Les derniers des Karens

Je reviens tout juste d'un trek de trois jours absolument génial dans la région de Mae Hong Son, qui fut l'occasion de passer une nuit dans un village karen. Cela m'a permis d'achever en beauté mes quelques jours consacres aux ethnies du nord de la Thailande, notre guide chan maîtrisant par coeur la région et la connaissance des rites tribaux. Nous n'étions que trois, soit le nombre idéal pour rester discret et tenter de comprendre une culture millénaire qui, comme pour les autres ethnies, disparait petit a petit sous la pression de l'Etat thaïlandais et l'arrivée graduelle des technologies modernes

Il faut y arriver, dans ces villages perdus dans les montagnes qui bordent la Birmanie, au milieu du teck, des bambous, des arbres vraiment gigantesques et des cours d'eaux infranchissables jusqu'à ce qu'on les franchisse. Il n'y a tout simplement pas de touristes (tres different des treks a Chiang Mai), et les seuls âmes que l'on croise sont les chasseurs Hmongs et Karens - assez surréalistes puisque vêtus en habits traditionels et equipés d'un fusil de type XVIIIeme siècle (bien entendu, ils ne parlent ni Anglais ni Thai).

Le village dans lequel nous avons passe la nuit est encore très préservé car il n'est connecte a aucune route. L'agriculture y est dédiée a l'auto-subsistance et il n'y a pas de culture "d'exportation" a l'inverse des villages hmongs alentours (eux sont connectes par la route). Comme dans les coins les plus pauvres du Laos, les gens mangent de tout: oiseaux chasses au lance pierre, rats pris dans des pièges et sangliers tues a coup de fusil. Le village fait dans la monoculture de riz bien que chaque famille dispose de ses propres cultures rudimentaires (tabac, choux, oignons), tandis que le reste de la nourriture consiste d'animaux d'élevages, de piments et autres épices cueillies dans la jungle, de la chasse et de la peche (a mains nues). Comme l'a résumé le guide, ces gens la n'ont rien a vendre, mais rien a acheter non plus.

La plupart des karens sont encore vêtus d'habits traditionnels. Ci-dessus, une jeune célibataire - toutes les vierges du villages sont habillées en blanc (c'est pratique, je sais :-) - en séance de tissage. Les habits des femmes mariées sont vraiment superbes (ci-dessous), d'ailleurs l'ensemble des gens sont très beau. Les villages étant petits (10 a 20 familles en général), les problèmes de consanguinité sont évités par l'interdiction de se marier a un voisin. Il faut donc aller chercher un mari ou une fiancée dans les villages alentours (soit au moins 3 heures de marche pour aller voir sa copine!!!). Lors du mariage, les parents de la fille payent les parents du mari, mais celui-ci viendra habiter chez sa femme au moins jusqu'à ce qu'ils aient un enfant.

J'en reviens a mon titre quelque peu racoleur, dans la mesure ou on est loin de la fin des karens, l'une des ethnies les plus importantes de l'Asie du Sud Est avec plusieurs millions d'âmes (le principale d'entre eux réside en Birmanie, et plusieurs milliers vivent dans le Nord de la Thaïlande). En revanche, on peut clairement observer la fin progressive d'un certain rythme de vie, du a l'immersion progressive (mais difficilement condamnable!) de l'état thaïlandais depuis quelques années. Bien que le village dans lequel nous avons loge soit très préservé, certains changements y semblent déjà irréversibles. Une école a été construite il y a deux ans (les profs thai viennent le dimanche soir et repartent chez eux le vendredi), tandis que l'électricité a été introduite par un programme de panneaux solaires finances par le gouvernement (voir photo ci-dessous). Il semble probable que dans une dizaine d'années, ce village connaisse une évolution similaire aux villages hmongs alentours - connectés par la route, ils se sont tournés vers les cultures d'exportation et on peut y voir des pick-up Nissan et Toyota, tandis que de plus en plus de jeunes, éduqués et parlant le thaïlandais, se tournent vers les villes.

