Peter Nelson’s travels – Jungle village, northern Thailand, part 2
by Peter Nelson
We only stayed in this village a week or so, and unfortunately, unlike in my other jungle travels, we never really connected with the villagers here. In fact, we never even found out the name of the place. Most likely, it was because we were a group of foreign visitors, and tended to hang out together, rather than mixing with the locals. I imagine, if I’d been traveling alone, they would have adopted me, as happened so often in South America. But we also never learned any of their language. They were friendly enough — fed us, gave us a vacant hut to sleep in, took us for hikes into the jungle, etc. They even invited us to the group hut where they smoked opium every evening. We declined.
Nice view of the cattle herd in the hillside village. The huts were very tidy, and totally constructed out of local materials — bamboo, reeds and thatch.A spinner hanging her work up to dry. Bags of unspun fleece in the backgroundThis quintet of young ladies were very happy to pose for a photo. Even though they’re quite young, two of them already have their own pipes. Silver is very highly prized in their culture, and you can see they’ve worked it into their headpieces.Three children enjoying the warm steam from a natural hot spring.A lovely specimen.The village boats tied up together. One even has an outboardmotor. Notice the pedestrian bridge in the background. Looks a little spindly to me, but it proved sturdy enough
