Homepage > My Holidays Around Thailand > Long-necked Hilltribe 02

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We kept following the signs until there wasn’t any more signs so we just drove around trying to find the way ourselves. We were in a small village when we saw a lady running to us. She asked us where we were going. I told her. Then she said she would take us there because the way isn’t good and better not to risk damaging the car. We went on her pick-up truck to go there. Lucky we met her so we didn’t have to lose more time finding the way. The road to the hilltribe village was really bad. We had to cross a small ford in a river as well.

Visiting this hilltribe village is the main local attraction for people who come to Mae Hong Son. It's not that easy to go to their village by yourself but don't worry, you can join a tour. It's expensive for foreigner because you have to pay 250 baht to go in the village alone. I went to this place in April 2002.

At first, I thought she was just being kind to us but really she was just trying to make some commission for taking us there. When we arrived there, Richard went to pay the fee by the entrance. I couldn’t believe it cost 250 baht for foreigners but FREE for Thai people. Why did they do that for? Can’t it be the same or a little different? Even though tourists don’t pay tax I still think that it shouldn’t be this expensive. I felt sorry for Richard as he is a teacher and pays the same taxes as other teachers at my school. He told me not to complain as he knew that at least some of the money went to the hill tribe people.

We went in and walked around. I was really excited because I had been wanting to see a real famous long necked hill tribe for a long time. But after I had walked around for a while, I started to have second thoughts. How would I feel if some people walked down my road to take pictures of my mum doing the washing or me cleaning my motorcycle? They are human too, not some animals in the zoo. I did hear that a few years ago they had started to stop wearing the ring around their necks. But they started to wear it again because they realized that they could get money from the tourists who came to take their pictures. Also they could sell some souvenirs to get money. So, I think the main reason they are still wearing it now is because of us. I read somewhere that in the past they wore the ring on their neck to protect it from tigers but now they wear it to attract tourists.

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