Long Neck & Long Ear tribes, Golden Triangle

Trip Start Jan 28, 2013

Trip End Mar 09, 2013

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Flag of Thailand Mueang Chiang Rai, Chiang Rai, Thailand
Wednesday, February 6, 2013

In the small village of Mae Chan we switched to songtaew taxi trucks to climb high into the mountains to the hill tribe village of Mae Salong. Three groups of refugees live here. The Karen Padang people (long necks) arrived from Myanmar 15 years ago. The women wear brass rings around their necks, legs, and arms. Women in another tribe, Big Ears, wear huge earrings.

We took a farmer's truck to a chicken barbecue in the country, passing rice fields.

Another bus ride brought us to the Golden Triangle where Thailand, Burma, and Laos meet at the Mekong River. The golden Buddha is the landmark. We took speedboats past Burma and spent 15 minutes in Laos. A visit to the opium museum completed the afternoon.

Before dinner we lit Thai lanterns in the parking lot, made a wish, and watched them rise into the sky.

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Songtaew taxi ride up into the mountains	Down into the Hill tribe village	Arriving at the village shops	Long Neck woman with brass coils
Weaving	Preparing to weave	Hand-made instrument	Weaving
Making a brass bracelet	Farmer's Truck	Rice fields	Lunch in the country Comments!
Laundry	Golden Buddha @ the Golden Triangle	Long tail speedboat ride	Looking @ Burma and a Chinese casino
15 minutes in Laos	Opium Museum	Mural	Thai lantern