Chiang Mai to Panya Project

Yesterday we landed at the Panya Project, an intentional permaculture community about an hour north of Chiang Mai.  The community was started by a young man who graduated from Western with a teaching degree, actually.  The volunteer coordinator here, Martha Asselin, graduated from Fairhaven a few years ago and it was connecting with her before she left the states that resulted in this link.  Turns out I also know the founder, Christian.  We were at the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop together three years ago.  Small world.

This community has been working for about three years as an educational site for permaculture and adobe, cob and wattle building projects.  This morning the students built adobe bricks which are now drying in the sun and harvested bananas.  This afternoon we'll go work on another building next door.  They offer permaculture courses and internships, and there are folks here from Belgium, England, and the US right now.  

One of the permanent residents, Kae, is a Thai woman with the three year old child.  We had a great interview this morning about her ideas about children and how she sees the differences between Thai and US culture.  She particularly commented on how in US families, children leave home when their 18, much more independent than Thai kids.  Thai kids are more likely to stay with their families for a long time.

The bell just rang for the building project, so more later.  I'll try to find a way to get pictures up.

M