Traveling off the beaten path in Thailand brings a unique set of experiences. In and around the cities of Chaing Mai and Chaing Rai there is so much to see. Shopping bazaars and Buddhist wats are just a few of the attractions. However, traveling into remote villages is an experience unlike any other. Here you can really experience Thailand for what it is.
Nature landscape in Isaan Province Udon Thani
Hours spent in the back of a truck on a bumpy dirt road is rough. Unless you are lucky enough to get a covered truck bed, you are subjected to tree branches and a lot of dust. You arrive in a small and very isolated village, sore and covered in red dirt. Beyond the journey, these villages are filled with loud, underfed animals, small and drafty living quarters, and no showers. For those who are really interested in delving into the culture, it is the experience of a lifetime.
Off the beaten path in Thailand the language barrier is possibly the most difficult hurdle to overcome. Even with an interpreter, you find yourself looking for any way possible to communicate. This is much more easily done with children than with adults. The children are not used to meeting strangers and are so fascinated that they will do anything to find some means of communication. This is mostly easily translated in play.
Beyond the language barrier, the next thing we had to adjust to was the food. In the city you can find many different options, not only separating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but also finding cuisine beyond traditional Thai. In the remote villages the food is the same at every meal and the staple is rice. Also, everything eaten has to be earned. The rice has to be ground and sifted to free it of the husk. Meat has to be hunted, though with so many stray animals around this was not always difficult. Vegetables have to be grown.
The most rewarding part of eating these meals was getting to be a part of the gathering process. One day we went on a trek into the woods along a stream bed. At a certain location the men began to build a dam. Layering wood and mud effectively stopped the stream and the water quickly began to drain. We walked along the emptying stream bed finding small fish, crawfish, crabs and turtle. Once we had collected enough for the nights meal, we took down the dam to refill the steam. That night we ate a stew made of our days catch over rice. There is something so much more filling and satisfying when you know how much work went in to making it.
This way of living is so different from what we are used to, but experiencing a different way off life, seeing how they make it work with so little resources, is an experience unlike any other. You can read about it in a book, or watch a documentary on television, but until you have lived it first hand, you cannot truly understand. Off the beaten path in Thailand
