December 23, 2022
Wiang Kaen to Phaen Din Thong Part 2
Hmong New Year
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The three women working at the Mountain Top Cafe were super excited about their Hmong New Year. There was pride in their culture mixed in as well. The Hmong people that I've come across are a strong and proud people with strong beliefs and a zest for life. They have always seemed fearless to me. And their New Year in particular is a time for the Hmong to have a huge amount of pride in their heritage. I've seen this over and over.
Strangely, this is the second time I've randomly run into Hmong New Year in a remote place. The first time I experienced it was in a small town in rural Laos in 1999. I suddenly found myself amidst a sea of Hmong from all over Laos because they had chosen that particular town to travel to in order to celebrate Hmong New Year together. I was the only foreigner. The celebrations included dancing and their traditional music. For three days I watched and was included and brought to nearby villages on the backs of motorbikes. The Hmong welcomed me even if communication was nonexistent. It was an experience I will never forget. I mean, imagine being in an auditorium with thousands of Hmong, wall to wall, shoulder to shoulder, all snapping sunflower seeds between their teeth and spitting the shells on the floor! I got into the midst of them, was given sunflower seeds of course, and we all watched epic stories of the long Hmong history acted out on a stage. Then musical troupes, one after another performed. I will never forget the smell of wood smoke, fried garlic and sunflower seeds all mixed together into a single aroma. And I will also never forget the hospitality of the Hmong.
We took the advice of the Mountain Top Cafe workers to go to the soccer field where all the festivities were to take place. When we got there things were just getting started. There were food booths, a stage, music and carnival games. The setting up of a lot of booths hadn't yet finished. But there were a few people milling around showing off their new clothes, you know, walking slowly while trying to look at parts of themselves. Two young women walked across the grass in a stilted manner because their new very high, high heels were sinking into the ground with each step. The heels were definitely not traditional nor did they mesh with their colorful Hmong clothing, but who am I to say. New traditions!
The one booth that was up and running and most active was the shooting gallery - shooting with air rifles loaded with corks at funny little stuffed animals on shelves. If you knocked one off it was yours. That was next to a balloon and dart booth that only had one young couple trying their luck. Well, she wasn't throwing darts, only he. The guy was trying to impress his girlfriend by popping the balloons with darts but each time I glanced over all I ever saw were darts bouncing off balloons and the girlfriend looking out at the field wondering if there were any other guys she could be with who were maybe better at this game! She looked truly disappointed which made the guy try harder and harder and keep buying more and more darts. I couldn't look.
The cork rifle booth had about a dozen young boys hanging around just itching to take a few shots with the cork rifles. One boy had a 20 Baht note burning his hands and he finally gave it up so he could shoot. It seemed the others didn't have any money and they looked on longingly - about as longingly as that girlfriend looked out at the so far fairly empty soccer field.
I felt sad for the young boys and pulled out a bunch of Baht and gave it to the woman attendant and told her it was for all the boys, that they should all have a try or two. All of a sudden there was massive excitement as she handed out all the rifles she had and placed plastic bowls of corks on the rail in front of the boys. Then something unexpected happened. The oldest boy took it upon himself to become the guardian or father figure. He was quite serious as he made sure every one of the young boys was getting a turn. He kept them in line and I could tell that they were respecting him too. He also took a turn and actually knocked down one of the small stuffed animals. But mostly he kept all the boys from mayhem. It was remarkable to watch. And then, when their time was up, he came over to us and held out his winnings for us to have, as a thank you. We, of course, declined but what a selfless offer! We were so impressed. In the end I think we got more out of it than the kids.
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1 year ago
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Out of my periphery I watched as the boyfriend bounced yet another set of darts off tightly blown up balloons and that was the end of his money. I caught a glimpse of the severe disappointment in the girlfriend's face, like she didn't really want to be seen with him anymore and the boyfriend, poor guy, slumped visibly dejected as they walked off. Life is hard.
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There wasn't much more going on yet at Hmong New Year soccer field and we had to get going. I'm sure it got quite interesting in the evening and it's too bad we couldn't have stayed there. We didn't know of any guest houses anywhere nearby. We were headed to the nearest resort and it was quite a ways away. We didn't really know how long it would take to get there. We didn't know how steep the hills were but right away we pushed up several 16% inclines. We don't have the capability on our phones to see elevation profiles which meant we were riding blind as to what the terrain was going to be like up ahead. It turned out to be really hard. It would have been hard with unloaded bikes but we were carrying quite a lot of weight, mostly coffee we bought in Laos since we have never seen it for sale in Thailand. We thought it would be fun to bring back home. As we pushed I wondered about how much fun that Lao coffee would be and I had visions of dumping the coffee onto the ground.
But, it was a beautiful day and the surrounding mountains were spectacular. The Hmong had cleared land on impossibly steep hillsides and planted crops as well as orchards. As we rested we wondered how they could do all that work. The crops and orchards went up three quarters of the way to the top of most big hills. Again I thought of how strong the Hmong people are. They are survivors in so many respects.
