Day 6 - Holiday in Pai, North Thailand

To Read Day 1 , Day 2, Day 3,Day 4, Day 5

26 December 2007

Pai

We spent 2 nights in Pai before we move on to Mae Hong Son. Today is our 2nd night.

The weather in the morning was very cold. In order to keep warm, I took a hot shower. We had breakfast then headed towards Lod Cave.

Lod Cave

The novelty of the visit was the raft experience. The cave itself is very normal , nothing special. The interesting thing was sitting on a raft which was manually pulled by a man. Each raft was B400.

Lod Cave consisted of 3 caves. The last one was called Coffin cave due to the many deaths in WWII. After finishing the 2nd cave, I told the lady guide that I didn't want to go to Coffin Cave, she seemed happy and puzzled at the same time. It must be creepy going into that cave.

Visit my online album on The Lod Cave.

Lisu Hilltribe

The journey to the Lisu Hilltribe was rocky. We had to go off-road to reach it. Upon reaching the village, it was deserted except for some wild boars, chicken, a few children and an old lady. The rest of the adults has gone to work.

A very hardworking tribe, I must admit. They go across the hill to farm rice, vegetables and etc.

We didn't have much goodies with us except some biscuits, chocolates and sweet. So, we gave them whatever we had.

Visit my online album on the Lisu Tribe.

Lahu Hilltribe

The Lahu tribe was not very far from the Lisu. They are a tribe from Myanmar which came to Thailand 20 years ago. The Lisu has to remain within the village. Since they are not officially Thai citizen, they are not free to move around Thailand or work. All along the way, we saw many army personnel with barricade. We were not sure why until now. This must be a land 'flowing with milk and honey'.

Before going to the village, we purchased some snacks for the children.

Cebu, his wife and two children host groups of people from The Peak Adventure tour. That is one of the way he earns some money. Keng, our guide disappeared and we later discovered he was busily cooking in the kitchen. He came out with a plate for rice and egg for Ethaniel, which I ate. It reminded me of the cooking by my Grandmother, using firewood. The food is very delicious, different from the normal taste of food cooked with gas or electricity. We stayed for 2 hours while Cebu cooked some sticky rice desert inserted into bambo.

Cebu making the sticky rice in bamboo

The kitchen where Keng cooked the food

The food half eaten. Yummy!

A photo with Cebu and family

The Lahu people

The Project

The life lived by the Lahu and Lisu is quite pitiful. They are not allowed to move out of the village to work, therefore, the poverty. They are very hardworking but lack the opportunity. One of the Lahu woman approached me to purchase her handmade bag which I did. Just to support her family and her.

I am planning to return to the tribe some time in the middle of the year to bring them some necessities e.g. clothings, books, toys and maybe some foodstuff. Its a project I intend to embark as a family and hopefully some friends too.

If you are interested to contribute, let me know.

Visit my online album on the Lahu Tribe.

Hot Water Spring

The day ended with a nice dip in the hot water spring. Oooo, the weather was very cold and it was almost 7pm when we finished.