the Lisu villages mentionned ?

Thanks again for your help

Edited February 9, 2006 by Krub

[Joel Barlow]

Just recently I stayed in the area - my wife is from there... floors are dirt, seldom is hot water used for cleaning. People are nice, honest, friendly, colorful... the mountains are high enough - sometimes the roads so steep my car overheats. Some roads are still very bad (Praiyapai has a real bad one). The roads to and from Santikiri are quite nice, but there are high, curvy rises with distracting views (beautiful!).

Hin Taek is renamed Thoed Thai, and there are mandatory piss tests to help eradicate memory of Khun Sa. Thoed could be written TOAD, and everything's 'Mae'...

As for forests, well, there are still trees, but the area was very heavily logged. The no-man's land between Thailand and Burma has forest, and landmines. In early March it will just begin to get hot; nights will be OK. Little rain (though the many recent rains we've had, and changing global climate patterns, make me wonder)

dEFINATELY TAKE TOILET PAPER.. locals use water, corn husks and cobs, etc and sometimes a latrine is just a hole (for picture, see www.chiangraiporvince.com/guide, "Life on the Edge" section - pics of my wife, a Lahu, too. It was her family's latrine impressed me enough to put up on the web)

People up there need/want bedding (sheets, comforters, pillows, small mattresses - ones you can fold up futon-like especially, and you might want one of those if you want to stay with the family...) steel pots and pans, laundry soap, washing buckets, healthy food instead of sweets, toothbrushes and paste (thinking of sweets), candles, matches, maybe very easy to read cartoon books.

Now there's Karaeoke in the area! Everywhere! Pu JaiSai is far, and expensive... Gretch Ped (or something, in Thoed Thai) is very nice, with bungalos and a pretty stream, many orchids. Sign in English. Ruisi Hotel just erected a huge Kuan Im statue to grace its new tea plants - tea growing everywhere up there now... Don't bring tea... teapots maybe - usually they just put dried tealeaves with hot water in a glass or cup...

It can be quite cold mornings! Misty too sometimes... and little to do after sundown but Karaeoke or sleep. Most people rise at dawn or before.

Have fun. Hope you have some local language or translation help.

[Krub]

Just recently I stayed in the area - my wife is from there... floors are dirt, seldom is hot water used for cleaning. People are nice, honest, friendly, colorful... the mountains are high enough - sometimes the roads so steep my car overheats. Some roads are still very bad (Praiyapai has a real bad one). The roads to and from Santikiri are quite nice, but there are high, curvy rises with distracting views (beautiful!).

Hin Taek is renamed Thoed Thai, and there are mandatory piss tests to help eradicate memory of Khun Sa. Thoed could be written TOAD, and everything's 'Mae'...

As for forests, well, there are still trees, but the area was very heavily logged. The no-man's land between Thailand and Burma has forest, and landmines. In early March it will just begin to get hot; nights will be OK. Little rain (though the many recent rains we've had, and changing global climate patterns, make me wonder)

dEFINATELY TAKE TOILET PAPER.. locals use water, corn husks and cobs, etc and sometimes a latrine is just a hole (for picture, see www.chiangraiporvince.com/guide, "Life on the Edge" section - pics of my wife, a Lahu, too. It was her family's latrine impressed me enough to put up on the web)

People up there need/want bedding (sheets, comforters, pillows, small mattresses - ones you can fold up futon-like especially, and you might want one of those if you want to stay with the family...) steel pots and pans, laundry soap, washing buckets, healthy food instead of sweets, toothbrushes and paste (thinking of sweets), candles, matches, maybe very easy to read cartoon books.

Now there's Karaeoke in the area! Everywhere! Pu JaiSai is far, and expensive... Gretch Ped (or something, in Thoed Thai) is very nice, with bungalos and a pretty stream, many orchids. Sign in English. Ruisi Hotel just erected a huge Kuan Im statue to grace its new tea plants - tea growing everywhere up there now... Don't bring tea... teapots maybe - usually they just put dried tealeaves with hot water in a glass or cup...

It can be quite cold mornings! Misty too sometimes... and little to do after sundown but Karaeoke or sleep. Most people rise at dawn or before.

