Mae Sariang is the southernmost town of the Mae Hong Son province. To the north is Mae Hong Son, to the east is the road leading back to Chiang Mai, and to the south is to Mae Sot. West is of course Myanmar.
Mae Hong Son – 15Sep’05
I need more time. 2pm after the village visit, rushed to take bus to Mae Sariang, thats like 4 hours south. Flemming had tons of stuff/souvenirs in his pack. Mailed home at the post office. Some screw up or what, maybe they couldnt understand him, we nearly missed the 2 o clock bus. Havent eaten anything whole day except for peanuts from the morning market. Not sure if I will go back Chiangmai after this or travel more. Reached Mae Sariang in evening. Uneventful, beside border police checking for refugees. Stayed at a very cosy guesthouse by the river. Needed sleep, cos decided to go even further south to Mae Sot. This far down in Mae Sariang, number of foreigners very much less. Guesthouse even offered us 120baht ($5), instead of normal 150. We felt that we were ripping them off, we paid 140 baht each for 2 rooms.
Nai Soi is a traditional village catering to tourists near the Thai-Myanmar Northwestern border. The Padaung Long-necked inhabitants are refugees fleeing from Myanmar. The villages are set to attract the tourist dollar.
Mae Hong Son – 15Sep’05
Day 5, woke up about 6.30, went down to the morning market. Local crowd. Took in the smells and sights, nice. Early at 8 oclock, set off for Longnecked Karen village. Again got a good deal, planning everything ourselves. The agency charged 1000baht/pax, we went with Flemming’s guesthouse person and got 500baht/pax, which include the 250baht village entry fee.
The longnecked village Nai Soi was primarily catered to tourists. Fled from Myanmar and settled in Thailand. We arrived like just when the villagers were setting up their handicrafts. Since we were the only 2, plus one Taiwanese chap who was on the bus last night, we had a lot of time on the village. The agency gave us one hour at the village. We spent 2.5 hours there. Talked to the villages for a bit. Took photos. Went to their school. (You have to see the photos). Learnt that their primary source of income is the tourist flow. They dont do agriculture, they depend on tourists to sustain them. A bit exploitative, to gawk at them like tourists do, but its like their way out of a poor life. The 250baht entrance fee goes to buy necessities for the families. The school was amazing. Lots of kids from nearby villages attend the school. You see really cute 4 year old kids from the tribes, long-necked, big-eared and others. Just see the photos. (Photos lost cos imagestation closed down). As we were travelling back to town, passed by 15 van-loads of tourists (not exaggerating) going to the village. Lucky us. Avoided crowd again.
Here’s an article from the NYT – http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/20/travel/nai-soi-s-long-necked-women.html
Mae Hong Son is the scenic capital of the Northwestern Thai province. Especially around the lake area. Not too many tourists descend on the place, even though it’s proximity to the hilltribes, nature activities actually make it a better place to serve as a base for treks out to the countryside.
Mae Hong Son – 14Sep’05
Waited in Soppong for the next bus out to Mae Hong Son. This time the bus was full as hell… Had to stand all the way for 2.5 hours. There were hill tribe people, bunch of army guys, pregnant women, one angmoh (flemming), and a whole bunch of others. Amazing how they could squeeze so many people. Nothing exciting, just that one part up a steep slope, the landslide made the road slippery. We weren’t sure what was going on. People had to get off and walk up the slope so that bus is lighter when going up. Suprisingly, the pregnant women and the tribespeople with kids all walked up. The army guys and us (we had no idea whats happening) all stayed as bus went up. Oh yeah, along the way lots of roadworks, recovery from floods.
Reached Mae Hong Son, decided to go up to Temple on Hill. Doi something its called. Took motorbike taxi. Few people there, lucky again. Traveled with the Danish guy whole day. Nice chap. Took some photos, can see entire Mae Hong Son from up there, plus the surrounding valley. Halfway through, 2 van-fuls of Israeli tourists came along and crowded the place. Went down, we had dinner at some nice restauranty place.
Which leads me to this PC now. Next day itenary : We wake up really early and visit the Longnecked village, those people with rings. Going very early to avoid the tourist crowd. hahah. Nite