Day 5 - To the Next Village... Lahu at Phrao

To read Day 1 - Onward to Tak, Thailand,

Day 2 - On The Road Again .... Chiang Mai
Day 3: Palong Village
Day 4: Still in Palong Village

We reached the Lahu village late at about 5pm. This village is located in Phrao, North Thailand. Its about 1 hour away from Chiang Mai.

When we arrived, we were greeted by the Lahu villagers, welcoming us with smiles and and tight handshakes. They do not adopt the "Y" greeting of the Thai culture, they prefer to shake hands. I thought that was interesting.

The weather seem cooler here and fortunately, there was a huge bond fire. A primitive heater but it works great!

Left: Daniel, he is an awesomely joyful, playful and humourous boy. He was so friendly to Ethaniel and even jokes with me. Daniel wore the dungaree for a whole 2 days... Maybe more but I left after the 2nd day.
Right: This little boy was a real clown. I totally enjoyed his playfulness... My kinda boy!

All of them look so handsome, trying on their shorts, sweaters, pants and shirts.

There was a group of girls and boys gathering around us and I decided to take out the clothes which we brought to give out to them. It was really fun giving out clothes and dressing them up at the same time. There was a particular boy who was so glad to receive his "new" clothes that he told his Mom to take out all his clothes in the freezing weather, sweater plus pants... and insisted to just wear that new t-shirt and pants.


Seeing that boy being so excited with his new clothes really touched my heart. I rarely see this with my children or myself. Maybe because we are spoiled with obtaining new things often. It really sink-in that this small little gesture of giving makes a great difference in a 3 years old boy's life. He rarely gets anything new... whether a hand-me-down shirt or brand new something. At that point, I was truly inspired to do more... How so little can make so much of a difference.

The service was to be held at about 7pm and it was a great time of singing praises and enjoying the dance presentation by the teenager boys and girls and young children.

Praise and worship by the local Lahu people was just simple and truly heartfelt. The young children sits down and sing the songs by heart. No lyrics, songbooks or transparencies. I really enjoyed looking at them singing, full of joy on their faces. Unlike the bored look I see on my children's faces, sometimes.


The rest of the meeting was spent praying for the people, for both healing and deliverance. It was great seeing them being touched. The little children and adults alike.


After we finished the meeting, the local tribal Lahu girls gathered around us at our small hut. We ate butter cookies together and played UNO. I blogged about it when I was there. Click here to read.


To view more photos click here to go to my online Picasa album.