Today was another adventure! It was a good day! (Of course). The weather is being so cooperative. It rained like crazy last night, but the sun was shining today! Today, we went to the Golden Triangle. That is the point that Thailand, Burma and Laos meet. The point they actually meet is in the water, where two rivers meet. We took a boat out on to the river. We rode the boat over to the Burma side we rode it to the Laos side. We got off the boat in Laos and shopped at the market. Then, we took the boat back to Thailand. Then, we drive to the Thailand/Burma border. We got off the van and walked across the border. So, three countries in a day! Pretty incredible. Not a significant difference on each side that I noticed.
Other highlights of the day include going to "The White Temple." This is a Buddhist temple that is currently being restored. I have to say, it was pretty incredible to look at. It is white, as the name implies, but has little mirrors all over it. The effect is amazing. The temple looks like it could be in a fairy tale. The inside is a little bizarre. On the way up, there is a hole with hands coming out of it. The hole represents Hell. The Buddhists believe all people must go to Hell to pay for there mistakes. When their mistakes are paid for, they can move on to the after life and/or reincarnation. The inside of the temple has a wall depicting vices. The temple is obviously being restored now, because the wall includes such things as Michael Jackson, Superman, cell phones, and even the twin towers tumbling to the ground. It was really out there.
We also went to a tribal village called the "Karen Long Neck Tribe." This is a tribe where the ladies have rings around their neck to make it long. There are theories about when this started. One is, the rings are to protect the women from the tigers biting their neck. Another theory is that when the tribe was captured, the men were gone to war, but the women where captured, they put rings around their neck to mark them as a slave This tradition held. They start layering the rings around the neck when the children are 4, and the bones and tissue are still pliable. Then, the layer more and more rings on as the girls grow. It is no a sign of beauty, similar to feet binding in ancient China.
We also saw a tribe of people where the women have very large holes in their ears. Our tour guide doesn't know the reason for this. It is probably also a sign of beauty. Some gangsters in the US apparently think so!
Seeing these tribes with the traditions still strong is fascinating to me! These tribes do not have any citizenship. They don't attend public schools or get any education. And, they don't have access to health care. And, the things people do in the name of beauty!
No comments:
Post a Comment