On en est pas encore la - pas de - mais il faut donc depecher se pour aller voir ces ethnies du Nord de la Thailande, en attendant l'ouverture de la Birmanie au tourisme et la fin des conflits ethniques dans ce pays. Enfin, un mot sur l'influence du tourisme sur les tribus, qui lui aussi change le rythme de vie des villageois. Bien que dans la region de Chiang Mai le tourisme est atteint des proportions inimaginables , il reste encore correcte dans la region de Mae Hong Son - environ un groupe de touriste (3-4 personnes) par mois dans le village que nous avons visite. Le guide paye aux village la somme de 150 (3 Euros) par touriste dormant dans le village, et leur donne un peu de nourriture. Les villageois ne chercheront pas a vous vendre quoique ce soit, mais les dons de fringues (genre le manteau que vous avez pour la nuit) sont très appréciés . Au final, quant il est mesure, on a l'impression que le tourisme a une effet positif - il permets de préserver les coutumes tout en fournissant quelques devises a une population pauvre. Rien a voir avec le trekking a Chiang Mai...

Quelques conseils pour le trekking dans le Nord de la Thaïlande:

- A Chiang Mai, les treks sont sympa, mais attendez vous a trouver coca, bière etc. a votre arrivée au "village tribal". Les groupes sont larges (10-15 personnes), et souvent les guides sont assez incompétents sur les ethnies. Bien que vivant dans le village, vous risquez de croiser peu de villageois, et le tourisme sera le source de revenu numéro 1...
- Pour cette raison, je recommande la boucle Pai-Mae Hong Son - Mae Sariang, bien moins touristiques, archi-authentique et encore plus jolie...a Mae Hong Son, je recommande Mr. Dam, près du post office ("Narim tours").
- Pour ceux qui s'intéresse aux ethnies du Nord de la Thaïlande, on trouve très peu de bouquins sur le sujet. J'ai fait beaucoup de librairies a Chiang Mai et le meilleur choix semble être The Non Tai Speaking People: Ethnic Groups of Thailand par Joachim Schliesinger, pas mal fait et bien fournit. Il coûte cher en Thaïlande (20 Euros)...

Down with the Padong

Often described crudely as long neck or giraffe people, the Padong tribe has become one of Thailand's most controversial tourist attraction. It is impossible to walk in Chiang Mai without noticing the travel agencies offering day trips to see long neck people, and many backpackers calls it a human zoo. I just went to see one of these tribes in the more localised area of Mae Hong Son - after all, it is my third time in Thailand so I had to see it. So, wanna check out those long-neck people? OK, read on...

I suggest to skip the day trips offered in Chiang Mai, where some villages have been artificially set up for tourists (a thai businessmen even "imported" a whole tribe from Burma and was subsequently jailed), in favour of Mae Hong Son. From there, several Padong villages are easily accessible. The inhabitants are political refugees who fled from Burma to escape persecutions.

Padong people are part of the larger family of the karen group, one of the biggest hilltribe group in Asia (total population could be as high as 5 million) which is indeed at war with the Burmese military junta since the latter came into power (more than 3,000 karens died in fights in 1988). Many of them have fled to Thailand, where they are now fully established and benefit from a political refugee status. In most cases this means that they are not allowed to have their own agriculture, and tourism is therefore their numer one (and only) source of revenue. Entering the village costs 250 Bahts (5 Euros), which according to the visitor centre go directly to the families. Several - credible - sources however report that a fair amount of this entrance fee goes directly to the Karen National Union, which then use it to fight the Burmese military junta.

There are plenty of shops in the village, and hence it does not look authentic at all. However, the Padongs are laid back and will not force you to buy anything. Apart from the long necks as such and the catholic church (missionaries christianised some tribes 100 years ago), nothing special to report.

