Bouncing Around Thailand!: Emma Remembers She Has a Blog and Forests

So I haven't posted anything in a while. Woops.

Things have been pretty busy and kind of crazy since we left for Forests way back when. So I guess I'll briefly talk about forests and then we'll just go from there.

I LOVED Forests. So so much. In terms of academics, it was probably the course that best fit in which my poli sci major-ing which was super cool. My group was also a lot of fun and hiking was a blast as always.

The proper title for the course is “Political Ecology of Forests” which sounds complicated (and is) but basically boils down to studying how people and people systems and nature and natural systems all interact and make culture and livelihoods and shape ecosystems and resources and how power structures (governments ect.) affect those systems. So ya, complicated but super interesting.

We lived in homestays in small Karen villages in the Mae Hong Son area, northwest of Chiang Mai. The Karen are a hilltribe group that have lived in Northern Thailand for several generations. They gather food from the forests and plant rice in both rai (upland fields) and nah (paddy fields) if they have the land for it. Rai agriculture involves a swidden-fallow rotational system. This mean that each village has around a bunch of different chunks of land that are each planted at different times. So field A will be planted and harvested one year and then allowed to go fallow and be reclaimed by the forest while the community moves on and plants on field B, C, D ect in consecutive years. 8-12 years later, the villagers return to field A, build fire breaks, cut down big trees and then burn the new forest growth so they can replant. And the whole thing stars over again.

The whole process is a little tricky to understand (I’m not sure I explained it that clearly) and this causes some problems for the Karen. It’s an incredibly sustainable process and rai fields on a long rotation can be used almost indefinitely because the system allows soil to regenerate and not become depleted. Big trees are cut down at chest height so new growth can form and a planted rai consists of a polyculture of rice and many different vegetables in order to conserve soil nutrients. However, not everyone sees this or understands it. As a result, the Karen have come under a lot of pressure from the government to change their traditional practices. The villages we talked to told us that this is less common now but there are still those in places of power that want to Karen to give up their way of life and move to the cities.

This is all further complicated by the fact that the Karen live on National Park land. While they are permitted to live there, the agriculture they practice is technically illegal, as are certain hunting and gathering practices in National Park forest including cutting trees for firewood. This is a big challenge for the Karen in the future. The hold they have on their land is tenuous at best and their current truce with the government could be changed at the next election. This made learning about all of this both super important and endlessly interesting. And I love talking about it so ask me questions and I can try to answer them if you like though I'm pretty sure I have no idea what I'm talking about. Regardless, it will be a fun discussion.

So that was a SUPER abbreviated summary of SOME of the things we learned in Forests. Now for the random bits and moments that I feel like sharing.

Meeting the Oldest Woman in the World- She was 130 according to my host dad and spent the entire day working with us in the fields harvesting rice. What a badass.
Adopting a Dog- Scarface, as he was named, was Aaron's host dog in Huay Hee, the second village we stayed in. He ended up following us all the way to Pakalo at the end of the trip where we had to leave him, fording rivers and slippery rocks like a pro.
Geaow Kaow- Also known as harvesting rice. Sarah and I spent a day harvesting rice together with our host family. It was a lot of fun though lots of work and keeping your balance on a VERY steep upland rice field takes some skill. It was really cool though to see all the work that goes into a harvest when you have to do it all by hand. Bunches of rice are cut with a scythe and then bundled together and laid to dry. Then the bundles are collected and the rice separated from the stalks and then the husks. It's a really intensive and time consuming process and the whole community helps out (including us students).
Cycads- They're awesome. Ask me about them sometime.
Going to Church- So I went to church! For the first time ever. In a tiny village in Thailand. Who would have thunk??? We were in a village called Huay Hee on a Sunday and my host family took us. Huay Hee is one of several Christian Karen villages we visited but it was the only one we stayed at on a Sunday. We went early with the women's group and it was a pretty cool experience involving lots of standing up, sitting back down and singing. The entire service was in the Karen language so we didn't understand any of it but the singing was BEAUTIFUL and I really enjoyed the whole thing. Towards the end the host mothers all pushed up to the front of the room and told us to sing. The only song the 4 or 5 of us all knew was "This Little Lights of Mine" which was not nearly as beautiful as the songs the villagers sang but they clapped for us anyway and one of the mothers told us they have the same song in Karen.
Blacksmithing- My host dad in Huay Tong Ko, the first village we visited was one of the community's blacksmiths. Huay Tong ko is one of the few villages that still does traditional blacksmithing in the area. It was super fun to learn about and try one afternoon and at the end of our stay I bought a knife from that my host dad had made. It's super cool.

Anyway, thanks for reading this VERY belated post. It ended up being a LOT longer than expected, probably because Forest was so great. For realz. And we're on break now so hopefully I'll get around to talking about Oceans soon.

Happy Holidays to you, wherever you are!!!

Blacksmithing!!!

Rai (upland) field during harvest time.

We woke up every morning to roosters, and chickens, and ducks, and pigs, and sometimes even water buffalos making an unholy racket. But they were so funny to watch during the day and provide a huge source of food and income for the villagers.