Doi Inthanon, A Fairy Tale Setting

A national park near Chiang Mai, Thailand

Greatest Moment: Standing in the garden behind the Queen's Pagoda. It was a setting for a fairy tale, truly. Butterflies went from yellow flower-petals to the purples and blues of others. The sun reflected off the small pond, where you could stand in the middle of it's wooden bridge and view the purple tiled pagoda in front of you. The King's pagoda sat in the nearby distance, and passed that, nothing but blue ridge-lines in the mist of low hanging clouds.

Worst Moment: Having a set 30-40 minute stay to view the waterfalls, the pagodas, and the royal project. Doing a tour was essential to see all that we did, however these places could fill days, and to see them for only a short time was hard on one's heart.

Lesson Learned: The tour was very worth it. We learned a lot from our tour guide Peter, who instructed Kathy how to get a coffee bean out of its soft shell, gave us background to the Karen tribe, and the history of the Royal Project.

The coffee bean was fascinating! Once squeezed from its ruby red berry, the white bean pops into your palm! It is very soft and very slimy, and as I continued to play with it, roasting and grinding of the coffee process began to make a lot more sense to me! If you tried to grind the bean in its natural form, it would be mush, that is how soft it was!

Cultural Insight: The Karen people were originally Burmese, that had cultivated this land well before it had become a National Forest, as well as before they took a census of the population. They are allowed to stay on their original land, and live a life self-sustaining. The fields surrounding Doi Inthanon used to be for opium growth, but around 80 years ago the King created a Royal Project to ween the people off of drug abuse and use the fields for rice, flowers, tea, and coffee. Today, the local coffee shops and even Starbucks use the coffee from these mountains, supporting the mountain people and their cultivation of these lands. Thai people LOVE their King and Queen, mainly because of the good campaigns and years of happiness that have come from their influence.

The Karen tribe live in small villages. Their villages cannot grow, as the National Park is established and limiting. However, they continue their skills of cultivating the land and are incredible weavers, of which they use cotton to make blankets, scarves, and clothing. Married women wear colored clothing, whereas unmarried women wear white. The scarf Jamie purchased took them two weeks to make, and the money goes towards supporting their way of life. Their skills are passed down to their children, who then acquire the same skills. The children grow up and are expected to take care of their parents once the parents are no longer able to work. Their homes are still on stilts, not just for the rainy season but because their animals and cattle would live under them. The houses are made from whatever resources are available to them, and cost on average $200 to make.