Hay – Thailand Hill Trek Guide

How long have you been guiding?
3 years of training as a helper, 3 months of schooling, and 8 years of guiding with a license.
Why did you become a guide?
I lived in a small tribe growing up and I hoped to do something better. I loved helping people and learning English and I wanted to communicate better. I left the village when I was 14 and went to Bangkok to work in the city. I did many jobs there. I was a temple boy.
What is a temple boy?
I will tell you because I feel like you are a friend. A temple boy is someone who lives in the temple cleaning it and helping the monks, but works at a job during the day. You live in the temple because you have no money to live other place.
What is training as a helper entail?
I worked for my friends who were tourguides and I helped unfit people on and off the bus and I would guard the bus. I used that time to practice English – “Hello”, “How are you” “Thank you”, “Good Morning”. Soon I found that I wanted to communicate more and I tried to learn English by listening to people and practicing.
What kind of school did you have to go to for your license?
I went to Chang Mai University on the weekends to learn how to be guide.
How expensive was it to go to university?
It’s cost $30,000 Baht ($850 US). My friend loaned me the money.
Have you ever been out of Thailand?
No
Have you ever been south of Bangkok?
No
If you could go anwhere in the world, where would you go?
Amercia or France. People there seem nice.
Tell me about how you met your wife.
I met her when I was 28 yrs old and she was 19. She was also from a village. We knew each other 1 1/2 months before we decided to be together. We have 2 boys and we formally got married after 13 years of being together. We are country folk, but live in the city to give our kids better life.

As a side note: Hay is 43 years old now. His is extremely active and his english is very good. He taught himself english by listening to other people and he also had some classes at university. While we were with him on the trek, he had just bought his first computer – a used one. His wife bought it for $8000 Bhat ($250US) and she did it for the kids to continue to learn more. He has NO idea how to evern use a computer! I’m hoping that his kids can teach him!