Quiet life: Nan Noi, Thailand

Well, another visit to Queen's hometown was long over due! I've had some time off recently and I decided it was time for me to take a proper rest and slow life down a bit...

OK, maybe the doctors had their say in the matter too. I was hospitalized a couple weeks ago because of food poisoning (of all things!) and I think my body was vulnerable to the attack in the first place since it was weak and overly exhausted.

Where better to heal and recover, than the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE...also known as the small village of Nan Noi in the northern province of Nan, bordering communist-friendly Laos.

Queen's hometown is a windy 6 hour drive from Chiang Mai (home

base), and definitely a drive you want to sit in the front seat for. One, because you're less likely to get carsick; two, because the scenery is awesome. Mountains and farmlands all the way through, and as a visiting 'farang' foreigner... well it's miles beyond the beaten tourist path that's for sure.

Nan Noi consists of a main road, a post office, a school, a temple

and a few convenience stores. Everything else is just open space. Beautiful teak wooden houses built in traditional Thai-style, farm land and rice plantations scattered in and between the small clusters of 'mini-communities', and everyone seems to be related somehow. Everyone is a cousin or a sister-in-law or an adopted uncle...

I spent a week here, living with Queen and her family: Mom, Dad, two brothers and their wives, and 3 babies...See Nam (whose name translates to 'watercolors') and See Mai ('wooden colored pencils') are niece and nephew respectively, and have adopted me as family as well. 'Ahr Step' is what they call me, and the title is complicated enough but a perfect example of the detail and careful consideration of Thai language.

If a child has an uncle or auntie, their proper title depends on the side of the family they were born from. For example, let's take my nephew Cooper. Cooper was born of my brother, so his relation to me follows the father's line. If he were Thai, he would call me 'Arh Stef'. His other aunt, Carlie, is the sister of his mother. Carlie comes from the mother's line, so her correct Thai title would be 'Na Carlie.' Two aunts with different titles to exactly determine how we're related, paying respect to our elder ancestors accordingly.

This was something new for me to learn about Thai culture. The specificity of it, the careful articulation and the care for family name and identification seems complex, but it's just another formal display of politeness and ancestor respect the Thai people are famous for.

OK, I'm babbling a little now. My days were well rested, and life slowed down alright...to a sleepy crawl. Wake up, eat rice and omelet for breakfast. Read book. Take a nap. Eat lunch with Queen at her family's business shop. Read book. Go for a drive around town. Eat dinner (whatever Dad cooks!). Watch movie. Sleep. It was brilliant!

Queen's dad's local specialties were sometimes challenging (yes, even for me!) but always delicious as long as I didn't think too hard about which body part of what animal I was eating at the time. Some delicacies I am not a fan of, in particular the 'red ant egg soup', boiled tongue and any brain dish combinations. A huge hit was a pork dish stir fried in lime juice and chilies which I devoured and learned how to cook for future attempts in my own home (where ever that will be and whenever I decide to live in one again!)

Today my face is a little rounder, my jeans a little tighter, but my smile and energy levels are definitely restored!

Oh and the books I read this past week I have to suggest to all you travel reading fans out there looking for any kind of inspiration:

"Little Daughter: a Memoir of Survival in Burma and the West" by Zoya Phan

The story of life in Burma as a Karen minority villager before the government raids, and the struggle for one little girl as she fled to Thailand as a refugee and her life journey to become one of the highest profiled, exiled political activists today.

"7 Years in Tibet" by Heinrich Herrer

I saw the movie when I was just a young girl, but never imagined the story and true historical account to be so rich in detail. The book transports you to Tibet at a fragile time in history, during the world war and at a time when Tibet was still the childhood home of the current Dalai Lama and the guarded, mythical landscape where few foreigners were allowed the privilege of visiting. The author tells his story of escape from prison detention (he was a former Nazi SS Austrian officer), to stories of dangerous mountaineering and eventually his close role to the Dalai Lama as a personal tutor before the Chinese invasion.

Read and enjoy!