We wake up pretty early and we go
have breakfast in a local place into the village. Seba, once he sees that only
a miserable cup of tea has been served, exclaimed disconcerted with his broken
English: "But...only this?" Tom smiles and reassures him, telling him
to be a little bit more patient. Thai people are not as stressed as western
people, take your time. From now on he will be nicknamed as Eat Machine.
DOI INANTHON NATIONAL PARK
Located in the Province of Chiang
Mai, Doi Inthanon National Park also includes the highest mountain in Thailand,
the Doi Inthanon. Characterized by hiking paths, waterfalls and monumental
stupas built in honour to the king and the queen, the Phra Mahathat
Naphamethanidon and the Naphamethanidon, to celebrate their 60th birthday, the
park is one of the most appreciated destination by naturalists and bird
watching lovers, in Southeastern Asia The highest slopes also hosts a big
variety of species such as orchids, lichens, muss, more than 400 species of
birds, barking deers, Indian zibet and giant flying squirrel.
The walk through the jungle reveals
itself to be quite demanding for us as we are not very much used to physical
activities. We leave 20 undeserved baths as a tip to the a guide who was simply
limiting himself to smile (nevertheless we are in the country of smile!) and
pointing his finger at something first and something else then. Not even a word
in English, not even "attention".
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Giraffe
Women
2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved. |
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ThePhra Mahathat Naphamethanidon
2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved.
|
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| 2011 ©
Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved. |
Another hour spent with the guide to
then stop in a remote shop to taste a traditional tea and to buy some kind of
weird foodstuffs. Seba, already used to negotiate, wants to trade even on a
packet of tea, but he gets discouraged by Tom when the latter makes him notice
that he's not buying a t-shirt or a silk scarf at the marketplace... A total
embarrassment.
AND FINALLY MAE HONG SON
After been begging for long we
finally arrive at the sleepy Mae Hong Son, better defined by Tom as "The
city of nothing", should I say more? Having noticed with my own eyes that
the little town, even if nice, can't offer anything special except a good
restaurant where to have lunch, we decide we'd better go and visit the village
of Karen Bwe tribe. The tribe, which is living in the remote mountainous area
called Kayan, is better known as "the giraffe women".
The Padaung people are some of the
most mysterious and fascinating ethnic groups of the whole eastern world. The
name padung means "long neck" in Burmese. A very ancient tradition
not yet totally abandoned, wants the ladies to wrap a long and heavy brass
spiral around their neck. This special ornament is composed by two different
parts. The lower one that partially covers the shoulders, while the upper part
is composed by a long spiral, wrapped around the neck. Starting from when they
are young, during the "full moon ceremony", girls are requested to
wear brass spirals around their arms and ankles, to then been given a strong
massage at their neck muscles to get them used to the first kilos of collar
around the neck. This initiation rite is going to irreversibly mark the women's
life forever. With the passing of the year more weights are added to the
collar. In these people's tradition this jewel is a really fascinating thing to
the tribe members' eyes, but it also means social and moral prestige. Without
that the tradition made both the wedding and the maternity impossible and the
personal achievement impracticable. Reached the right age to get married, these
women's neck, that became as long as 25cm in the meanwhile, is now surrounded
by a ten kilo-collar. Contrary to what it may be thought, it's not the neck to
get longer, but the rib cage, that lowers under the pressure of the collar. In
the past adulterous brides were asked to leave the village after removing their
collar. Thinking that this tradition is purely aesthetic would be a mistake,
these elements become distinctive signs having the aim of passing on
information and personal achievements obtained by unanimously recognised
references for what concerns the belonging to one's tribe, one's social status,
differentiations between unmarried and married women and as a protection from
dangers.
Tom takes us to the traditional
houses of this village, we meet a kind lady who tells us something about
cohabitation between Buddhists and Christians.
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Local Homes
2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved. |
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| Craftsmanship
and tourism are what the village lives on |
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| 2011 © Giovanna Puccia. All rights reserved. |
We get back to Mae Hong Son where we
learn that this sleepy place is one of the very few in the world, after the
Dead Sea, Japan, in which you can find natural mud. We decide to not miss this
chance, so we stop in a spa just outside the village to splatter our face with
mud and purify our feet into beneficial water. Finally arrive at smiling town
called Pai, where both tourists and Thai people stay for a rest and some
isolation.
But do not deceive yourself, during
high season Pai looks more like a weekend marketplace in Bangkok than a remote
village in the province of Mae Hong Son!
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| Muds and
beneficial water to regain our forces |
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Keep reading...
Keep reading.... My travel story continues in the next post!
