Akha Swing Festival, Doi Chang 2012

[ronwebb]

I like these little festivals and Davidfl told me about this one, so off we went to Doi Chang on a lovely sunny day.
Straight up the R118 form Chiang Mai and a left into R3037 and a right into R (I dont know what) through Saeng Charoen to DoiChang.
I little bit of road works up through the hills but great views riding along the ridge.

Finally made it to Doi Chang Resort and what a lovely spot it is. All very green up there at this time of the year too

Good grub too...

Doi Chang is a typical Thai mountain village, a bit run down here and there with a few pot holes in the roads but as usual, super friendly folk

with one stop satellite TV delivery

fresh pork too

the road into town

and of course lots of great fresh coffee

We were fortunate to meet an Akha guy who did a phd anthropology in California. He was a fountain of information as to what was going on during the whole proceedings and he has this year, for the first time ever, plotted the linage of the Akha families in the village. He explained that he has made charts for 147 families but the rest of the Akha in the village have become Christian.
Doi Chang is a mixture of Akha, Lisu and ChinHaw.
The missionaries who convert people require that they change their names to Christian names. As the linage is produced from the Akha names, it is apparently not possable to produce the linage with the newly adopted Christian names. As Christians, the missionaries require that they cannot participate in any of the traditional Akha activities, including the swing festival.
The process of producing these charts is lengthy as there is no written language for the Akha and so it is all from memory, passed down through the generations.

Our guide on matters Akha explaining to Ian

and one of the 147 charts he produced

The festival I understood was to celebrate the right of passage for the young girls into adulthood and to wish for a good season of crops.
Apparently in Akha legend, there was a plague of bugs that was destroying the crops. The legend says that one guy found a poison for the bugs but they wouldn't eat it. His solution to that dilemma was to use his blood to attract the bugs to eat the poison. This worked well but unfortunately it did take up all his blood to get the job done and he died as a consequence. And so the ceremony is to give thanks and to remember this poor chap for saving the crops and the continuation of the Akha race.

The ceremony starts with the clearing of the past years swing area, removing whats left of the old swing and erecting the new one.
The entrance to the swing area (which no one seemed bothered to use. Perhaps its for spirits only?)

Preparing the vines for the swing rope

and the poles

and up she goes

the final touches

In Akha mythology, the sky came from three stones, the earth from three blades of grass and so this is the first to be placed on the swing

and the headman is the first to swing. In this village the headman is a young guy as his father passed away early in life and so the responsibility is passed to his son.

then its all on for young and old

guests are also welcome to join in including farang rock stars

which drew much amusement from the gals in the crowd as only rock stars can

that being the case, I thought it would be worth risking life and limb myself but not surprisingly, there was no similar reaction.

Still, we met some lovely people

and discovered that each Akha house has their own little swing

During the dinner the night before we also witnessed a small dance group of Ahka and Lisu

Akha, Lisu and a couple of Thai ring-ins

Another fun weekend with good friends and the local village folk and a wet ride home!

 

[Satonic]

Very interesting, Thanks for sharing the photos although not all of them seem to be working for me?

 

[DavidFL]

Funny how it goes, all set to head off to Mae Yao & the Akha village out there after the first tip-off & then another tip off comes in, no go to Doi Chang "we" will take you & show around to see all the spirit ceremonies in the house & blessing the swing etc etc..Ok that sounded a lot more interesting with a chance to learn something & get the inside line hanging out with the locals.

My contact phoned ahead to her cousin who booked a room for me the on the Friday night before the household spirit ceremony, plus 3 others for the other guys who would swing by for the Saturday night.

I set off late as usual & it was a bit of a thrash up the 118 straight to Charin Resort for a cuppa cappu & a couple of pieces of pie & cake to carry me over. Whilst at the Charin the weather set in & it poured with rain - not a good omen for 1500 metres up in the mountains I thought. Dawdling at Charin, the contact in Doi Chang rang to see where the hell is was, as she waiting & it was not raining up there. You're joking I thought....no rain le? Impossible I thought.... anyway eventually I set of from Charin as the sun was lowering at 4.30PM+

Its only a few kms up the road from Mae Suai & you make a right to Saeng Charoen from where it is only 15 kms to Doi Chang. (Dont turn off to Saeng Charoen & it is about 30 kms to Doi Chang via Huai Khrai.)

