Advertisement
Published: November 11th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Long Necked Karen Woman
She is making handicrafts to sell to tourists. It's all made by hand here and is really cheap. I actually wish I showed up with more money cause it goes to a good cause. in Northern Thailand there's a loop you can take.
From Chiang Mai - Pai - Mae hong Son - Chiang Mai
From Pai it is only 3 or so hours but it's really curvy. (not good for motion sickness) Our guide book recomended going the other way to Chiang Mai instead of back through Pai because it's only 1 hour longer but the road is much much better.
We arrived in Mae Hong Son around noon. The only toursists that we could see in town were the 8 people on our bus, and a few busloads of Chinese package tourists. It's a pretty little town, we got a guesthouse on the lak. The view of the Wat (temple) across the lake is majestic.
On the Thailand/Burma border, Mae Hong Son is literally in the middle of nowhere. There's been some sort of civil war here for years, also a lot of militant activity due to the opium trade.
Also it's a very mountianous region so it's full of all kinds of hilltribes.
Shortly after arrival we took a tuk tuk to a remote region where the Long necked Karen Tribes are. I've always seen these people in
books or on T.V. We didn't quite know what to expect about these strange people.
It's contraversial on whether tourists like us should visit this village, in fact very few do. Only about 1000 people a year (compared to the millions and millions in Thailand). The reason why it's contraversial is because it's almost like a zoo. They are just there living their lives while we are busy snapping pictures at them. They are Burmese refugees who escaped their horrible government who enslaved and tortured them.
We decided to go anyway and of course to be respectful. I'm glad we did, we soon learned that us tourists are their only source of income. Since they are refugees they are not allowed to leave their village, own land or even get a job. They sell handicrafts that they make to us, in exchange they will usually grant us to take pictures with them.
Belive it or not the first long necked girl we met was beautiful. Of course it was strange, but there was just something about her. Also she knew English, is a practicing christian, and plays the guitar. In fact all the people in the long
I just had to do this
This was the pretty young woman we had the conversation with. Very interesting to say the least. Of course she looked so different from us, but had a lot in common also. She was curious about our way of life. neck tribe were like that. They are extremely different from us at home, yet they have more in common with us than other tribes. I was able to take some video of everyday life at the village including how they make their clothes and the children playing with a baloon. It was very interesting and rewarding speaking with her. haha they have this fake ring coil that tourists can put around our necks and take photos. It's actually really heavy, and half the weight of the real ones. They say they're used to it, because they've been wearing them since they were kids.
Getting back to town we quickly realized there wasn't much to do. We checked out a cool temple by the lake, had a great 4 course Chinese dinner and headed to the bus stop to see when the bus leaves for Chiang Mai in the morning. We saw that there was an 8 hour overnight bus.
Our bright idea was to sleep on the bus and wake up in Chiang Mai in the morning, not needing to waste a full day on the bus the next day. BIG MISTAKE! We knew that busses were uncomfortable
Me Hong Son Temple
Really beautiful & beside a lake. Slightly different from other ones we saw. This one has a lot of Burmese influence to it. but our guidebook says this bus is bigger and better than the ones from Pai. That's true but not much better to justify saying it. We knew it would be a rough sleep so before we got on the bus we went to the pharmacy and asked for some sleeping pills.
We took one pill, got on the bus and tried to sleep. The bus had no shocks so it was very bumpy. It was hard to get any rest. Very uncomfortable. I was starting to wonder if it was a mistake to take the bus. The pill didn't work to well, so we took another one a couple hours later. We soon fell asleep. Shortly after that the bus stopped and ordered everyone off the bus. Confused and groggy we followed everyone out and grabbed our backpacks. We were herded onto another bus. It was completely packed. No seats left and barely enough room to stand. They handed us some childrens plastic stools to sit on.
We tried to sit on these but on every curve the legs would bend, and almost break. It was extremely uncomfortable. Furthermore our sleeping pills kicked in big time and we couldn't stay awake. We'd nod off just by resting our head on our arms, but always were jolted awake seconds later by a turn or the lights coming on.
We layed on the floor of the bus, this actually wasn't so bad. Except 10 minutes later the bus stopped. I told Jasmine that another bus was coming to get us. I really wanted to believe this. I thought how could they possibly put us through this for 6 more hours? Well another bus didn't come, 5 more people got on!
It was a pretty helpless situation. We couldn't just get off the bus so we were forced to sit through it. The people on the seats were sleeping but for the most part accomidating when we'd pass out on their legs or feet. One girl knew english and said that there would be a new bus in the next big city.
She was right. A couple hours late; groggy, and in pain but relieved. We got out, went to the bathroom and got on our new bus. NO SEATS available..... again! I kind of panicked and told Jasmine we can't get on. We'll have to stay in this city. I saw a guesthouse not to far away we could wake them up and check in. They'd have to understand!
But the nice bus driver showed us that there was two spots beside him on a box with a square mat on top.
It wouldn't of been so bad during the day but there was nowhere to rest our heads or back. We had to sit up the whole way. The bottom of the box was way to hot for our feet to be on, but we couldn't put our feet up. This is a big no no in Thai culture. Feet are to be below the heads. We kept passing out, nodding off, trying not to fall out the doors. Being right beside the entrance olf a speeding bus while passing out didn't feel to safe. I felt I was going to fall down the stairwell at any moment. By now I could fall asleep in any position including sitting or standing up. But the turns, the horns & the noises would quickly awake me.
People were saying things to me, extending their arm out to help me. Then I'd quickly snap out of it. I was hallucinating! I was dreaming but still awake. At one point I remember saying something to answer someone who wasn't really there.
I could tell the bus driver knew there was something wrong. He kept assuring us it would be ok. My back was killing me and it almost put me in tears. At times Jasmine was in tears and I felt so helpless cause there was nothing I could do. I knew I had to be strong, it was tough though. I was mentally and physically exhausted. Finally someone got off, there was a seat available. A thai person was about to take it but the driver demanded that Jasmine got a seat. That gave me a sense of relief.
Finally with what seemed like days we arrived in Chiang Mai. We took a tuk tuk into town. Our guesthouse was full and so was our next one. I decided to not be so cheap. We got a really nice mid range hotel for $20. It has a pool and overall is much much better than what we have been getting lately.
I think we deserve it!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.257s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 14; qc: 65; dbt: 0.1833s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Ria
non-member comment
Crazy Ass Bus Rides
Gotta love them.. my favs are the ones where they have bunks so shallow that you can't sit up and every curve you almost fall of the edge and every bump you smash into the ceiling above you.. good times good times, my suggestion for any bus, stay near the front and try to stay on the bottom floor, if there's more than one level. It really does make you appreciate solid ground though.