Student initiation day

Phu Mu Forest Park (Pig Mountain)

On February 1 the Mukdahan campus had a welcoming ceremony for new students. Apparently, this activity has become a tradition for new students. Here's how it works -- the government has granted the Mukdahan campus a rather large tract of land that includes a small mountain. This tract of land is where the new campus is being built. Near the top of the mountain is a shrine, build under a sizable overhand of sedimentary rock.

The new tract of land is also occupied by a military unit of about 100 light infantry. It seems this unit is responsible for border security, interdiction (drugs and illegal aliens) and policing the Mukdahan Province. Interestingly it seems that this was previously a field unit that was operating without a formal base of operations. The director of UBU Mukdahan somehow knows the commander of the unit and so she invited the commander to use part of the mountain to create an ad hoc base for his men. He accepted and so now the campus has, well, an incredible amount of security.

The commander is standing to my left and the director of the school is to my right. The commander could not have his picture taken with me enough -- he was quite happy and kept saying (through a translator) that he was disappointed that we could not communicate directly. He seemed like a really good man. He spent quite a bit of time explaining the history of Mukdahan, particularly the role that this region played in the Vietnam war, when Mukdahan was home to a rather large radar installation. It was in fact the largest radar installation in Asia at one time operated by the 621rst.

Our group was led by a small group of young soldiers followed by the group pictured above. The ceremony started with a brief prayer at the bottom of the mountain, at a small shrine. This is also where a small (but weighty) statue of Buddha was located -- part of the ceremony is to carry the statue to the top of Pig Mountain to another shrine. And so the journey began with yours truly as the first of many pack-rats. After about 100 meters, the train of 100 people stopped briefly for photos of my hand-off of the Buddha to the commander, who was next in line. The stop, hand-off-and-photo shoot continued for the length of the 5 kilometer hike to the mountain shrine.

The hike up Pig Mountain was very enjoyable, quite relaxing. There were some parts that required squeezing between rocks or scrambling up a rocky path, but everybody seemed to be enjoying the journey, no complaints were made that I knew of. After about an hour we arrived at the mountain shire and enjoyed a small ceremony. The space was quite tight but we all seemed to squeeze in for the 30 minute blessing. Afterwards, the commander and I stood on an overlook and he gave me a rundown on the historic purpose of the US military presence and pointed out a number of other landmarks that included the Mae Nam Kong, Hor Kaeo and Phu Manorom where a 85-Meter tall Buddha is under construction. The view is quite beautiful from this location as well.

After the ceremony was complete, we all hiked up to a large flat rock and ate lunch. The students and many of the faculty stayed for some time, lingering at the top of the mountain for several hours to accommodate video interviews, photos and -- as always -- eating.