Enough lollygagging about. Today was trekking day. I will
grant you that it wasn’t quite as bad as gorilla trekking in Rwanda. We
certainly aren’t at that high of an altitude – though quite honestly I don’t
actually know how high up one has to get to feel the effects of altitude if you
live your live at 35 ft. But this was still tough. We drove a way out on pretty
bumpy roads to start with and then walked a way through a Lahu village. The
Lahu do not wear traditional clothing anymore. But they are still living a very
simple life. Again the wooden houses up on stilts that are standard here. Plenty
of pigs and chickens and water buffalo. And plenty of rice drying and bagging
and transporting going on since they are well into the harvet now.
We drove again a bit past a political meeting put on by the
White Tiger party out lobbying for votes in the upcoming elections that will be
held shortly after we leave. And then we started our trek up the hill. We were
told it would take about 30 minutes. Hah. Now granted we were not moving very
fast but still it took 2 or 3 days….no sorry…probably 1-1/2 hours that seemed
like 2 or 3 days…trudging straight up hill on a deeply-rutted, still slightly
soggy in places, clay road of sorts. The ONLY thing we had going in our favor
was that it was mostly shaded. but then, of course, laws of gravity and all, we
had to come back down.
But we saw several Akha women famous for their silver helmet
headdresses made of rows of heavy silver balls and beads sewn onto bamboo and
fabric caps. They also create embroidered items (belts, bags, etc)…though we
now know that they outsource some of the embroidery to Lahu women since we
talked with one such ‘contract’ worker. ;-)
At the very, very top of our trek was the Ann village of Panlor. WAY
HIGH up on the top of the hill. These folks are the lowest on the minority
group pecking order. Apparently quite looked down on by everyone else. They are
still animists (most of the other peoples in the area were converted years ago
and are now Catholics or surprisingly Baptists!). They dress in traditional
black costumes and paint their teeth black so their hearts can be pure on the
inside.
For anyone who asked me before this trip if I thought the
tribal folks we would see would be ‘real’ or just ‘acting’ for the tourists….no
this is not Williamsburg or the Polynesian Cultural Center show in Honolulu.
These unfortunate folks are living a very difficult, primitive life. In fact
everywhere we went our guide would have a few acetaminophen tablets or some
soap to give to someone who complained of aches and pains or a skin rash the
last time he was in the area. We sat for tea (which I politely declined) and
bananas (which I gingerly ate) and then headed back down the hill. A lunch stop
consisted of fried rice and fried noodles our guide bought at the local market
this morning. And then we finally found our way back to the car.
On the way back to the hotel we made a stop at “Wan Kam,
famous for its rice wine production.” We expected a factory. What we saw was a
massive but extremely rustic distillery that looked more like a bootleg
operation than an apparently government sanctioned (i.e. taxes) production
system. Just a big, long, lean to next to the river, with big metal drums for
the distilling tanks heated by burning bamboo poles. They ferment the wine in
big plastic bags set out in rows on the ground. And then package the finished
product into other big 25 liter bags for distribution. Michael asked where he
could buy a bottle of the finished product (which we did get to sample fresh
out of the still with a ladle from a plastic bucket). We were expecting a
bottling plant somewhere. Nay. Nay. This stuff is just portioned out into
plastic water bottles for sale to the masses. We were tempted. But really aren’t
sure we could get that through U.S. Customs so we passed.
(Meanwhile, sorry but still no photos. Michael is shooting NEF raw images and I cannot find any way to convert them to jpg so I can upload them. Jaeson? Any idea?)
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