NEAR THE LAND OF THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE
A visit to a remote area of Myanmar
"Are you sure that you want to travel to
this place?" a lot of people asked us. Since
long ago we have been curious to explore the hill
tribes in the "nearby" villages of the
ancient city of Khentung, one of the most scenic
spots in Myanmar. From Yangon it took us a round
trip via Mandalay, Heho and Tachileik, where we
picked up our friends from Sode Tour in Laos to
finally reach Khentung.
Although dark, gray clouds were hanging in the deep green valley of
the former Shan capital, we immediately fell in
love to this sleepy town, far away from the busy
cities. The lively market, offering a mixture of
local products, handicraft wares of the tribal
folk and merchandise from Thailand and China; a
young policeman very seriously regulating the
traffic - consisting of a few cars - and stopping
motorcyclists wearing no helmets, telling them to
first buy one before continuing their journey... |
Pin Tauk area |
From left to right:
Ko Win Oo, Paul, Sayasouk, Sanja |
Akha villagers |
|
We continued our journey - not by cycle, but hiked
into the Pintauk area, walking through lush mixed
monsoon forest, left from us the valley of plain
rice fields - like a huge, green patchwork
blanket shimmering in the water of the flooded
paddy fields. White and yellow butterflies
"showed us the way" to one of the
villages of the baptized Aka, where a medicine
man invited us to his house.
While we were drinking his delicious rice wine, he showed us his collection of roots, with which he
had already healed 6 cases of open TB. Alas - at least
some "medical treatment", for we soon found out
that most of the baptized villagers were quite neglected
by medical help... |
Akhu lady |
Ann girl |
Ann ladies |
|
Thanks to Paul, our local station guide, who
was brought up in a missionary school and not only was
able to speak all the different languages of the tribes,
but also had a sincere feeling to the tribes of his Shan
State. He always gently introduced us to the villagers
and slowly taught us their way of life. About the Aka
girls, going into the forest having there their first
"experiences" before going into marriage
life... (Probably the forest provides the only privacy
they will ever have, as in married life they have to
share the bedroom with their mothers and sisters, while
the husbands stay with their fathers and brothers); the
Ann people, known to be the kindest tribe, as until
nowadays there has never been a case of an Ann member
being violent...; the Loi tribe, preferring to live in
huge houses, including at least 5 families; the Palaung
women with their silver belts on their colourful
costumes, never taking off the belts - even during
pregnancy - as they can easily adjust the size of the
silver rings around their waist...; the Akhu villagers,
still considering dog meat to be a delicacy and preparing
this tasty meal for special ceremonies; the Wa people,
formerly being headhunters - nowadays the most powerful
as well as business-minded people in this area... |
After spending 8 days in this
fascinating area we felt deeply touched, not only
by the friendly and helpful people of the Eastern
Shan State, but also by the various ethnical
groups reminding us of other values in life.
Thanks to the bumpy road condition it is not easy
for travellers to visit those remote villages
miles away from Khentung, the midway between the
Thai and Chinese border, Loimwe, the former
British colonial hill station and Moingla, the
"Tinsel Town" of modern Myanmar.
Our
farewell was sad; with tears in the eyes it was
time to say good-bye to our new friend Paul. We
learned a lot from each other, all of us being
from different cultures - Myanmar, Shan, Laos and
Western - in an area, which for all of us was
totally different from our ways of life, showing
us that accepting different cultures is the only
way to peaceful communication. |
 |
Palaung lady |
|
