Mae Chaem and Doi Inthanon

For basically the first week of February, I was very fortunate in that I got to visit with my dear friend and occasional roommate Julia in the town of Mae Chaem. I guess in theory I should not even be writing about Mae Chaem, or should change the name of town for this blog to keep this beautiful place as anonymous as possible. I am just kidding, but Mae Chaem has been largely fortunate in that it has remained off of the tourist radar and many people are worried that things could change. In Thailand (and this region in general) once a town gains the interest of tourists, it changes almost overnight. Clearly this is a two-way street because tourism brings a lot of money into an area, but it also changes a place often beyond recognition. But I am not writing a blog to lecture about the effects of tourism, just a happy little update about what I have been up to and where I have been.

Mae Chaem sits in a beautiful valley at the base of Thailand’s tallest mountain, Doi Inthanon (over 2500 meters above sea level). Julia is doing her dissertation research in Mae Chaem, so I have always been curious about it through her stories, but also because Mae Chaem is quite famous for its cotton textiles, specifically the intricately woven hempiece that is integral to a traditional northern Thai skirt. There are quite a few weavers in the Mae Chaem valley which helped draw me in – and on the weekend I went to Mae Chaem, the town was having its annual festival celebrating the weaving. I was able to stay with Julia and her Thai family, “Mae” and “Phi Oi” and I am very grateful for that. Her Thai family is very thoughtful and generous, and for that matter, so is Julia, who took me around to nearly all of the wats in the Mae Chaem area looking for banners. As many of you must know from reading my blog, I do not feel like I have truly visited an area until I have seen the majority of its wats. There are some beautiful wats in Mae Chaem, and many exciting banners. And, from what I can tell, many friendly weavers very happy to talk with a strange farang or two about the banners that they weave and give to the wat (always a good thing for a doctoral student working on banners to know).

Julia, showing her serious side

The cloth festival was not the only thing happening in Mae Chaem over the week that I was there; a festival at one of the wats overlapped with the cloth festival to make the town even more exciting. I can never get my fill of wat festivals and the one in Mae Chaem did not disappoint. Everyone was very excited, drinking and dancing and carrying their offerings to the wat to gain the ever-needed merit to ensure a better life for a practicing Buddhist. It was a lot of fun and Julia and I both got swept up into the procession (Julia numerous times as an honorary “Mae Chaem-ian”).
On Sunday morning, there was a beautiful (and long) parade to commemorate the cloth festival. Local Thai and “hilltribe” (Karen, Hmong, etc.) participated in the parade, wearing their best traditional clothes. I enjoyed every minute of it. Special note: in fact Julia has two families hosting here in the Mae Chaem area, her Thai family and a Karen family in a village nearby. When I was in Mae Chaem I got to visit her Karen family/village twice and was very touched by their kindness and generosity. Attending the parade, Julia actually wore a traditional Karen dress – handwoven for her just that week – and Duansri, the women she lives with in the Karen village, came to watch the parade with her.

When I was in Mae Chaem, I spent one of the days riding my motorcycle to the top of Doi Inthanon.. It was exciting to finally visit the highest point in Thailand, which is famous for the variety of birds which live in its vicinity. However, unlike some members of my family, I know nothing about birds or birdwatching so I cannot really tell you much else about that subject. Doi Inthanon was beautiful though, and it was very nice to be out in nature and breathing the super-fresh air.