There are plenty of theories to explain why Padong woman wear such jewlery - some claims it is to look like their ancient Gods, some claim it was to flag their women and prevent them from being taken by other tribes, some say that it could protect them from being attacked by tigers...one thing is for sure: traditionally, only girls born during a full moon would wear this, which strongly contrasts with nowaday's villages, where every single woman has a long neck for the sake of tourism. Whilst the jewelry gives the impression that the neck has been stretched, this is not at all the case. In fact it is the ribs which are pushed down to achieve this appearance. All in all my visit of the village was informative, with signs containing some explanations on Padong's history and giving advice on tourism behaviour.

Just a few words on my rafting trip from Pai to Mae Hong Son. If you are in this region, promise me to do this two-day rafting trip, and do it with the agency Thai Adventure Rafting. The trip is incredibly scenic and you will not see anybody else around. They have a camp in the middle of nowhere where you sleep overnight. The French manager was the first one to open a rafting agency in Thailand 20 years ago and safety is top-of-the-art (equipment is imported from France). However, do not expect serious action (whitewater etc.) during the dry season, the real excitement may be found from July to October. But then again this region is amaizingly beautiful. Lastly, the city of Mae Hong Son is very nice and laid back, and tourists are few. From the architecture (see above) you can see that Burma is close...yet so far!

Tomorrow I am going on a 3 days trek in the region - it was a real pain to find other people to do it but I just managed to join a group tonight. I will visit more hilltribe villages (hmong, that I saw long ago in Northern Vietnam, and karen) so I hope you are not tired of hilltribe stories, as there should be more coming up :-)

Good luck in your respective job - one week to go before the holidays!!

Opium

I arrived in the city of Pai, where the hippie crowd is well and alive (everybody is "happy"). The city is probably similar to Kathmandu in the 1970s, this being the main leftover of the former opium fields that surrounded the area fifteen years ago. For anybody who is interested in opium traffic and opium history, there are splendid and instructive trekking opportunities around. For those who were at the IEP for my last year, this post will maybe remind them of an an expose I did back then. But this time, I have some pictures (not of opium poppies, sorry...), and my Shan guide was really good.

Background

Take the most powerful active ingredient of opium and you obtain morphine; refine it and you obtain pure heroin. The region surrounding Burma, Laos and Thailand (often referred to as the Golden Triangle) is the main opium producing land in the world, together with Afganisthan. There are many reasons behind this: these three countries are separated by mountains which makes it perfect for opium growing (between 1200-1500 meters); it is much easier to do illegal activities at the borders of several countries, especially if these countries do not cooperate to fight drug traffic; last but not least, the region is populates by hilltribes, i.e. tribes which are effectively non-thai, non-burmese, non-lao. And they cultivate opium for centuries for their own consumption.

Mountains surrounding Pai: the proximity to Burma makes it a good place for opim traffic

Opium traffic reached its peak in the 1990s, when a leader named Khun Sa was reigning in the region. At the peak of its power, Khun Sa had a "private" army of 200,000 men, who were fighting for the creation of a Shan state (on paper) but were in fact used to smuggle opium and fight against Burmese and Thai military forces. Khun Sa was the equivalent of Don Corleone: he would buy opium from all the hilltribes in the region, and set up his own heroin factories in the mountains. To gain in popularity amongst the 20+ hilltribe ethnic groups, he would also buy regular goods (for instance chicken) at prices five times higher than on markets. Some time ago he surrendered to Burma against a complete amnesty and died about a month ago in his villa in Rangoon.

Substitution cultures

The two villages I visited today were Lahu and Lisu, two relatively similar tribes (animists and sino-tibetan) who both used to sell opium to Khun Sa. About 95% of their opium production was sold, whilst 5% of it was kept for self-consumption. It was used in particular to solve diseases: a young boy with a fever would smoke some opium, and subsequently have a good sleep (!) and be fit again the next days. Some people however turned to become strongly addicted to opium.