As we slowly made our way there were groups of teenage Hmong guys on motorbikes raging up and down the roads, way too fast. They were in celebration Hmong New Year mode and were acting a little bit crazy with their motorbikes. They were also excited to be out of school on a Friday. Two of them even came up to the top of the hill we were resting on and right in front of us they got into a racing position. Nevermind that one of them was in the wrong lane! They revved their engines, smoked their tires and then they were off, flying down the long hill, up another one and around the corner out of sight. I listened for the crash but fortunately it never came. However, I was certain someone was going to get at least severely injured on a motorbike that day. The Hmong in general are fearless but add teenagedom to and it gets scary.
We saw a lot of other Hmong on motorbikes too, whole families. They were all going to visit relatives to celebrate together or they were on their way to the field where we had been. Hmong people are funny. A few of them waved or smiled as we trudged up steep hills but most of them were expressionless. We took it to mean, 'Well, life is hard work isn't it. It's no big deal that you are pushing your bikes. No big deal at all.' Tough people!! There were no looks of sympathy for us! None. It didn't cross their minds to be sympathetic. If you have to push your bike up a hill then that's what you have to do.
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1 year ago
When Andrea was thinking she couldn't go on, her phone rang and it was our Burmese friend in Bangkok. She and her family escaped Burma and had been trying hard to get placed as refugees in a third country where they would be safe. Their ordeal had been going on for more than a year and we had helped them as much as we could. She was calling to tell us a country was finally going to take them! Andrea sat by the side of the road and on the phone the two of them cried together. What a day!
But our day was far from over. We pushed and pushed and then got to a crossroads. One road followed along a ridge line and the other went steeply down to a valley. On Google Maps both roads led to the hotel we had to make it to before dark. Pondering which way might be better, a nice guy on a motorbike stopped to try to help. There was no English. We showed him our phones and he finally figured out what we were wondering. He told us to go down and that it would only be a "little bit up" at the end. We believed he knew. We believed he had understood our predicament. We believed he understood how tired we were. But we actually had no idea about anything and maybe he didn't either.
Going down was sort of fun but not really because it was too steep to let go. Then we had to stop to let our rims cool too. We came all the way down to a lovely, tiny little town with a stream running through it and I exclaimed to Andrea, maybe a bit too premature, "I love our adventure." She didn't smile.
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Then we rode flat for a while but then the road started going up again. It went up and up, back up to Hmongland (not a place). Back up to where the Hmong like to live. We climbed all the way to the elevation we had been at when we consulted with the guy on the motorbike and then kept going up. Andrea really wanted to flag down a pick up truck because it was getting late. In Burma all we would have had to do was look at a pickup truck and the driver would have stopped. It's a lot different in Hmongland. Well, it actually couldn't be more different. We went into someone's yard where we saw a couple of pickup trucks and we asked an old man for a ride. We only needed to go three kilometers! He simply gestured to get on our bikes and ride. What's the big deal!!? Did I mention that the Hmong are tough?
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So, we kept pushing and just before dark, just before Andrea thought she was going to die, we got to the resort - Charoensuk Resort. It was owned by Hmong. Upon asking how much a room was we were told that if we didn't want air conditioning it would be 750 Baht and if we wanted air it would be 1000 Baht. We certainly didn't need air conditioning. I looked in the door of the 750 Baht room and immediately said, no way. It was one of the worst rooms I've seen in decades. It was worth 50 Baht. So, she brought me over to the fancy, modern, new bungalow with marble floors and an amazing view for 1000 Baht. We had not paid that much on our entire trip so I asked her, "If we don't use the air conditioning how much?". She said, "1000 Baht." I forgot that the Hmong don't bargain. The price is the price and what's bargaining? I said she could keep the remote to turn on the air conditioning. She said, "OK." I asked again how much it would be then. "1000 Baht." OK, we were trapped. We had to pay whatever she wanted because we hadn't brought a tent on this trip. If we had we could have pitched it long ago in a field hut.
I must say, the view from our air conditioned, but not needed, room was worth it. And.... someone fixed us food and brought it to our room! It was simply pad krapow muu, kai dao - fried holy basil with minced pork and a fried egg on top, but it was the tastiest we have had. I don't think it was super tasty just because of how hard we had worked either. It was obviously a great cook and we had lucked out to find food at all. There didn't appear to be a restaurant anywhere, it was something the resort offered.
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We feared the area would be noisy for Hmong New Year but instead it was very quiet. Maybe we slept through it, we were so tired. When we went to bed we feared what the next day would bring. As near as I could tell there would be six miles of Hell to begin with - more of the same up and down but mostly up - and then we would come down to the valley floor and it would be smooth sailing. We went to bed fearing the worst. But it had been an amazing day in so many ways. I couldn't say it was a bad day at all. Not one bit.
lovebruce
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And so happy about your connection with the boys at the New Year celebration.
No kinda fuel like connection!
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