Chiang Mai 3 January 2009

Chiang Mai 3 January 2009 day5 = day 3 of tour

Up at 7am to go to Mae Hong Son market where Pon buys some ingredients for her new restaurant. Then up to Doi Kong Mu Temple 200 years old overlooking the city. A 9 piece band of child musicians in local costume is playing traditional music, a beautiful place to be. Next, at last, we have breakfast in the same restaurant by the lake. I fancied an english breakfast but they don't do those here so settled for toast, poached eggs and bacon. Also asked for fried tomatos, this caused much consternation (I think I should have said grilled) but they eventually arrived as a separate course with fried egg mixed in - delicious.

Now Pon announces we are going to visit the long neck village. We drive to a place by the river where there is a shop, a ticket office and a jetty, buy our tickets and board a longboat. For maybe half an hour, we are taken down river through stunning forest and river bank scenery, just breathtaking beauty. We arrive at the river-side village to see that all of the dwellings are timber and reed built with large thick dried leaves used as roofing material. The people of the village come originally from Myanmar (Burma) whose border is nearby. They have this tradition in which some of the girls, according to the day of the week and the month they are born, have rings fitted around their necks starting at 5 years old and gradually adding more so that their necks become extended. Apparently it is not uncomfortable for them, despite having maybe 12 inches/300mm long necks when they reach adulthood. We met several of these ladies and bought a few things from them and took some photos. The girls are very pretty and everyone seemed to be very happy in the village. We visited the village primary school where many of the posters and charts around the walls of the little clasrooms were teaching english. The main language of these people is myanmar, so the are learning 3 languages, myanmar, thai and english. We also went up to the senior school at the top of the hill. The children are on holiday but I put an entry in the visitors' book and some money in the donation box. The whole village is a charming place with friendly happy people where the long neck girls and ladies are just an integral part of their culture. Back to the boat and another entrancing journey up river, then an ice cream from the shop.

Back to Mae Hong Son and visiting to more temples 40 tear old Wat Jung Kiang and Wat Jung Khan. There are paintings and woodcarvings brought from Myanmar 100 years ago.

After a late lunch we walked around the stalls again, buying various snacks including pumpkin in a mysterious sauce, little soft round balls of varying colours in a sweet soup, battered fried onions, coconut jelly and bang mae pancake.

The day ends with a 7 hour overnight bus journey back to Chiang Mai. This was may last day in north Thailand for this trip. I will never forget this day.

All the Best, John