Many New Faces

Yesterday I jumped in a van to go on a tour for a day, not something I typically do but am so glad I did. Immediately upon hopping into the van the man I'd be sitting next to introduced himself, Mindia (from Georgia, not the state!). He's a photographer who takes about 2 months to travel each year to work on images for a show that he then puts together for an exhibit either back home or elsewhere. We began to talk about travel and photography and since the point of my taking this particular tour was to PHOTOGRAPH it was really fun to have someone along with whom I could talk about photography. We ended up laughing quite a bit and really were fortunate to have such a easygoing group of people in our small tour. There was a French brother and sister? who at first spoke no English but seemed to ease into it as the day went on, a woman from Austria, a girl from Chile and one from Canada who seemed to be friends and basically talked to eachoter and a couple in love (Thai and Falang) who didn't even seem to be on our tour except when we were in the van. Or guide was an energetic young Thai woman named Ei. She has the best sense of humor! It was funny as those of us laughing at her jokes seemed to ease the worried expressions of those who thought she was being "serious" about the things she said like how we were going to have monkey for lunch and how the men's correctional facility was a good free hotel etc. She really was so good natured and as the day went on and she slipped me a few words in Thai we began to banter back and forth in gest in 2 languages. She was a great source of information and when she didn't know she's ask a local in whatever common language they could use to try to get more information for us. She noticed that I really was interested in details about culture and family structures as well as migration history and really took off with this accompanying me as I took pictures and telling me intersting facts and details about the people and region we were visiting. Thankful that it was a wonderful day full of laughter, interesting information, a new photograper aquaintance and lots of photos. . .what could have been tour hell turned out to be a perfect day!

We began our journey at a butterfly and orchid farm (lots of pictures) which presented some interesting challenges due to the bright yet overcast sky. I found my small point and shoot digital to be better suited to the macro shots and tricky lighting than my newly acquired used digital slr setup. I guess I still have a lot to learn about lighting and using an SLR. It was a wonderful lush hour that felt like longer as I meandered among the orchids and assorited tropical plants. I always seem to be able to loose myself in time in that kind of environment. I'm not sure that others felt the same but I loved it! I actually got a few butterfly shots though they weren't as varied in species as when I walked along the river bank in Um Prang in the noon day sun. . . there there were vibrant irridescent colored butterflies displaying bright turquoise and purple.

Next stop were the Karen Long neck and Karen Long Ears tribal people. I don't believe there are any of these people left living a fully "traditional" lifestyle in Thailand. The few who remain are making a business of "tourism" and selling their weavings. There are I believe groups who still live a more authentic or traditional existance in Myanmar. The girls of this tribe do not go to school, the boys do. At 5 the mother decides if the child (girl) will wear the neck extending rings or not, I'm not sure about the ear stretching. They were originally two separeate groups but here are living together and intermarrying. The neck extender rings are made of brass and applied in one long continual piece that is skillfully bent around the female's neck. I am not sure how it is added to over time as with the lengthening of the spinal column at the upper vertebre of the neck occurs the ability to hold one's head (support) without the rings may well become extremely difficult and dangerous. The wearing of the rings once begun must be continued forever. I've taken photos to show what I mean. I found these women really beautiful and as you all know I'm fond of physical adornment but no worries, I bought a bracelet from them but will not be wearing neck rings anytime soon. I think the photos will speak more than I can say in mere words. You'll just have to wait.

Next was on to the Chaing Dao Cave and Temple. . . What a huge series of caves! there are 4 separete caverns and they go quite deep into the mountain. It was a perfect middle of the day activity to escape into the cool of a cave from the noon day sun. There were many incredible stalagtite and stalagmiet fromations. Very difficult to photograph due to light conditions DARK with some artificial florescent light to guide my way. There were some Buddhas and other religious images strategically placed in the walls of the caves, sometimes quite high up. Most intersting for me was to see the Burmese style Buddhas which have rounder shorter heads than Thai style Buddhas. At the end of cavern that I went to was a Burmese Sleeping Buddha, literally sleeping, not an image you see in Thai Theravatta Buddhism which does have a reclining Buddha on his side (the Tuesday Buddha).

Lunch was plentiful and most liked the pinaple, papaya and banana dessert!

In the afternoon we drove to some villages where some Akha, Lisu and White Karen live. I had a lot of fun with the Akha women who were trying to sell me things. We had about 5 words in common among 3 different languages. There best use phrases were "HELLO" to get your attention, literally used about every 30 seconds and "10 bhat" repeated as if it would become more inticing the more it was said. One lady really wanted me to buy her hat and actually put it on me. Mindia got a shot of this I think and I can't wait to see it!!! I got a fun shot of him with two of the ladies and he's going to put it on his website. It's amazing when you can joke around and laugh with people who you have practically no language in common with but he and I did. It was a really nice experience. You'll have to wait to see the pictures of these women, what characters they are! It was intersting to see the obvious difference in facial features/ characteristics between the Akha and the Lisu (originally from China Yunan province perhaps). The Karen and Akha women look much older than I expected and the Lisu elders aged remarkably well. I have a photo of a White Karen woman who I was very taken by. She and I talked for a while with the help of my tour guide. We mostly discussed the different jewelery eachother were wearing. You'll see a pic of her. I thought she was probably in her 70's but she is only 63! A Karen woman (the mother of the family where I stayed in Um Prang) who looked to be 90 was only in her early 70's. A Lisu weaver who looked only to be in her 60's was 80.Genetics do have a factor!

Many many photos, a lot of good laughs, a few new words in Thai, a new photographer aquaintance and some good memories. A good day!