These two villages have witnessed considerable change in less than 20 years. In a move to fight opium traffic, Thailand started a "substitution" program in the 1990s. The idea was to bring modern agriculture to the hilltribes, enabling them to effectively double and sell production of other goods such as garlic, in exchange for stopping opim production. For this reason, the farming fields around Pai are very strange - hilltribe people are using state-of-the art irrigation methods (water is brought directly to the fields, etc.) that you cannot see anywhere in Laos. And hunters are using rifles!!

Lahu women working on a garlic field

The opium addicts had to undergo a mandatory desintoxication course in Thai hospitals, whilst at the same time schools were constructed. Both tribes, who used to be semi-nomads, are now forced to stay in the region by the Thai government as a part of their program. They seem to make good money (some of them have motorbikes) out of garlic and tea, even though trade liberalisation with other Asian countries raised significant problems in the past years (garlic is cheaper in Burma and Laos). All in all their proximity to Pai and modern agriculture methods grants them a decent revenue.

It is difficult to assess the effects of the program set up in place by Thailand, but several things are for sure: opium production has been eradicated from the Pai region and has moved to the Burma side, whist the centuries-old lifestyle of the hilltribe people has considerably changed. For this reason I am moving (actually rafting for two days) to the Mae Hong Son region tomorrow where I will then do a long trek (4-5 days) in remote villages, where authenticity has supposedly been preserved. Lucky some, I know :-)

Retour a Chiang Mai

Nous sommes arrives a Chiang Mai après un voyage interminable - environ 16 heures (de route de montagne dans un bus vraiment pourri) jusqu'à la frontière thai puis 6 heures jusqu'ici (on a enchaîné le trek raconté précédemment avec ce voyage). Surtout, nous avons fait escale dans des villes du Nord du Laos absolument horribles...il faut imaginer des petits villages super-crades ou tout est marque en Chinois (a cause des touristes), avec des stands de rue DÉGUEULASSES. Au menu: brochettes de scarabées, salades de punaises, chien, rats séchés...et vison mort. Ces coins la sont si pauvres que les gens semblent manger tout ce qui passe. Par décence je ne mets pas les photos sur le blog mais si vous voulez en recevoir par e-mail faites moi signe. On a eu le bide retourné pendant tout le voyage rien qu'a penser a ces trucs...

Ce qui m'amène donc a mon premier acte en territoire thaïlandais: commander un hamburger. C'est pas glorieux mais c'est tout ce que je pouvais avaler.

Arriver en Thailande depuis le Laos, c'est vraiment arriver dans un autre monde. Les distributeurs de billets sont partout, il y a des voitures de types berlines (mis a part l'inévitable Toyota Camry cambodgien, je n'avais pas vu de voiture "normale" depuis deux mois), le pays est propre, les pharmacies sont bien fournies, Internet est rapide, les routes sont bétonnées, les gens parlent Anglais, la bouffe est super-bonne, les transports sont top class. J'ai soudainement réalisé que j'avais fait pas mal de truc roots ces deux derniers mois.

J'étais un peu craintif a l'idée de retrouver la Thailande, pays qui a fait naître ma passion pour le voyage il y a 5 ans. Les doutes ont été rapidement effacés: les thais sont passes maîtres dans l'art de gérer le boom touristique, et une ville bourrée de farengs comme Chiang Mai conserve sa classe. Je suis super content d'être de retour en Thailande, en fait - tous mes souvenirs de jeune backpacker me reviennent. Avant hier soir, nous sommes sorti en boite (le Mandalay est vraiment canon):c'était le première fois depuis deux mois que je passais relativement inaperçu dans un endroit. Ça fait du bien!!

Hier soir, combat de boxe thai, très impressionnant. De plus en plus d'occidentaux se lancent dans ce sport, et les parieurs leur lancent des "tonight, big fight" et autres "handsome" pour les encourager, c'est très marrant. Les rituels qui entourent ces combats d'une violence inouïe sont vraiment passionnants. Aujourd'hui, ballade a dos d'éléphants enchaînée avec du rafting (genial), un peu de trek, du bamboo rafting (pas terrible), visite de village pseudo-tribal, et butterfly farm. Le tout pour 15 Euros, transport et nourriture inclus. Ils sont quand même forts, ces thais...

