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Chiang Rai
Feb. 15th, 2007 07:29 amWe have been busy. We arrived in Northern Thailand two days ago, and have been traveling around the countryside. Not much in the way of stable internet access up here.
It is quite beautiful. We are staying at a hotel on the Mekong river, just across from Laos, and a little south of Myanmar. It is quite a bit cooler here, and the pace is much slower than in Bangkok.
This morning we got up early—awakened by the sound of roosters crowing. We wandered down to the river and took some sunrise pictures before leaving for the hills.
We stopped along the way at some rice fields. I wandered out with the people working and they showed me how they were planting the rice.
We visited a number of hill tribes over the last two days. Their situation is somewhat similar to how the Native Americans lived after being placed on reservations. These people have been given land to live on, owned by the government, and that is about it. They have no papers, no vote, and not much else. They live by farming and by selling crafts to tourists.
The tribe we visited today are known as the “long necks”. Some of the women wear metal rings around their necks, which gives them long necks. They start this at about age 5.
These were such nice people—very friendly and welcoming to us. I had a great time with some of the kids—taking pictures and making funny noises with them. Probably one of the highlights of the trip.
In the afternoon we headed north to the border and passed over into Myanmar for a few hours. It is an interesting place—you can see the difference right away. We visited an orphanage—most of the kids are there because their parents died either from AIDS or from the effects of methamphetamine. Very sad.
Tomorrow we take a boat up the Mekong to Laos. No internet for a few days, but many, many pictures to follow, I’m sure.
It is quite beautiful. We are staying at a hotel on the Mekong river, just across from Laos, and a little south of Myanmar. It is quite a bit cooler here, and the pace is much slower than in Bangkok.
This morning we got up early—awakened by the sound of roosters crowing. We wandered down to the river and took some sunrise pictures before leaving for the hills.
We stopped along the way at some rice fields. I wandered out with the people working and they showed me how they were planting the rice.
We visited a number of hill tribes over the last two days. Their situation is somewhat similar to how the Native Americans lived after being placed on reservations. These people have been given land to live on, owned by the government, and that is about it. They have no papers, no vote, and not much else. They live by farming and by selling crafts to tourists.
The tribe we visited today are known as the “long necks”. Some of the women wear metal rings around their necks, which gives them long necks. They start this at about age 5.
These were such nice people—very friendly and welcoming to us. I had a great time with some of the kids—taking pictures and making funny noises with them. Probably one of the highlights of the trip.
In the afternoon we headed north to the border and passed over into Myanmar for a few hours. It is an interesting place—you can see the difference right away. We visited an orphanage—most of the kids are there because their parents died either from AIDS or from the effects of methamphetamine. Very sad.
Tomorrow we take a boat up the Mekong to Laos. No internet for a few days, but many, many pictures to follow, I’m sure.
