Visit to Maehongson

On the eve of Dec. 22 we left Bangkok on a bus going to Chiangmai. We arrived very early in the morning in Chiangmai, and then took a van going to Maehongson. It was very, very cold! The long and winding road to Maehongson seemed unending but we finally got there before lunchtime.

Rhoda, my niece, meet us at the bus station. We passed by the market to buy sticky rice, barbecued fish and pork. Then we proceeded to the church, which also serves as their home and school. Her companion is also a Filipina from Leyte, and surprisingly I discovered that she was the sister of a classmate during my freshman year at ViSCA - what a small world!

After lunch, we proceeded to the wharf, where we got on a boat that would take us to the Karen long-neck village. As we looked at the mountain on the other side of the river, we learned that we are so close to Myanmar already!

Upon arriving at the village, our first destination was to go to the church, however, the pastor was not there so we proceeded to the house of one of the members. She guided us in as we went around the village. The village was small. Houses were small and made of local materials, such as leaves for roofing. Most of the houses have shops with children watching and selling hand-made shawls, and other items that may interest tourists as souvenirs of their visit.

We learned that many villagers have already left and went to refugee camps because they believed that they will be assisted to go to other countries outside Thailand. The wearing of metals on their neck is no longer compulsory so only few girls are becoming long-necked. We were able to pose a photo with the oldest long-necked villager! We also discovered that aside from the long-neck, they also have big ear holes as a traditional practice. We saw some having big round metals on their ears, unlike our ordinary pierced ears for wearing earrings.

After the trip to the Long-neck village, we went to the primary school and met the school director. She was so kind to bring us to several tourist spots in Maehongson. Then in the evening she treated us to a dinner at the night market, where we got to drink herbal juices in bamboo glasses.

Finally, we returned to the bus station for our trip back to Chiangmai. It was such a short trip but very fulfilling, in the sense that no time was wasted for we were able to see a lot of things and meet several people from whose lives we learned various lessons of how God is blessing them and trying to reach out to them...