The incense factory was reported to be near Hang Dong. "Baby", our 1962 diesel jeep, a veteran of Vietnam with bald tires, a turning radius comparable to that of a 747, and a mixture of spare parts that actually made her not so much a jeep as a miracle of intuitional mechanics was feeling dangerously enthusiastic that Wednesday afternoon as Yunee and I departed Chiang Mai in
northern Thailand. In Thailand, the word "near" is a highly flexible measurement but even if the distance had been given in kilometers, that knowledge would not have conveyed much more.
Yunee
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Having seen road workers from the local council measuring a piece of road with a bent stick, I learned to take such seemingly trustworthy units as kilometers in Thailand to be about as elastic as "a fer piece" tends to be in the parlance of backwoods Tennessee. (I wish I had got a picture of them measuring that road. Dragging a rope, putting rocks on the road at each spot, and later, someone wandering along and painting a circle around the rock).
"Near", I judged, was probably within about 50 kilometers. Hang Dong means "forest edge." There are presently, at a rough guess, 12 trees over 6 feet tall in the entire Hang Dong area. What forest there might once have been having fallen victim to the scourge of burgeoning humanity.
We got lucky and at the third place we stopped, a used car lot, they not only knew of the factory but how to get there. When I say "used car lot" I don't mean the vast expanse of shiny five-year-old models standing in neat rows under strings of triangular plastic flags that one might see in Carson, California. They did however have a neat awning under which stood a few gnarly pre-owned wrecks.
Used Car Lot
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Even "baby" shone in comparison. Finding someone who actually knew of the place we sought differed dramatically from the usual advice we encountered. The people of this area are almost always very willing to provide directions. Frequently having no clue where the place is nor even what you are talking about, they will describe every centimeter of the journey in minute, if conflicting, detail which then comes out very differently on the second iteration.
Water Buffalo
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This kind of direction is marginally worse than that of those who have no clue how to get there and happily proceed to tell you how to find a water buffalo instead, hoping you won't notice the difference.
Unfortunately, the route to the factory required a U-turn and a right turn (which in Thailand, Japan, Australia, the UK, etc., is the equivalent of the left turn in the US). As previously stated, baby's turning radius was unimpressive so we tooled off into the suburbs of Hang Dong in hopes of finding a street that will lead us to a street that will lead us to a street where one could execute the geometrically formidable "jeep reverse of direction" maneuver.
I would add that you could be on a rough dirt track with nothing but rice fields as far as the eye can see and begin this reverse of direction process when inevitably apparently out of thin mud, 3 high speed vehicles will come careening at you, honking at you to get out of the way.
Watch for Elephants
(Are you really likely to miss seeing them?)
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Direction reversed we found our way back to the main highway. Traffic levels were frequently fierce and consisted not only of motorized vehicles but also many sorts of ungulates and pachyderms bearing or pulling a variety of people, goods, and animals.
Road Hazard
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We now had to execute the deadly right turn in the face of a seemingly endless stream of oncoming traffic. The right turn is so deadly because of the rules of the road in this area:
Rule 1, drive at a speed that far exceeds your ability to control your vehicle
Rule 2, never leave more than about two cat lengths (as measured with a bent stick) between your vehicle and the one you are following, and,
Rule 3, pass whenever possible, or impossible.
One Cat Length
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We had 2 lanes (turned into 3 lanes by impatient drivers) of that stuff to cross. Amazingly, the police were out directing traffic. Clearly unnerved by "baby" waiting to turn (small, exorcist vomit green, going WAAAA BURP WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH BURP shake rattle groan snort snarf vibrate), and pointed directly at the police officer, he stopped all traffic to get us out of his face and life. Off we headed down the typical back roads.
All back roads on the map in this area somewhere between Hang Dong and Sarapee show gentle curves, but mostly straight, starting and ending in some sensible location. All the actual back roads in reality wander aimlessly, fork without signs or explanations, and almost always end in some rice paddy, usually without notice or explanation.
Chain Link Fence
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After five more inquiries when we were finally told the location of, at a guess, submarine bases nearby, local mountains that didn't exist, and one almost lucid suggestion of some fork off a fork off a fork that we might try, we passed something wrong,
thoroughly anomalous, something as out of place as, well, say, a water buffalo in a place where water buffaloes are entirely out of place. Here, water buffaloes are commonplace however -- but chain link fences are not! Nobody out here can afford a chain link fence, yet there it
stood with all the arrogant, unsubtle, officious effrontery that chain link fences throughout the world display. This must mean something! The dogs were amiable. I let Yunee discover that, as well as go in and ask what the heck the place was. Eeeewfreaka! We found it!
"Baby" parked at the
incense drying shed
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Finding quality, handcrafted goods that are environmentally friendly, and locating sources where our business makes a positive contribution to the community keep Yunee and me fairly busy now.
Incense Drying
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It is a right-livelihood endeavor in which we find great satisfaction. The contacts we made that day were to lead to a new line of superb incense virtually impossible to find in the US outside of our clients, Maghrib Trading Company and Altadena Mall. Upon the veranda watching the sunset over Myanmar (formerly Burma) we discussed scents, silver, and tomorrow, over a glass of naam raun lit noi.
A note on Thai incense.
Most commercial incense uses formaldehyde glue which can be highly carcinogenic. The incense made in India uses this glue almost exclusively. These local, small factories in northern Thailand can not afford such exotic chemicals and various local natural products are used for the glue base.