The road in a beauty & generally all good but steep & winding asphalt

The Saeng Charoen - Doi Chang road is quite spectacular & runs along the ridge line in a couple of places, offering panoramic views.

But it had indeed rained on the way in

in some parts, the steeper sections? - the road could do with a bit of TLC

Whilst pottering along taking photos & enjoying myself, Ms Doi Chang phoned twice more to check if I was ok & still coming.
Eventually I rocked up in Doi Chang & found the resort, but not before riding right passed Ms Doi Chang, sitting in the Lisu shop wondering if it was lung David on the motorbike riding by.
She was too scared to call out as she'd never spoken to a farang in the flesh before. It was safer to phone which indeed she did, asking if it was me who rode past. Yes well it could have been me, but I don't know if I rode passed you. OK, if you turn around & ride back I will stand in the street & you will know it is me....huh, yeah that's right I thought. Go with the flow...it's all part of the fun.
My Doi Chang Resort bungalow for the night

I'd made it.

 

[Rod Page]

Interesting post. I did not know the background information Ron supplied. I do, however know the road up to Doi Chang & what a beauty it is - Myriama & I were up there some years ago with Stu Lloyd of this forum at the nearby Lisu village for a massive tribal gathering; it was so good we stayed late & were nearly blown from our bikes as a storm swept over the mountainside in a full moon.
Look forward to your photos from the ceremony, David. I see that you are atop a Verseys?

 

[ianyonok]

I took the 1089 east out of Mae Chan, then the glorious 3037 down through Wawi to Doi Tung, to meet up with the other guys.

The swollen Kok river.

Always looking for side tracks when on the dirt bike, but this bridge, clearly wasn't going to handle farang plus KLX...

Civet coffee anyone..... 1100 baht for 50g!

This was the main road in the Akha village of Bahn Hoka, down the end of a dirt road, north of Doi Chang.

A christian Akha grave.

Presumeably someone important who died last year, aged 84 and had 5 children.

Doi Chang clearly gets it's name from the shape of the mountain.

Morning view from the restaurant at the Doi Chang Resort.

This is probably one of the reasons the missionaries want to suppress the Akha beliefs.

I took my time on the run back north to take in the stunning scenery.

Tried to get to this park at the top of a Doi at the northern end of 3037, but the mud was just too slippery....... another one to return to one day.

 

[DavidFL]

The air is super fresh & clean in Doi Chang & I was tucked up in bed by 8.30PM on the first night - the power went off & there wasn't exactly anything to do in town anyway.

My contact Ms Doi Chang had said that if I needed anything anytime to ring, so I rang at 8PM to check the schedule or tomorrow - no answer & no return call. Oh well & as it turned she was in bed at 7.30Pm with the family.

The next morning I was up early, prepared for the day's program whatever that was to be.

I finished brekky at the Doi Chang Resort - some simple but delicious kow tom

& it always impresses me how good & easy to get it is to get good fresh food in out of the way places everywhere in Thailand.
Of note too was that the cook was a Lahu gal from 30 kms away, who was born in the Lahu village but did not know her real age or birthday. Her ID card had no birth date & she had no idea if her age was right on the card, but she thought it might be something like that.

I finished brekky & my guide Ms Doi Chang eventually turned up to say I should go to her house after 10Am she thought, when Mum would probably be ready for the spirit ceremony.

With time to kill I sauntered off to the Doi Chaang coffee plant.

Doi Chaang Coffee is an amazing success story:

Doi Chaang export-grade coffee situates in the top 1% of world coffee, based on the following:
1. The trees are all of the Arabica species.
2. Growing elevations are high.
3. Above all, harvesting, fruit removal, drying and grading are performed using equipment and procedures that are equal in technical sophistication and rigor to any prevailing any place in the world today, and superior to most.
Finally, Doi Chaang Coffee competes for wholesale buyers in the top segment of the industry worldwide.
” Kenneth Davids—publisher of WWW.CoffeeReview.com”

Hard to believe for some , me included. I always thought Doi Chaang Coffee was good & certainly enjoy their coffee shops.

