Hill tribe

On Monday, we had a free day. Our first, in fact. So we decided to fill it.

We asked around about activities and found that we could visit a hill tribe (not the actual mountain ones, you have to go on treks for that, but one that the government set up as a "model" hill tribe). We hired this guy (shown below) to drive us there for 300 baht, which is about 9 dollars.

I have more pictures from the village, but they're on my camera, not my phone, so I can't upload them. Unfortunately, the hill tribe village turned out to be suuuuuuper commercialized and touristy. The people actually live there, and they live in the same primitive conditions, but they all just sell handicrafts in stall after stall after stall. The most interesting part about the whole place was the children, so that's what I photographed.

The histories of the different tribes are interesting, especially the Long-Neck tribe. The Long Neck women put coils of brass around their necks, stretching their necks by depressing their shoulders and ribcages from childhood. They begin putting the coils on at four years old (we saw some girls with them), and by the time they're sixty, their necks are unnaturally stretched and shoulders exceptionally low. Though there are stories for tourists about the women being afraid of being carried off by tigers, or their necks being so weak that they can't hold them up if they take off their coils, the truth is that the coils began thousands of years ago as adornments, fashion accessories. As with some trends (thank you hair feathers, fake eyelashes, and Beanie Babies), the fashion went a little on the excessive side.

They only take the coils off once every two years, and as this woman shows, they wear fabric underneath to protect and clean their skin. That whole thing is actually one very long coil of brass that was wrapped around her neck about 30 times. It weighs about 7kg, which is....15 pounds...maybe? It's a lot, that's for sure.

After the village, we decided to have Udon, the driver, take us up Doi Suthep once again to see the palace grounds and escape the sweltering midday heat of the city. When we got there, we were forced to rent gigantic skirts, because apparently our athletic pants were too scandalous for royal grounds (I always try to be respectful, but that stung a bit). The palace was closed for renovation, but we did get to walk up a million steps to a "beautiful water reservoir" that ended up being empty. The shining attractions were:

This bench that provided us rest and shade in the middle of the million steps....

This "giant bamboo" which was actually very, very giant...

(I had to run away because I was afraid of getting yelled at)....

And the "Phuping Palace Ice Cream" that we found at the top of the steps...

I got two.