Northern Thailand is home to many interesting and colourful ethnic minorities, collectively referred to as the hill tribes. Most of the hill tribes have migrated into the region during the past 100 years from Burma and whilst some try to preserve their traditional ways and can do so with little outside interference, others have become a tourist freak show. Wherever you visit in Thailand’s north, whether trekking or on day trips out of Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai to some of the small villages you may find yourself visiting some of the hill tribes.

Ethnologists state that there are six broad hill tribe groupings: Karen, Lahu, Hmong, Lisu, Akha and Mien. Within these categories, there are sub-categories and clans that further divide the groups. Each hill tribe has its own customs, language, dress and spiritual beliefs and this is sometimes true even of the numerous sub-categories within one hill tribe. For example, the Green Hmong and White Hmong are said to speak in different and distinct dialects and dress differently.

Today the majority of the hill tribes living in the remote upland areas practice subsistence farming. Formerly, opium cultivation was a major source of income for many of the hill tribes and the government worked encouraged the eradication of opium production by substituting it with other cash crops, such as cabbages and fruits. The hill tribes lived in relative isolation until the 1950s, when, as a result of the increase in their numbers, extreme poverty and statelessness, the Thai government established the National Committee for the Hill Tribes.

Today there are still concerns with regard to issues with citizenship, conforming to mainstream Thai society and the loss of indigenous customs and languages.

Many Padaung escaped from the Kaya State in Burma to Thailand in the mid to late 1900’s and are refugees from Burma. They belong to the Karenni sub-group of the Karen People, who are still fighting for their independence in Burma. The Karen-Padaung occupied central Burma before the Burmese arrived from the North and they, together with the ancient Mon, farmed the Irrawaddy and Salween Valleys. There are pockets of Paduang around Mae Hong Son in Thailand.

The main reason tourists come to visit the Paduang is because of the long-necked women. When the Beetle was in Thailand, she was told that the women in this tribe wore huge coils of metal around their necks to protect them from tigers. She asked if this tradition still held true and was assured that it did. What a load of nonsense! The women who wear these huge coils around their neck do so as a means of income generation from fees from tourists taking their photos and buying handicrafts presented at their stores. It came across, sadly, as something of a human freak show.

It might seem that the neck is elongated, but in actuality, the collarbone is displaced rather than the stretching and weakening of the neck leading to a decompression of the spine and fused vertebrae and discs. This neck ring adornment is started when the girls are 5 or 6 years old. Some women and children also wear rings on the arms and the legs which are not quite as prominent as those on the neck because the neck rings are so pronounced. The rings on the arms are worn on the forearm from the wrist to the elbow. Those on the legs are worn from the ankles to the knees, and cloth coverings are kept over most of these rings, from the shins down to the ankles.

Here is a question: if the so called long necked women were cultivating opium, which they do not, then the Thai government would be amongst the first if they could get there before the NGOs and denounce this as a terrible practice. Is there a huge difference between growing opium and following an inhumane practice for money? So why not follow what has gone before and show people how to make a living in another way that does not involve this practice? Money: the long neck hill tribe women will continue to do this and inflict the practice on their female children as long as tourists go and visit and pay money to see them. This seems a difficult situation to know what is ‘right or wrong’. One wonders how many of the long neck villages in Thailand are managed by the Padaung people themselves and would they choose to do this themselves – or is the best form of income they can generate? How do the women feel about being photographed and gawped at whilst presumably being in pain through wearing the weight of the rings? Is it right to initiate or perpetuate the practice through the young girl children? How much of the entrance fee actually goes to the women in these villages? If these tourist shows are managed by someone else, and it seems likely that this is the case, are the women treated fairly?

What do you think? E-mail the Beetle and we will incorporate your comments in the next edition of the e-newsletter.

Statistics of the world’s religions are only very rough approximations. Aside from Christianity, few religions, if any, attempt to keep statistical records; and even Protestants and Catholics employ different methods of counting members. The table that follows may not therefore be completely accurate, but this is what infoplease.com says about the world’s most numerous organised religions.

NOTES: As of mid-2004. This list includes only organized religions and excludes more loosely defined groups such as Chinese or African traditional religions.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, taken from: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0904108.html

Essaouira is a charming seaside resort situated on the Atlantic Sea in Morocco. It has been a fishing village for centuries, but recently it has become a thriving tourism destination for those seeking a rest by the sea that is not Agadir, Morocco’s better busy and more commercialised known seaside resort. Essaouira is well connected by good roads – Marrakech is 175 km east, Safi 130 km north and Agadir 185 km to the south. Casablanca is 350 km north-east. It is a beautiful town with a mixture of Portuguese, French, and Berber architecture.

Historically, Essaouira has been an important international trading seaport, linking Morocco and its Saharan hinterland with Europe and the rest of the world. During the Middle Ages, a Muslim saint named Sidi Mogdoul was buried in Essaouira; Essaouira was originally known as “Mogador” by the Portuguese. In 1506, the king of Portugal ordered a fortress to be built there which was called “Castelo Real de Mogador.” In the 18th century, Mohammed III, instructed European architects to build a modern fortress which was originally called “Souira”, meaning “the small fortress”, the name then became “Es-Saouira”, “the beautifully designed”.

