Hill Tribes


Our guide was from the Akha tribe and we visited his family in his home village, as well as Eng and Palong villages in the hills just outside Kyaing Tong. 

Our guide, Eric, said it was customary to bring token gifts. He bought them with money collected from us...laundry detergent and packages of MSG! Warmly received in the villages with thanks and handshakes.

The visits were relaxed. Eric had a good rapport with all tribes and answered our never-ending string of questions.

We had lots of laughs with the locals. This was partly due to one of our group, Ben, a free spirited extrovert Brit with an uncanny ability to learn to count from 1 to 10 in any tribal language within 2 minutes...a real ice breaker with the kids. The women were charmed by his warmth and sense of humour.

Our guide encouraged us to feel at home and take pictures. Not certain how I feel about what has been referred to as " human zoo" tourism. We asked permission to take photos and most villagers seemed happy to oblige.The woman in the photo with Boris asked to have her picture taken with him.

More to follow. Don't know how many I can attach.










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