Back in the States

Dear friends,

I am back in the States now and will drive from Allen Park, MI to Wooster, OH in about 12 hours.  I haven't been able to muster up a reflection post yet, but hopefully I can have one in the coming week.  In the meantime here are some photos I would like to share with you.

International Women's Partnership for Peace and Justice visit
Anna and Liz's blog post on the visit
IWP's website

Soybean fields at IWP.  Just like Ohio, right?

Ginger, our IWP host, was using these bricks to build her new home.

Visit to Doi Lan, a LiSu village
The LiSu are an ethnic minority of northern Thailand and Burma.  We stayed in a village of about 100 households, called Doi Lan, for 3 nights at the end of our stay in Thailand.
Nancy and Abby's blog post about our last full day in Doi Lan

My host family was drying beans outside when we arrived.

After Thai government programs to eradicate opium production, coffee has become a main crop for Doi Lan.

Doi Lan seemed to have the best food in all of Thailand.  This is sticky rice, similar to mochi, toasted with cinnamon and sugar.

Eggs, tomatoes, cilantro, squash, greens, rice.

One of our furry and flea-filled friends.

The largest livestock which the people in Doi Lan raise are pigs.

Celeste, Erin, and cat in front of our host family's house and kitchen.

Some more of our furry friends.

Coffee tree starts.

The school garden.

A view of the hills.  Much of the area has been deforested.

Can you tell that Celeste, Erin, and I spent most of our time playing with animals?

A visit to Doi Chaang's luxury coffee production operation.

The first rice and pig slaughter ceremony.

Our host parents (Asapa and Alima) weighing and selling their beans on our last morning in the village.

Last Day in Bangkok

The Erawan Museum's 5-story 3-headed elephant.

At the top of the elephant structure is a room filled with centuries-old buddha figures from various kingdoms in Thailand.

The Erawan Museum also had beautiful flowers spread across their grounds.

Too bad these don't grow as well in the Midwest.

We used the skytrain as a nice alternative to Bangkok's road traffic.