We visited a village near Chiang Mai called Baan Tong Luang. It was established by a man who owns an elephant sanctuary in the area to house people who had escaped from Burma (now known as Myanmar) and who had long worked with elephants there. Gradually, it came to house people from many different hill tribes pushed out of their ancestral areas.
It is open to the public (fee charged) to visit.
I am of several minds about the village – it does give the people a place to live and sell their goods, and it seeks to continue traditional crafts and customs. It includes a Catholic Church and a Buddhist temple, and a kindergarten for the children. There are terraced rice paddies with water piped in so that they can grow 2 crops a year.
But it also might be considered to be exploiting the people – especially the children, who dress in their native costumes and seem to be ‘on show’ for the tourists.
Some of the young girls from the “long neck” tribe still wear the rings, starting at age 5. This has apparently been outlawed in Myanmar, but it certainly follows a long standing cultural tradition.
We met a woman who is 65 and has been wearing the rings now for 60 years. (Yes, that’s not traditional dress she is wearing, unless Bugs Bunny is a part of her tribe’s tradition!)
She sang two songs for us, accompanying herself on a 4 string instrument much like a guitar.
The women weave cloth in the traditional manner.
I bought a scarf from this woman, who told me it took her 3 days to weave it. Cost to me: 250Baht, about $8.50.
I brought balloons and handed them out to all the children – another post will chronicle that – so we left the village with the people a little richer in money and children in balloons. And we are a little richer in having met and interacted with these people, and gotten a glimpse into their lives. Who knows how long they will be able to continue their traditions in a fast changing world?
Chiang Mai, Thailand
2/4/18
Mary's Travel Blog 