Waking up to pigs screaming

The first weekend after coming to our volunteer program, we went on what's called a "Home Stay". During this weekend, the organization arranges us to stay with two villages, one Lahu and one Akha. We also do a bit of sight-seeing.

First, we went out to breakfast in town. Then we went to the local market. There we were able to see all kinds of colorful foods - fish on a stick, cockroaches, and sticky rice. After that, we visited the temple in Chiang Rai.

Early afternoon took us to the Karen village to do some elephant riding. Then we headed for a banana-leaf-wrapped lunch at a nearby waterfall. After lunch, we visited the waterfall to cool off. Then we went to the hill tribe museum in Ban Jalae village.

Finally, we started off for the steep hike to the Lahu village. It was one hour, uphill, in the sun, and in the heat. But the views from up there were unbeatable.

The Lahu people are quite shy and it's hard to feel welcome in a town where everyone is shy and no one speaks your language. We felt even more uncomfortable with their living conditions. We slept in their above-ground home, on the bamboo-slatted floor. So, we could see the pigs that live underneath the home through the floorboards. And, boy, could we hear them when we woke up. They were screaming for their breakfast. It was quite unnerving to wake up to that sound.

The next day we spent at the viewpoint while our guide prepared us lunch using bamboo as the cooking instruments. It was delicious. Sleeping in the sun at that viewpoint was delicious too.

At the end of the day, we trekked to the second village. The Akha village had a completely different atmosphere. The minute we came to town, the kids shouted hello at us. They dragged us off to play tag. The families let us help cook and they taught us the tribal language - as much as we could handle. That night, they invited us to the bonfire to dance with them.

As interesting as the experience was, we were all very glad to come home and get showers, of all things.