Misty, Beautiful Mae Hong Son

This land that I find myself in just got a little more interesting. I'm not sure how much I've let on, but Thailand just hadn't held the charm of say, France. Not to say I didn't like it, but it can be hard to compare to quaint coffee shops, amazing food, and a strong franc (when I was there!). To be fair, I just haven't seen a lot of my newly adopted home. My trips to this point had mainly been to get out of the country on a visa run. This past week I finally got a bigger glimpse of Thailand - and I loved it!

A view from our trip up to Mae Hong Son.
We journeyed 5 hours up and down windy, twisty, roads. At the end we arrived at Romklawpangtong School which is in one of the Royal Projects. The day was beautiful and sunny. We passed Pang Tong Palace (although I didn't actually see a palace) and the King's project with its beautifully manicured lawns and numerous animals. Some of the animals, by the way, are released back into the wild after each year and are only there for the sake of conservation. Just past the palace and up another steep and windy hill was the school.

The main classroom building.
The school consists of several large classroom buildings, dorms for boys and girls, a community room, a farm, and a large garden. In the morning the students get up at 5AM, get ready, and head to the community building for singing and exercises. At 6AM (most of) the students are busy working. They rotate their jobs every two weeks and do things like take care of the animals, sweep, cook, and clean.

At this school they are trying to teach children to be self-reliant. All of the children who go here come from families that are too poor to pay for education. The school has about 243 students and about 180 stay at the school. The rest come from a village just over the mountain. The students learn about farming and taking care of animals. They are encouraged to try to succeed with what they grow and then it is sold at the market. The students get to keep the money.

The garden at the school.
The school only goes up through the equivalent of 9th grade. Then most of the students go back to their families and/or get married. Only a few will go on to finish grade 12. Even fewer will go to university. A big problem is that most students do not have ID cards and therefore cannot leave this area.

The students playing religious songs at night before bed.
It was a very fun experience. We were able to teach a couple classes and observe. Mine main reason for going was to see get some background on where my students potentially come from. For example, how is it that all the Thai students in my class have had 9 years of English and barely knew the alphabet when they got here? How are they taught? What do they respond to? I also wanted to learn more about how the school was run. Our students are older to there are going to be definite differences. But I wanted to get an idea of what is expected of students at these schools.

We also went to Ban Rak Thai, which is a small village with a heavy Chinese influence. It looked like it caters to tourists, but when we were there it was almost dead. They sell a lot of tea and dried fruit. The first dried strawberry I ever had came from this place.

Hmmm, which sign is important? Ahhh, yes, the one in Roman script...

Delicious dried fruit sold here!.
Hopefully in the future Legacy will be able to help that school by sending students there to teach a little bit. If not that, I at least have every intention of going back. It would be great if I could go a couple weeks a year to teach - and my Thai would improve dramatically as well!

We were only gone for 3 days, but I feel like I've seen a bit more of my current place of residence. Thailand is no France, and nor would I ever want it to be. My being here is making more sense the more I see of the place.