[151205] first leg of e Mae Salong to Ban Klang trek - from Mae Salong school to e Akha village of Ban Pakhasukjai....
e trek starts from a paved road leading downhill on e right of e school. strange that this boy was walking home right after morning assembly, while everyone else was heading for class:
Lomi Akha women stopping by to chat with a friend grinding coffee beans:
photos by YK
end of sealed road & start of forest:
interesting plants along e way:
e insides of this fruit look totally revolting - not sure if they are really like this, or just rotten:
photos by e cat
& then we spot something familiar!
'taboo sign' made from bamboo strips & nailed to a tree - we are on e boundary of an Akha village =) indeed, a spirit gate appears soon after:
photo by e cat
complete with e male & female figurines & a 'taboo sign' dangling from above....spirit gates on both ends of an Akha village mark e boundary between e human world (within e village) & e spirit world beyond. every year, village men build a new set of gates, while leaving e older ones untouched to rot in place, hence e multiple pairs of 'pillars'. e one with e horizontal crossbeam across e top is e newest gate. they remind e cat of e 'torii' that mark e entrance to Shinto shrines in Japan =P
seems like many tourists have found their way here, making it necessary to put up this sign:
touching any part of e spirit gate is tantamount to defiling it, & if that happens, a pig has to be sacrificed (paid for by e guilty party!) & a new gate built immediately to protect e village.
path into village:
Ban Pakhasukjai:
photos by e cat
Akha houses are raised above e ground, with thatched roofing & bamboo walls, & a bamboo platform 'balcony' that is nice to relax on =) e interior is divided into e men's & women's halves by a partition, each with their own 'fireplace' & entrance. everyone can pass through e men's entrance, but only women may use e door on e women's half.
tamarind:
photo by e cat
reminds e cat of e time in e Lahu village of Ban Yafu where YK & others helped some kids to knock tamarind fruit off a tree using a pole =)
as we walked out of Ban Pakhasukjai, we heard e noise & laughter of kids coming from this little building just outside e village:
photos by e cat
Ban Pakhasukjai preschool, built with e help of e Rotary Clubs of Taipei, Osaka, Mae Fah Luang, Phra Khanong (where Jim & Kip's families stay!) & Siam Cement Public Co.:
it starts with a few pairs of curious eyes, enthralled by digital photos of themselves & their friends....
e ensuing rugby scrum, with e cat lost somewhere in there:
then everyone fell on e cat....
when we all got up:
e kids sang us songs, & reciting e Thai 'rhyme' that teaches e days of e week & years of e month & half-singing half-chanting e 'kor1 kai3 khor2 khaai3' (lit. K for chicken, Kh for egg) Thai alphabet song with them was a total riot =P
shy kid who clung to us:
& then it was time for lunch for e kids, with many of them taking out plastic bags containing a few handfuls of rice from their shoulder bags to supplement some soup/stew stuff e teachers were dishing out, & time for us to continue on our trek....
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