Trip to the Mountains 10-12-08

On the Sunday after the welcome gathering at P’Anan’s (my home) I was taken on a trip the Mountains. There I saw many spectacular things and to help you get an idea about I will try to explain what’s happening on this journey through the flow of events via my pictures. Here I am to the left feeling pretty elated on account of some wonderful euphoric culture shock feelings with a Pepsi in hand.

Here’s what the view often looked like on the road ahead.
Stubborn obstacles sometimes blocked our path; the stare-down didn’t last too long, but definitely had to come to a complete stop. (Not much fear behind those eyes).
As we continued along the roads twisted and turned without too many hills or cliffs (to my relief). This one led us to a home owned by the Thai Covenant Church. It’ll be used for future outreaches to the people who live in the surrounding villages.

Here is a proud picture of the King of Thailand posted on a wall outside the house. In Thailand you can’t go far without running into a picture of the much revered King or one of his family members.

To the left are a couple shots from the front porch; it was absolutely breath-taking. Thailand has has a tropical climate with a high degree of humidity. Average temperature is 30'C., varying from 32.5'C to 23.7'C. There are three seasons : hot, rainy, and cool. The hot season, from March to May. From June to October the country is visited by the southwest monsoons bringing billowing clouds and cool showers. The cool season, from November to February, would be better named "warm" season. In Chiang Mai, which has a lower humidity and is usually, but not always, cooler, the temperature drops considerably after sunset.

To the right is a picture of my friend Klairung (Air). She’s taking it easy for a few moments before we head back down the road again to visit the home where she grew up in. Now she lives at CFCE and spends her time studying accounting and English at Payap College. I’ve been experiencing a great amount of help and encouragement from her as I adjust to life in Thailand.

Throughout the drive way we saw fields of corn; what we would think of as Indian corn. I couldn’t help but take note, what being a farmer’s daughter and all, but I saw no modern machinery. Here’s how it’s stored after harvest.

When we came to Klairung’s home, her sister was chopping up marigolds in great quantities. There were whole fields of Marigolds waiting to be harvested, cut, cut again, and then put into bags to be hauled into town.

An exciting seen below: The shaving of a pig, ready to be roasted (I’m assuming).

Here’s another product (a root of some kind) being prepared for market. My friend Eh (a student at Phayao Bible Seminary) is displaying. He was also our driver for the trip and we stopped here at Ohle’s mountain home for a quick drink of water.

Before we left the mountain road we passed by an Elephant home. Eh pulled in the drive so I could get a great picture, but it wasn’t a day to meet and greet them any more closely. I’m not sure that they would have been the family friendly kind, but a great end to an amazing trip.