Doi Mae Salong, Thailand

Of all the traveling days I have been blessed to have this one sits as number one on the list.

Since our next two days would be spent on motor bikes the day began with a motor bike test and a motor bike try for me. My motor bike was brand new, silver, automatic, and just darling. Yet after almost running into Brian's bike and confusing the gas for the break it was clearly not meant to be. Instead I rode on the back of Kai's bike which turned out for the best. I was able to take in the scenery stress free. After a stop for a child's size helmet for my ridiculously small head we headed into the hills.

I don't have much to say about the ride to Mae Salong because it was so overwhelmingly beautiful. I am glad that we ended up coming during the wet season. While it is considered the low season for tourists, the brief rains in the afternoon are refreshing and the landscape is so wonderfully foggy green.

We reached our destination, Doi Mae Salong, about lunch time where we stopped at a delicious Muslim restaurant in the most Chinese part of Thailand. How about that? The town of Mae Salong has an interesting story. When the Communists took over mainland China in 1949, remnants of the Nationalist Chinese army (Kuomingtan) fled to the Thai-Burmese border. In 1961 they were driven into Thailand and some settled along Doi Mae Salong Mountain and formed a Yunnanese community right in the heart of the Thai kingdom.

Unfortunately, the Yunnese settled only to find themselves in competition with the local drug barons for a sizable share in the opium and heroin trade. Although the trade was encouraged by the Thai government that soon fell out of favor. In 1980 the Thai government began a process to grant the Chinese refugees citizenship if they helped get rid of the communists who were currently pestering Thailand and eradicate the drug trade.

During this time, the King's mother (Rama IX's) began to hear of the increasing addiction problems in Doi Mae Salong. The King's mother preferred cooler, mountainous climates and therefore lived in Switzerland but loved this part of Thailand because of its similarity. Her affinity for the region prompted her to work with farmers to understand the issues and adopt different farming practices and crops. She reasoned that three things had to fall into place: the fear of force (aka drug barons) had to be removed, the people had to be educated to maintain different agriculture, and new crops had to prove their success in rising incomes. Her plan worked marvelously. She is now lovingly referred to in the region as 'Mother from the Sky' due to her transportation of choice, helicopter.

Although tea was not part of the King's Mother's original crops, a business man visiting Taiwan discovered how successful and profitable it was there and brought plants to Mae Salong. With such a comparable climate the tea plants flourished. Today Doi Mae Salong is home to 4,500 rai (28,125 hectares) of tea plantations. Many kinds of tea are grown here, but the majority is Taiwanese-style oolong. Small tea shops dot the road of Santikhiri, the village of Mae Salong, and we were fortunate to be hosted by Wan Chi in hers.

Our tea tasting included four kinds of tea: Four Season tea (named after its comparatively long growing season), oolong tea, ginseng tea, and jasmine tea. After mornings doing tastings, Wan Chi who owns the tea plantation with her husband, teaches Chinese at the Chinese school. Most children end their lessons at Thai school around 3pm and then head to the Chinese school until 5pm.

That afternoon we hiked to a temple built in honor of the king's mother. After 718 steps we finally reached the top and took in the view (and guzzled water like camels). Our trek continued on through the villages of the hill tribes, notably the Akkas who are famous for their silver adorned hats. We passed through while villagers tended their fields, brought water up from the river (no small feat), and just went along with daily life.

Our tour guide Kai had grown up poor in a similar village and related to the families we saw. He made sure to buy small trucks and trinkets to hand out to the children. Before they received a gift a proper "Khawp khun krup" with a bow was required. When one of the mothers returned from getting water she had her son say thank you again to make sure it was done properly, this time with pants :) It was about the sweetest thing I had ever seen.

I wanted to take a million pictures but didn't feel right about making the people in their daily lives a spectacle for my curiosity. I think there is a fine line between capturing the essence of a place out of amazement and polarizing it. I asked our tour guide how he made that distinction. Quite simply, he just asked. So that's what I did. One Akka woman seen below insisted on it which thrilled me to no end.