Sat 30th Aug - Moved to the Micasa guest house for a change, and it turned out to be a good decision. Free wifi, good breakfast and nice staff. In the afternoon went to the Wat Mahawan Temple on Tha Pae road. So many in the area and all different.
Sun 31st Aug – My Arm was feeling much better today. Hired a tuk-tuk for the day for 800 Baht. On the way out in the country we stopped for a ohoto shoot…nice one..but the main point was I had asked our driver the cost of buying a tuktuk….all part of research for the future…a snip at around 200,000 Baht (about 3,500 GBP). Now that’s worth thinking about!
First stop was a small village but couldn’t work out the name. Wandered around for an hour or so watching the kids play and into the farm fields to see them planting Choko, a type of gourd also called ‘Chayote’, where almost everything can be eaten…fruit, stems, root, leaves, so very useful in poorer communities.
Next. went to Queen Sirikit Botanical gardens on Mae Rim road (Route 107) 40 Baht entry plus 30 Baht for shuttle bus. Opened in 1994 it covers quite a large area most of which involves walking a fair way up steep slopes, well it would if you were upto it. I wasn’t pushing it at the moment so we got the shuttle bus service for 30 Baht. The Orchid house was a bit depleted of colour at present, but must be nice when more flowers are in bloom. A main large glasshouse and some smaller ones are dedicated to a Rainforest environment and bromeliads, insectivorous plants, and other groups of plants. For the time we were there must have only seen a handful of other foreigners…peaceful!
Next on the trail today was the Baan Tong Luang ethnic village...white Karen, Mong, Palong and long neck Padaung. A fairly steep but worthwhile 500 Baht entry fee. The village has been set up in an eco-friendly way, and isn’t too touristy, all though its very existence is really as a result of tourism. The tribal groups are separated from each other as they operate as proper communities with their own schools. With no common language between them, they don’t associate with each other.
The first group was the White Karen - So called because they wear white headscarfs. A friendly elderly man showed us his house and was proud of the mousetraps they used, so eagerly gave us a demonstration on his finger. He was a laugh as he kept chuckling at everything. He was 70 years old. An elderly lady outside was supposed to be 80 years old and wasn’t sure whether that was his wife or mother? You never know in these parts!
The next group were the ‘Palong people’ who are sometimes called the ‘Long ears’ , although there are different groups relating to this name, some stretch their earlobes to create large openings. Here, the women wear tubes through their ears and decorative traditional dress, complete with metal waistband. One lady was busy threshing beans from dried pods whilst an older woman was crushing grains of rice in a traditional wooden cantilever crusher, similar to what I had seen in Sapa in Vietnam. She had been chewing tobacco and betel leaves that give them their characteristic red teeth and mouth. Looks garish, but they like it.
The most famous of the group is the Padaungs, or ‘Long Necks’. The girls start to wear brass neck rings and leg rings from 5yrs old and the average Weighs in at 5kg for the teenagers! Some increase this as they get older. One of the girls said that they say they die if they remove the rings. I had previously heard that it wasn't true as the rings suppress their collar bond and do not stretch the neck, which remains as strong as normal, so not sure what to believe now? We were left to meander around at our leisure and had plenty of time talking to them and watching their children playing. The husbands are fairly low profile and were off doing chores or cooking the dinner. One of the girls was studying English, but not sure what her future would be as none of them have left the village since their arrival, and they don’t plan to leave.
Back to town and later out for meal and pool. Heavy rain again…
Mon 1st Sep – Getting nearer to moving on form Chiang Mai now. Present Visa runs out on 16th September, and the present thought is to aim north and cross in to Myanmar at Mai Sae. A 10 day visa is available at the border for $10 and that should give us enough time to see something and aim southwards to cross back into Thailand for another month. All will evolve…