Have fun. Hope you have some local language or translation help.

Hi,

Appreciate your detailed impression. I will have local language help but wanted to be somehow prepared. I only have experience of the small villages south of Mahasarakham in Isaan as far as rela countryside is concerned.

I will probably stay in Chiang Rai and do a day trip to strat with as it will be my first visit and I am not related to the family so I would not like to impose on staying the night for the first time.

Will look into beeding and soap/washing powder items as gifts.

Sure will post my impression after the trip mid-March

[Joel Barlow]

not to bore you with advice (too much), but:

People in the border villages, often recent immigrants in some vocational flux, can usually use:

School supplies (pencils, crayons, notebooks, erasers, rulers)

Scissors, needles, strong thread, safety pins, buttons

Scrub brushes, hair brushes, talcum powder, Kwell-type lice killer

Iodized salt, fresh fruit, simple toys, simple tools, baseball caps

Solar-rechargeable flashlights if you can find…

But, what will they give in turn, to earn, deserve and feel entitled to what you give? Don’t forget, they have, and need, their pride, don’t at all like charity and hate being looked down on. They believe strongly in mutual help, and would be happy to kill and cook a chicken for you… Unfortunately most are not currently making any sort of handicraft. You can take away a big bag of tea, but wouldn’t be able to get that into another country!

Pencils, stainless-steel pots, talc, salt and many other things can be bought wholesale at Macro (by the airport) without member card; if you want to use a credit card, try Big C, where at the back there are wholesale discount items. Noodle packs are a bargain that way, as are razors, matches, candles and lots of everyday items. Lots of things modern people use are of little interest for tribal villages in the hills though. For instance, battery operated things are bad – batteries get thrown out just anywhere (there’s no garbage pick-up or anything) and pollute the ground (really badly).

[Krub]

not to bore you with advice (too much), but:

People in the border villages, often recent immigrants in some vocational flux, can usually use:

School supplies (pencils, crayons, notebooks, erasers, rulers)

Scissors, needles, strong thread, safety pins, buttons

Scrub brushes, hair brushes, talcum powder, Kwell-type lice killer

Iodized salt, fresh fruit, simple toys, simple tools, baseball caps

Solar-rechargeable flashlights if you can find…

But, what will they give in turn, to earn, deserve and feel entitled to what you give? Don’t forget, they have, and need, their pride, don’t at all like charity and hate being looked down on. They believe strongly in mutual help, and would be happy to kill and cook a chicken for you… Unfortunately most are not currently making any sort of handicraft. You can take away a big bag of tea, but wouldn’t be able to get that into another country!

Pencils, stainless-steel pots, talc, salt and many other things can be bought wholesale at Macro (by the airport) without member card; if you want to use a credit card, try Big C, where at the back there are wholesale discount items. Noodle packs are a bargain that way, as are razors, matches, candles and lots of everyday items. Lots of things modern people use are of little interest for tribal villages in the hills though. For instance, battery operated things are bad – batteries get thrown out just anywhere (there’s no garbage pick-up or anything) and pollute the ground (really badly).

Joel

Great info appreciate very much.

Will stock up in Chiang Rai's Big C before making the trip up the mountain at least the first time.

Am surely expected to stay for the chicken lunch as my visit will be announced and they wll be waiting for me.

Regarding pride I had similar feelings when I visited remote villages south of Mahasarakam in Isaan.

From the second visit, it is much easier as normaly both knows what to expect.

Thanks again for your help

Don't hesitate to PM me if you want to discuss in more detail.

[Joel Barlow]

Lahu are typically very reserved at first. They want to be confident about who you are.

Once you win their respect (and do try to win it, not buy it - take an interest in things like whatever they grow, the livestock, whatever activities the village people engage in) things are just great.

I am a deep admirer of Lahu people. Lisu are great too, and Yao.

There are so many groups and languages in the area... I mean no slight to any, but only want to say who I have been most impressed by.

[erg]

I am a deep admirer of Lahu people. Lisu are great too, and Yao.

