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Nobody
knows exactly when Chiang Mai’s hill tribe minorities first started attracting
visitors? But a scholar who long association with tourism and related business
was once told that it all probably started in 1957 when a group of Thai
conservationists exploring the mountainous region bumped into them while on a
research mission. Between 1965-1970 hiking became a popular exercise among
foreign tourists seeking a bit of adventure and not much afterward Chiang Mai
became the nation’s number one trekking destination.
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| Rope bridge to the Karen village |
The
dense forest of Mae Taeng
district was chosen as one of
Chiang Mai’s original areas for eco-tourism and bio diversity studies. There
are several hill tribe settlements, with their distinct cultures, set in rustic
surroundings. Crossing the rapids of Mae
Taeng River
in bamboo rafts with towering trees on either banks, lush forest, rock
formations, wild animals and exotic plants lent color to the whole trip.
Ban Pa Khao
Larm, a small Karen village sits in a fertile valley of tambon Gued Chang of
Mae Taeng district. If local trekking guides are to be believed, “it’s
a
great new experience and the best place to begin studying the traditional Karen
lifestyle and their conservative habit.”
Recently,
I took the time to return to the forest with a
group of village leaders and teachers from the Rajabhat Institute of Chiang Mai
to survey a new trekking route and visit a remote Karen village. Our leader for
the trip was Mr Saichon Pruksanan, a community leader and a noted local
conservationist
We departed Chiang Mai for Mae Taeng district by pick
up
truck, stopped at the local market called ‘Kaad Him Taeng’ 10 kilometers from
Ban Mae Malai junction and stocked ourselves with essential provisions for the
trip. Various vegetables, fruit, chicken and drinking water were loaded onto
the truck and after which we set off for the last part of the trip.
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| Children at Ban Pa Khao Lam |
Saichon said previously it was
very difficult for outsiders to get to the village, you had to walk seven to
eight hours through steep hills and forests to reach it. I looked up towards
the summit and asked myself if I will be able to reach the top without dropping
dead.
“Luckily, the Forestry Department
has built a narrow
track. Travelling to Ban Pa
Khao Larm is now a lot easier than
before. But you can only get there on a four-wheel drive, but not during the
rainy season,” he told us.
We stopped for
lunch at the top a hill. The winter breeze
was fresh and we filled our lungs with clean air. Everybody was served steamed
rice wrapped in banana leaves held in place by fine strips of bamboo. Banana
leaf, as opposed to Styrofoam or plastic, were the right choice because left to
nature they decomposed readily without causing pollution.
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| She's the guest house owner where we overnight. |
After three hours of trudging
along a steep slope we arrived at the village late in the afternoon. We carried
our gear across the river via a cable bridge to the village. It looked
distinctly a jungle settlement that reminded all of us of the old cowboy movies
that had a single dusty brown trail running through it. These were houses on
both sides and every house had a barn in front of it. Most Karen houses, we
found out, were rather small but neatly maintained.
We
were shown where we would be sleeping that night, a
rectangular wooden house built on stilts with an open verandah facing the
river. There were five bedrooms big enough to accommodate 20 people and three
bathrooms.
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| Getting around the village by elephant |
The remainder of the day I
spent wandering around, taking in the sights, sounds and smell of our host
village. I said hello to kids who looked at us with a sense of awe and
curiosity. By the banks of the river I saw a herd of water buffaloes and
villagers assembling rafts for our trip the following day.
Evening came and the wind turned dry and chilly. The
women in our group prepared dinner comprising fried-chicken cooked in basil
leaves and spicy pork and mushroom salad. When night fell the weather turned
colder. It was December. Saichon announced that the village headman will be our
guest for dinner served under the soft glare from lanterns.
Mr Mana Kaw-Moo-Hae, 40, the village headman, joined us
and we had a long chat over dinner. He said there were 93 Karen families in
this village, with scattered settlements at the flatland around the hill. Most
of them were Christian and a few Buddhist but the older generation still
believe in cults and spirits. Most were farmers by professional.
It was surprising there was no electricity. “How do
you live without it?”he was asked. “How can you know what’s happening in
this country, especially the kids, they need to learn to grow up?”
Mana said, “We have a primary school where children
learn the Thai language until grade six. We instill in our children a sense of
pride at being Karen and the lifestyle we lead. You know the kids never seen a
television and they don’t know what electricity is all about.”
“Several years
ago I
approached the provincial authorities to bring electricity to our village but
they said our village was so remote tat it would be virtually impossible to run
power lines across the mountains. Now we have completely forgotten about it”,
said the headman, laughing, making light of the snub he received at the hand of
provincial authorities.
I felt it was my turn to make
a point. “Tourists come
here expecting to see a village that is very authentic and typical of the hill
tribe culture. They won’t be happy if they see these facilities (TV and
electricity) in the village,” I said.
“Have you ever seen a Karen cut trees or slash and
burn forests? We have a sense of belonging and responsibility to nature and the
surroundings we live in. We are natural conservationists. We are no
businessmen, we don’t know how to do business”.
“And even though most of us are Christian, the older
Karens still believe in ghosts and spirits. It gives us our cultural identity,
our unique place in the world. You cannot be a proper Karen, relate to our
history and ancestors, if you give up spirit worship,” said the village
headman.
I can’t remember how long the conversation
with the
headman lasted but I went to bed that night convinced that these ethnic
minorities were not going to sacrifice their old values and beliefs in exchange
for what we call civilization.
It was biting cold by the
time we retired for the night.
I had been brought up believing that it was better to sleep in light clothing
but this night I just couldn’t resist helping myself with layer upon layer of
clothing, and still the chill wouldn’t go.
We woke up in the morning
to find the water freezing cold
and decided to skip the shower. After breakfast we thanked the villagers and
the headman for their warm hospitality and bid them goodbye. From there we
headed to the riverbank to take bamboo rafts, with Karens as helmsmen, for a
bit of adventure down the river.
Each raft could carry six to eight
persons including our
luggage, which was is placed on a tripod in the middle to prevent it from
getting wet. It’s amazing to discover how different the landscape can be than
watching it from the road. Our flotilla of bamboo rafts bobbed up and down the
rapids to the melody birds and the croaking of insects in the woods, and the
breeze was cold but soothing to the senses.
For four hours we sailed
downstream on the Mae Taeng.
Rafting, though primarily there to attract tourists, doesn’t necessarily mean
its soft and less adventurous or exciting. While bamboo trunks have countless
applications in this part of the world, what do you do with trees felled in
rain forests” Well, what a better way than to turn them into rafts and use the
rafts to ferry and entertain tourists down the river.
As things
turned out, it was an
eventful two days that left us with an everlasting memory of the Karen way of
life and a resounding ride on bamboo rafts down the Mae Taeng River.
And if some one asked me if I would like to do it all again, my answer
is an unqualified yes.
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