Lek goes to Doc
9 Hilltribes
Akha- Tibet highlands
Lahu
Lisu
Yao
Hmong
Karen
Lua
Khamu
H’tin
Small tribes
Mlabri
Palaungs
Padaung- neck ring women, exploited by Karen tribe
Lowlander status in Thai government
Opium to cash crops
Lanna
Haripuncha- founded by Buddhist monks who then invited Queen Chamadevi from Lopburi to be the first ruler. She arrived in style with large entourage and pregnant to ensure dynasty.
Hilltribe music sold there.
We lunch at a spot our driver Lek recommends.
Notes on Lek:
Speaks mild amount of English.
Always has ice cold wet napkins for us.
Always has cold water for us.
Not afraid to mention other places to check out.
Keep finding snacks for us, fruit, sticky rice etc.
Drives in all weather and all over the countryside.
I think he’s amused by us.
Always stop for lunch.
Never know if lunch “down the road” will get missed and everyone’s blood sugar will bottom out.
AIDSNET
Presentation on the umbrella organization, its territories and information regarding its programs.
They setup a trip to meet local office and visit hilltribe.
Chiang Mai University- wandered campus and looked around
Fancy dinner at east-west fusion joint. Met Sarah’s friends Morgan and Sophie.
The butterfly garden is lovely, minus the rotting fruit for the butterflies to nosh on. The rows and rows of orchids are impressive. My pitiful attempts to focus tightly on the flowers produces scads of blurry shots. We hustle out quickly, trying to get to the elephant camp.
The free show is great-minus the basketball, I find myself disturbed by trainging the elephants to go on two legs and drop a ball in the net. I know they aren’t biologically equipped for that and wonder what joint damage that might do. Plus its undignified. The painting, wood fence building and the ball kicking are great. The feeding is 30 Bhat and worth it as the elephants reach with the rough skinned trunks to a snack from the entranced tourists.
We then step up a ramp and onto an elephant. We are strapped into the seat atop a large pachyderm and taken off into the forest.
Good elephant!
Strong elephant!
The steep incline forces us to go slowly down into the water. Hands clutch the iron bar holding us in place.
Good craftmenship! We appreciate the makers of this metal bar and seat.
Whoa! What’s it doing? We sway over the edge of paths and the elephant goes its own way briefly, giving the trainer time to snap photos. We buy food at every weigh station until the trainer says no more. I think he wants the ride to be over.
Odd Fact: Trainers raise the elephant and then apprentice a young man to replace them. An elephant generally outlives it’s orginal trainer.
We return to the hotel and go into the Night Market. The vendors are aggressive, if you glance at their wares they are naming prices and asking how many you want…1, 2, 10?
The Akha women with the croaking frogs attack as we enter the sides of the market.
Stacey is quite the haggling expert! I take notes.
We stop at the silk weavers on the way to dinner. The demo warehouse shows how the worms are raised and the silk harvested. The yellow silk is from Thailand and the white from China.
We go to the local airport and pick up Lee. She had stayed in Bangkok one night and then flew up to join us.
Straight to a local wat we go. It’s raining.
My trusty hat fends the drops off of my glasses. The steps are slippery. The steps up to the market level. Then there are steps up to the wat.
Dear lord, the steps.
They killed my knees.
Damn stairs.
Up at the top is a courtyard w/ a jack fruit tree, bells to ring, amazing views, children dancing, monks and nuns and the wat itself.
Ring the bells and acquire merit or fame/fortune.
The children look like they are playing for a boring school recital—probably is for them. The dancers are more entranced by the art.
The inside of the temple is a series of shrines w/ Buddhas and a square walk around.
Walk three times around and then proceed out. Remincent of a Mecca prilgrimage.
The green glass Buddha is impressive.
The dog peeing on the mats where we were walking was disturbing.
The monk giving blessings was interesting.
The rain ending and the sun blazing and sucking the life from us was frustrating.
We exit and go down the steps. I hate steps.
We drive down the mountin partway and pull off to take some sceanic photos. There is a small Hilltribe girl. Her mom is crippled and she is trading off of her daughters cuteness and “quaint” local dress. One wonders what will happen as the girl grows older? The mom made mention of having her go to school, but the lure of money is strong.