What about Akha???

your alcoholic "friend"

I am a deep admirer of Lahu people. Lisu are great too, and Yao.

What about Akha???

your alcoholic "friend"

[Johpa]

Lahu are typically very reserved at first. They want to be confident about who you are.

Once you win their respect (and do try to win it, not buy it - take an interest in things like whatever they grow, the livestock, whatever activities the village people engage in) things are just great.

I am a deep admirer of Lahu people. Lisu are great too, and Yao.

There are so many groups and languages in the area... I mean no slight to any, but only want to say who I have been most impressed by.

I have been hanging out with the hill folks for some 25 years now and married to one for nearly 20 years. Most of the hill folks are a bit reserved upon first meeting. But once you break the ice they warm up rather quickly. These cultures often have some social seperation by the sexes: men hang with men and the women hang with the women folk. That means for men, breaking the ice involves drinking. So one better get used to lao khao. It is hard for me to visit friends in Lahu or Lisu villages (wife is Karen) without staggering back home. (confession, I visit one Lahu village for another old fashioned substance) When I visit friends I bring drink and meat for the host family to prepare a meal. My Akha friends are often much poorer than even my Lahu pals so I bring up the Mae Khong to treat. Usually there are enough people present sharing that nobody has a chance to get too drunk unless someone else brings out the lao khao. If you want to bring up something other than drink or food then blankets are much appreciated and usually find their way to the elderly and young.

Although life in the hill villages is often less hygenic then in the towns, there is usually somewhere to shower and wash: there are springs and streams and even the occasional hot spring. But it is very cold in the winter months and that means very cold showers or no shower. Be prepared to have a bad hair day. Most villages these days have latrines or outhouses although the older folks may head off to the bushes with a corn cob. So you might want to take some TP, but better yet, learn to wash your rear and life will be much easier as most rural toilets will have water alongside for washing your posterior.

There is simply no good way to equitably distribute charity on your own unless you have become a long term resident with local knowledge. Every village is connected to a school and making friends with the local teachers. all of whom love to have visitors, is a good first step. The teachers up in the hills of Chiang Mai and Chiang Mai constitute one of the best intelligence networks for what is happening in that neck of the woods. When you find a teacher you trust you can deliver educational or health items to the kids via the teacher. But even then make sure, be there at first, when they distribute.

But nothing you bring or do will be anything other than a temporary bandaid. Providing a decent meal with some drink for relaxation will be remembered far longer than any material item.

[Krub]

First of all a big thanks to all who have contributed to this post as it has made my trip easier to plan.

The village I visited is located 10km up the mountain side further than Thoed Thai. It is composed of more than 100 families in bamboo houses (mostly) on the side of the mountain.

The school and community center is in the lower part of the village.

Very few house have electricity and the water supply is communal as are the toilet and shower facilities.

The family visited was sleeping in a one room 'house' build on a very sharp mountain side with half of the room floor on the dirt hard floor and the othe rhalf was a coverred terrace on the mountain side with the mountain side under it. The flooring of the other half of the room consisted of a few bamboos and thin plates of wood. This part was used by the family for sleeping eating living area. the dirt floor part was used for cooking on a steel ring with wood gatherred form the nearby forest by the 2 kids (8 and 10).

As suggested I brought some sleeping mattresses etc. Also food stuff adn t-shirts short pants for the kids. Matches and candles werevery much appreciated as it is their only way to light the fire for cooking and lighting after dark.

I was shocked ot see the number of kids afflicted with a kind of disease that hinder the movement of their arms on one side an dsome of them upto the speach ability. Some adults also but seems that those kids do not live very long. i wonder if they would see a doctor if it is curable. They said teh family never saw a doctor in their lives nor had they ever left the village.

I was also surprised to see that most fo them are christians or at least say they are and they many of them wear a cross as ornament.

It was a very short too short trip but it has given me the insight to plan better my next trip in July befor ethe rainy season sets in when the village is cut off for 3 monhs as the river overflows the bridge on the way to the mountain.

The Rimtaan guesthouse in Thoed Thai is very nice with double bed rooms at 300 baht a night and 2 single bed rooms at 400 baht a night. Fan and shower western toilet in each bungalow build along the river.

