track our trek

i mentioned earlier we visited the royal project while in chiang mai...i was fascinated by the concept...a number of years ago, the government implemented an agricultural plan to grow many different cash crops, including flowers, plants, and coffee to eliminate the poppy fields (opium) from years ago without taking away the livelihood of people who worked the fields. it allows hill-tribe villagers to earn a living and stay in their villages with their families, rather than having to move into the cities as migrant workers...(seems a little better thought out than the initiative in rural shanghai to build hundreds of apartments for villager and farmers to live in, with no real plan for the kind of work they might do in cities.) still, the village populations are decreasing as young people become educated and move to the cities of their own accord, and in spite of the government scholarships given to people who become educated and return to their villages to help development. the village we visited had 85 people and 24 houses. the hand woven scarves, blankets and clothing were beautiful...a lot easier to appreciate when you see people at work. i snapped a photo of three adorable little boys who immediately asked me for 5 baht for their services! quite the little entrepreneurs...of course they got no money out of me!