A bit more nity gritty for the hard core coffee lovers

• Grade A: Very clean, moderate acidity, medium body, syrupy mouth feel. At a cupping, roast
should display suggestions of flowers, stone fruit and chocolate.
• Peaberry: Very clean, moderate acidity, light to medium body, lightly syrupy mouth feel. At a
cupping, roast should display suggestions of ripe citrus, flowers and lightly roasted nut.
• Semi‐Washed: Rich acidity, light to medium body, silky mouth feel. At a cupping roast should
show distinct suggestions of roasted nut and a fruit‐toned dark chocolate.
Green buyers should note that genuine Doi Chaang Coffee can be distinguished from other, less meticulously prepared Thai coffees by its Fair Trade and organic certifications.
No other Thai coffee carries these certifications.

The Doi Chaang Coffee project first started in 1983 when HM provided the initiative for growing coffee to replace the opium poppy fields in the area.
The Akha village headman at the time was Piko Saedoo, & he is the original founder of Doi Chaang Coffee company. It is Mr Saedoo's face who is on every packet of Doi Chaang Coffee.
After 20 years, the beans flourished under the leaves of plum, peach and macadamia nut trees and in the nutrient-rich soil of the region; but the local Akhas lacked good business acumen & were not getting fair prices for their coffee.
By luck he met Wicha Promyong, a trekker & plant lover.

Mr Wicha helped resurrect Doi Chaang coffee into a promising product. First, he encouraged the villagers to unite and form their own independent company to represent all Doi Chaang farmers. With initial capital of 320,000 baht, a small company was set up to handle the production and distribution, eliminating the middlemen.

Out the outset Doi Chaang Coffee had less than a hundred acres of land owned by the village, they now have 8000 acres with 3000 under coffee cultivation.
Doi Chaang Coffee has boomed.

They were fortunate enough to join forces with a Canadian company, headed by John M Darch, who also was setting up the first potash mine in Thailand. The Doi Chaang Coffee Company is now a unique partnership between the Akha hill tribe of Doi Chaang Village and a Canadian coffee distributor, Doi Chaang Coffee Co. The Thai families cultivate and process the beans, while the Canadian firm finances, roasts, markets and distributes the coffee.

Mr Wicha said the company not only sells Doi Chaang coffee, but also forest civet coffee at 3,000 baht a kilogramme. Lotions and cosmetics made from coffee by-product would be made available in the near future through the new company, Doi Chaang Coffee Cosmetic Co.

However, the bright prospect comes with a new challenge. Mr Wicha said a short supply is likely, as production is estimated at only about 500-600 tonnes this year, a sharp drop from as many as 1,000-2,000 tonnes earlier.

Mr Wicha explains participating farmers are free to sell their beans to middlemen or a third party if they get higher prices.

“We’re focusing more on quality control. Direct purchase from farmers and having a single production and processing facility will enable us to control and stabilise the quality of coffee,” he said. “We expect over the next three years our production under the scheme would reach 5,000 tonnes a year.”

Since the Thai farmers own 50% of the joint venture, they receive a price higher than the Fair Trade level for their beans, as well as half of the organisation’s overall profit.

More than a thousand households of ethnic minority groups now have a better life. Some growers now earn up to 1 million baht a year from less than 100,000 baht when the company was first set up by selling their unmatched coffee beans.
Several families can send their children to study for a doctorate degree both locally and overseas.
The company also set aside 30% of its yearly profit to the Doi Chaang Foundation, which takes care of education, health care, the environment and culture of the local community.
Through the foundation, the community is setting up a community bank to offer financial services with low lending rates not only to the Akha tribesmen as well as more than 10,000 families from 25 other tribes in the area.
It took Doi Chaang Coffee only five years to become the world’s top-class brand. But what puts it in international limelight is not profit but rather its business model, which contributes income to people in the community.

 

[Rod Page]

Great success story. David.
Excellent travel photos, Ian.

 

[DavidFL]

Back to the Akha Swing Ceremony & household spirit ceremony

I was very fortunate to be able to witness a step-by-step guide to the rituals conducted inside & outside the house, with a request to take photos of it all.
And true to form I got too many photos, as some of you might say. But I did enjoy it all & felt privileged to witness "every step."

