Karen Village

Leaving Sangklaburi, we travelled to a local Karen village. The Karen are a minority hilltribe who live in their own communities, speak their own language and eat their own style of food. The women still wear traditional dress, but are certainly modern with satellite television and mobile phones.

We visited the local school where the women danced a traditional Karen dance for us and then the kids sang a song for us. The were aged 3 to about 10 and were very cute. Being the teacher that I am, I led them in Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes and The Hokey Pokey (which they already knew) and then taught them Twinkle Twinkle. They got me to write it up on the chalk board and I taught one little girl the song She was about 8 and was clearly very intelligent, no doubt she will become the teacher one day. We gave the students gifts of fruit and a few toys and played duck duck goose and keepings off with them (not their name but they were essentially the same!) The children loved our cameras and even borrowed them to take a few snaps of our own.

After a Karen lunch (tasty!), we walked through the village viewing the local produce and women who were the royal silk weavers. Even though its 400 km from Bangkok, the King chose this village to weave their silk. The work is so intricate, it takes a woman a whole year to weave one piece that is 1m x 2m. This will cost about 2500 Baht, or less than $100 Australian!

Travelling on the back of a Songthaew (a ute with two benches in the back and a roof built on), we travelled to the town of Thom Pha Phum we we will stay the night. It is a beautiful place surrounded by towering limestone mountains. I am sitting in the local internet cafe surrounded by 14 year old boys playing war games and chatting on msn. Just like school!