[MY WHAT A LONG NECK YOU HAVE.]

Good morning from a long bus ride from Chaing Rai to Chaing Mai! I really need to catch up on my blog so I’m hoping to get three posts typed during this bus ride. Yesterday we saw the amazing Karen hill tribe people that live in the hills of Chaing Rai. We took a local pickup truck to get to their village because our bus would have never made the ride. It was a little bit bumpy but definitely worth it. There were 3 subgroups of the Karen tribe living in this village. The first group we saw were the women who wore the most beautiful hats. I actually don’t know what they call these women or why they wear the hats but they really are spectacular looking. When we were at these villages we only saw two men. This is because almost all of the men work in the fields during the day and the women stay back at the village to sell the home made things that they make. 

The second women that we saw were called the long ear tribe. These women wear what we would call gages in their ears. They start wearing them at a really young age, I got a picture of a 5 year old girl with sticks in her ears to stretch them out. They may start wearing them before 5 but that was the youngest girl that I saw.

This woman took out her earring to show us her “long ears.” I am not sure the significance of the long eared woman but it was fascinating to see the large earrings they wear in their ears. 

The last group of women that we saw was the long neck women. These women start wearing rings in their neck as young as 1 ½ years old. They receive 3 rings every 3 years until they reach 25 or they become married. 

There are two stories behind why these women wear the brass rings around their neck. The Karen women think that the swan bird is beautiful and they want to be like it. When they wear the rings around their neck it elongates their neck and makes it appear longer, like the swan bird. 

There are some Begal Tigers out in the hills of Chaing Rai where the Karen tribe lives. The tale says that many women used to die when they would go out into the fields and that the women needed a way to protect themselves. Hundreds of years ago they realized they could protect themselves by wearing the brass rings around their necks. These rings can weigh up to 25 lbs! The rings don’t actually elongate the neck but push down on the shoulders and collar bone so the neck appears longer. We asked what would happen if they took them off because we thought it could be dangerous after wearing them for so many years and they said that nothing would happen at all. These women never remove the rings though, only after they have passed away.

All of the women were hand making scarfs, bags, and jewelry. My mom got a bunch of scarves and bags to bring home and I got a ring! The ring reminded me of the coils that they wore on their necks. We were trying to help support the local tribes! 

After visiting the Karen hill tribe we took another local truck to a stop for lunch. The woman who owns this place is Thai but used to be a French tour guide. The food was delicious and we even got a crepe (or the Thai interpretation) at the end for dessert. The woman was also a beautiful artist and she had her art hanging up in a room right across from the restaurant. She spoke Thai, French, and English- pretty impressive!

The next stop was the Golden Triangle, which is a point in Thailand where you can see Thailand, Laos (pronounced without the “s”), and Myanmar (formally Burma). The Mekong River separates the 3 countries and runs down from China and all the way to Vietnam. 

That is Laos behind us in this photo. The Chinese used to own that land so they built a casino on it, the building with the gold roof. 

While at the Golden Triangle we also visited an Opium Museum. The Thai planted the poppy fields to create jobs for the hill tribe people many years ago. At this time opium is no longer allowed  made in Thailand but it is said that it still happens. These people grow the poppies and then go through the long process to make the opium. During a certain time in the poppy growth you must score the plant. It then drips out sap, which is later dried up and this is where they get the actual opium. The process is very long and tedious this was just a short synapse! I didn’t get any pictures at the museum but it was really interesting to see how it was made and to know that the hill tribe people use to use the opium a lot. 

We had a nice dinner at a local restaurant that included cashew chicken, barbeque pork, tofu with red curry and pineapples, and some pineapples for dessert. Being the chocoholic that I am I couldn’t settle for just pineapples for dessert (even though they were delicious!) so we found some ice cream at the Night Bazaar! Tomorrow we are off to Chaing Mai! :)