Mathieu repart demain pour Bangkok et sa région avant de revenir en Europe, et pour ma part je me dirige vers Pai (a 4 heures de Chiang Mai) en vue d'assouvir ma passion pour le trek, tout juste naissante.

Bisous a tous...

Laos - on fait l'bilan

Vous l'aurez compris: le Laos fut une véritable révélation. Dans le Sud, vous arriverez dans des villes ou les touristes se comptent sur les doigts de la main, et avec un peu de chances vous serez les premiers visiteurs a dormir dans les villages kamu du Nord, l'eco-tourisme y étant tout juste naissant. Et que dire des laotiens, un peuple incroyablement accueillant et souriant? Le Laos est un pays comme il n'en reste presque plus en Asie, si ce n'est dans le monde - très roots mais authentique. Et en plus, le changement y prends du temps, pas d'explosion touristique en perspective, sauf a Luang Prabang...profitez-en!

• Points forts: un pays magnifique, le peuple le plus souriant d'Asie, le tourisme sous-developpé et des possibilités inouïes


• Points faibles: les transports parfois interminables...


• Highlights: Le Sud (4000 iles - plateau des Bolovens), Vang Vieng, la region de Luang Prabang


• Lowlights: Vientiane est une ville sympa mais sans plus


• Budget: Comme au Vietnam et au Laos, j'ai tenu ma moyenne de moins de 23 Euros par jours (soit 380 Euros en 17 jours), ce qui permet de se faire plais' de temps en temps.


• Durée du voyage: Au moins 2 semaines...un mois serait idéal (si seulement...)


• Sarko-compatibilite: Difficile d'imaginer un pays plus sur. Pas d'arnaques, parfois on a même l'impression que les laotiens ne sont pas très forts en négociation. Prostitution quasi-absente, ça fait du bien. En revanche, les "hopitaux" ne peuvent traiter que les blessures legeres (la plupart s'équipent tout juste en rayons X, et vous devriez voir la gueule du Ministère de la Santé a Vientiane c'est a hurler de rire)...si vous avez un accident grave, il faudra un miracle pour s'en sortir. En cas de problème sérieux, foncez en Thailande.


• Malbouffe: Le moins bon pays d'Asie pour la cuisine, in my opinion. Mis a part le sticky rice et le lap, rien de franchement délicieux. Si vous mangez dans les stands de rues, regardez bien ce que vous avalez...en fait la viande s'agit souvent d'abats ou de bouts gras pas très sains.


• Logement: standards très légèrement inférieur aux pays voisins.


• Name and shame:Aucun


• Les improbables: la pétanque comme sport national; les laos francophones de Luang Prabang, avec leur air nonchalant (très français effectivement) et leur écharpe caractéristique...

Out of time

You may have trusted your eyes during your entire life, but going to Laos you could well start to have some doubts. If not, how do you explain the centuries old lifestyle of Hmong or kamu tribes, who have hardly ever met tourists and will stare at you with some sort of fearfull shyness as you enter their village? How many countries in the world offer the opportunity to go trekking in virgin territories, where sanitaries do not exist and purified water bottles come with a Red Cross Logo? I already had experienced trekking in the Northern part of Thailand five years ago, where tourism has now fully replaced opium as the business of choice for hilltribe people. In Laos, eco-tourism is just bourgeoning, and welcoming tourists is still unusual for the tribes surrounding the region of Luang Prabang. So fasten your seatbelts, take a deep breath, and prepare for a couple of days spent out of time.

We went for a two-day trek in the region of Luang Prabang, together with Tristan, Laurenne and Rob, who I had met in Southern Laos previously. The trekking part in itself was not very challenging as compared to what I had done last time around Chang Mai. But the real action lies in the discovery of the surrounding Hmong and Kamu villages, where we spent a night that I will never forget.

