Tag: Hmong

Cambodia Laos and Thailand, From Luang Prabang To Kwang Sy Waterfalls & Back, 13 February 2001

Stopped at a Hmong village – no name!…

No wonder the people look sad, their Hmong village has no name.

…then at a Lao Theung/Khamu village Thapean, where they are building the bridge. Daisy successfully scared the children there.

“I’m a Khamu, how do you do?”

Then onto Khouang-sy Falls where we saw the lesser spotted NGO tribe – 30 NCH cyclists!

Sadly, I didn’t photograph the sponsored cyclists from NCH, as the charity Action For Children was then named. I had to explain the “NGO tribe” pun to Daisy at the time – I’m not going to bother in this piece.

Picniced at falls…

…then back to town via Peacefulness Stupa (aka Wat Pa Phon Phao, aka Santi Chedi).

Then went to Xieng Leck Village to see paper making and textiles.

Then central market – checked out Red Cross massage parlour – no thanks – home.

I have no memory of being shown a massage parlour and rejecting it, but it must have looked a bit too rudimentary for Janie’s and my taste. I do remember taking Prasauth to one side that afternoon and asking him if he could help me source some flowers for Valentines day the next day. He demurred – the giving of flowers is not a very Laotian thing to do. But he offered to try and the next article in this travelogue (written separately a few years ago) describes how he got on.

Dinner at Souvanna Phoum – Daisy ate western (tomato soup and orange roast duck and mash) and Ged more or less did too (chicken lemon soup and bamboo shoots stuffed with pork and sticky rice and fruit salad drenched in rice wine (Lao Lao).

The first 34 photos in the album linked here and below comprise the many pictures from the travelogue described on this page.

01 An Hmong village on the way to the falls CLT_D12_Photo (36)

An Independent Trip To Northern Thailand & Vietnam, Part Three: To Chiang Mai Province, Visiting Hmong & Lisu Hill Tribes, 15 March 1996

Set off early for Chiang Mai – met by Kongburi and driver L’Erm.

All right, orchid?

Butterflies

Set off, saw orchids & butterfly garden, then on to a Hmong village

Hmong Village (above) with Hmong people (below)

Then on to Tad Mok Falls.

Then Chinese lunch in Mae Ta – on through the market and then to Mae Taeng elephant ride fiasco followed by bamboo rafting.

I described the elephant ride as a fiasco, because I recall really feeling uncomfortable about the elephants, especially my one, who seemed unhappy and hungry. Mine kept wandering off to the side of the track to try to grab a nibble, only to be roughly discouraged from doing so by the dude at the front of the elephant. I note that if you Google “Mae Taeng Elephant Park” 25 years later, you find a lot of bad reviews and references to cruelty. I’m not surprised based on our experience.

Unusually for me, I found the raft trip afterwards more to my taste than the elephant ride, whereas I was expecting to feel more comfortable on land!

In the Lisu Village – Kongburi negotiating while I display the body language of indifference

Then on to Lisu Village – quaint Lisu Lodge – just us [staying the night]…

…the music and the giant flying roaches.

Showered washed and walked around village – got sold to – ate – got played at – then to bed.

I really should expand the story of our stay at the Lisu Lodge. It was a lovely but fairly rudimentary place back then. It is a fancy-schmanzy eco lodge now. Good luck to the place.

The Lisu people were sweet and gentle and very welcoming. They did seem especially keen to sell us their trinkets though.

We were the only guests that night.

Janie and I particularly remember the meal. We have just the one photo of me being served the food (above).

We had been looking forward to our private dining experience. However, we were joined more or less throughout the meal by a local who serenaded us with his traditional stringed instrument, which was probably a relative of the pipa or Chinese lute. He played pretty well and at first it sounded really nice, but after a while we were craving a little more privacy and a little less noise.

Then, out of the blue, came a giant flying roach (or beetle) which noisily landed right behind us and startled us both. The musician calmly stopped playing and gently removed the beetle in his hands. Daisy and I gave the musician a round of applause for removing the giant insect, which he took to be applause for the end of his set, so he bowed and left, taking the pipa and beetle with him.

Thus we spent the rest of our meal in quiet, tranquil privacy.

All of our photos from the Thai leg of the journey can be found on Flickr through the link here and below.

=01 13 March 1996 - Jim Thompson