A few pix with a very brief rough outline...

1. Mum cleans the cooking utensils

performed only by a woman & not a male.

Inside the house the cups are cleaned

A fresh lot of sticky rice is cooked to offer to the spirits

& then some seed (sesame?)

is cooked

I noted her she used her hands only to stir the seed in the wok. No cutlery was used.

This was then pounded

Sticky rice is cooked inside the house

& an offering made to the spirits.

Move along outside & the cooked sticky rice gets a pounding.

Done by a male only, who must wear a hat / cap.

and believe me this sticky rice really is sticky & take considerable muscle to pound it into submission. I'm glad my turn was only a brief spell!

When finished you just twist the super sticky rice round the pestle.

and pull it off with a bamboo lasso.

Then roll the sticky rice in the pounded seed

Sticky rice "cakes" are the finished product

to be continued...

 

[Jurgen]

A great destination so close to home! Just regretted that I did not make a move to follow the party. It seems a nice place to go for an excursion … even without the swing. Thanks to everybody for posting the story and the pictures. I will for sure put it on my todo list.

 

[DavidFL]

The lady of the house prepares ceremonial sticky rice & cakes, the senior male (wearing a cap, no hat no can do) prepares for his role to conduct spirit ceremonies.
A corner of the house is reserved for this function.

A chicken is sacrificed

but it gets a "head bath" first.

Then a few knocks on the head

which don't quite do the job & its hands on for a broken neck.

The wings only are then cut off

and it's onto the fire to burn off feathers

& be plucked, gutted & cleaned.

Then into the pot for soup.

Once cooked, small servings are made up

ready for spirit offerings.
More rituals are conducted in the corner.

Offerings are prepared for the spirits

and everyone gets a small serving of chicken

Finally the sticky rice cakes are placed in the corner for visiting guests.

and it was all over in the house from what I understood.

Time for a beer outside..

My / our happy local Akha guides + 1 Thai.

a bit more to come still..

The Akha Scene in the mountains of North Thailand & Laos is changing rapidly. Their traditional culture is going fast.
Go & spend time in Akha villages while you can.

 

[DavidFL]

With the household spirit ceremony out the way it was time to kick back & relax.

The # 1 Doi Chang "mini mart" was across the street from the Doi Chang Resort & the place to hang out.

the shop was Lisu owned, a relative of the Doi Chang Resort owners & had a good biz. Pulling in 10-20,000 baht a day; & 30,000 baht on high season festival / holidays.

Despite the appearance of the shabby rundown town, there's money pouring into Doi Chang.

Part of the fun at the shop was hanging out watching the locals come in late afternoon / after work for a quick drink of beer or rice whisky then off home. Plus the diminutive dwarf shop assistant was a honey & loads of fun. And surprisingly she is not Lisu from Doi Chang, but Lisu from Pang Mapha!

Kop hanging out with a local Mum & baby # 3.

Evidence of Doi Chang's prosperity was a new petrol station & "shopping centre" being constructed right in the heart of town

Akha owned, we wondered how it was all financed. Was it coffee or something else?

The Akha spirit ceremony for the Swing festival was not the only spirit ceremony I saw, for the Lisu guys at Doi Chang Resort also conducted one at the resort for their ailing mother.
This one was conducted at the base of the resort's water tanks & I wondered why they selected that spot.

A piglet & a chicken were to be sacrificed for this ceremony

although this was done in part 2 of ceremony, which I unfortunately missed.
What was somewhat amusing was one of the participants mobile phone ringing during the chanting, & which was solved by another Lisu guy simply walking in & taking over restraining the pig, so the phone call recipient could walk away & answer his phone. Life goes & you need to take your phone calls.

Night time at the resort was enjoyable with a small hil tribe dancing show put on for the visiting owner of a Korea tour company.

Miss Leo the bartendee from the Kafe

playing Lisu.

Akha

The grand finale: guests & Lisu & Akha

 

[Jurgen]

Nice and great fun ... will double appreciate my sticky rice

 

[ronwebb]

A bit more on the Swing festival..........

The swing is the centrepiece of a festival called Yaerkuqdzaq (pronounced yae-ku-jar in Akha language).