According to the UNESCO website, which cites the Medina of Essaouira as a UNESCO World Heritage Listed city, Essaouira is an exceptional example of a late-18th-century fortified town, built according to the principles of contemporary European military architecture in a North African context. Since its foundation.

What is there to see and do? It is a small town, and easy to get around by foot. You will see lots of photogenic white washed houses with blue shutters, colourful fishing boats moored in the harbour. Seafood is good, in the restaurants. There are the ramparts of the fort to walk along, complete with cannons, art galleries, wood workshops, market stalls – enough to satisfy anyone wishing to visit for a few days. There are also clean sandy beaches and dunes and you can make camel trips on the beach and in the desert in the interior.

Essaouira is also known for its windsurfing, with the powerful north-eastern trade wind blowing almost constantly onto the protected, almost wave less, bay. It is possible to rent surf boards.

To get to Essaouira, the cheapest way is by public bus from Marrakech or Casablanca bus station. There are two companies that run air conditioned buses – Supratours and CTM. There are several other companies that run non air conditioned buses. A Supratours bus, leaves from the Marrakech bus station next to the train station. More bus services are available from a different terminal at Bab Doukkala which is where you can also find a shared taxi to Essaouira. The bus fare from Marrakech is about 65 dirham and the cost of a taxi to yourself is around 800 dirham per car. The journey from Marrakech takes about 3-4 hours, and from Casablanca 6-7 hours. It is also possible to rent a Grand Taxi to get from/to Casablanca and Marrakech. If there are four or more of you, it will probably end up about the same price as an air con’d bus.

Mac has not been very well but is still e-mailing strong. Here are some of Mac’s tales of travel to high altitudes and also an update on Stanley, one of Mac’s fellow residents of the Old Soldier’s home in Washington. Stanley belongs to an organisation that distributes eye glasses to those in less developed countries.

You will be sorry you asked me if I ever visited Bolivia. The altitude is very high there. In La Paz the rich people live where you think the poor people would live and the poor people live where you would think the rich people would live in other countries. Where rich people would ordinarily live at high elevation and the poor at lower it is just the opposite so rich can breathe better than the poor.

When I was in Bolivia, the altitude got to me and I went to the airline and said I have to get out of here. They sent me to a pharmacy to get medicine for altitude sickness and it did the trick. I had an address of a budget place to stay but when I went to it, there was a fountain and stairs and nice yard in front with a nice facade of what looked like a resort hotel. I thought I had made a mistake but when I opened the door inside was a run down hotel with stuff coming out of seats and it was like the front outside wall was for a movie set and inside you faced reality. Ha!

By this time I had met and made friends with a couple from Canada. He was originally from Germany (a soccer star) and she was from Austria and she had gone to Canada as an au pair and they met and married. She arrived in Canada with no English and first day when she went down town she and a girl friend forgot the address where they worked. They went up to a policeman and said, “I love you,” the only words they knew. He laughed and guessed the situation and found out somehow where they were employed.

We kept meeting in different countries in South America and went to the airport together to depart for Chile. We were waiting for our plane to arrive, to board and were passed through to the departure lounge and went out to our plane. There was someone in our seats so we took other seats. I then discovered from my new seatmate that this plane was departing for Miami and had arrived late. I hollered at my travelling companions, “ We are on the wrong plane.” The other passengers said ,“No you are on right plane, this plane goes to Miami.” I shouted, “we don’t want to go to Miami but Chile,” and we dashed off the plane.

In that day and age I never thought one could get on wrong plane that way. Ha! I guess they never looked at our tickets closely. Just another travel experience. Someone said, “Mac it seems like everything happens to you.” Stay alert is the motto.

Because of the high altitude, I did not enjoy Bolivia as much as I should have. I am built somehow with a high diaphragm or something so don’t get as much oxygen as some. When young and in the armed forces, this did not bother me although whenever X rays are taken they often ordered more to see whatever they were seeing in my makeup. Later in life I had to be on oxygen for a year. I tire easily possibly because I don’t get as much oxygen as some. Or maybe I am just lazy. There are many countries I would like to return to, but would not go back to Nepal, Bolivia and some of the high countries again.

In Peru the airline gives you a drink that has some kind of drug for air altitude sickness when arriving at Cuzco. My room mate Hunt from the Old Soldier’s home woke me up in middle of night and said, “ Mac get oxygen.” I ran to desk and hollered “oxygen” and they ran with a tank and applied a mask to Hunt. Later I said to him that if he had died I did not know how I was going to get him down off the mountain and back to the Old Soldiers Home so I was going to tell the authorities that his dying wish was that he wanted to be buried up there with the Indians. Hunt and I went to Russia together so he has gotten used to me and my weird humour.

