-
Travel Stories #2: Into The Unknown
Sitting on the rocks at the top of the waterfall just at the point where the river drops over the top to cascade to the plateau way below, hundreds of square miles of flood plains and sugar plantations stretching out to the horizon, seemed like as good time as any to ask. After all, Hamadi had made it very clear that we could add anything to our itinerary. “Hamadi, we’d like to see an ordinary African town, if possible”. “Really?” He was surprised. “To see what?” “Just to see a different way of life, to learn culture”. “OK, Johnson will take you. He knows his town well”. As if on…
-
3 Days With The Karen Tribespeople
It’s all too easy when travelling to be OTT about current experiences, but it’s hard not to use effusive phrases like “best ever” after our wonderful, educational and humbling few days with the Karen tribespeople in Northern Thailand. Experiences like this are what travelling really is about…. 1: Welcome to Nongtao After cities and islands, we head out in search of the “real” Thailand. Chiang Mai gives way to rice fields, the roads become narrower, villages become fewer and farther between. Straight roads become hairpins, the climbs get steeper, farmland becomes jungle. The dust roads lead us finally to Nongtao, a tiny village and a traditional home to Karen tribespeople,…