The festival honours an Akha hero, Yaerkuq, who sacrificed his life defending the tribe's land in a catastrophic pest attack on their crops.

The tale goes that a serious plague of pests spread over the Akha land after farmers killed insects while farming their land.

The Akha people sought help from their supreme god, the Aqpoeq Miqyaer (pronounced aa-per-mi-yae).

The god sent his son, Yaerkuq, to fight the pests and he began collecting poisonous herbs.

Yaerkuq mixed the herbs with his own blood to lure the pests into eating them.

He killed many pests with this concoction. But as there were large swarms of pests, he had to use up his last drop of blood to kill them all.

The vengeful insects and vermin spirits which survived the slaughter went to Aqpoeq Miqyaer and demanded justice.

Aqpoeq Miqyaer promised to punish the Akha people responsible for the killing by hanging them one by one.

The Akha did not dare protest. They decided to have fun with the punishment instead.

They built a huge structure with four poles erected to form a square base. The poles are tied together near the top from which point a long piece of rope is suspended. The swing was created and a person would hang on to the rope to trick the god into believing they had been hanged. It is the reason the single-rope swing is known by the special name of lavqcep (pronounced la-cher). It means hanging by the hands.

Aqpoeq Miqyaer and the spirits were convinced the Akha had been punished and allowed them to resume their normal farming activities on the condition that the hanging must be repeated each year after the paddy rice seeds are sowed.

The Akha villagers take to the swing once a year to eliminate bad luck and welcome an abundant harvest and happy life.

(Source: Bangkok Post)

 

[DavidFL]

Ron & Ian have some pretty good shots of the swing ceremony, plus an explanation that seems correct (what else would I / we know?)
So just a few pix.

Constructing the swing

and you had to be impressed how these guys worked - bare foot, & no safety equipment / insurance; just balls & a devotion - strong belief in what they were doing.

building the swing is time consuming & a very important event in the village. Especially for the village elders. Almost every man seemed to be there, dressed up & offering words of advice on how to go about it.

The village spirit gate, just below the swing

Happy spectators

a lot of pix of the guys, but it is hard to get decent photos of village elders, especially the males; however on the day everyone at Doi Chang was really really very cool with us witnessing the event & taking photos. Thank you Doi Chang Akha!

The swing finally gets tugged into place

Preparing the swing twine rope

It's a long rope

& so needs to be strong

And there's quite an art to twisting & making the twine rope.

eventually it is all go & the Akha guys get a chance to show off their skills.

And wow! Can some of these guys really fly....

The visitors join in much to the delight of the Akhas.

 

[Rod Page]

A great & at times sensitive insight into the lives, the beliefs, the culture, the values & to some extent the hopes & aspirations of a wonderful people with a long history & a deep sense of their ancestry. I trust their being marginalised, attempts at 'assimilation' or even the inroads of missionaries will not see the differences they offer, the richness in diversity, so enriching to those from outside, being undermined or even vanishing.

Anything but a rushed appraisal.

Well done. A very rewarding post.

 

[DavidFL]

AND

The final day I / we expected to see the young local Akha gals in full dress swinging.

AND

there were none!
The swing was deserted.

Were we missing something? Should we wait another day?

No one seemed to know & no one seemed interested.
Was the tradition still only for the old folks - the men constructing the swing & the elder mothers performing the spirit ceremony in the safety of their houses?

I strolled around town a little & noted a couple of small swings set up in the yard of A house

This was it then I thought: the end of a tradition; with young women of the village no longer residing there; but working in the city earning money to send home to Mum & Dad.
I saw a couple of hot gals riding Finos / automatic scooters around.
But when they returned home they were no longer interested in the traditions?

Indeed I felt lucky to finally watch an Akha Swing Ceremony & the related spirit ceremony in the house.

Next year I will endeavour to visit a more remote isolated village, perhaps less modern & less connected to the real commercial world, & so more traditional & practising the "full works" Akha Swing Ceremony.

Nonetheless I enjoyed my time immensely in Doi Chang & can't wait to go back - more good coffee & good food, plus a few cold beers at the Lisu mini-mart.

Time to fuel up with DC's best go juice

and head for the hills...

The way back was longer but more easy via Huai Khrai & the views were stunning...

