We recently traveled to the sleepy mountain town of Pai, Thailand. It's a mere 740 curves (or something like that) for four hours by mini bus from Chiang Mai. I had to take a Dramamine to get through the car ride while Brad, freak of nature, read the entire way. We spent our five days in Pai doing a variety of things- riding bikes around the town, strolling the daily evening market, eating tons of delicious food (grilled veggies on the street, yum yum), taking shots of wheat grass, drinking unreasonable amounts of fruit smoothies, and more. We stayed at a lovely place in the country, aptly called Countryside Resort, and had our own little adobe bungalow amongst the sunflowers and the cows in the fields. To be fair, I guess we did share it with many ants since those seem to be a theme for our trip throughout Thailand. The place was lovely and we enjoyed our evening bike rides throughout the country roads to get home. Mostly we just took time to relax and enjoy life at a slower pace for a few days which was greatly needed, considering the extreme smoke pollution was affecting my lungs greatly at this point. Due to the vast amount of slash and burn farming in the north the air becomes extremely dense and polluted with smoke, which is extremely sad and depressing for those who live here and those who want to see the sunset! Boo hiss to slash and burn farming. My lungs do not appreciate it.
One day we took a taxi to the nearby waterfall and Chinese Village. At the waterfall we met a hilarious Ex-pat (term for white man who now lives in Thailand) who followed us around and told us his life story- I was more interested in Sausage, his miniature poodle that had no fear and hopped around from rock to rock. This guy has travelled around a bit, earned a ton of money in the stock market, and has been to every concert you can name. We continue to meet the wackiest people while traveling and you just have to take in the good with the bad, although he was mostly good and just really wanted some friends while he smoked his little joint by the waterfall (don't worry mom, I declined. As Brad put it, knows where that mouth has been?!)
My favorite day, however, involved a twelve hour trip in a minivan with a couple from Belgium and four Thai people visiting from Chiang Mai. We went to Mai Hong Son, a town near Burma (Myanmar) and visited some beautiful temples and ate a lovely breakfast. Then we went to see the "Long Neck" Karen (Kayan) village, which is something I have always wanted to see ever since I saw pictures as a young child at the Field Museum in Chicago. There is a bronze bust statue of a Karen person with the rings around their neck and I always thought there was something so exotically beautiful about it. I got to actually meet these lovely women and take photos for myself. Some people argue that it is "touristy" and I can absolutely see how they might get that impression but let's be real here- this is 2012 people. There is no area of Thailand and no tribe of people that have not been touched by what we call western culture- and let's face it, we all want a bit of electricity. There are no tribes accessible by road that live as they did fifty years ago. You have to hike out into the jungle for that shit. You do have to pay admission to get into the village and many refer to it as the people zoo, yet I choose to look at the more positive side of things. These women and families sell goods and quite frankly I am happy to buy a scarf if that means that they are going to be able to support themselves and still continue to live a life where they can feed their kids and not become migrant workers or go into the sex trade. So, although they might be "touristy", I really enjoyed myself and getting to take a peek into their world for a day. The bronze rings are never taken off and more rings are added with the passing years. The neck is not actually elongated, but rather the collar bone is pushed down creating more room for the rings. Mythology states that these rings were protection from the bites of tigers but the more common and plausible explanation is that long necks are considered a sign of wealth and beauty. I cannot imagine what it would be like to wear these coils all day and night and in the heat of the tropics. Originally it was children born on the Wednesday of a full moon who were destined to wear the coils but due to tourism more youngsters now wear the coils and have chosen to continue to the lifestyle. There is also a sect of Karen that gauges their ears and continues to progress with age, which we also were able to see. Some women choose to eventually take off their brass coils due to political issues with immigration and the government and it will be interesting to see what the future holds for this culture.
We then went on to two different caves. Fish cave near Mae Hong Son is really an underwater tributary that comes from the mountain and feeds these amazing giant blue brook carp. There is a temple built into the little cave and for many Thai people it is a holy place. The fish swim freely and there were hundreds of them, all living amongst the nature. Very interesting, but nothing compared to the next cave, called Lod Cave.
watch the cave swifts flying around in circles and then coming into the cave for the night. It was like watching an episode of Planet Earth, only real.
Back in Chiang Mai now, happy to be here but wishing for a bite of that lovely Pai once again. Someday Pai we will meet again. I was trying to post some photos, but technology refuses to work with me right now. Try later... xoxo
One day we took a taxi to the nearby waterfall and Chinese Village. At the waterfall we met a hilarious Ex-pat (term for white man who now lives in Thailand) who followed us around and told us his life story- I was more interested in Sausage, his miniature poodle that had no fear and hopped around from rock to rock. This guy has travelled around a bit, earned a ton of money in the stock market, and has been to every concert you can name. We continue to meet the wackiest people while traveling and you just have to take in the good with the bad, although he was mostly good and just really wanted some friends while he smoked his little joint by the waterfall (don't worry mom, I declined. As Brad put it, knows where that mouth has been?!)
My favorite day, however, involved a twelve hour trip in a minivan with a couple from Belgium and four Thai people visiting from Chiang Mai. We went to Mai Hong Son, a town near Burma (Myanmar) and visited some beautiful temples and ate a lovely breakfast. Then we went to see the "Long Neck" Karen (Kayan) village, which is something I have always wanted to see ever since I saw pictures as a young child at the Field Museum in Chicago. There is a bronze bust statue of a Karen person with the rings around their neck and I always thought there was something so exotically beautiful about it. I got to actually meet these lovely women and take photos for myself. Some people argue that it is "touristy" and I can absolutely see how they might get that impression but let's be real here- this is 2012 people. There is no area of Thailand and no tribe of people that have not been touched by what we call western culture- and let's face it, we all want a bit of electricity. There are no tribes accessible by road that live as they did fifty years ago. You have to hike out into the jungle for that shit. You do have to pay admission to get into the village and many refer to it as the people zoo, yet I choose to look at the more positive side of things. These women and families sell goods and quite frankly I am happy to buy a scarf if that means that they are going to be able to support themselves and still continue to live a life where they can feed their kids and not become migrant workers or go into the sex trade. So, although they might be "touristy", I really enjoyed myself and getting to take a peek into their world for a day. The bronze rings are never taken off and more rings are added with the passing years. The neck is not actually elongated, but rather the collar bone is pushed down creating more room for the rings. Mythology states that these rings were protection from the bites of tigers but the more common and plausible explanation is that long necks are considered a sign of wealth and beauty. I cannot imagine what it would be like to wear these coils all day and night and in the heat of the tropics. Originally it was children born on the Wednesday of a full moon who were destined to wear the coils but due to tourism more youngsters now wear the coils and have chosen to continue to the lifestyle. There is also a sect of Karen that gauges their ears and continues to progress with age, which we also were able to see. Some women choose to eventually take off their brass coils due to political issues with immigration and the government and it will be interesting to see what the future holds for this culture.
We then went on to two different caves. Fish cave near Mae Hong Son is really an underwater tributary that comes from the mountain and feeds these amazing giant blue brook carp. There is a temple built into the little cave and for many Thai people it is a holy place. The fish swim freely and there were hundreds of them, all living amongst the nature. Very interesting, but nothing compared to the next cave, called Lod Cave.
watch the cave swifts flying around in circles and then coming into the cave for the night. It was like watching an episode of Planet Earth, only real.
Back in Chiang Mai now, happy to be here but wishing for a bite of that lovely Pai once again. Someday Pai we will meet again. I was trying to post some photos, but technology refuses to work with me right now. Try later... xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment