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.

My Scholarship entry - The Northern Tribes of Doitung

THAILAND | Monday, 24 November 2014 | Views [558] | View Larger Image

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.

Tags: border camp, thailand, mae fah luang, bamboo, forest, moutain, doitung, drugs trade

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.

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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.

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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.

My Scholarship entry - The Northern Tribes of Doitung

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