Mae La Oop: a Tiny Village That Left a Lasting Mark
- Rand Blimes
- Apr 30
- 2 min read
This is the first post in a series of posts from Mae La Oop, a tiny village tucked into the mountains of northern Thailand, not far from the Myanmar border. You won’t find it in any guidebook. Google Maps isn’t even sure where it is. We didn’t know exactly where it was until the NGO we were working with dropped us off.
There are no hotels, no restaurants, and no souvenir stands selling elephant pants. But for six weeks, it was home.
I was leading a semester-abroad program for a group of university students, and Mae La Oop was our deep dive. We stayed with host families, slept on thin mats on bamboo floors, and were utterly immersed in rice. We worked with local NGOs, volunteered at the village school, and tried our best to help out without getting in the way.
This was not a vacation. It was real life — or at least, someone else's real life that we were lucky enough to be invited into. And that invitation changed us.
These stories aren’t about big tourist sights or perfect photographs. They’re about muddy shoes, language barriers, unexpected grace, and the quiet joy of learning to listen.
This is Mae La Oop. And I’m still trying to process it all.
Because travel.
Other posts in the Mae La Oop Series:
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