Building a Dam

A morning view from our balcony

My experience in Soppong at the Lisu Hill Tribe Home Stay was lovely!  Building the dam in exchange for a room and three delicious meals a day was a wonderful experience!

The river

The monk's cave

We were lent a motorbike to take the 15 minute ride each day to the river where we were to reconstruct the dam that had been destroyed by heavy rainfall and high/strong currents in the river last rainy season.  Our work basically consisted of 4 hours a day of moving sand bags back into place and once we accomplished that we then filled new sand bags and laid them out.  I liked the fact that there was an instant change in the water levels with each tier of sand bags and it made the fish quite happy as well.  As soon as the water level rose the fish ventured out further and further and kept us company (along with the little spiders) as we worked.

the river before the start of rebuilding the dam

The highlight of working on the river was the story behind this beautiful spot.  According to what we were told there was a Buddhist monk that lived in the small cave along the river bank for many many years.  He was considered a pretty important monk but has now passed away.  Currently there are three monks living there but their living standards have improved a bit since the first monk to live and practice there.  They are living in bamboo huts now and are using the cave and it's entrance more as a place of meditation.  The youngest monk would help us work on the dam as well.  They were always very friendly and greeted us each day with a warm smile and a pleasant goodbye.  Some of the days when we returned after lunch or the next morning they had done more work on the dam and each time it gave us inspiration to push through the stiff and sore muscles to reach our goal.  Lots of times while we were working there would be one of the monks meditating outside the cave or another one washing the robes in the river or starting a fire to prepare for their meal.  It really had a cool vibe!

progress after day one

finished product

Another one of my favorite things about this spot is it seemed that no one else knew about it, it was just us and the monks!  It was very quiet and solitude, like our own little secret spot.  There were the little river fishies, the different colored butterflies, striking emerald green dragonflies and lots of little bug-zies.  The nature there and scenic jungle like terrain was simply gorgeous!!

dirty yet accomplished workers! :-)

That's all for now...

Lisu Home Stay

Marc and I have arrived in Soppong.  For anyone who is wondering who Marc is, he's a very sweet guy that I met pretty much right after I arrived in Bangkok.  He's English and very good to me!  We hit it off right from the start and have been traveling together ever since!

Right now I am overlooking a hill side that is being used for crops, there are a few other travelers here.  One girl from Canada who did a semester studying abroad in Beijing, a guy from Germany and another gentlemen from Canada.  The village is sleepy and quiet all but for the sounds of the farm animals.  There are many hens, roosters and baby chicks running around free, the neighbors have a few pigs in a pig pen so every once in a while you hear the pigs making some noise.  It's great to be on a farm again!  The only thing that is missing are HORSES!!!!!!!!!!  All of the houses are more like substantial shanty shacks made out of bamboo or slotted wood planks sort of patched together.  It's very rustic and I love it!

I am so looking forward to my experience here and at this point I can only hope that it works out for us to live here in exchange for our labor.  The German and Canadian guy have been going to the local school down the hill to teach English a few hours a day and I would love to have a crack at that as well!

Albert is an American expat and the one that I have been in contact with regarding wwoofing here.  He had to go to the city of Chiang Mai for a few days and won't be back until tomorrow but I look forward to meeting him and getting to work.

More later...

On to the next leg of my adventure...

So I really love Asia and have postponed my flight to Australia twice now.  I have decided to wait on Australia until I am ready and I don't feel that time has come yet.  I went online in search of a way to sustain a bit of a lifestyle here and found a home stay of sorts in the north of Thailand in Soppong.  For four hours of work a day I will have free accommodation and will be fed.  I am also told that we will get to partake in the hill tribe activities, I am very excited!  I will keep you all updated on how things are progressing, we start tomorrow with building a dam.  All I know is that the work will consist of moving sand bags, should be interesting!

That's all for now!  peace & love

www.lisuhilltribe.com