Nov 5th Butterfly and Mein Villages

We were up early and out the door before 7AM to get some pictures of tribal people selling in the morning market. We probably got there a little too late unfortunately as there was not many women sellers in traditional clothes. We did notice that Indonesian cotton sarongs were being worn be several of the women which was a surprise . We bought some fresh limes and some fresh ginger to make a tea for David who has come down with a cold. The evenings, nights and early mornings are quite cool. After breakfast we walked out to the main road to explore and rent some bicycles to ride out to Bryan's house. Bryan lives in a simple two story house just across the street from the Butterfly school which they had built about 7 years ago through donations given at a fund raiser by the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, CA back in 2005. The reason Sisomphon thought that it was built by Singapore people and not Americans is that a relative of Bryan's had supervised some students from Singapore who did the paintings and they signed them "Singapore". We enjoyed a coffee with him and then agreed to meet him at the Tai Lue restaurant in town. He has helped them develop their menu over the years and the menu is quite extensive.

We cycled back into town and then handed in our bikes, exchanged some money and went back to our guest house. After lunch we hopped in our tuk-tuk along with Sisomphone and Martine who had decided to join us for the day. We headed North East near the Chinese border on a bumpy dusty road.

We stopped first at an Akha village where we saw the chief, and then distributed notebooks and pencils to the village schoolchildren, who scampered towards us from all over once they realized there were handouts. at first the chief ordered them into a line of about 20 kids, but after they had received their gifts, some were coming back for seconds, while others were rushing from far away. we did the best we could! None of the Akha men, women or children in the village were dressed in their traditional clothes, which they now use only for festivals.

We trekked away from the Akha village, followed by a dozen kids until we reached the boundary of the nearby Mein village, where they left us. Mein villages are described as having 'no village gate, ceremonial building or dancing ground - sometimes not even a well-defined village area'. You will know that a village is Mein if you come across 'groups of black-turbaned,red-ruffed women on low stools bending over their embroidery' (People's of the Golden Triangle, Lewis & Lewis). Sure enough, we did find some cute older ladies still in their red-ruffed coats doing embroidery, and Leslie was able to buy a nice embroidered baby-carrier and to get a picture of the woman who had made it. Instead of their beautifully embroidered trousers with their coats they were wearing very colorful Indonesian batik sarongs.

These two villages were both fairly close to the road, and both showed the rapid loss of using their traditional clothing. This seems very widespread in Laos, where the government has encouraged the tribes to move down from remote mountain villages and to establish new villages along the roads, where they have better access to schooling, transport, medical services, etc.

We returned to our guest house, then went out for dinner with Bryan Watt to Thai Leu restaurant, purchased some weavings from young Thai Dam girls who live in the village across from him, enjoyed excellent food and company and then hit the sack.