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Published: November 21st 2005
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dear fans... we sincerely apologize for taking ages to blog it. unfortunately the following photos are not going to make up for the built up suspense. due to a chain of unfortunate events related to our cameras and expensive internet down south (that does not respect our budgets), we have neglected to keep you all updated. stace's camera suffered from some minor... ops, major water damage, and jess was skillful enough to erase her full memory card. however, luckily we began uploading some of our favorite photos before disaster struck.
after enjoying over two weeks of beautiful sunshine down on the islands, a little rain has forced us back into an internet cafe (except now we have the beach outside the window). oh this is hard to remember, but time to backtrack to leaving Pai for Mae Hong Son...
we got off another typical back road bus ride and hiked with our increasingly heavy packs through town to find our next cheap accomodations. we came to this town in quest of finding the infimous long neck village people that we have seen insane postcards of throughout Thailand. the city of Mae Hong Son was dead compared to Pai, although
SMASHING...
stacy's brother would be proud... her mother... um, not so much. we watched an interesting grade school cultural dance show in the middle of the street, followed by a parade where old folks held banners. the night was short lived after minimal exploring, and we hit the sack.
after a good night's rest we set out to get some info on these rumored long necks. previous travelers in Chang Mai recommended renting motos for a day trip to the villages. so, when every single travel agent made it very clear that the villages were too far away, we'd get lost, and the road conditions were too difficult to manage on our own... they only double dared us to take on the physical challenge!
we'll do what we want part 2.
so it took us two-point-two before we were signing our lives away and renting a moto - aaaagain. this time were were cruising on the big "highway" (two lane road) so we opted for the helmets (esp since they offered no insurance at the one moto shop in town - shady, but now we know why)
ohhhh... how to begin?
it was hard to find the first turn off from the freeway so we did actually
wow, free personal trekking guide...
oh PLEASE bring us straight into the guerilla warfare at the Burma border! get lost, but we prefer to say we took a "scenic tour" outside the city. right. so when we finally got on the right path (literally) to the village, we thought we were good to go... except the occassional mini bus that flew around sporadic corners on the one lane road. yikes, but we continued on our way until the terrain began to change. change from pavement... to dirt... to rocks... to a few pot holes. but our favorite had to be the occassional river. now the travel agents never said anything about rivers. maybe that would have been the tid bit of information that would have deterred us from doing it on our own and paying for a tour. however, we had made it this far, and we thought that the village had to be just around the corner.
stace was handling the roads like a champ, and jess was encouraging from the back. we were money... we had moto-ed through at least 6 rivers and we felt at the top of our game until... well, lets just say the bottom of roads tend to be a little slippery when a river constantly runs over them. hmmm... ya
long necks
legend says if they take the necklaces off, they would die due to muscle atrophy. think? WIPE OUT! luckily we were going slow and got away with minor identical elbow bruises. yeah, cute huh? even cuter that we were completely soaked from head to toe RIGHT when a pick-up truck packed with locals drove by. ha. ha. we all laughed. we gathered our scateered belonging in the river and hopped back on our bike.
now driving a little more cautiously, we tackled a few more rivers and made it through one more unplanned "bath". jessie nearly wet her pants she was laughing so hard. we are sure our parents are laughing just as hard, right?! haha.
so after all of this and a little more, our jaws dropped when the red dirt road suddenly turned into 75 plus degree incline. we attempted to speed directly uphill, but of course that failed. we thought it HAD to be just around the corner, so jess jumped off and stace backed alllll the way down to get a good fast start. soaking wet and helmet secured, stace put the pedal to the metal, and jess nearly wet her pants again watching from a safe distance.
uhhhhh long story short. with some hand signaling, we asked
Padaung (Kayan/Karenni) tribe
refugees from burma have lived here and in other parts of thailand for the last 12 years due to the political situation of their country a guy if we could walk the rest of the way to see the long neck villages, and he motioned that he'd lead the way. hmmm why was he carrying commando boots and moonshine in water bottles? these clues did not entertain our thought for long... in the midday heat, we were just anxious to make it to the villages.
so our hike began, and the whole time we could not fathom how tourist mini vans could possibly make it up the extreme incline and declines. still determined (a.k.a stubborn bitches), we hiked on as beads of sweat instantly exploded on our bodies. we were cracking because it was nearly impossible for any of us to even walk it! after a good hour of, honest to god, the MOST INTENSE HIKING EVEEEEER, we decided it was time for some more info. we placed sticks on the ground to symbolize a clock, and our jaws yet again dropped when his figures swooped around the sticks not once, oh not twice, but yes, two and a half times! wtf. seriously, we know we look like bad asses, but really, who did he think we were?! after some contemplation (looking back -
we can't believe we even considered going on), thanks to our empty stomachs, flip flops, and lack of water... we turned around with helmets in hand. bummed out, we headed allll the way back to our parked moto and headed home - which was a depressing thought in itself.
we stopped at the one road side soup stand to collect ourselves for our adventure home. good thing too because we were shortly informed that the soup stand we were eating at was at the entrance to the long neck village. wow. look how everything always works out. cool man, cool.
fun fact: that little "road" we were headed on was leading straight into the guerilla warfare of BURMA. yep, burma.
stace did have to do a visa run at some point, but this was def not part of the plan. at least, in the end, we got to see some god damn long necks. the $7 mandatory "donation" (these two words don't really coincide) wouldn't have been so bad if the village was actually authentic. instead, they stood by stands that linned one dirt path, not smiling for photos, and selling burma goods to tourists.
cool
stacy's eyes sparkled
jewels from accross the border. fact: only 1,200 people a year go and visit these villages! yeah, we're pretty special.
it was a long day, and we missed Pai. so we packed up the next morning and caught the earliest bus back. instead of going straight back to Chang Mai, we stopped off at our favorite thai city so far to partake in an all night music festival. we met up with friends we met the week prior, drank, and hung out with some cool dj's at a swanky bar. we enjoyed the festivities, and took AMAZING photos (of course) throughout the night (ie: the sea of asian youth rocking out in a field surrounded by mountains). so sad they are all gone...
the next blogs we will step it up a level for your visual pleasure. promise!
xoxo s and j
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Lisa B
non-member comment
hahahaha
You two are hilarious. Love hearing your stories, as always.