Stanley Sagara has returned from his Ethiopian eyeglass mission. They went by bus for fourteen hours out into the boon docks and I don’t want to put words in Stanley’s mouth but what they saw Stanley says was almost having him to have nightmares. The way the people were living or not living. So many had eyesight so far gone that glasses would not help. They could only help about 30 percent of those asking for help and I think some thought the Americans could put some kind of magic drops in their eyes and they could see and they couldn’t. Stanley has been all over the world and witnessed all kinds of injustices in his life but I think this experience saddened him. This is my interpretation and I often get things wrong.

And finally… I am reminded of something a friend here at the Old Soldier’s Home said to me recently. Frank, my friend had gotten the Medal of Honour for rescuing and pulling GIs from a burning plane on a runway in England. Clark Gable arrived at their unit. The GIs were told to not bother Mr Gable but they all stood around watching his arrival. Gable saw them and walked over to them and said, “Would one of you guys loan me a sixpence for a tea (or something like that.) It was his way of breaking the ice and saying hello. Every GI there was reaching into his pocket as they wanted to say they had loaned Clark Gable a sixpence or whatever it was. He visited with them and they appreciated this. If I ever get to be famous I too will be gracious, (if I have time.)

If you would like to get in touch with Mac, he is happy to correspond by e-mail when he is well. His e-mail address is: macsan400@yahoo.com

Following the recent UK publication of the Stern report on the effects of climate change, Ryanair has dismissed calls for green taxes on aviation as the “usual horseshit” and warned that extra levies on airlines will not put people off flying.

Michael O’Leary, chief executive of the low-cost carrier, also ruled out joining the EU carbon emissions trading scheme, seen by some airlines as their best hope of avoiding punitive taxes as governments consider curbing the industry’s contribution to the greenhouse effect.

“It’s the usual horseshit that we hear,” he said. “There is a fundamental misunderstanding about aviation and environmental taxes at the moment. No one knows what they are talking about.”

Mr O’Leary said aviation accounted for a “Mickey Mouse” 3% of carbon emissions across the EU, compared with nearly 25% from road transport, which he said had not been affected by petrol levies and other charges. He added that Ryanair’s growth will not be affected by further taxes because its ticket prices will remain more competitive than its rivals’.

“Taxing aviation will not affect the growth of Ryanair one iota,” he said. “We will continue to grow like gangbusters because the price differential between Ryanair and easyJet and British Airways will not change.” Recent economic studies contradict Ryanair, pointing to evidence that a price increase of 1.5% is enough to put some people off flying.

Speaking at the launch of an in-flight gaming service in London yesterday, Mr O’Leary said the government should focus on British Airways, which he said operates a “gas-guzzling” fleet of older aircraft. “If people are serious about tackling the minuscule contribution of aviation, what they ought to be tackling are the operators of the old gas-guzzling aircraft like BA or those who run two flights to get you to your destination, unlike low-fares airlines.” A spokesperson for BA said the claims were “just not true” because the airline’s 280-strong fleet has an average age of 10 years and it has started replacing its oldest long-haul aircraft.

Mr O’Leary also dismissed Sir Richard Branson’s pledge to invest $3bn (£1.6bn) in renewable energy over the next decade as a “PR stunt” because the billionaire expects to fund the promise from the profits of his transport interests, which include the Virgin Atlantic airline and Virgin Trains. “I doubt if the profit will get to $3bn over the next 100 years, let alone the next 10,” he said.

Ryanair recently announced that it had formed a gaming partnership with Internet bingo group Jackpotjoy, adding another new revenue stream as it seeks to boost cash flow from areas other than ticket sales. Ryanair said in a statement the deal would allow passengers to play bingo while booking their flights, car hire, and hotels on its web site.

Ryanair recently announced that it has been forced to postpone the introduction of new flights between European and Moroccan destinations because of EU regulation delays. It said that flights from Marseille and Frankfurt to Fez, Marrakech and Oujda would not now start until December 1, though services from Luton, near London, to Fez and Marrakech, would begin as planned next month.”

And still on the theme of low cost airlines, Easyjet said that while it was clear that airlines ‘still have their part to play in safeguarding the environment’ it was important to note the European Commission’s own calculations, which state that aviation accounts for just 3% of CO2 emissions in Europe.

‘Calling for greater taxation on air travel is sloppy thinking and risks damaging the European economy as a whole,’ it said in a statement.

Discover the world in a day at Destinations: The Holiday& Travel Show, the essential event for travel inspiration.

Get tips from the travel experts while experiencing Destinations Sensations, demonstrations of global culture, culinary delights and live entertainment on the World Entertainment Stage.

Meet the Expert Theatres feature inspirational talks to fuel your imagination, experts include John Simpson – BBC World Affairs Editor (London Show), Jake Meyer, the youngest Briton to climb Everest and Nick Middleton, presenter and writer of ‘Extremes Along the Silk Road’. Plus, participate in interactive sessions on topics from Travel Writing and Photography to Argentina: Beyond Buenos Aires.

Destinations 2007 takes place at:

• Earls Court, London 1-4 February 2007
• NEC, Birmingham 2-4 March 2007

eNewsletter readers to www.DestinationsShow.com or to call the box office on 08701 66 04 34* quoting ‘Globetrotters’ to obtain their complimentary tickets (*calls charged at national rate, booking fee applies).



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