Assignment 1: Introduction

For this assignment, you will get some hands on practice with both a consumer article and a memoir piece. Perhaps the assignment will help you figure out which you prefer to work with in this course. (You are free, though, to work on any kind of travel writing.)

Think of a trip you took in the last year or so. Then…do both of these things:

Consumer

List three possible angles for a destination article on this place.

Memoir

And…write a short memoir account about one thing you did while there. Try to keep it under 500 words.



Unfortunately my last extensive travel episode ended over two years ago and, while I appreciate the small journeys I have been on lately, all these small voyages pale in comparison to my tour through South East Asia1. After spending ten months in Australia in 2006 my girlfriend and I circled Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia for two months. I have decided to focus on Thailand, and more specifically the Northern city of Chang Mai for my memoir.


Consumer angles for a destination article:
- Bartering for Memories: The sights, sounds (and smells) of Chang Mai’s bustling night markets2
- Hard Labour in Paradise: An inside look3 into the lives of the men and women working around the clock to restore normalcy to Koh Phi Phi after the storm
- Stop Kicking Muay Butt! A Canadian steps in the ring with a master traditional Thai boxing and learns about more than just the taste of leather4

Memoir


Before we even crested the final hill, I could hear what would become the familiar sound of women in the village sifting their rice through hoola-hoop size strainers, dipping the dancing grains in water5 and shaking off the unwanted particles. This wet-whooshing was our welcome to the tiny Palong village in the foothills North of Chang Mai, in the Northern region of Thailand.

Woken from a sticky sleep at 8am that morning6 in Chang Mai, we rose to gather with the other eager backpackers and packed ourselves into the back of an overused, under cushioned truck. After brief introductions, a small breakfast, and three hours of jostling travel, we arrived at our trek’s launching point and stretched our legs for the hike ahead. Once the route and safety measures were explained by our guide, Ricky, we set off for the half-day hike to the village. The walk was enjoyable but unspectacular, and Ricky seemed much more interested in working on his conversational English than educating us on the vegetation or natural surroundings as we walked through the airy forest. All was forgiven, though, when the path finally broadened and the curiously inviting sound of the village women at work trumpeted our arrival.

We had seen pictures of example villages when booking this trek, but the brochure did our destination no justice: the simplicity and squalor of the thatched-roof huts was at once humbling, saddening, and saddening7. The small village consisted of two dozen single-room dwellings built on rickety looking stilts, randomly planted up the side of a lazy-sloping hill. Few of these houses were new and most had settled long ago and were leaning, drawn down toward the river at the foot of the hill. The late afternoon sun cast long shadows on the village and its people8, instilling a sense of peace and longevity for a way of life that we were only getting a glimpse of. Upon noticing our arrival the handful of working women and men briefly straightened their backs for a glimpse of the newest visitors and then indifferently went back to their tasks. The children of the village, though, were much more exuberant in their greeting.

The first of the group, a young boy about eight years old, came barreling down the slope toward us on a bike that was far too large for him. Unable to reach the seat properly, he was forced to swing his body over the frame side to side in order to move the pedals9. This motion, combined with his broad smile and gangly frame, brought back memories of table-top wind up toys and I was transported back to my youth as he drew near. Others followed his lead and we were soon surrounded by children of all ages who pointed and spoke alien words to us, but the atmosphere was decidedly welcoming. We spent the majority of the evening playing and exploring the village, following the lead of our youthful guides as they skipped and shouted through their tour.

We allowed ourselves to live, briefly, in their environment and found it just as fun and wonderful as areas I explored in my youth. It is these encounters that make traveling so enjoyable: the ease of connecting to another human is marvelous, no matter the differences in age, wealth, race, or sleeping quarters.