The Final Destination – Meeting the Yellow Leaf in Nan

Here is the final chapter of this amazing journey. Our trip to Thailand capped off the whole adventure. We first got to Chiang Mai, spent the night there, then took vans to Nan where we visited the Yellow Leaf. It was a powerful experience. My professor has deep connections there, and we met some of her friends at a grocery store, to bring food and staples to the Yellow Leaf people (along with other items we brought from the US). The actual 'road to their village' was beautiful. Lush greenery, banana trees, rolling hills, another twisty road. We passed a few other villages that seemed much more well off (featuring school children with uniforms). When we arrived at the Yellow Leaf village, I recognized the road from a film we watched in class. The van had gotten stuck in the mud, and people had to walk toward the village. Apparently, the Princess of Thailand recently visited the Yellow Leaf, and in preparation for her visit, the government paved more of the road towards their village. The last km or so was still a dirt road.

When we arrived, our professor was greeted with open arms, and the wife of the chief of the village came and embraced her warmly. The children gathered, and were observing us with sincere curiosity. One of the men started distributing fruits to the kids, and they were so cute, yet it was clear how impoverished the village was. It was also clear that they have made great strides in the last ten years. There were two new huts built for families, and a few families now farming on their own (thanks in part to the land my professor’s non-profit organization purchased for them). Long story short, the Mlabri (Yellow Leaf) were hunter-gatherers and years ago were enslaved by the Hmong in Northern Thailand to work on their farms. My professor learned about this, and began visiting the Mlabri in Burma, Northern Thailand, and Laos. Over the years, she gained their trust, and has been able to help them create a sustainable livelihood, They presented her with a hand-woven bag, and a man who lives in one of the new huts offered her the only thing he could, a hand-carved staff he had made. It was so touching. We got to leave our supplies with the village chief, and you could feel the rumble of the people that they were excited. The ultimate highlight for me was seeing Split Ear, who came in from working in the fields. He is an older Mlabri man who was once chief of this tribe, and was wearing a short sleeve, button down shirt and a loincloth. His name is due to his split ear that he has on the left side. No one knows how old he really is (including himself). We had seen him in videos in class and he has apparently been written about in various anthropological journals. We were told that at first he didn’t really like our professor, and wanted nothing to do with her. Over the years, they built a strong relationships based on trust and understanding. His presence was magnificent, and though there was a language barrier, he spoke to us and welcomed us with open arms, and his charm and humor emerged within minutes. It was definitely an amazing experience.

After one night in Nan, we headed back to Chiang Mai, rode elephants at a conservatory outside of the city, had lunch at a street market where they served rice in a bag along with the meat of your choice, hit up the Night Bazaar (apparently the largest night market in SE Asia), and prepared for our final journey home.

We had a 6 hour wait in Bangkok before our flight back to SFO, and 3 of my classmates and I decided to take a trip into the city to see the Grand Palace and anything else we could. This was the ultimate finale for my ‘amazing race’ parallel. My professor warned that if we don’t get back to the airport by 3, or 3:30pm, we’d miss our flight home. This led to the rest of the group deciding to stay at the airport. The four of us had confidence we could do it, and it was SO worth it! We hopped into a cab from the airport, and went straight to the palace. Then we got into tuk-tuks which drove us to another temple, and some other random side stops. It was a fun adventure. Then back to the palace we got our tickets, and began taking pictures and exploring the grounds (after John had to ‘borrow’ pants from the front, as jeans were not allowed). The palace was ornate and amazing! It seemed like everything was covered in old and jewels, and the structures, and details were incredible. After a good lap around the grounds, it started pouring rain! The timing was perfect, we had seen what we wanted to see. We regrouped near the entrance, grabbed a cab, and headed back to the airport. This was definitely a highlight of the trip for me.





I can’t put into words how much I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this trip. It was overwhelming, exciting, challenging, and exhilarating. I learned so much about myself and others, and look forward to the next adventures in life.