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Visiting the Hill Tribes

  • January 15, 2007
  • Rated 5 of 5 by SeenThat from Tel Aviv, Israel
Visiting the Hill Tribes

Visiting the Hill Tribes in northern Thailand creates one of those eternal problems for travelers; on one side they need the income generated by our visits, on the other, visiting them means accepting the deep discrimination against them. There are no definitive answers, but I prefer the Human side: they desperately need the help.

There are many tribes scattered along the northwest of Thailand; generally, the biggest the distance from Chiang Mai is, the less visitors the tribe gets. I visited the tribes on the very far northwest, which are accessible with a day trip with a rented car from Chiang Mai (a three days tour including a jeep, food, guesthouses and a guide cost around $100 per person).

Huay Sua Thao

Huay Sua Thao is southwest of Mae Hong Son, was founded in 1988 by refugees who crossed the border from Myanmar and is the only hill tribe's village with an entry fee (250B). The main bulk of the village consists of regular persons, but beyond a small current, there are two rows of houses climbing a hill. The lower row hosts the "long neck" people that are called so since their women put a copper spiral, which gets bigger with time, around their neck. In fact, they do not have long necks; they have low shoulders, as these are being constantly pressed down by the spiral. The upper row hosts the "long ear" people; their women use heavy earrings. They sell souvenirs and postcards with their own pictures.

Mae Aw

Much north from there, in a small valley completely surrounded by hills, is Mae Aw, a Chinese village of former Kuomintang people. At the centre of the town there is a beautiful lake, with water-buffalos enjoying its deep mud. Low, simple houses climb the hills around and a church stands by the village’s entrance. Their main businesses are green tea and tourism. At the tea houses it is possible to taste the tea for free and buy a nice packet of Oolong; they serve it Chinese style with a smaller cup inverted inside a bigger one, while the tea is trapped between them.

Ruam Thai

Close to the Pang Tong King's Palace, is this mixed Karen and Shan from Myanmar and Thai people village; on its one street live thirty families. There is no electricity, no phones and no running water; the water is brought with pumps from the nearby river, but some houses have electric lamps powered by batteries connected to solar panels. In the first house, there is a big garden with coffee trees, and it is possible to buy it fresh from the tree (a cup for 20B and 50 grams for 30B).

Ban Huay Ma Keau Som

Down of Ruam Thai, is the Tomato Village (Ma Keau = tomato in Thai). H'mong people live at its centre, while a other ethnic groups live in the outskirts. There is an unusual monastery there, which looks like a dormitory in an open Thai pavilion.

From journal North of Chiang Mai

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