So remote and yet so welcomed

 Planning my trip around South East Asia was a bit of an after thought. My friend Kelly, who I had the pleasure of working with back in New Zealand over the summer, had told me stories of the place for months before heading back there herself. Once she had gone I was left to linger on the adventures told and before I knew it I too had booked my flight and was kissing my confused parents goodbye at the airport gates. 

It wasn’t until the LONG stop over in Singapore that the idea settled and I had time to process what I had just done. Left my entire life behind and ventured off on my own to a completely foreign country. Apart from the stories of 50c beer and cheap massages I knew little about Asia. I decided right then and there that this trip would remain this way; a journey into the unknown. One where “yes” would be my answer to everything and expectations would never have the chance to disappoint.

Once touching down in Bangkok I decided to slowly make my way north and meet up with Kelly who was living with her Thai boyfriend Boo in the beautiful village of Pai. As we all know a little too well, there were a few hitches with transportation along the way but it was worth every second upon arriving in this homely or maybe more heavenly town of hippie expats. Over the next week I would also learn that the locals of northern Thailand are the most selflessly giving people I had ever met. It is safe to say I was in love.

A few days in Boo invited me to join the family on a road trip north to attend his brother’s wedding. “A traditional Thai wedding in the middle of nowhere” I thought, “HELL YES!” So before I could really even establish a familiarity with a Thai toilet or not drinking from a tap we were off.

After escaping the outskirts of Chiang Mai it was long hot highways, one after another, and due to the lack of sleep the only real thoughts I could grasp was good god its lu-ng (hot) and the realization of how highways all look the same no matter what side of the car, road, or country: long concrete paths of madness!

After ten hours of travelling and a night spent crammed into one bed in a town I never got the name of we arrived out on the farm and we realized the true desertedness of our location. We plied out of the car and everyone stopped and stared. And by everyone I mean the entire village who had come to help with the preparations for the wedding tomorrow. Turns out it was the first time many of the gang had seen a white person or tourist in real life.

 After a few intimidating laps around the property I had found some smiles with my camera and clumsy Thai attempts and before long we had a fan club of kids watching our every move. Over the two days, as people gained confidence, we ended up been the focal point of many photos, pointing and giggles ourselves.

A Thai wedding normally consists of up to a weeks worth of celebrating but due to the hasty approach to this engagement it seemed fitting to squish the traditions into just two days too. It was amazing to be involved, as much I could be, in the preparations of the feasts to come. The village all worked into the night making every little ingredient from scratch on tables and blankets outside in the scolding heat. Most ingredients were formed from coconut. And 400 had been collected, cracked and cooked into something aroy (delicious) by the end of it.

The next morning the wedding began bright and early. 5am to be exact. Music blasted on massive speakers through the little village making sure everyone nearby would be apart of it, whether they wanted to or not. We begun by sitting as the monks blessed the couple and chanted, then we all had turns at scooping out rice into the monks bowls for their breakfast. The traditions and rituals continued on until midday; parades through the village, dancing on the dusty roads, tying of rope around the bride and grooms arms, the exchanging of money from family to family and pouring holey water over the couples hands while giving our best wishes (while everyone else watches might I add, pity my Thai is so crap! I had decided to say something inspirational in Maori, the native New Zealand language instead but I got too nervous and just spoke quickly in English so they couldn’t understand.) After the festivities for the day it was time pile back into the car and travel many more hours (in a direction unknown to me) to Boo’s Aunties where we spent the next few days living the real Thai life before eventually making it back to the beaten track.

What an amazing experience it was. Not only to spend time with my new friend Boo and his family, be involved in a Thai wedding or learn the way these resourceful people make everything by hand and using what’s in their backyard but to throw myself into an environment so far off the beaten track that I don’t even know the name of the place. So secluded that we turned heads all day purely because of our white skin. So remote and yet we were so welcomed.