Thanks Ron, Kop, Ian & Silverhawk for the company.

a big thanks to our Akha guides Ms Mot, Ms Kratai plus Ms Leo from the Kafe.

A good night view from the Doi Chang Resort.

If you want to go to Doi Chang, then check it out the GT Rider Golden Triangle guide map. Doi Chang, S-W of Chiang Rai, is located in Grid 4D.
You can get to Doi Chang via
1. Mae Saluk & Wawi - all asphalt.
2. Huai Saan from the Den Ha road - short steep chopped up dirt section.
3. Mae Suai & R118 - all asphalt.
Enjoy....Doi Chang is worth it.

 

[SilverhawkUSA]

I've been waiting and reading the posts you guys have been adding and you finally voiced the same conclusion as mine. Arriving on Saturday afternoon, I missed David's visit to some of the homes, which sounded like a great experience. It was a nice ride, and the company in Doi Chang was enjoyable. Nice meeting Ian in person for the first time also. It was interesting picking up on the background from the different individuals in attendance and Ron's research. The food was good, and lodging above what I expected. :thumbup:

BUT! As festivals go, it was a BUST. It was sad to see the lack of interest shown by the locals. The most colorful costumes were being worn by us. I must add I did so (for about 2 minutes) under "protest", but the ladies were insistent.

Doi Chang may be a nice place to visit to add to your "been there, done that" list (as the above photos show), but look for authentic culture and festivals elsewhere. :thumbdown:

 

[Jurgen]

Wonderful write up, with important information and amazing pictures. It is a helpful planner for an excursion and provides a clear frame for expectations. The tribute paid to development and kind of “civilization” is probably unavoidable. Lets hope that the natural background remains enjoyable and that friendly contacts can be build with denizens in western costumes

 

[fabianfred]

Great pix...sorry i missed this festival again!
It would be good if GT could email us with dates and places when he knows a hill-tribe festival is coming up....or anything very photogenic.

 

[DavidFL]

The air is super fresh & clean in Doi Chang & I was tucked up in bed by 8.30PM on the first night - the power went off & there wasn't exactly anything to do in town anyway.

My contact Ms Doi Chang had said that if I needed anything anytime to ring, so I rang at 8PM to check the schedule or tomorrow - no answer & no return call. Oh well & as it turned she was in bed at 7.30Pm with the family.

The next morning I was up early, prepared for the day's program whatever that was to be.

I finished brekky at the Doi Chang Resort - some simple but delicious kow tom

& it always impresses me how good & easy to get it is to get good fresh food in out of the way places everywhere in Thailand.
Of note too was that the cook was a Lahu gal from 30 kms away, who was born in the Lahu village but did not know her real age or birthday. Her ID card had no birth date & she had no idea if her age was right on the card, but she thought it might be something like that.

I finished brekky & my guide Ms Doi Chang eventually turned up to say I should go to her house after 10Am she thought, when Mum would probably be ready for the spirit ceremony.

With time to kill I sauntered off to the Doi Chaang coffee plant.

Doi Chaang Coffee is an amazing success story:

Hard to believe for some , me included. I always thought Doi Chaang Coffee was good & certainly enjoy their coffee shops.

A bit more nity gritty for the hard core coffee lovers

The Doi Chaang Coffee project first started in 1983 when HM provided the initiative for growing coffee to replace the opium poppy fields in the area.
The Akha village headman at the time was Piko Saedoo, & he is the original founder of Doi Chaang Coffee company. It is Mr Saedoo's face who is on every packet of Doi Chaang Coffee.
After 20 years, the beans flourished under the leaves of plum, peach and macadamia nut trees and in the nutrient-rich soil of the region; but the local Akhas lacked good business acumen & were not getting fair prices for their coffee.
By luck he met Wicha Promyong, a trekker & plant lover.

Mr Wicha helped resurrect Doi Chaang coffee into a promising product. First, he encouraged the villagers to unite and form their own independent company to represent all Doi Chaang farmers. With initial capital of 320,000 baht, a small company was set up to handle the production and distribution, eliminating the middlemen.

Out the outset Doi Chaang Coffee had less than a hundred acres of land owned by the village, they now have 8000 acres with 3000 under coffee cultivation.
Doi Chaang Coffee has boomed.