Tel : 053 730209

Thoed Thai is easily reache dfrom Chiang Rai by taking the Mae Sai road (route 1) until Mae Chan crosiing with route 1130 towards Mae So loon. It is a 70km drive (90 minutes from central Chiang Rai) on very good roads.

The road up to teh village is mostly a dirt track and requires 4wd

I m hoping to get medical help to the family visited on my next visit to see if the child can be helped so that he won't need to rely on charity for his later life.

[Joel Barlow]

I was shocked ot see the number of kids afflicted with a kind of disease that hinder the movement of their arms on one side an dsome of them upto the speach ability. Some adults also but seems that those kids do not live very long. i wonder if they would see a doctor if it is curable. They said teh family never saw a doctor in their lives nor had they ever left the village.

Thanks for the report. I'd be very interested to learn more of this 'disease' - I was not aware of it. THere is a Hilltribe Doctor David who speaks Burmese and has some websites ('where there is no doctor', I think) and takes volunteers around, passes out some meds. Says he doesn't think HIV causes AIDS, though...

The hospital at Thoed Thai is not expensive (MaeFaLuang Hospital). My wife's little brother was born 3 months premature and spent a week in an incubator there. That cost me about B1200 total. Many people up there have neither citizenship nor the B30 the citizen's hospital care plan would cost, though... and often they live too close to what livestock they have! 'Infant" mortality is high - my wife's mother has lost about half of the 12 or 13 children she's had... one reason people want to have so many kids. I think things are much better than they were not so long ago, and likely to continue to improve. I hope to become able to promote thier handicrafts on the Net - Lahu friends say they'd make more if they had a way to sell them! And in the area you visited, the only real money now is tea. With competition from India and China, and normal business cycles, despite advances being made and much enthusiasm, I think income from that hardly secure.

[Mymechew]

I was shocked ot see the number of kids afflicted with a kind of disease that hinder the movement of their arms on one side an dsome of them upto the speach ability. Some adults also but seems that those kids do not live very long. i wonder if they would see a doctor if it is curable. They said teh family never saw a doctor in their lives nor had they ever left the village.

If this medical condition has not been diagnosed it should and can be. There are a few mobile medical teams in the area that provide assessments by both Thai and foreign doctors – free of charge. I’ll check to see if they’re aware of this situation. If we can determine what the problem is perhaps some of us can help advocate for treatment. Krub – what is your connection to this village?

Mymechew

[Krub]

I was shocked ot see the number of kids afflicted with a kind of disease that hinder the movement of their arms on one side an dsome of them upto the speach ability. Some adults also but seems that those kids do not live very long. i wonder if they would see a doctor if it is curable. They said teh family never saw a doctor in their lives nor had they ever left the village.

If this medical condition has not been diagnosed it should and can be. There are a few mobile medical teams in the area that provide assessments by both Thai and foreign doctors – free of charge. I’ll check to see if they’re aware of this situation. If we can determine what the problem is perhaps some of us can help advocate for treatment. Krub – what is your connection to this village?

Mymechew

I am sponsoring a child through an international aid agency which works with the village on improving the infrustructure like water supply.

Each child is an ambassador and is not the direct beneficiary of the aid which is directed at the whole community.

I went to the village with a rep of the agency.

I am working through the agency to have them bring the child to the Thoed Thai Hospital for assessment. It is actually outside of the scope of their activities but they seem to be willing to cooperate as I am unable to do it myself.

[Mymechew]

[

I am sponsoring a child through an international aid agency which works with the village on improving the infrustructure like water supply.

Each child is an ambassador and is not the direct beneficiary of the aid which is directed at the whole community.

I went to the village with a rep of the agency.

I am working through the agency to have them bring the child to the Thoed Thai Hospital for assessment. It is actually outside of the scope of their activities but they seem to be willing to cooperate as I am unable to do it myself.

If the assessment at Thoed Thai Hospital is not satisfactory I'd be willing to get doctors from the private hospitals in Chiang Rai to give their opinion. PM me if you or the aid worker need some help.

Mymechew