Thailand Adventure Part 3 of 3: Hill Tribe Villages

For my last stop I traveled to Chaing Rai, to the Mirror Foundation, where I did a three-day, two-night trek through the Hill Tribe Villages. These villagers live high in the mountains, away from the cities with little to no modern amenities or government support. The Mirror Foundation is a small non-profit that was founded by students and works to improve the lives of these peoples. Living with them, even for a short time I was impressed with their fortitude and simply way of life.

While I am glad to be home, (I was literally drooling for some French Fries), this is an experience that will always be with me.  Artistically I am inspired to delve more deeply into transforming discarded objects to beautiful and functional pieces of art. Hopefully you will see more of this to come as I get back into the studio.  

A typical rice field. Slash and burn farming is the most common method used here.

The green log in the center is actually a piece of fresh bamboo. We put rice and water inside and it cooked perfectly!

This is my guide's 7 year old daughter. She is playing house, with a machete. Familiar and strange all at the same time. 

Thailand Adventure Part 2: Boon Lott's Elephant Sanctuary

After working at the Elephant Dung Paper Factory I traveled down to Boon Lott’s Elephant Sanctuary. This is truly heaven on earth. BLES is a non-profit that rescues abused elephants and then lets them just BE elephants, they are the only Asian sanctuary that does this. There are no shows, and no tricks, you simply live amongst the elephants, help take care of them, and take part in watching them enjoy this new life.

Lom, Mee Chok and Pang Tong

Pang Suai

Mee Chok

Mee Chok

Each of these elephants was tortured physically and mentally due to the greed of humans, they each have wounds that will never fully heal.  Despite this, after being shown love and respect, they have managed to forgive humans for the pain we caused them and now live alongside us. One particular elephant, Wassana, has a very traumatic history, but every morning, she wakes the entire sanctuary with her squeaks and trumpets of joy as she joins her friends for another day in the forest. After the honor of witnessing that, her simply joy of a new day, and all of the strength and forgiveness shown by each of the 13 elephants at BLES, it is impossible not to reevaluate your own attitudes.

Wassana coming down the hill...

Bong Beng and Tong Yui happily greeting Wassana

Lotus, the most recent arrival to BLES, was my instant favorite. (Don’t tell the others!) She is a bit of a diva, and knows exactly what she wants. She will only take fruit by hand, her favorite is apples but if you drop it on the ground she will not take it from you until you wash it.  She is also not afraid to just take what she wants. Lotus joined us for lunch everyday at the observation deck. On two occasions she decided there must be good things to eat up the hill towards to the sanctuary and marched right up to eat their trees and the vegetable garden. Despite the attitude, she is also very caring and watches after the kids, Noah and Hope like a doting Nanny. 

Lotus joining us for lunch.

Lotus, Katherine and Hope

Charging up the Hill.

This was a truly transformative and inspiring experience.  Check back soon for the final post about my adventures in Thailand, next stop the Hill Tribe Villages above Chaing Rai. 

Thailand Adventure

I recently took a trip to Thailand, an adventure of sorts, which was kind of for school, but mostly for fun. I traveled for two weeks, starting at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center, where worked at the Elephant Dung Paper factory. I spent all day transforming poop into paper and it was amazing. I know you are curious, so here is how it works:

It all starts here.

Then the dung is dumped into this vat of water for washing. We wade in in giant boots to break up the pieces, kind of like smashing grapes for wine.  

Then it is boiled for several hours over this wood fire. 

During the boiling process crystals of hydrogen peroxide is added to kill any bacteria that might be present. It is dung after all. 

This is what it looks like after boiling, completely odorless, but pretty grassy.

We then process the dung in this machine for 2-4 hours to cut up the fibers. The time varies depending on the elephant's diet. 

The result is much smoother, and looks a lot like sugar cookie dough. 

We each take a screen and sift through it to remove any large fibers or chunks of peroxide, this makes for a smoother paper. 

Small amounts of glue and fabric softener are mixed in.

The dung is rolled into 4 gram balls.

Then we dilute it in water, and spread it evenly over a screen in these trays. Any inconsistencies will be present in the paper.  

After it settles, the trays are very carefully lifted from the water and allowed to drain.

Finally the paper dries in the sun. 

Because elephants eat grasses and fruit their dung is very fertile and makes wonderful papyrus-like paper. The paper is sold as is, and turned into other products by the women of the village. Proceeds are returned to the TECC to buy more elephant food, thus a cycle of conservation is born. 

Check back for the next part of my journey, Boon Lott's Elephant Sanctuary. 

End of School Year Resolution

By now anyone reading this knows that I am a horrible blogger, because I simply don’t sit down and do it! But it is summer, a more practical time for resolutions I think, so I am resolving to update both blogs at least once a week. Starting now, it is officially in writing on the internet, so if I fail, it will be a public one. Hopefully that is enough of a threat to hold me to it. Luckily, I have something very exciting to fill you in on to kick off this new beginning.

Princess Photo shoot

I've been lucky to be able to spend the week with two beautiful princesses, my nieces Olivia and Charlotte. Yesterday to celebrate the Royal Wedding Olivia modeled my tutus and aprons and we had our own mini photo shoot in the front yard.

She absolutely loved posing for the camera and getting to change clothes so many times! The tutus fit great and she pulled them off with a regal air. Here are some of my favorite pictures, with links to find the tutus on Etsy.

Fairy in the Forest Tutu

Little Ladybug Tutu

 Pretty Pink Princess Tutu

Stay tuned, aprons to follow tomorrow.

Goodnight!

Welcome

Welcome to the new blog for my main Etsy shop. Some great Mother's Day gifts have been posted, order soon to be sure it arrives in time for that special day. More items to be posted soon, stay tuned in and pass it along.

much love,

Amanda