They were fortunate enough to join forces with a Canadian company, headed by John M Darch, who also was setting up the first potash mine in Thailand. The Doi Chaang Coffee Company is now a unique partnership between the Akha hill tribe of Doi Chaang Village and a Canadian coffee distributor, Doi Chaang Coffee Co. The Thai families cultivate and process the beans, while the Canadian firm finances, roasts, markets and distributes the coffee.

You can buy bulk coffee from Doi Chang farms in Chiang Mai at Hillkoff Coffee
Chiang Mai - Coffee
the # 1 coffee outlet in Chiang Mai.
Check em out for loads of coffee &, coffee machines & equipment.

 

[DavidFL]

Bump for the month of August & the Akha Swing festivals.

If you are in the top north this month there should be a few on in the coming weeks.

 

[DavidFL]

There will be a bg one at Akha Sam Yaek 9-10 September 2017.

There will be smaller ones at

2017 Akha Swing Festivals

 

[DavidFL]

The lady of the house prepares ceremonial sticky rice & cakes, the senior male (wearing a cap, no hat no can do) prepares for his role to conduct spirit ceremonies.
A corner of the house is reserved for this function.

View attachment 56166

A chicken is sacrificed

View attachment 56167
but it gets a "head bath" first.

Then a few knocks on the head

View attachment 56168
which don't quite do the job & its hands on for a broken neck.

The wings only are then cut off

View attachment 56169

and it's onto the fire to burn off feathers

View attachment 56170
& be plucked, gutted & cleaned.

View attachment 56171
Then into the pot for soup.

Once cooked, small servings are made up

View attachment 56172
ready for spirit offerings.
More rituals are conducted in the corner.

View attachment 56173

Offerings are prepared for the spirits

View attachment 56174

and everyone gets a small serving of chicken

View attachment 56175

View attachment 56176

Finally the sticky rice cakes are placed in the corner for visiting guests.

View attachment 56177

and it was all over in the house from what I understood.

Time for a beer outside..

View attachment 56178

My / our happy local Akha guides + 1 Thai.

View attachment 56179

a bit more to come still..

The Akha Scene in the mountains of North Thailand & Laos is changing rapidly. Their traditional culture is going fast.
Go & spend time in Akha villages while you can.

With lots of Akha Swing Festivals in the top North this last month I thought it maybe worth bumping this thread up with the report on the house hold spirit ceremonies that are held at this time of the year.
The first 2018 Akha Swing Festival I attended is here
Akha Swing Ceremony At Pahee 2018
but we only went for the "swinging."

 

[DavidFL]

The air is super fresh & clean in Doi Chang & I was tucked up in bed by 8.30PM on the first night - the power went off & there wasn't exactly anything to do in town anyway.

My contact Ms Doi Chang had said that if I needed anything anytime to ring, so I rang at 8PM to check the schedule or tomorrow - no answer & no return call. Oh well & as it turned she was in bed at 7.30Pm with the family.

The next morning I was up early, prepared for the day's program whatever that was to be.

View attachment 55997

I finished brekky at the Doi Chang Resort - some simple but delicious kow tom

View attachment 55998
& it always impresses me how good & easy to get it is to get good fresh food in out of the way places everywhere in Thailand.
Of note too was that the cook was a Lahu gal from 30 kms away, who was born in the Lahu village but did not know her real age or birthday. Her ID card had no birth date & she had no idea if her age was right on the card, but she thought it might be something like that.

I finished brekky & my guide Ms Doi Chang eventually turned up to say I should go to her house after 10Am she thought, when Mum would probably be ready for the spirit ceremony.

With time to kill I sauntered off to the Doi Chaang coffee plant.

Doi Chaang Coffee is an amazing success story:


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Hard to believe for some , me included. I always thought Doi Chaang Coffee was good & certainly enjoy their coffee shops.

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A bit more nity gritty for the hard core coffee lovers


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The Doi Chaang Coffee project first started in 1983 when HM provided the initiative for growing coffee to replace the opium poppy fields in the area.
The Akha village headman at the time was Piko Saedoo, & he is the original founder of Doi Chaang Coffee company. It is Mr Saedoo's face who is on every packet of Doi Chaang Coffee.
After 20 years, the beans flourished under the leaves of plum, peach and macadamia nut trees and in the nutrient-rich soil of the region; but the local Akhas lacked good business acumen & were not getting fair prices for their coffee.
By luck he met Wicha Promyong, a trekker & plant lover.

