Since leaving America August 2006, I have traveled to sixteen countries. A great deal has happened. This site is to share my thoughts, photos, music, writings, travel experiences, and developing political/social commentary with you. I hope you find it interesting and informative.
The Karen Tribe people are from the Kayin State, which is the southern/southeastern region of Myanmar. They are not one people. Per Wikipedia: “Karen refers to a heterogeneous lot of ethnic groups that do not share a common language, culture, religion, or material characteristics.”
While most Karen have remained in Myanmar and comprise 7% of the population there, like the Hmong, many have migrated and made Thailand their home, especially in the proximity of the Thai/Myanmar border. “There are another 400,000 Karen in Thailand, where they are by far the largest of the hill tribes.”
When we were in Chiang Mai, Thailand last summer, Masumi and I stayed on a Karen-owned and operated agritourism farm and what an amazing experience it was! Our room was a cabin built on stilts.
Here was the view we had.
Of course, it was a real farm and people were working.
We had phenomenal time exploring the huge farm.
The food was great!
Here we are with the incredibly charming owner of the farm. He inherited the property from his Karen Tribe family, then turned the farm into a tourist attraction.
What were you doing New Years Eve? The usual. Or the unusual.
As is standard operating procedure for us, Masumi and I were well off the beaten path . . . we certainly weren't in Times Square. We weren't wearing a beer guzzler cap. We didn't do vodka jello shooters, smoke DMT or put magic mushrooms on our eleven-cheese pizza. We never even got around to singing Auld Lang Syne.
Here's the very short, edited version of our New Years Eve celebration.
This was the climactic end to seven days in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
To put it mildly, it was a unique and highly entertaining visit to a country I've been to before, but always finding intriguing. My wife Masumi, however, has never been to Thailand, so this short adventure was especially exciting for her.
Doi Inthanon National Park is about an hour drive from Chiang Mai, and is home to the highest peak in Thailand. On our way there for two days in nature, we went through a Hmong village, where they happened to be having a New Years festival.
The park and surrounds were outstanding. Unfortunately, since Doi Inthanon Mountain itself shrouded in a cloud, while we were there the visibility at the top was limited. But as the day progressed, the air cleared and we got to do some hiking and experienced stunning views of the countryside. We stopped at a few villages sprinkled around and sampled "real life" in this rustic, relatively underdeveloped part of the world.
For easy access to the park, we did a homestay at Nongtao, a Karen tribe village actually within the great expanse of Doi Inthanon National Park. People were shy but amicable. Our host was truly superb, helping us decide what to do and how to get places.
Not far from our homestay was an elephant park. These were no ordinary elephants. They had all been in the parade celebrating the recent coronation of the new King of Thailand. You can sense from their regal bearing and sophisticated manners their royal blood lines.
What would a visit to Thailand be, however, without spending time at a few of the literally tens of thousands of temples and shrines? We capped off sacred site hopping by visiting the world-famous White Temple, a short distance outside of Chiang Rai.
We were so comfortable and fit in so perfectly, I'm sure no one suspected for a moment that we were tourists.
