Long Necks and Big Ears

Hi all,

How is everyone? Hope you're all enjoying the snow I hear you're having over there.

So once we arrived in Chiang Mai we found a guesthouse close to the centre. We stayed in the Old Quarter of the city surrounded by a moat and a (fallen down) wall. Once we had settled back into city life, after living at the elephant camp, we went to explore Chiang Mai's famous night bazaar. The night bazaar is an enormous night market selling lots of local handicrafts, clothes, shoes...pretty much everything you can imagine really. We went a little crazy here, buying lots of little souvenirs and presents...my favourite being a painting of elephants in a lake painted by a local and very talented artist. After about 2 hours of shopping and only seeing half of the market, we pulled ourselves away and went back to the guesthouse...not only save our wallets but also our backs from having to carry anymore around with us for the next 4 1/4 months. We really enjoyed our time at the night bazaar and we've now perfected our bargaining skills ( (Michelle's) Mum and both Grandma's - you would have loved it here!!)

Our main reason for coming to Chiang Mai was to go and visit the Hilltribes that live in Northern Thailand after coming across the borders from Burma and Tibet. The villages that the hilltribes live in are very remote and it would be impossible to visit them without a guide...so that's what we did. We hired a guide called Ed, a very funny young Thai lady who kept us entertained all day. On the way to the tribes we visited numerous other places of interest. The first being a butterfly and Orchard farm, very much suited to the mothers and grandmothers. It was very beautiful if not a bit boring. After the farm, we went to Chiang Dao mountain, the third largest mountain in Thailand which houses Chiang Dao cave. The cave was very cool and a nice relief from the heat! We walked throuhg the majority of the cave, full of Buddha images, but we weren't able to walk to the end as it was still flooded from the rainy season. From the cave we went onto Tat On temple. This is a big meditating Buddha called the white Buddha which sits high up in the mountains. The views from the top were gorgeous and we could see the mountains which form a natural border with Burma.

The hilltribes we visited are called the Long Neck Karen Tribe. The women wear heavy iron rings aounrd their necks from the age of 5 upwards to push down their shoulders and collar bones, giving the impression of a really long neck. They believe that the longer neck they have the more beautiful they're considered to be. We took sweets for the children of the tribe as they only normally get to eat rice due to the lack of money the hilltribes have. these were much appreciated by both the children and the adults (who gestured to me that they were taking them for their babies but really I think they were for themselves). You could forgive them this white lie though when you saw where they slept! The tribes people aren't allowed to leave their villages as officially they're from Burma, meaing they don't have the Thai Identity Cards which all Thai's much have to live in Thailand. The tribe gets by because the women make handicrafts such as weaved scarfs and handmade jewellry which they then sell to visitors. As you can imagine, they don't get many visitors to their village so when we arrived it was very obvious that they were keen to sell is their handicrafts. It was very difficult to say no when you could see how poor they were and how much effort they put into making the items. We bought numerous items from them, which for them was probably a small fortune but for us it equated to 6 British pounds! Michelle bought a coupld of things from this really elderly lady and managed to thank her in Burmese "Tribana", her native language. This made the lady laugh and as I was walking away she stumbled after me and tied an handmade bracelet on my wrist and mumbled something, which our guide translated "for free and luck". It was really fasinating visiting the hilltribes and seeing their way of life.

We're now in Chiang Rai (after a very bumpy, dusty and hot bus ride here) and we were relieved to arrive before one of us was sick! Chiang Rai is a lot smaller than Chiang Mai and seems like quite a sleepy town. Since we've been in the North we have been attacked by mosquitos (especially Michelle who currently holds the title for having the most bites on her legs at any one time...around 11!) We are sure that they hold a personal vendetta against us. Apparently they don't bite the locals because their blood is too spicy (hehe)...so can someone please pass me the chilli sauce!!!

In the next two or three days we're hoping to cross the border into our second country, Laos. Our next update will probably be from there, providing they have a decent internet connection.

We are thinking of everyone back home and have seen the pictures of the snow (thanks Dad!) Hope that you're all okay and having a good Easter break ( for those of you who are off school/work for the Easter hols).

Lots of love, Michelle & Stu xxxxx

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