3 February  (pictures updated 4 February)

 

Mae Sai is the northernmost point in Thailand, and across the river lies Tachilek, in the Shan state of Myanmar. Myanmar is a very heavilly regulated country, autocratically ruled by a miltary regime that is currently in some sort of inner turmoil. The previous top general has been jailed for "corruption", which is sort of like the Cubans arresting Castro for being communist or the British deposing the Queen for having trouble pronouncing her vowels. Anyway, another of the generals came up dead about two weeks ago, and two others haven't been heard from since then.

 

Myanmar doesn't let foreigners enter the country except in the central cities of Mandalay and Yangon (Rangoon), with two exceptions: Mae Sot and Tachilek. In both of these places, there are restrictions on where one can go, since large areas are controlled by various ethnic groups, who have their own armies. In the case of this area, north of Tachilek, the government has (had?) a working agreement with the Shan State Army and/or the Wa Army, in which there is a certain amount of autonomy in exchange for splitting the (opium) profits. The local armies have been fighting for a separate homeland for the Shan people, the fight being financed by the opium trade. Without getting into too long an explanation, the Shans were promised the option of a separate country in agreements of 1947, which is when the British relinquished control of the country. Instead, the Burmese tried to strangle the state, failing to provide roads, etc. The locals turned to opium production (introduced by the British during the China trade years) in order to provide an easily transportable crop. By the 1970s, they were approaching the U.S. to provide development aid and crop assistance in exchange for phasing out the opium harvest. Nixon did not respond at all, the Carter administration held talks but never acted, and the Reagan years were also unresponsive. So the area continues to produce the only crop that they can distribute without being controlled and taxed by the Burmese. Are they drug lords or freedom fighters? Take your pick. To complicate matters, the Koumintang (KMT), backed by the U. S., were or are involved in the opium trade as well, though they're now on the Thai side of the border.

 

Anyway, back to Tachilek. Here's the process for getting from the border to one's destination:

 

First, check in with the polite but firm lady at the "travel office". She will do some paperwork, collect your photos, and have you escorted to the Immigration office. There, a fellow with lots of ledger books and stamps will make out a travel document, enter you into his ledgers, and deposit your passport in a file cabinet. The travel document spells out exactly which cities you can visit. You are  then escorted back to the Travel office, where you are admonished to have whoever is transporting you visit the office for logging in and out.

 

Next step is to hop a motorcycle taxi to get to the bus/taxi/truck depot. If it's after 12:00 noon, as it was for me, one is very lucky to find a shared taxi (ie: more expensive). I ended up finding a car going north with one other fellow, or so I thought. On the way back to the immigration office, we picked up two other individuls, along with three batches of goods, all pressed into an ageing Toyota wagon. At the "travel office", we made 15 copies of my documents and the driver's papers, and the critical info was entered into the approriate ledgers.

 

It's a four-hour ride to Keng Tong (pronounched "Chengtong"), interrupted by stops at three military checkpoints as well as three more intelligence checkpoints. One copy of the travel document is left with each. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful ride alongside a winding river, with dense forests all the way. At Keng Tong, the driver signs you over to the guest house, who takes the original travel document (and the copies) and deposits it with the local immigration office. Kind of like a Fed-Ex package, you're tracked at every step of the way.

 

Keng Tong is a rather small city at about 780 meters (2500 ft.) elevation, very quiet and with only a few cars. There's not a whole lot to do in the city except walk around the dusty streets, visit the temples (and a huge standing Buddha on a hill), and wander the central market. The latter attracts traders of many different ethnicities from the outlying areas, and is quite colorful. The locale is populated primarily by the Khun (a Shan subgroup), who are related to the Thai and Lao, and this was the center of a Shan kingdom between 1200 and 1400 AD. There are very few ethnic Burmese or Mon. A number of tribal peoples are  in the area, too, including Akha, Akhu, Palaung, and a few Lahu groups. People are generally very friendly, the men more outgoing than the women, but waving at babys is a great way to break the ice with them, too. As in most of Myanmar, electricity is available only in the evenings every other day, but most guest houses and restaurants have their own generators. The first one I stayed at had a 4-1/2 foot high, one cylinder diesel that went ka-plonk, ka-plonk all evening, with the lights glowing brighter on each "ka-", and dimmer on each "plonk".

 

Spending an entire morning at the market is easy, what will all the different costumes and goods. One side has noodle shops, another has housewares, but the bulk is food and clothing. I spotted a military fellow with a very large video camera poking around - so big that I suspect the intent was intimidation rather than information.

 

An interesting lunch I found was a fried bread about the size of a small pancake, sprinkled with sugar. What was unique is that the bread was scrunched, making it rather more flakey than expected. Breakfasts were eggs fried into a very thin and crispy wafer, cut into 1" x 1" pieces, with just a touch of sweetened condensed milk drizzled on top. And then there's the usual barbecued meats. . .

 

Visitors are not allowed into the mountains without a guide, though I suspect it could be done if one knew one's way around. But it's not like there's going to be  map. So I found a guide to go visit a Lahu-Shi village at about 1250 meters (4050 ft). We started off on a dirt bike for the first 45 minutes, which was a thrill in itself (except where I didn't duck fast enough and got whacked in the face with a branch). We parked in a Lahu-Na village, where we poked our heads into a tiny school building. Unlike the Lahu-Shi that we would visit later, the Lahu-Na use the Burmese language to supplement their own, non-written language.

