On Thai tourism, the shades of a spectacular country
On Sunday Al and I did a tour, the package kind, up to Chiang Rai to renew our visas by crossing into Burma, turning around and crossing back into Thailand.
We didn't know that our tour included a visit to a Hill Tribe village (usually one visits a 'primitive village' to see how these 'tribes' live 'untouched' by Western influences - the inconsistencies of this practice not apparent to thousands of tourists a year). Had we known we may have refused to go (as we did in Kanchanaburi where the tour included a trip to Tiger Temple - where tigers are kept caged in a quarry by monks and, reportedly, drugged so visitors may touch and take photographs with them).
But here is the rub:
The 'Hill Tribe' in question are Karen, refugees from persecution in Burma where they are an ethnic minority. The Thai govt permits them to stay but does not afford them any basic amenities such as running water, electricity or schools and the refugees have to be in Thailand 20 years before they may gain citizenship. These refugees make their living almost entirely through tourism. We pay to visit their village, traipse through it, take photographs of the women and their neck dresses (these are long necked Karen http://www.csmngt.com/400%20long%20neck%20women.jpg) or of their grass huts and buy souveniers (scarfs, more photos, figurines - few made by the villagers, most bought from neighbouring towns). As we approached the first hut a small girl dressed in traditional clothes ran alongside us with a 'donation box' saying 'money, give money please'.
Reading an article on the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami (it is important to note the difference in the scale of destruction suffered in Thailand, 5 300 deaths, and Indonesia, 230 000 deaths, or Sri Lanka) I noted that the Tourism Authority of Thailand considered running 'Tsunami Tours' whereby tourists could be bussed between each area of destruction. Also availible were photos and DVDs of the footage of the Tsunami, including 'Tsunami T-shirts'. Both of these commodities were shortly withdrawn in the face of public disgust.
We didn't know that our tour included a visit to a Hill Tribe village (usually one visits a 'primitive village' to see how these 'tribes' live 'untouched' by Western influences - the inconsistencies of this practice not apparent to thousands of tourists a year). Had we known we may have refused to go (as we did in Kanchanaburi where the tour included a trip to Tiger Temple - where tigers are kept caged in a quarry by monks and, reportedly, drugged so visitors may touch and take photographs with them).
But here is the rub:
The 'Hill Tribe' in question are Karen, refugees from persecution in Burma where they are an ethnic minority. The Thai govt permits them to stay but does not afford them any basic amenities such as running water, electricity or schools and the refugees have to be in Thailand 20 years before they may gain citizenship. These refugees make their living almost entirely through tourism. We pay to visit their village, traipse through it, take photographs of the women and their neck dresses (these are long necked Karen http://www.csmngt.com/400%20long%20neck%20women.jpg) or of their grass huts and buy souveniers (scarfs, more photos, figurines - few made by the villagers, most bought from neighbouring towns). As we approached the first hut a small girl dressed in traditional clothes ran alongside us with a 'donation box' saying 'money, give money please'.
Reading an article on the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami (it is important to note the difference in the scale of destruction suffered in Thailand, 5 300 deaths, and Indonesia, 230 000 deaths, or Sri Lanka) I noted that the Tourism Authority of Thailand considered running 'Tsunami Tours' whereby tourists could be bussed between each area of destruction. Also availible were photos and DVDs of the footage of the Tsunami, including 'Tsunami T-shirts'. Both of these commodities were shortly withdrawn in the face of public disgust.
posted by Kait at 1:41 pm
2 Comments:
Love your work, Kait. :)
Seriously tho.
But I don't get that poem about the Buddhas.
It was mostly a comment on the number of Buddhas we have seen, despite the fact that images of the Buddha are prescribed and limited by Buddhist scriptures. Also a comment on our previous conception of Buddha images (the laughing fat ones that you rub the stomach of for luck). In the beginning, everytime we saw a Buddha Alastair was disappointed he wasn't fat.
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