A friend and colleague of mine has begun spending his weeks(mon-fri) a few hours outside of the city, in the mountains of Mae Hong Son, teaching at a small local school surrounded by jungle. A hippie at heart, the return to a more simple way of life is undoubtedly part of what attracts him to this place, not to mention the opportunity to teach the students about building and playing traditional Thai instruments. After repeated requests to come and help him out with his English classes–foisted upon him due to the fact that his limited grasp of the language far exceeded those of the other teachers–I finally accepted, and spent the week up there, living in the way of the countryside, drinking rain water, playing soccer at dusk with the other teachers, eating well, and sleeping deeply in the clean mountain air.
students showing off their low-tech pinwheels –leaves on twigs– at the edge of a precipitous drop to the jungle valley below the school.
When a friend came to visit from America, intent on getting out of the city, and experiencing some of the “real” Thailand, I could think of nowhere better to take him. Additionally, I knew he would love the boy-scout overtones to staying at the school–traipsing through the jungle, making and shooting bamboo bow and arrows, the ever presence of machetes and of course, hauling loads of materials to improve the school(see Trips to the Jungle)
