Walking with hill tribes

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai
March 30th 2011

Published: April 3rd 2011

I started this morning off by heading to the street market by the guesthouse to rustle up some breakfast. It wasn't that much of a hassle to go in search of food before my 8.30am pick up. The stalls were a stones throw away and I couldn't complain that it wasn't included as I was only paying 100baht (£2) a night for my dorm room. I managed to find some fruit and chicken to keep me going till lunch time as well as some garlic clove skewers. My friend Sam had passed on through Mum that it was the best thing to keep mosquitos away and I was willing to try anything, regardless if how many people I kept away in the process! I was picked up by the guide Tess and the driver James along with three Spanish guys who I'd be doing the tour with. As we drove out of Chiang Mai, Tess welcomed us and gave us our itinerary for the day. I was really looking forward to getting out of the city and visiting the various hill tribes as it didn't feel as though there was that much going on within it. As we drove Tess gave us some history on Thailand and the reasons that the hill tribes still existed. We were told about the many festivals like the water festival on the 13th April to help celebrate the start of the Buddhist new year. In Buddhist belief the years are counted from when Lord Buddha passed away, so it meant that the coming year would be 2554 in Thailand.

We began our trip with a visit to the orchid farm on the outskirts of town. Thailand exports thousands of orchid plants every year to the rest of the world and we learnt about the hand pollination, the colour crossbreeding and the growing process which was fascinating. We tested some of the orchid perfume which had been manufactured and it was quite subtle. I wondered around the growing plants I wished I could take some of the year old plants that they were growing in glass bottles home with me but knew they probably wouldn't survive the journey. They had a butterfly farm attached to the orchid farm which had one variety of butterfly in it and all of them were dormant.

Our next stop was to visit the Lishu and Akha tribes people. They lived in neighbouring villages but were from two different backgrounds. The Lishu people originally came from China and the Akha originally Nepal. The culture in the villages seemed very similar but as Tess pointed out the Lishu live in houses built on the ground, whereas the Akha live in raised huts adjoining the hillside. The literal translation of Akha is no moisture as they moved from the rivers to hills and mountains to escape the disease they were suffering. As we got out of the minivan we were greeted by a gaggle of children showing us their handmade bracelets with a chorus of 'Hello, ten baht'. They followed us around hounding us to purchase something even when Tess was showing us around the villages. We were very fortunate as there was a wedding taking place in the Lishu village as we arrived. We were invited to sit down and join the ceremony...in the front row. Although the bride was smiling the groom looked a little unhappy, there seemed to be a theme forming with the Southeast Asian weddings I'd witnessed up close!

We then went to see the rest of the village preparing the food for the party that evening, it was fascinating. Tess said it was tradition to invite everyone from the village to the service as it was with their funerals. There were thirty or so people all joining in to prepare vegetables, steam rice, stir dishes and even cook a whole pig. I was asked to help stir the rice that had already been steamed as I looked strong and it's a good job I was. It took a huge effort to stir the dish of rice that was set to feed over two-hundred people as they continued to add more to it. In the valley behind the main food preparations some of the men were cleaning a pig that had been burnt to clean it and remove the hairs. There was nothing that I could compare to western society that I was seeing and even helping with much to the villagers delight. There rice steamer was an ingenious invention that sent heat from a barrel on a fire through water to steam the rice held in old tea cans, a design of their own invention We went to meet some of the Akha tribe who it seemed lead a very relaxed lifestyle. The raised huts continued into the hill side on huge stilts with wood stores below. There were huge fields lining the road as we drove away which Tess said they used to grow crops in rotation. They were currently waiting for the rains to begin planting special short grain rice.

Our next stop was the Chiang Dao Caves which housed a Myanmar (Burmese) depiction of a lying Buddha. Although I was hesitant to visit another Buddha statue, trust me it gets old real quick, I was interested to see the difference. We climbed the steps the lead to the cave over the river that was fed from a natural source in the mountain. We walked three-hundred-and-sixty metres into the caves seeing limestone carvings of Buddha with nagas and ... the lion protector of Buddha. The stone was worn quite deep in places where a combination of rain and river met to flood the caves during rainy season. The caves went off at spurs where Thai people were allowed to go and worship Buddha by climbing through small holes on their hands and knees we were told. We stopped here for lunch and were serenaded by the sound of what Tess told me were bats clicking to one another with their wings. I had to take her word for it because try as I might I couldn't see anything in the branches of the tree that even closely resembled bats.

Our final stop was to see the Kayan longneck tribe, the similar subgroup the Kayu bigear tribe and the Palong who wear large rattan silver hoops around their waists all who were refugees from Myanmar. All three tribespeople, from one common tribe, lived together in one settlement and sold their goods and charged entry to tourists for the financial betterment of the community as a whole. Thailand has a policy whereby they are recognised as refugees but at the same time they give them no financial support. Although the goods they had were very similar, presumably because it was easier to share materials, the look and plight of the three tribes was very very different. The Kayan women wrap coils of brass around their necks and shins as was tradition, but this was under threat of dying out due to the younger girls deciding not to in favour of education at Thai schools. The Kayu pierce their ears with large rings and as they get older the rings become larger. Their tradition is at less risk as earrings are a more commonplace jewellery to wear, even if they are the size of tablespoons in diameter. And the Palong who wear large metal rattans around their waist and are often seen selling the wooden frogs that croak when stroked. Tess explained that they were political refugees as Myanmar refused to give them their own state in which to govern themselves without having to give half their produce to the army. This was only a small settlement as many of them were closer to the boarder to avoid problems with the Thai government. I felt moved by their story but was glad to buy a few genuine handicraft gifts and do my bit to help them even if it was a small drop in the ocean compared to what needed to be done on a political level.

We headed back to Chiang Mai bit the tiger kingdom where we could photograph the tigers and pay extra for ten minutes in the enclosures with them and their handlers. I had left my balls in my other trousers so a photo within ten feet of them was good enough for me. Once back in the city I headed out for some food. I had a yearning for some western food so I grabbed a bite to eat at a burger joint I had seen on my tour of town yesterday. 'Mike's Original' looked like a dinner straight from America and was even set up the same brandishing the slogan 'converting vegetarians since 1979'. This was perfect and after a burger and a chilli dog from the freezer I felt satisfied enough to head back for some shut eye before my delightful twenty hour minivan trip to Luang Prabang the next day.

Walking with hill tribes

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