Day 15-Longneck Tribe

Today we skipped breakfast and headed to the Karen Tribal Village. Unlike the promised Air-Con car, Terri, Orik (from Switzerland), and I were herded into the back of a truck with benches on the side and a roof for cover (the northern Thai tuk-tuk). After an hour, a windy dirt road necessitating Dramamine, and a couple stops by armed guards, we finally arrived at the village-- only a few kilometers from the Burma border.

This tribe is the one you may have seen in National Geographics with the golden (actually brass) rings around their elongated necks, as they're called the Karen-Longneck Tribe. It was quite interesting to see how they live, as they're actually refugees from Burma from all the violence occuring there the past 15 years or so. This village was pretty basic, with bamboo huts on steep hills, a bamboo school, a Catholic Church (1st non-Buddhist people I've seen so far), and LOADS of long-necked women selling their craft. It was less "authentic" than I'd hoped for, and it was obvious these people depended on tourist dollars to survive. They did have their own rice fields and were slaughtering a hog while we were there, but their new culture and way of life has definitely incorporated the fact that white "farangs" like me will travel great distance in the back of a crappy truck and pay 250 Baht to snap a few pics and relay the story. I believe the term for it is, "ethnotourism." I did talk for a while with one woman, as she had a 4-string guitar hanging on her stand. She even played/sang a chanting type song, which was very neat. And she was gracious enough to let me have a crack at it too, which was great fun.

We actually briefly visited the Lisu Village as well on the way back, but apparently EVERY villager was cutting rice (it's harvest time), cause it looked like a ghost-town. After seeing the 5th or 6th sign indicating this was a high malaria area, I bolted to the truck, realizing I'd just ingested my last malarone tablet this morning. An unsettling feeling, for sure....

We met Angel from Hong Kong again for dinner, again spicy Thai curry for all. 9 PM brought us to the bus station, where we embarked back to Chiang Mai. 9 hours of fun, but we booked the "nice" air-conditioned bus, if there is such a thing. We'll see...