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Travel Writers: Muong Hill Tribe Photo Journal by Terry Divyak

Location: Chiang Mai province, Northern Thailand

Driving through the lush green hills of Northern Thailand, Tony the guide and interpreter, would help with pronunciation of various Thai words and teach counting to help pass the time. One can get "Wat'd out" as there are so many Wats to see, so a change of pace would be nice. There are emerald green mountains with rice paddies sprinkled throughout. Each paddy usually has a thatched hut, for shelter from the blazing heat. The paddies are flooded with about 18" of water and usually separated in four to six distinct parcels about an acre each. The roads are shared with motorcycles, carts, bicycles, cars, everything. It seemed like chaos at first, but is now more of an orderly chaos in my mind. We would drive from one change of scenery to the next. Each corner would bring the beauty of a mountain, jungle, rice paddy or a cow on the side of the road, grazing. On the highway, it is not uncommon to see a farmer, herding his cows in the median as cars drive by at 60-70mph. The cows are usually tethered, however.

I always had a romantic view of what it would be like to go to Thailand and the hill tribes seemed to be the ultimate in this regard. I guess in some ways I had this feeling that the 20th century had not arrived to these far off reaches of society. But with a paved road that goes right up to the village, I found this was not to be. Right before the entrance to the village a rice paddy to the right had some wicked clouds that would soon dump rain on the area and then disappear 15 minutes later.

When we first arrived, we were greeted by a swarming of children. As we got out of the van, the echo of "Ten Baht" could be heard everywhere. They immediately ask for money just for you having the privilege of being in their village. Tony had to do a bit of crowd control. The chatter of "Ten Baht" and "You buy" envelopes your senses and it is extremely frustrating as the romantic ideal of being in a hill tribe village, fades. I really was ready to leave after about ten minutes of the high pitched, pitch for money. Some of the children were selling bracelets made of seeds and/or yarn, which I gladly paid 5 or 10 Baht for. Just to help, without throwing money at the children.

As a photographer, I always look for personalities that show character and are photogenic. Unfortunately, we tend to gravitate towards those that are more disadvantaged or older in character.

The first one that caught my eye was a blind man who had a plastic bowl and was asking for money. I gave him about 40 baht and then continued on my way. As we were leaving, Tony gave him a tidy sum of money and said the village people would not take it from him, they take care of each other.

Slowly a few personalities come to the surface in a group such as this and this is where Mister 10 Baht made his impression. He had a traditional hill tribe hat and was maybe six years old. He reminded me of Spanky from the "Our Gang" show. He had a rounded face and a smile that was disarming. Of course his hand was always outstretched and he continued his "10 Baht" litany.

After giving the children some treats, sugarless of course, we tried to break away from the crowd to go look at the rest of the village. A few of the boys followed with one of their favorite toys, An old motorcycle tire. They seem perfectly content playing with these and I chose to chase some tires too with them. I was not as good as they were and running in sandals and a camera around my neck. It was a bit of a challenge to keep the tire going straight. I ended my participation when I was too intent on the chasing the tire and missed seeing the pile of cow manure. I did not miss it with my right foot, however, as it squished around my sandal into my exposed foot and between my toes. I just chuckled at this little event and did not let it get too me or even really worry about it. In Thailand you develop an attitude of "Mai Pen Rai", never mind. It seems that not much gets to you and you are more relaxed about things that happen to you.

So Mister 10 Baht and his group of children followed as Tony explained and interpreted with the village citizens. Of course my camera being around my neck, I was taking lots of photos. I had found from previous days that the digital camera is a real ice breaker and I started taking photos and then showing the children photos of themselves on the camera. This brought excitement to the children and they all gathered around after each photo was taken to see themselves. The children would giggle and point at themselves and as I zoomed in on each child in the photos, howls of laughter would echo. At one point, I asked Tony to arrange the children in a "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" pose. I think it was quite appropriate for this group of mostly boys, who were still tagging along.

As the rain subsided a couple of young girls were coming back from the fields with what appeared to be their grandfather. In the back of their bags they had dried corn, bananas and banana stalks. The banana stalks I learned were to be used to feed the pigs and I assume the corn was used for the same. One little girl I walked by was happily playing in a drainage ditch with her umbrella and big smile just waiting to be photographed. Another thing I was surprised at was to see a Christian church in the village.

As we strolled through the village, one lady motioned for me to come over to her hut and started breast feeding her son. She motioned for me to take photos and then asked me with her hands to take a look inside her home. Her house was nothing more than a single room with an area for sleeping. A mosquito net hung from the poles with a nail holding a tin cup and girlie calendar. I had to chuckle at that calendar and, yes ladies, us men are the same no matter what nationality. The clothes hung within the hut on bamboo poles and a pile of bananas on the reed floor. Her cooking area was nothing more than a simple metal grate with two bricks propping it up. The ashes still warm from the meal earlier in the day. It was almost completely dark in the hut and the only way I knew what it looked like was after I used my flash to take the photos. This was in the middle of the day. The hut sported a simple bamboo table where, what appeared to be water jugs, resided. Next to the table were three brown bottles that I had recognized as vitamin C. Vitamin C drinks are very popular in Thailand and they have the taste of a sweet cough syrup. It was nice to see the villagers aware of the importance of vitamins.

There are few luxuries in the village, but motorcycles seemed to be one of the things that people spent money on. It was an oddity to see a grass hut and then a nice bike parked next to it. Pigs were also everywhere and one pig was resistant to going home after having mated with another. A stick and a leash were used to coerce the pig to leave it's studly duties. The scenery around the village was beautiful and the fields, dark with green with huts in the foreground. This gave one a feeling of seeing a society, not quite in the 21st century, but not quite out.

One of silly things the kids seem to do when you take photos of them, in South East Asia, is to put their hands underneath their chins with their thumb and forefinger sticking out. Not sure why they do this, but alot of children posing throughout my photos did this. The kids love to mug for the camera at every opportunity and it seems that once you are able to "Check each other out" everyone gets comfortable with the camera. Even though we spoke different languages, I never felt that communication was a problem in the village.

Finally it was time to go and say goodbye. The villagers knowing they have one last chance to liberate us from our money, go back into their mode of "Entrepreneurs" and do the "10 Baht" frenzy again.

At this point you just have to smile, because even though you have been in their village a small amount of time, their personalities and smiles soften you up. With a smile, there is no price to be paid for the universal language of friendship.

All images and texts Terry Divyak, All Rights Reserved

View more great travel story and photos on Terry's website: www.terrydivyak.com