May 30 trek to Ann, Akha, and Wa Villages to the mountains North of Kengtung

After spending 6 to 7am in the Kengtung market buying supplies and our lunch packs, we returned to our hotel for a quick breakfast of fried eggs and toast, then got into our car and went to immigration to file our daily "flight plan" - where we were going that day. This was approved as a matter of course, but we had to return through the check point going into town by 6pm, or there would be negative consequences.

We went through the flat valley's rice fields until we had gone up into the foothills as far as our car could go, then parked in an Akha village at the base of the mountains. We started seeing colorful people immediately, and some ladies approached to sell hand-made weavings. Leslie bought a couple of items, gave out some lipstick, and then we were invited up into an Akha home where there was a celebration of a 15-year old son going off to secondary school. We were given tea, guel with meats, and separate dishes of chicken and pork. Although we had breakfasted already, and were a bit worried about sanitation and the delay resulting in us having to climb in hotter period of the day, we ate some of everything before wishing the young man well and leaving.

We climbed for about an hour and a half, with one or two showers to cool us off as we climbed, and then reached a beautiful Ann village perched on the side of the mountain, perhaps at an altitude of perhaps 3,800 feet. Our guide took us to the house of the Shaman, or medicine man/religious leader, and we were the center of attention of many kids. Then the mothers joined, bringing their various weavings and clothes to sell to Leslie, who was bargaining furiously even while we had tea, and the Shaman watched the process amicably. This was a very rich and intense photographic environment. Our guide then asked each family to bring one bowl each for him to allocate a gift of dried fish and hot peppers, and they brought about 15 bowls. Leslie distributed biscuits to the children, and later some lipsticks to teenage girls, where this was very popular. The guide then showed the Shaman and others how to plant the seeds, explaining the value of the vegetables, mainly kale. We wandered around the village a bit, watched some of the women weaving, the huge numbers of dogs, cats, chickens, and pigs that lived right with the Ann dwellings. The guide showed us the water tank system and latrines that had been built with his input and funding from an NGO.

We left, had a picnic lunch somewhat lower on the mountain above the terraced rice fields, and then visited a Christian Wa village, followed by an animist Ann village, repeating the process of tea with the chief or shaman, distribution of gifts, but the other villages were not sophisticated enough to make cloth for sale, so we did not have the intense bargaining sessions.

We managed to get back to our hotel by about 6pm, after an exhausting but exhilarating day, and managed to get a quick dinner and good sleep.