A kamu village

You need to imagine territories where so few tourists come that the people would stare at you, and certainly do not smile at the first sight, as opposed to the rest of Laos. Rather, you would be looked with a kind of curiosity expressing fear, which however turns into smiles and laughs once the people actually get used to you. The first thing that comes into your mind is the poverty of the place. Laos as a whole is an etremely poor country, with 75% of the people earning less than 2$ a day, and a life expectancy averaging at 54 years old. In the hilltribe villages, you will hardly see a man older than 45. Many kids suffer of malnutrition, as in Africa (I never thought I would see this in Southeast Asia). The government sends a doctor once a month, which is way too little given the obvious deseases going around. Sanitation is also a problem, since there are no toilets nor showers, and hence you need to use the river (Mathieu and I did, it's fun). All clothes are dirty and children do not blow their nose. Purified water is provided by the Red Cross.

The simplest game in the world: throwing your flip flops at a wood stick

Hilltribe people obviously live from their own agriculture, with all sorts of animals walking around the village. During the night you hear rosters, buffalos and goats, this is quit surreal. As in other regions in Asia, children are everywhere, women appear to do all the work whilst during the day the men smoke opium according to our guide. At night, a local alcohol, tasting a bit like cider, is prepared, and all the men gather around. We were invited to join and had good fun.

Laurenne, Tristan and Mathieu surrounded by Kamu kids

We also had the chance to attend a baptism ceremony (most hilltribes in Laos are animists) and subsequently join the people for lunch. The arms of the baby, mother and father were wrapped, apparently to bring luck. A big lunch followed, during which traditional lao lap was served together with animal blood (this was a bit too much and none of us tried), traditional alcohol and lao lao (rice alcohol mixed with pure alcohol...drink too much of this and you'll turn crazy).

Needless to say, there are not many places left in Asia where you can witness such authenticity, and have the feeling to be lost in time. Since I am slowly beginning a trekking obsession, finding similar places in Northern Thailand will be my objective in the coming weeks. Given the tourism boom there, this will probably turn out to be challenging. We shall see...

60 days later

Hello all,

I do not have much to say in this post since I have not yet fully seen all the aspects of Luang Prabang - I am going on a 2 day trek tomorrow and will sleep in a Hmong village (yes, some of them are at war with the Laos Government, but not in this region).

This very quiet Sunday also marks the middle of my trip in Southeast Asia. I would like to stress that I still shave (every two weeks) and wash (every...hum, forget it), although I completely lost any notion of time - how can it be December already? In fact, I noticed that the only repetitive thing is to take my Lariam pill every Tuesday. Lariam has become a personal calendar. Loosing the notion of time is really a fantastic feeling and enormously differ from my previous job - my former colleagues will now what I mean.

My time in former Indochina was simply fantastic, and needless to say I had (one of) the best time(s) of my life there. I am heading to Chang Mai in 3 days, and will subsequently spend my remaining two months in Thailand and Malaysia. This should also marks my entry to a more civilised and touristic world, where hospitals are top-class and backpackers everywhere. I am eager to go to Thailand, a truly fantastic country - it will be the third time in my life - but a bit worried that McDonald might be all over the place, and backpacking turned into a "smoke and drink" culture for the younger crowd (on this and backpackers in general, The Beach is a must-read). Future will tell.

Just a few words on the blog, which is doing very well. I really appreciate all the comments posted - I really do.

In terms of visits we recorded about 1,150 visits since the beginning of my trip in October - this is very good since I did not advertised my blog on public spaces. Looking it by country, main visits come unsurprisingly from France (558) and Belgium (297), followed by Spain, the UK and the US. I also have visits from Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, The Philippines, India and Nepal, which shows that some people I met during the trip actually go to my blog (wouhou). Special thanks and big up to the person who connected from Armenia!

I understood Christmas is starting in Europe (commercially I mean). Mind you, it is winter here too, and all the Lao people are wearing some scarfs (15 degrees at night as Luang Prabang is in the mountain).

Hope all is well for you and whist I certainly do not look forward to be back at this point, I do look forward to see you next year.