ICU Nan

Our home stay in Nan was absolutely amazing. The excruciatingly long (and nauseating) van ride was completely worth it when we finally made it to the village and I met my ‘host family’, a sweet old woman who was introduced to me as Bawh, grandmother in Hmong. I was a little alarmed when I realized that she didn’t speak either English or Thai, but was comforted by her warmth and hospitality.

I stayed in a compound with Dao, Bintou, and Rachel, we all stayed in small, one room, hut-like homes. Everyone’s families were really close with one another and it seemed like a really close community. Every ones children freely came in and out of ever ones homes and I’m still unsure which family members lived in which households, or who was directly related to who. All of the families where very friendly and made me feel at home in the community. Every night I was invited to dinner at every household and invited to come in and sit whenever I walked by.

After dinner on the first night Dao came over and I was able to get to know a little bit more about Bawh. She came to Thailand from Laos with her husband about thirty years ago; she lost two sons there before they left. She said that they had wanted to go to America but had stayed because her husband’s parents wanted them to stay closer to their way of life.

Even though we could not communicate, I had a wonderful time with Bawh. Every night we stayed up late, while she sewed I read, and we would sit outside with the other women in the afternoons. I think we were both really upset when I left. She had someone write down her address for me and I’m going to print out pictures from my trip for her and mail them the second I can. She was a really wonderful host to me and she truly made Nan a memorable trip.

Our day trip to the waterfall and former refugee camp were also great experiences. Seeing where the refugee camp was, where many of the people from the village had stayed, put into perspective the impact of the Laos-Hmong problem. It opened up a lot of interesting dialogue and on the way to the waterfall I got to hear Sheasia’s parent’s story which was really stirring.

The waterfall was the highlight of my trip. There were numerous pools of water on different levels, and the water was the perfect temperature. We all had a great time climbing, swimming, laughing, and relaxing. It was picturesquely Thailand, and the perfect end to a hot day.