Coffee and Elephants

This past weekend I was invited by the Director of my school to visit Doi Chang.  This was kind of a big deal.  Why?  Well, first, a quick summary on hierarchy in Thailand.  Hierarchy, is a big deal here. You wai (bow with hands clasped in front of you) to anyone older than you or to someone of status (teacher, doctor, government official, etc.).  School directors have status.  Yes they are the school principal, but it’s so much more than that. They’re basically like G-d. Or a miniature version of the King.  You treat them with immense respect.  Thus, when the Director tells you do something, you do it; no questions asked.  Needless to say, I didn’t really have a choice in going to Doi Chang.  I couldn’t say to the Director “thanks, but no thanks” or “sorry, I have other plans”. I had to go. However, it should be noted that I wanted to go.  Why?  Because I’m kind of obsessed with the Director of my school.  There are many reasons to my obsession.  First, my Director looks like the twin sister of a certain Asian fearless “leader” of a blacklisted country.  The resemblance is uncanny and awesome.  It also means that approaching her is a bit frightening.  Second, my Director speaks about five words of English, so whenever I talk to her I use a lot of body language and noises to get my point across.  She loves this, which results in her touching me in some magical way, be it in an awkward hug or an arm squeeze. My dream is for us to be snuggling in bed together while she reads me a bedtime story. Every awkward interaction with her is a step towards fulfilling this dream.  So, when she invited me to Doi Chang with her I was beyond ecstatic.

We left Sunday afternoon for an overnight stay on the mountain.  Why we were staying Sunday to Monday instead of Saturday to Sunday I have no idea.  I later found out that classes were cancelled on Monday for some celebration, so perhaps that’s why. Getting up to the mountain was a journey in and of itself.  I clutched onto the armrest of my seat, forced myself not to get sick, as we drove (fast) through the VERY winding roads up the mountain.

A funny thing about the name of this mountain.  “Chang” means “elephant” in Thai.  Yet there are no elephants on the mountain.  Instead, it’s actually a coffee mountain.  They grow coffee on a mountain whose name means “elephant:”.  It’s called elephant because the top of the mountain is shaped like an elephant.

Anyway, we finally make it up to the top of the mountain, and it’s of course beautiful.  First stop, they took us to a monk’s house (a Buddhist monk lives on top of the mountain).  His house was in a bamboo forest and you had to walk barefoot over these rocks to get to his house.  The rock path is supposed to be a massage/cleansing thing. The monk’s house was extremely peaceful.  We sat on the floor in a room that had a shrine to Buddha on one wall, while the other walls were all glass windows overlooking the mountains.  He talked to us (through translation) about suffering, compassion, anger, meditation (and the western movement towards meditation),, as well as  foreigners/Christianity.  Although I didn’t understand everything he said, because it was lost in translation, it was a unique experience.

We were then taken on a walk through the woods.  We were shown a small pond of holy water.  The water was discovered by hill tribe people.  On the night of a full moon, the water was glowing, and the people could see it from their villages. Other things in the woods included various Buddha images.  After the woods we headed back to where we were staying to have dinner.  Dinner was delicious of course.  After dinner they took us to the Lisu village on the mountain where we watched them conduct their New Year dance.

The next day, after a delicious breakfast of yok (Thai rice porridge) and the freshest of coffee (#2 in the world, after Brazil!) we were on our way to a local school, commonly known as a village/mountain school.  90% of the students at this school are from the Akha hill tribe, the other 10% are from Lisu.  It was nice to get an authentic experience with hill tribe members, rather then on a tour or trek where they put on a show and dance for you. This school was a stark contrast to PCC for many obvious reasons (my school is an elite boarding school) but it was great to experience another side of Thailand. For one thing, the teachers not only teach but they have to cook the meals too.  Which means the students are left unattended to do their work, or as we saw with the kindergarteners, watch cartoons while the teachers work in the kitchen. As the director put it plain and simply for us, “this isn’t Chulabhorn”. The students also have their own projects going on. They grow their own coffee and sell it.  It’s called “Dek Doi Chang Coffee” (dek means children or student in Thai). We of course bought some to support them.

The history of coffee in Thailand is really interesting.  The hill tribes used to grow opium on the mountains.  But this, along with the agricultural technique of slash-and-burn resulted in the deforestation and destruction of watersheds.  So, in 1989 the King started his Royal Initiatives projects.  He encouraged crop substitutions with the goal of creating sustainable agriculture while eliminating opium cultivation and slash-and-burn horticulture.  Now Akha families work as a cooperative to grow and sell Arabica coffee (http://www.doichaangcoffee.com/our-community/history).  I really want to learn more about this transition from opium to sustainable crops. Since the drug trade is so profitable, I can’t help but wonder if this transition was a smooth one or a forced one.


It was a great weekend though.  Each time the Director reached for my hand or gave me a hug it was like angels singing from heaven.  And, it was nice to have people there to explain to us the history of the region.  Our weekend retreat concluded with a stop at a Thai restaurant on the river that serves PIE! I had passion fruit cheesecake which was delicious.  A sweet end to a relaxing retreat!

view from Doi Chang

Us with the Director!