Huay Pu Keng Village Trip September 2016 Mutually Empowering Tourism Explorations

What we did

✓ We brought a group of 12 international friends to the village

✓ We had a meeting with the chief and other key persons in the village

✓ Village hosts practised being a village host, and toured visitors around the village.

✓ We experimented with a newly made Conversation Game, before and as part of a village tour.

✓ We had a Cross-Cultural Cro-Creation Evening event about:

● Feedback on the Conversation Game

● How to prepare for village organised event next month

● Lovenote moment

✓ We enjoyed homestay and meals

✓ We hiked up the mountain and learned about edible plants

✓ We collected bugs and shared info on how to keep them.

✓ We made new friends, learned a lot and enjoyed village life!

Process

✓ Introduction Game: a. Throw ‘animal puppet’ and say your name

✓ Conversation Game Feedback (30 minutes)a. Divide in 3 groups: visitors, villagers, village hostsb. Q How was the experience playing the game? What question did you get,

what did you like about, what didn't you like about it?c. Group Presentationsd. Group Conversation

✓ Brainstorm on next event. (1,2,4 format, 30 minutes)a. Q1 What can i do in my home that is a little different then what I’m now doing.

Could be a conversation or activity.b. Personal reflection, discuss with neighbor, discuss in groups of 4c. Q2 How do I prepare to make this activity happen? d. Group Presentations e. Group Conversation

✓ LoveNote Closinga. Every person gets to give a lovenote to another person in the group

✓ Key Learning: the 1, 2, 4 format did not add to to the process as groups naturally emerged. (Paired discussion did not work but personal reflection was valuable).

Key Outcomes

● The visitors felt awkward to have a conversation about the topics on the cards; they felt the need to first have small talk before going into these deeper cultural topics and questions on the cards.

● The villagers felt excited to have conversations about these topics, because of the opportunity to learn about other cultures as they don't have a chance to travel.

● The village hosts enjoyed sharing information and learn about cultural differences by serving as interpreters between villagers and visitors. It also gave them opportunities to learn new vocabulary and improve their English skills.

● See here more detailed Harvest info

➢ Develop cards with images (and simple questions) as not everyone can read.

➢ Add topics from this list of conversation topics villagers and visitors made during our first visit in December.

✓ The Conversation Game needs refinement. Villagers, and village hosts loved it, and visitors felt awkward initiating a conversation by using the cards.

Click here for Conversation Game Instructions

Key Outcomes

Aye Maung, the chief and his men took ownership of hosting activities and teaching them to visitors. Some of the expressed activity ideas are:

Brass jewelry makingLearn about Kayan gardeningLearn how to make a buffalo bellLearn how to make arrow & bowGo on a jungle tour and learn about edible and medicinal plantsGo explore a near cave with WWII artefactsSpearfishing in the river

➢ Let us know if you are interested in joining us for this event.➢ The event is open for all that are interested!➢ See here for the harvest of all presented activity ideas.

✓ There will be a village organized event on November 12 & 13, 2016

Key Outcomes

Depending on what you want to learn and how long you want to stay in the village (1 day up to 3 weeks),

You can now make arrangements at HPKvillage@gmail.com.

Or get more info at: facebook.com/HPKworkshops

Check out the promotional poster!

The workshop offer was co-created during the Bamboo Workshop in Pai in September and finalized during this visit. The chief selected this poster because of the pretty village photo.

✓ HPK is ready to teach visitor groups traditional bamboo skills at your request for min. 2-5 people per workshop.

Key Outcomes✓ Our 1st Annual International Cross-Cultural Co-creation Conference event will this year take

place in Huay Pu Keng Village on 3,4 and 5 february 2017 (and continues 6 to 9 february in Pai).

➢ Let us know if you are interested in joining us for this event.