|
|
The Pa Dong Village of Nai Soi 14th May 2001 |
|
|
The Pa Dong Village of Nai Soi 14th May 2001 |
| - After a very peaceful night in the middle of nature, we leave Fern Resort for the Longneck Village of Nai Soi, the largest of the three Pa Dong villages around Mae Hong son. The drive from the resort is about 40 Kilometers, the village can be also reached by boat. Our guide, George, is a Shan native of Mae Hong Son. After his studies in Chiang Mai, he came back home to the peace and beauty of its nature. During the drive, he tells us about the Longnecks. The Pa Dong are a small minority of the Red Karen tribe, also called Karenni. The Karenni lived in Burma, as a small independent state, with their own government and army. When they flew from Burma to Thailand, they took a few Pa Dongs with them, probably because of the financial interest they represented as Tourist attraction. With the time, more Pa Dongs seek refuge in Thailand, and there are now three villages. |
|
| Behind the Pa Dong Village of Nai Soi is a large
refugee camp with 3 000 inhabitants, most of them Karenni. We are told
they are allowed to keep and train their own army. George has been trying to find the origin of the neck-ring custom by discussing with many Pa Dong women. Some said that the custom might have come to prevent the women to leave the village and marry in other tribes, or to be taken as slaves by the Burmans, as the collar made them ugly to other tribes. The Pa Dong being a small tribe, women are not allowed to marry outside the tribe. But when Georges asked the oldest Long-necked woman, 74 years old, who wore the ring since she was five, all she could say is that it was the tradition. And tradition is the reason that all the women we spoke with, gave us. The neck-ring is not, as often believed, made of an accumulation of rings through the years, but of a brass spiral which is changed for a longer one when the child grows. It does not lengthen the neck, but pushes down the ribs. The spiral can be taken out without real danger. |
 |
|
After a rather difficult drive, where our minibus
had to cross several small rivers, we arrive at Nai Soi. A fee of 250
Baht per person has to be paid to enter the village, but there is no fee
for taking pictures. |
|
| After our conversation with Ma-Da, and still under her charm, we move from one little shop to another. Most are tended by young girls who pose easily for our camera. George obviously knows all of them well. We keep buying here and there small items, rather a friendly gesture than by obligation. |
| We arrive now at the house of Ma-Djae, the mother of Ma-Da. She does not speak English and George is our interpreter. She picks up her guitar and sings. We notice a little girl and a little boy playing behind her. The little girl is obviously |  |
|
 |
older than five and does not wear the ring, so we ask Ma-Djae about her. Ma-Hao is Ma-Djae's youngest daughter. At five, she started to wear the ring, but then decided that she did not want to, so her mother took it of. We ask to take a picture of the children. They are very shy, very different from the other little girls wearing the ring who posed for us. | |
| We continue our visit of the village. Children in traditional costume or not, play and laugh, like all children. At the end of the village, just before the entrance of the refugee camp, boys play soccer. We notice a few more young women who do | ||
| not wear the neck-ring. There are not many men, most of them probably at work or hunting. The ones present keep discreet and distant. | ||
| During our visit, we encounter members
of an other tribe who live in the village. They are Kayas and Kayos, an
other minority tribe of the Karenni. They do not wear the neck spiral,
but their ear lobes are pierced and elongated, in the same way as the
Masai women in Africa. - |
||
|
|
|
|
|
Are the Longnecks a tourist trap ? Discovering other people with a different culture is never a trap. All, of course, is in the mentality with which you travel. We left the Pa Dong village with the regret not to be able to stay a few more days, to get to know them better and, may be, become friends. But this visit was enough to make us feel for them, which was already an enrichment for us. |
||
| Are the Long- necked women
exploited ? - |
 |
|
 |
It seems more than probable that a great
deal of the money that they earn through tourism goes to support the
Karenni resistance to Burma. But we also have the impression that it is
willingly. Although the Padong women are free to decide whether to wear the spiral or not, tradition and necessity certainly weight on their decision. But isn't that the case for all traditions, especially in times when these traditions are at risk and you have lost your homeland ? In Thailand, they have reached access to some facilities that they could only have dreamed of in their country, for example owning motorbikes. But they |
|
| keep their own schools, and do not send
their children to Thai schools. They still marry within the tribe. They
accept Thailand's hospitality and help, but with the hope that it is
only temporary. They long for home. Isn't it then logical to think that
all of them willingly want to take part in the Karenni efforts to regain
their land ? We have been impressed by the pride of these women. Pride of keeping the tradition, pride of their beauty, but also probably pride of the knowledge of their important participation in their cause. And we rather call them the Long-necked Ladies, than Long-Necked women. |
| We guess that some will not agree. In
any case, all we sincerely hope, in spite of the fact that we will miss
them in Thailand, is that the day when they can go home will come soon.
|
|
|
"The secret of the
giraffewomen,
finally revealed" |
|
|
|
in low season, and the tourists are scarce. It
is also a rainy day. There are many small huts selling souvenirs, all of
them attended by a long-necked woman or child, in full traditional
costume.
