After about an hour we had a pit stop for food and picking up more passengers and there were about 20 people that all piled into the truck! Pi Wa kept looking over at us saying, "Aren't you glad we have the VIP seats?" The VIP seats meant that we had a seat- there were about 15 people stuffed on the seats, 3 sitting on the bed of the truck, 4 standing on the back and another 4 on top the truck. We had no idea a single truck could hold 28 people, and we were wrong... it can hold more! We had another stop about another hour later where 10 more people all piled in. Five more up top, and 5 more stuffed into the bed, here's a look of the inside of the truck (don't be deceived by our wide angle lens, it is not an extra wide truck):
Oh and there were two babies... but they were awesome!! So adorable and didn't cry at all.
Megan, Pi Wa and I took some meds to help with motion sickness and were so thankful that we did as the road twisted and turned up the hills. At one point there were six people all around us puking into bags and tossing them out of the window. This may be too graphic, but some of the people didn't get a bag in time and some bags had holes that were discovered at the most unfortunate times, fortunately we weren't hit :)
We arrived at our last stop after 6 hours of sitting on a slightly padded bench, but couldn't complain when there were people sitting on the roof, standing on the back and sitting on the floor. There was still another hour motorcycle ride on the worst roads yet to get to the village. Our butts were either in pain or totally numb, sometimes it was hard to tell. We put up with the pain because we had the most beautiful view as we rode through the mountains. After an hour we arrived at Pi Wa's house where her mom was waiting with all the grandchildren to greet us. We brought a box full of gifts from Chiang Mai, mostly dried fish (a favorite of Pi Wa's mom), noddles, oranges along with some lighters and other nicknacks.
After eating some dinner, Megan tried to do some traditional weaving...
...and even went out to help collect some fire wood, which they do every night.
Megan took about 30 pounds of wood and Pi Suk took close to 100 pounds. They carried it all in bamboo basket with a strap that goes over the forehead. Megan struggled as she felt the pressure on her back and slipping around on the dark trail, we still can't believe how strong Pi Suk is to carry all that wood every night.
The night sky was incredible, with just a tiny amount of light coming from each house.
The next morning we walked around the village and met with just about everyone in the village.
The first visit was to Pi Wa's Aunt. She is 100 years old and hasn't been able to walk ever since she injured her leg seven years ago. She had such a joyful spirit and wanted to talk to us all day.
The neighbors showed us the traditional Karen dress that they were weaving...
After meeting and greeting everyone in the village we were told that we should teach the kids at Sunday school. It is hard to really describe how amazing this was; we started the lesson by teaching them a song. All the boys would jump up dancing and singing Hallelujah then sit down and the girls would jump up and sing Praise the Lord. It took us a while to get the right tune, however, not by the fault of the kids. We had just heard the song the night before and my (Megan) Sunday school song knowledge is little to none, so I kept singing the wrong tune as I was teaching the kids. Tad came up to me and said, "Meg- it goes like this..." and once I got it right we sounded great! A good thing, because they made us sing in front of the whole village at church later that day.
After we had practiced the song over and over again, I (Tad) told them the story of David and Goliath which seemed fitting since I was literally a giant in the village. To prove that point here's a photo of me and the pastor of the church.
Later in the day I brought out my Ugandan sling shot (thanks Casey!!) and we set up some cans to shoot. You gotta love the aiming warm up!
Megan gave them some bubbles and played with the girls, although a little boy named Guitar became fixated with them, trying to shake out every last drop. (By the way- his sister's name is Piano! Such cute kids and great names).
We woke up at 6am to catch the early songthaew home, and while it was freezing we were thankful for the opportunity to put on our jackets and long pants after so many months of shorts and t-shirts. The ride home went smooth- no piles of people, no throwing up, and we even made it home in 5 hours!
We are so thankful that Pi Wa's family opened their home to us for the weekend, it was a weekend we will never forget. We pick up our friend Katie today who is visiting us for our last week in Thailand! It's hard to believe we have been here for nearly three months, it has been an amazing adventure but we are excited to fly to Kolkata, India next week!
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