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Previous: China 10
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Capital: Bangkok
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Thailand is one of my favorite destinations. The people are friendly, it has a vibrant and colorful culture and it is not expensive. On this fifth visit here, I concentrated on the northern hill tribes that are closely related to ethnic minorities of neighbouring Yunnan and Myanmar. |
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I flew in from Kunming and went directly to Daret's House which is a popular of backpacker's hangout where I had stayed in 1994. It was even more popular than before, the food was good and the prices were reasonable (4.30 US$ for a room).
The night scene at Daret's is quite lively. The place is full of backpackers and other tourists drinking beer and watching american grade B movies on the video. An excellent place for this Akha woman to sell her handicrafts.
After enjoying a vigorous relaxing Thai massage and visiting the Chiang Mai Museum, I spent some time gathering documentation at the Hill Tribes Research Institute of Chiang Mai University and went to see their collection of artifacts in their new museum in a northern suburb. Then, I hired a four wheel drive vehicle and a guide to visit some villages north of Chiang Mai that were inhabited mostly by tribes that have migrated from Myanmar in the last 50 years.
On the left, the stupa of Chaimonkol Temple near the French consulate. On the right, the Wat Bupparam on Tha Phae road.
After a couple of hours on asphalt roads and an hour more on dirt we got to this Karen village. There are few Karen in Thailand but they number 3.4 million in Myanmar.
My guide "Chai" was most helpful. He was well known in these villages and he understood and respected the hill people's way of life for he was himself of the Hmong tribe.
Traditionally the hill people subsist on slash and burn agriculture which entails moving their villages periodically when the soil's productivity is exhausted.
Slash and burn agriculture becomes more and more damaging to the environment as the population density increases. Consequently, responsible governments the world over, attempt to stabilize tribal settlements, some with more success than others. Thailand's policy towards hill tribes aims at their gradual assimilation and integration into mainstream thai lifestyle through education rather than the coercion that has motivated these Karen to migrate from Myanmar.
The Akha are generally known as "Hani" in China where they came from. There are 1,3 million Hani in Yunnan (where they are also known as Akha), but less than 100 000 of them in Thailand.
The Chinese practice of calling their hill tribes "nationalities" reflects a policy encouraging cultural diversity instead of assimilation. The predominance of the Han culture in China is so overwhelming that diversity can be enriching but never challenging..
Generally, hill tribes anywhere have devised distinctive traditional costumes that they wear with pride as the badge of their identity. Traditional dress is encouraged in China. In Thailand it is not discouraged like it is in Myanmar but it is nevertheless disappearing due to the convenience and cheapness of modern clothing. The Akha have however discovered the tourist trade and have become skillful at producing what the market wants.
What else is new! The older lady wearing her traditional costume was shy and ran into her house when I made this photograph while the younger one wearing modern clothes advanced enthusiastically to offer me her Akha artifacts.
