Tourists come to Chiang Mai for many reasons. Some come cleanse the mind and body with Buddhism, yoga, massage, tai chi, meditation and such. Others come for the trekking, both by foot and elephant, and to visit the hill tribes; the Karen, white and blue Hmong, the Lahu and, of course, the exotic Paduang with their “long-necked” women. In the spirit of “when in Chiang Mai…” we booked a hike and a visit to a government sponsored village where all four reside.
Any time you visit a culture you leave it changed so you always wonder if you are doing good by providing money for the community or altering their way of life. While the government sponsored village is more theater than reality it does provide income to the people without contaminating the culture of the real villages in the hills. But there is a downside for the Paduang. The heavy copper neck coils worn by the women misshape the collar bones giving the appearance of an elongated neck. The women live in the village voluntarily since it is a way of earning tourist money but some mothers are putting the coils on their daughters beginning at age 4 instead of allowing the tradition to die out.
We made the 2 ½ day trip from Luang Prabang, Laos to Thailand only to discover that tourist arriving by land (or in our case boat) could stay only 14 days. We found this surprising since tourism is down 30% since the Bangkok protests. We could return to a border and get another 2 weeks but we are probably just going to move south into Malaysia. We have been to Bangkok before and the beaches will be packed over the holidays. Thailand is nice but it is really too touristy and we are looking for something different.