 

Continuing on foot, we walked for about 2 hours up a very steep trail through dense forest, turning to pine as we gained elevation. We stopped for a rest and a drink, and were soon joined by I-Yu, who heard us and simply stepped out of the forest right where we were. He was from the village we were heading to, and joined us on the walk. Along the way he attempted to bag some birds with his slingshot, but none were quite close enough. I couldn't even see them! Lahu translates to "tiger hunter" in their language, and though there are few tigers in this vicinity, they are known for hunting deer, monkeys, and many smaller critters. The entire village will go on hunting expeditions, and the one who gets the deer keeps half, and shares the other half with the village.

 

At the village, very near a hilltop, we joined I-Yu, his wife and kids, and about 10 village children in his house for lunch. Most of the men and the older kids were away clearing the fields for the next season's crops. The house was very dark, with no windows on account of the wind. It was a wood structure with bamboo and mat walls and floor, and a thatch roof, built slightly off the ground. In the middle was a square of dirt sunk into the floor, on which a fire is built. Above the fireplace  hung a shelf of bamboo, upon which were kept various household items - all well-covered in soot. Dried corn hung along one wall. We had brought food along with us, but I-Yu offered some peanuts, herbs, and chilis, which my guide made into a delicious dip. The peanuts were roasted (burned?) in a pot over the fire, then pounded along with the chilis and herbs. Just enough water was added to make it a chunky sauce, and voila!

 

My guide translated, and I got to learn a bit about the village. I-Yu wasn't sure how old he was, but but he has been married for about ten years, which would make him about 25. There are three villages in the area, which split up from one big one about three years ago. This village has about 100 people, and there are believed to be only 3,000 in the entire Shan state. While Lahu are traditionally Animist, with a strong sense of ancester worship, this village is Buddhist and there is a small thatch temple at the top of the hill, which we visited. Lots of pigs, dogs, and chickens roamed the village, the dogs being used for hunting. The crops are grown on impossibly steep hillsides, more vertical than horizontal, which is slow, hard work. The only nearly flat areas are at the very crests of the hills, which are used where possible. All of the villagers were very polite, very quiet, and just wonderful to be around. On the way back down the hill, we ran across a bunch of kids singing while they were preparing the fields and gathering wood. We also ran across a family of water buffalo on the way down. Mom and dad politely got off on a side trail, but their 2 or 3 day old calf ran the other way, which caused some confusion.

 

Interestingly, on the way up the hill we had encounterd a "lowlander", who was selling small packages of fried corn cakes. While this might be common in town, this guy would have had to walk for hours to sell his wares to people who would have no interest in buying them. The villagers had never seen him before, and all hands thought that he was gathering information for the government.

 

On the way down a very steep area, I got distracted looking at the sights, and stepped where I shouldn't have. Rather, I stepped where there wasn't anything. Gee, I didn't even know I could still do a cartwheel, but I guess they're easier on a 45 degree incline. In any event, I got to the bottom fairly quickly, with only a bruised foot and a pocket full of dirt to show for it. Two days later, and I'm walking symetrically again.

 

On the way back to town, we stopped off to visit my guide's friend, who was running a rice whisky still with his family. The still was a 55-gallon barrel, under which burned bamboo fire. About thirty bags of rice were fermenting in preparation, and more "mash" was being prepared for the still by the women. Quite an operation! They said that they get about 75 liters of whisky from one batch, since they keep adding water to the still, and the remains are fed to the pigs. What we drank was quite strong, even though I mixed mine with four parts water.

 

My next destination was going to be Mong La, near the Chinese border, but word had it that the town was virtually closed, and that the Wa army was getting ready to make a move on the government forces. Initially that got me even more interested in going, especially since a man with government connections told me that the road was closed to foreigners, which I knew was not the case. But it could have been days or weeks before anything happened, and I couldn't see waiting it out. If a war starts today and I missed it, I'll kick myself, otherwise I could only wander the dusty streets for so long.

 

There's more, but I'm tired of writing and you're probably tired of reading. The trib back was uneventful, save for the long ride and numerous stops. I saw a truck getting a bit of roadside repair - the entire engine block was on the ground and completely dis-assembled, as though it needed a crank or a rod. Then there was the long ride to Chiangmai - normally another four hours except that the driver ran into a motorcycle (fortunately unoccupied), and had to negotiate the repairs with the owner, which took some time.

 

A little further reading, in case anyone's interested (ya' got to be really into it for these):

 

See the pictures below!

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the market.

 

 

He's chopping meat with what I can best describe as two small, straight swords.

 

 

More market. The head scarf is pretty typical.

 

 

No epalnation needed on this one!

 

 

One in a row of soup stalls.

 

 

Novice monk on his morning rounds.

 

 

Street scene in Keng Tong. This is pretty much the center of town.

 

 

Beans, peas,and other small round things for sale.

 

 

I showed her this picture -she didn't like that thecart was in the

background. Charming lady with many kinds of rice and ricecakes.

 

 

Typical baby carrier -a piece of cloth tied just right, so they neither squish nor fall out.

 

 

 

 

 

Wong Gkong Bpak village, the one I visited.

 

 

I-Yu, his wife, and youngest son at home. That fireplace is set into the center

of the floor. It's really dark in there - I opened the door for a little light.

 

 

A Buddhist temple, Lahu-Shi style.

 

 

A couple of girls. The spots on their cheeks are a Burmese style - originally

protection from the sun, but now a national symbol. I thought it curious that

the Lahu had adopted it.

 

 

And more girls. In most tribes, the older ones get to carry the little ones around.

Note the neckhoops and distinctive skirts. The lahu-Shi always wear white shirts.

 

 

Yeah, I liked them so much, here's another pic.

 

 

I-Yu's wife - what an interesting ear-ring, or ear-tube, or whatever one would call it.

 

 

The next village over.