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    Borderlines: Life in the mountains This journal documents my three months spent in the Doitung community in Northern Thailand, spending time with the peoples living in the mountains, hearing their stories of life under Chinese guerilla warfare, addiction to opium and forced work.

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    Where forests grow now was a barren landscape of slash and burn opium farmland as far as the eye only twenty years ago. Despite the relative peace now, local rumours of continued nightly traffic across the mountains remain. Tribesmen and gardners charged with replanting the Northern Thai-Myanmar border remain afraid to go outside at night. Views[629] Before 1988 this border with Myanmar lay completely under the control of drugs cartells based in the Burmese jungle. This view is taken through the bamboo bars of the Thai army´s border outpost. Since the Princess Mother began her initiatives in Thailand´s Doitung mountain community, drugs trafficking has greatly decreased and the border is quiet. Views[558] The Akha tribe´s grandparents often care for their grandchildren while parents work in local factories set up by Thailand´s Royal Family to combat a lack of legitimate alternatives to the opium production industry once rife in the area. Not one generation before, the Northern tribes had been completely in the grips of the poppy. Old faces bear the scars of this strenous past. Views[621] Family ties are strong in the Lahu community. The villages are remote and often inaccessible to the outside during the rainy season. Since Thailand´s Princess Mother moved to the area in 1988, the area has become more open to the outside world. Views[402] HIV is a taboo subject inthe remote communities of Northern Thailand, but a big problem. Many of the tribes´ young people travel to Thailands big cities to work and end up falling into the tourist sex trade. Local hospitals take every opportunity to collect all the blood donations they can. This blood drive took place at celebrations for the Princess Mother´s birthday at the Chiang Rai Culture Centre, where such personal sacrifices are viewed as a respected gift. Views[494]
     

    About doitung

    Where forests grow now was a barren landscape of slash and burn opium farmland as far as the eye only twenty years ago. Despite the relative peace now, local rumours of continued nightly traffic across the mountains remain. Tribesmen and gardners charged with replanting the Northern Thai-Myanmar border remain afraid to go outside at night.

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