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Mr Wicha helped resurrect Doi Chaang coffee into a promising product. First, he encouraged the villagers to unite and form their own independent company to represent all Doi Chaang farmers. With initial capital of 320,000 baht, a small company was set up to handle the production and distribution, eliminating the middlemen.

Out the outset Doi Chaang Coffee had less than a hundred acres of land owned by the village, they now have 8000 acres with 3000 under coffee cultivation.
Doi Chaang Coffee has boomed.

They were fortunate enough to join forces with a Canadian company, headed by John M Darch, who also was setting up the first potash mine in Thailand. The Doi Chaang Coffee Company is now a unique partnership between the Akha hill tribe of Doi Chaang Village and a Canadian coffee distributor, Doi Chaang Coffee Co. The Thai families cultivate and process the beans, while the Canadian firm finances, roasts, markets and distributes the coffee.

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An interesting & seriously surprising development with Doi Chaang Coffee


By REUTERS 17 February 2020

CHIANG RAI, Thailand—A major Thai coffee brand has vowed to repay about 200 farmers who were forced to take out loans while waiting nearly three years for payment, leaving them with spiraling debts.

Doi Chaang Coffee—which has more than 50 franchises in Southeast Asia—said it would pay about 7 million baht (US$224,000, about 325 million kyats) after the Thomson Reuters Foundation revealed the non-payment and ensuing debts.

Doi Chaang calls itself a social enterprise, a company that addresses environmental and social issues while making a profit, and was founded in 2003 seeking to give growers a fairer price.

“By June we should be able to pay back all of the money that we owe to the coffee growers,” said Panachai Pisailert, managing director of Doi Chaang Coffee Original Co.

“The past two to three years the economy has been bad, and that has affected Doi Chaang’s coffee sales,” he added, saying the company used to pay its suppliers within four days.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation spoke to 20 farmers in three villages in northern Chiang Rai, who said Doi Chaang had owed them payments ranging from 2,000 to 230,000 baht since 2017.

The growers said they were worried about being unable to pay back high-interest loans from informal lenders, as well as those from state-owned banks and money borrowed from village funds.

One farmer said Doi Chaang’s failure to pay him 50,000 baht had led him to take out loans from a rural development bank and a village cooperative to pay for fertilizer and pesticides to preserve his crops. He now owes about 300,000 baht in total.

“I will probably be in a never-ending cycle of debt to the bank,” he said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Fears for the future

Labor rights experts said such debts put people at risk of falling prey to the world’s most common form of modern slavery, debt bondage, where people are locked into exploitative work to repay debts.

“The coffee growers, who have little capital, will be susceptible to cash-flow problems and eventually be driven deeper into debt,” said Betty Yolanda, Asia manager at the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, a monitoring group.

“This situation can be used by other buyers to exercise control over the coffee growers through debt bondage, forcing them into a cycle of debt and exploitation,” she added.

Somboon Trisilanun, the Labor Ministry’s inspector general, said the agriculture industry was tougher to monitor than other, more industrialized sectors due to the large number of workers.

“It’s not possible for authorities to inspect all field crops, but they [workers] are protected under the labor law and there are key indicators [of exploitation],” he said.

Doi Chaang said it conducted business “like a family” and did not have written contracts with its suppliers.

“This kind of practice is rather unusual … and makes the farmers vulnerable to being exploited,” said Viroj NaRanong, research director at the Thailand Development Research Institute, a policy think tank.

Coffee is the main source of income for most of the hill tribes living in Chiang Rai, who grew opium poppies before shifting to food crops and coffee beans in the 1960s.

One local chief said Doi Chaang owed about 3 million baht to about 30 residents of his village for their coffee beans, and many farmers were worried that they would never be repaid.

“The company says they help raise the living standards of locals … but in reality [the villagers] are struggling,” said the chief, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution.



Source: Major Thai Coffee Brand Vows to Repay 200 Debt-Ridden Farmers