Han is leaving today. When he checked out, I moved into his room straight away - it has an ensuite with a 'normal toilet'. HEAVEN! Jes picked us up and we dropped Hans off at the airport. It was so nice meeting Hans. I have learnt so much from him - so many interesting facts and just random things. Charley and Gina joined us on this field trip today. Jes and Lamai are showing us around Mae Hong Son. Jes and Lamai's three adorable dogs also joined in the ride. We went to the orphanage to see if it was possible for me to teach there.
The orphanage is situated just outside of Mae Hong Son very close to the border of Burma and Thailand. The orphanage is 'Karenni Baptist Association Bible School' funded by CFI (Christian Freedom International). CFI shares a passion for assisting those that are suffering. They provide medicine, safe houses, aid, Bibles, education and advocacy to Christians who are on the front lines of persecution. We met the coordinator Astrid - who is half Indonesian and Italian (from Amsterdam) and now based in Chiang Mai, to manage the bible school. I was so moved by the work that she does and the people she has to face and deal with under such delicate and sensitive circumstances. She has a big heart which I really admire. This orphanage houses many orphans who has fled from Burma because of continuous wars. Young kids were forced to deactivate land mines which resulted in drastic burns, loss of limbs/eyes and deformation to their faces. Many of these young kids have been traumatised from witnessing war and atrocities, and even the lost of family members. Astrid shared many stories with us of the kids she's accepted into the orphanage. She showed us horrific photos of deaths and the conditions that the kids were found in before arriving and taken in for care. It was so sad seeing these images slide across the screen of her Macbook. Many of the kids have lost limbs or are severely burnt. It is just so sad, yet they have these wonderful big smiles on their faces - despite their previous and current circumstances. I know that they are in wonderful and safe hands. It's just amazing to know that there is a place that they can call home for them to stay. Hats off to Astrid, as dealing with many children under these circumstances require a lot of strength and courage. I just know that if I see the kids like that, I would be so down with tears. She is such a strong, loving and caring woman. I really admire her.
We arrived at a village called 'Ban Nai Soi'. The village is located about 33kms out of Mae Hong Son where the Longneck Karen people live. There are many groups of Karen people but the Padaung woman are famously known to wear metal brass rings around their necks. This distorts the growth of their collarbones by pushing down on the clavicle making them look as if they have long necks - which they don't. This row of brass rings do not actually stretch their necks but in fact squash the vertebrae and collarbones. A woman generally have about twenty or more long brass spiral rings around her neck. This neck attainment commences when the girls are 5 years old. As they grow older rings are added. 24 rings weighs 12 kgs. Legend says that originally the girls wore the rings around their necks to be protected from tigers. However, the primary reason for wearing the rings is for beauty and to preserve their culture while they are in exile. They also wear rings on the arms and the legs but these are not quite as prominent as those on the neck. However, these rings are just as important. The rings on the legs are worn from the ankles to the knees, with some cloth covering over the rings. The rings on the arms are worn on the forearm from the wrist to the elbow. Although those with very long necks look awkward they say that it doesn't affect their abilities or mobility or bother them because they get used to it over the years. A woman is also buried with the coil on. Day to day chores are performed unencumbered. The village is about 500 metres long and on every side of the path there are simple open air bamboo woven grass huts. While I was walking through the village, I was just so surprised about their standards of living. It was precisely back to basics. They have no running electricity and everything is battery operated or they use light lamps at night. Nearly every hut has a stall seeing postcards, jewellery, pictures, DVDs, replica dolls, handmade scarves and bags. The atmosphere in the village seemed pleasantly relaxed and the shopping pressure relatively low. They rely solely on the income from tourists to maintain their village. Upon entry to the village, all foreigners are required to pay an admission fee of 250 baht.
There are also a number of the 'Big ear Karen' living in Ban Nai Soi. The big ear Karen put large earrings in their ears to make the lobes bigger. They also forces rings on their calves. They ad one ring to their calves every year, as the Long neck do with their neck rings. The woman in the village weaves their own traditional clothes to wear and to also sell. They also weave scarves and bags - all are made with very nice colours. I was really amazed by the way they actually weave all these items. It looks like really hard work and takes an awful lot of time to finish one garment.
While we were in the village, we saw these little boys playing with something. At first we thought it was a plastic bug being tied at the end of a string. As we got closer, we noticed it was a real bug/insect - something that we've never ever seen before. It was a bright orange flying insect/bug - so the kids played with it as though it was a kite. Random.
We took a little tour around the village - it was really hot. I was also introduced to one of the Burmese teachers who teaches English - Mu Pli. She showed us around the school. The school is situated at the end of the village in a bamboo weaving style big hut. There are 8 classrooms and a staffroom. They use chalkboards while teaching. I was asked by Lamai if I was interested in teaching at the village and I immediately responded 'Yes, I would love to". So it has been planned that I will hire a bike and drive myself to the village once a week. I'm really looking forward to it.
Mu Pli mentions they are building a dorm for the orphans. The orphans are currently currently staying with aunts and uncles. When they finish building the dorm, these orphans will have more a permanent home. The dorm is built from bamboo - it looks amazing and it looks like a lot of work as everything is done by hand - manual labour. Look how strong the lady is, carrying all that bamboo logs?
On the way out of the village, we saw one of Jes and Lamai's dog perched itself in the muddy water - I could understand why it did that, it was such a warm day. Jes and Lamai treated us to some pineapple - a little entree before real food. The pineapple was SUPER sweet and EXTRA juicy - it's by far the best pineapple I've ever had. They needed something to cut the pineapple on, so Lamai picked some banana leaves and used it as a chopping board - we found a little snail on it too. Cute.
We stopped by a very local restaurant outside the village for noodle soup. The soup base was super tasty and the added sate enhanced the flavour even more. It was such a great lunch - the long waited lunch was well worth it.
We arrived back home around 4pm. I spent my lonely afternoon catching up on some blogging and reading. For dinner, I dined at Salween Restaurant & Bar. I had hungry eyes - I ordered a seafood spicy salad and the awesome Khao Soi with a watermelon shake. I didn't realise the spicy salad was such a giant serving - nonetheless, I forced all the food into my tummy. I sent myself in a serious food coma - but the food was so good, it was worth it - by far my favourite restaurant in town.
While I was walking down the driveway to the guest house, I saw something which looked like a seashell - it was HUGE, so I took a closer look at it and realised it was a GIANT snail. I have never seen a snail that big. The photo probably doesn't justify the size of it as much - but the snail was about 10cm long and the shell was bigger than the size of an egg. What a spin out!!
Good night world.
XOXO
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