Afternoon in the Mountains

Over a horrendous, pot-holed road we visited Burmes refugees famous for their “long necks”. The Karen hill tribe people wear heavy brass necklaces from a very young age. The longer their neck, the more beautiful they are thought to be. These members of this tribe are refugees from the war in Burma and persecution by the Chinese. As refugees, they have few rights and limited opportunities. Brian thought subjecting these children to this practice bordered on child abuse and couldn’t wait to leave.

Further up the mountain we enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Maekok Village Resort. overlooking a tributary of the Mekong River. The resort was started as an international school by a British couple but has been expanded to include a cooking school, and a spa. A short walk through lovely gardens brought us to our “long tail” boat and a 45 minute cruise down the river.

The river reminded Brian and I of our Viking Cruise up the Mekong. We saw men fishing with poles from boats and from the shore and a family fishing with nets. We also saw people working in the corn fields and orange groves. No wildlife except egrets. But the main activity seemed to be dredging sand from the river. Although the river banks looked lush and green we also saw signs of environmental stress. There were floating plastic bottles, plastic bags stuck in bushes, and large areas where the forest had been completely cleared. Most disressing was seeing the significant presence of the same invasive species that we see taking over the wetlands in Ontario. Tall fronds with feathery tops which can grow to 8 feet and push out all the native plants. Tragic.

We disembarked at a Lasu village, cut through a family's backyard, said hello to their pig and 3 piglets and then met up with our driver. We bounced over another terrible road to get back to the main highway.Read more