Green civic engagement in Chiang Mai

11 56pm. 26 July 2020

Have to stay to reflect on today before going to sleep!

I have read through the book written by many previous Couchsurfers hosted at Rich’s place. I cried after that. It was so much more than I thought. I understand that Rich has hosted many people and got many nice references on Couchsurfing. I have no idea of how kind he really is. The book made me believe in my decision today of not participating in the Global Citizenship Program with JUMP! (T.T), instead, I will spend time talking with Rich, a man of kindness and love. My plan for the fifth day at Chiang Mai is to eat breakfast, go to Nong Hoi market and cook lunch with Rick. In the afternoon, I will go to a coffee shop for the first time in Chiang Mai to work on my internship and feel the atmosphere too. Late afternoon, I might pass by the Lost bookstore or the second-hand cloth place.

I was right to have an early coffee with Rich this morning, and a short but caring conversation with him after I went back from the event, meeting many people. It has been another thrilling day of my solo travel. I got up at 550 to get ready for the tree planting event in Chiang Dao with P Jamon. We joined a group of Greenrangers, an environment-driven organization supporting Northern Thailand people with knowledge and skills for the environmental sustainability of Chiang Mai. It was founded by P Yun who is from Lua ethnic group of Chiang Mai. While he was working and studying Science, he realized how much people had ignored the disruption of their deeds on the social aspects which should be recognized and change. He also disagrees with those who only say but not do anything for a better change. Thus the philosophy of Greenrangers is “Learning by doing”. We have to try and fail and get something done. He is also super funny to connect his members physically and emotionally. He rent a house for his members to gather and take actions together like do urban farming, cooking food, telling stories etc. He is a leader but also a father or mother of the family. He said he could walk his own pathway but the members might not be able to walk alone so he is happy to support them. This is good for both their dreams and his dreams – to empower humans and do good deeds for society. Besides, the organization also cook food for the homeless in Chiang Mai.

Treeplanting with Greenrangers in Chiang Dao

We had the whole morning planting trees and breathed the smell of land and trees in the mountains. The afternoon was for the team to travel around to a little hotspring and chill at Youth Camp place. We were talking by a small stream, running down to Ping river, eating longan together. I took a good nap, while the girls came to collect some bamboo for our dinner. I was curious what food they would be cooking because bamboo is less popularly eaten in meals in here than in Vietnam. I gathered Thai little by little thanks to conversations. People I meet empower me to keep practicing and understand more of the bigger world, of Thai culture and ideologies. The question I had the most was “Why I decided to come to Thailand?” My answer is “I love Thai people and Thai language, besides, the major and the people of my undergraduate program give me life of love and growth.”

I love trees and planting trees ahiiiiiiiii

The house, a socalled office of Greenranger is super cosy. It is a community house for people sharing common interest to come and exchange knowledge. Members come to cook everyday and sleep in 2 cosy rooms. Their kitchen area is full of toolkit to try doing new dishes. Some who stay in school dormitory can come and cook like their own kitchen. I understand how meaningful a small corner of the kitchen is to a college student. They have some lovely guitar and a small garden with both vegetables and chickens. The house is like a subsistence family, giving roof to youths who care about the environment and self-development.

We were waiting long for the bamboo to get done to eat. Yet it was a fun time sharing stories about the organization, my country’s culture, ghost stories, and our relationship jokes. They are all personal but easy to be shared and laughed together. In the morning, we mostly stay distantly. Gradually, from the afternoon, I started talking to most of the team’s members. Most of them are students from Chiang Mai uni taking different majors like humanity, agriculture, philosophy and some are working. Their hometown is in different provinces in Northern Thailand and the organization is not part of the uni. Time, a bit of food and drinks brought us up to open-ended chats. I was out of digestion at 9pm. I was in the dilemma of whether I should participate in the camp or spend time in Chiang Mai. And I listened to my heart, and P Jamon’s advice – live in the presence. Yeah I made it, I made it to say rejection to some people. It’s the thing I should do to make my time count and worthwhile.

I will have another awesome day in Chiang Mai. Love you! Thank you Linh. Goodnight.