Not Busy, Just Thai'd Up

(I’d like to apologize for not finishing this and posting it in a timely manner- I was kinda feelin’ like a butthole with a fever. Butt I got better! I am now a firm believer that butt tons of sleep, not-productiveness, television, and good music and dancing are all keys to feeling better. Especially the good music and dancing part.)

Howdy y’all.  I got back from a four-day field trip to the north of Thailand and the Golden Triangle.  Basically, this field trip was a blur of long van rides and visiting random places that pertain to what we’ve been learning in class: the opium trade, international relations, ethnic hill tribes within Thailand, and the sex industry.

I won’t do a stop-by-stop description of our itinerary, mostly because I don’t remember the order, or the location of all of our stops, but also because I’m quite tired of talking about myself.  I will, however, give an overview of what I’ve been learning in tandem with some pertinent pictures of the trip.  Get ready to be educated.

Sorry for the diction and lack of exclamation points: I’m brain dead from attempting to write one of two long papers.  I love the research aspect, hate the actual writing.  Poop.

SO! Let us begin with the sex industry to continue with the theme of the last post.  We visited the main base for The Sold Project, an NGO that works toward keeping kids in school by granting scholarships and giving them a recreation area to be tutored and play.  By keeping them occupied with school and granting scholarships, this helps to keep the kids from being sold to the streets as unskilled laborers or sex workers.  The families no longer have to worry about balancing the burden of paying for their child’s education (the education is free, but things like uniforms, school supplies and transportation become financial issues).  This NGO has about 20 additional bases all around Thailand, and they are looking to expand.  The staff and volunteers tutor the children, make visits to make sure life at home is acceptable, judge annual scholarship applications, campaign for financial donations, and teach community members skills such as silk-weaving using the silk grown by silk worms in the backyard.  This NGO was started only a few years ago with a dream of an American doctorate who gained some motivation from an inspirational book, combined with the gratitude of a pair of Chiang Rai twins who were given educational support by a very nice benefactor.  It’s amazing what a bit of positive action can accomplish.  Basically, this little visit made me realize two things: I’m really awkward around children, and that anyone can change the world with a bit of oompf.

Another place of interest was the Hill Tribe Museum. Let me give you some background about hill tribes.  A lot of the countries in Southeast Asia are made up several types of people.  This is because the Western concept of territorial boundaries was forced upon the people of Southeast Asia by Western colonial powers way back when that was happening.  So, there are a lot of problems with ethnic discrimination, loss or falsification of ethnic identity, and statelessness.  Example time:

End Verdict: these ethnic peoples have some problems.  Now you are aware if you were not before.  Speaking of problems, this whole conflict between Israel and Palestine is getting REALLY OLD! If we could fast forward ten years into the future, and this is still going on, I swear I will attempt to join efforts to resolve this ridiculous issue.

Anyway, back to the museum.  The museum is run by an NGO that aims to help hill tribe peoples, promote the usage of condoms to prevent the spread of diseases, provides family planning services, and supports organic farming.  The museum is one way of internally raising money for the organization, the other is a restaurant called Cabbages and Condoms.  Unfortunately, we did not get to eat here. L

 

(I wrote all of this two days ago and do not feel like writing much more on a depressing albeit informative topic.  Also, the field trip was lackluster in terms of excitement.  A bunch of temples, old and new, and some more museums.  Thoughts on the latter shall ensue.)

We visited the ‘museum’ (the term is used loosely because barely anyone visits the museum and it has a crap ton of cobwebs everywhere) for Khun Sa, who was the Opium Prince.  Basically, he was the voice of the Shan people, who were promised their own state, separate from Burma, after a ten-year period after gaining their independence.  This was organized by Aung San Suu Kyi’s daddy, but then the new regime under General Nu Win went and assassinated him and for some reason this makes that agreement null. That pretty much fueled the ambitions of the Shan people.

Khun Sa raised an army in the hills, and created a grand empire based upon the growth and sale of opium.  He basically became a millionaire on this whole trade and was able to create an army that aided his business transactions. Obvs, a great drug lord.  His reasoning for all this was that an army needs money, and money can be made with drugs.  He wanted to money for the creation of the new Shan state. The Shan don’t have their state, and Khun Sa is dead. History in a very crappy nutshell.

We went to the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia meet. Lots of trade, drugging, and gambling happen here.  My professor used the made up word “casinofication” to describe what’s going on here (I swear, he adds “ification” and “ization” to EVERY word he possibly can”).   If ya wanna gamble, do it there.  But I don’t condone it because all of this crappy development is harming the environment and the cultural richness of the area.  Migration patterns of the famous large catfish through the Mekong are being destroyed, and an entirely new material, cultural mindset is settling in over the people.

We then visited the Opium Museum.  It was the best museum that I’ve seen in Thailand- I’ve realized that lighting really makes for a good museum.  There were also short video clips, and creepy ass wax people. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, and I was also too freaked out to take a picture of this anyway, but here’s a short story: whilst watching a video about how drugs affect your brain, my professor said “hey Jessica, turn around and look at this!” he pointed at the ground and as soon as I looked, the floor lit up, and I saw people inside of a jail.  Oh my dear lord. It was the most awful thing ever.  I had not noticed it upon my entrance into the room, but the entire floor was glass, and underneath were two jail cells holding two wax figurines of drug addicts.  What the heck, museum. These wax things were everywhere.  Other than that, it was an excellent museum, especially if you wish to know every detail about the Opium Wars.

So, overall, the field trip was excellent! The best part though, was waking up at 5:30 am to walk up an infinite amount of stairs to watch the sunrise with some of my friends here.  It was beautiful, and it was lovely to see the valley slowly come to life.  Even walking in the dark before dawn, the streets were alive with people setting up their produce to sell later that day.  At the top of the stair mountain, at the temple, we heard a great chorus of roosters waking everyone up, and then, after the sun rose, there was obnoxious music.  It was amazing.  I highly suggest waking up to watch a good sunrise.  I promise, it sets a wonderful tone for the rest of the day.  And on that note, I end zis post.

Just kidding. Watch this, it's worth it : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9tNGEt6rmE. Now, errbody, go out there and dance like the party animals I know you all are. I'll be right there with you, pulling these moves out.