Mae Hong Son

Hi! I'm in Koh Phangan right now but this posting is about Mae Hong Son where I went trekking through the Southern tip of the Himalayas for three days and two nights. I stayed with the Karens who are displaced people originally from Burma. Most of the Karens live in the Northern part of Thailand now after they fled Burma in 1988 which is now communist Myanmar.

I was guided through the Jungle by a Karen Tribesman named Soua (who is pictured holding a Monkey's head above). I was a little nervous about Trekking through the woods alone with a man I didn't know for three days... but when he showed up at the trail head wearing a giant smile and a pair of flip flops I felt at ease. Not to mention he only came up to my shoulders! His English was not very good (and neither was my Karen) so we communicated by pointing and gesticulating. There were many things that he would pick off a tree to have me try. Mostly, they were really sour fruits that looked like mini mangoes. The strangest thing I tried was insect related though....It came out of these white spiders who looked like Jasmin flowers. They secrete white chalk like substance on tree leaves and it is surprisingly sweet! I felt a bit like Bear Grylls.

The very first image is a picture of the father of the Karen family I stayed with on the second night. He was off to go hunting when I took this photo of him. You can see the long rifle strapped to his back. Behind him is the amazing view of the Himalayas that I enjoyed for three days. The hut pictured right behind him is where I stayed. The hut was a built up platform where the floor of the structure was about 7 feet off the ground. During the day, the Water Buffaloes, Boars, and Chickens would run around below the hut and it was quite noisy with the moo-ing, snorting and squak-ing! In the evening they would retire to the field and their coups. The hut was right next to the chicken coup and they don't wait until sunrise to start the cockadoodledooing.... Thanks to the chickens, I was able to view the most amazing night sky in my entire life! There were so many stars that even the voids between bright stars had fainter stars shining through. I was so moved and inspired I was happy to know that I'm not as jaded as I think I am!

xo-m