Chiang Mai - Long neck village tour

Yesterday we got in touch with a tourist agency to organise a very touristy tour of Northern Thailand. Gurcharan pulled this sexy lady! (that's how the tour guide described her anyway!)! She is from the Akha tribe in North Thailand.
They are found roaming the streets of Phuket, Pattaya and Chiang Mai selling various traditional crafts and jewellery
Long neck village or Karen Tribe of Northern Thailand

We headed out to see a village on the northern most tip of Chiang mai, called the Golden Triangle, where on one side lies Burma, the other Laos.

The day started off in an orchid garden and butterfly park, nice but we have seen some amazing orchids in Singapore and some beautiful butterflies in Malaysia. But it was a great opportunity for Preet to practice her picture talking skills.

The orchids had been freshly watered

I was doing an impression of an orchid! The colours, varieties, shapes and sizes of the orchids was incredible!

We then headed for some caves where about 200 hundred years ago a rishi had done some time praying and meditating.

This was great spot and saw some impressive stalagmites and tights. Outside the cave there was a pool with some huge fish, koi and cat fish i think. Preet was also ambushed by the old ladies selling herbal remedies for anything and everything!

I love this pic! A subtle positioning of the hand - one of many (over 200) postures of Buddha

On the way to the village we stopped for some food and also a viewpoint where we could see the point where Burma, laos and Thailand meet. There was a huge Buddha image here too.

A while later we arrived at the 'Long Neck Village', well this was a village setup 12 years ago which had 4 or 5 different tribes there, it was very touristy, but gave the opportunity for tourists to see the different village people and for the village people to get some trade and to better there way of life.
The grannies were the most adorable things! They smiled their toothless smile which made them even more adorable. They have a habit of chewing tobacco - hence the black teeth.

Preet posing with a lady from the Lisu Hill tribe.

So from what we know, nobody really knows why the women lengthen there necks, some say it is to beautify them, some say its to protect against tiger attack, some say its to identify tribes. But anyhow, the way they do this is to where heavy rings round there nicks which actually compress the shoulders down and pull on the head.

A lady of the Lisu Hill Tribe. They call them angels because their beauty is renowned in all of Thailand. They have beautiful skin and originate from Myanmar (Burma). They say a beautiful girl will have the skin of a Burmese and eyes of an Indian.

Preet posing with a lovely little girl of the Karen Tribe (Long Neck Tribe). She has the sweetest smile!

Even with out the rings we saw in pictured that the neck looks really long. When the girls are young they can choose to have a long neck or not, so they aren't forced into it.

Yes, that is a massive hole in her ear!

Preet testing out her bargaining skills.

We decided to buy a hand woven scarf of one of the women, she was sitting and weaving interesting scarves, with some interesting patterns and colours.

Gurch scrutinizing this handmade scarf. He ended up buying it for Gurpreet, his sister.

The little girls were really cute, but made me think, shouldn't they be in school or playing with friends instead of being a tourist attraction,,, but hey!

Isn't she adorable?!

Here she is again with her baby brother.

This is called a jumbo! In other words its a cattle truck for carrying farangs (tourists). We always felt like cattle being taken to the slaughter house when sitting in the back of one of these!