Akha Sie
Article
The Akha people of the Hua-Fai Community
Live along the banks of the canal in the hart of Chiang Mai, not far from the Night Bazaar.
They are a hard working people that spend most of the day in work groups, Hand making Akha. Hill Tribe Products.
Then at around 6pm they walk to the Night Bazaar to sell there wears. If they are lucky they will sell $3 or $4us of product.
Many times I have seen them sell a belt or hat for cost or less just to make a sale to feed their family that night.
A lot of the Farang's (tourists) barter them down buying as cheap as possible, you hear some arrogant woman saying to her boy friend, "what a rip off" for something that only costs 200 Bart ($6us).
Sure it is fun bartering with the richer stall holders and it is a barter market but to push a poor lady down below cost is going too far.
Most of these lady's have dependents too look after, Children, Parents and Grandparents. You see many old ladies’s looking after a grand child that has lost its parents.
There is no Social Welfare system in Thailand; some do get subsidized Health care if they were born in Thailand with a ID card or a work permit (that most of the aliens can not afford to buy).
The Akha people of Chiang Mai, Thailand
have fled the NEVER ENDING WAR of the far North
(raging since 1947).
The Golden Triangle covers a large area.
Traditionally where Thailand, Burma and Laos join is called the Golden Triangle.
The "Gold" being the liquid Gold of raw opium.
The NEVER ENDING WAR rages on every year (dry season usually), it is a bullshit war designed to keep prying eyes out of the growing fields of Burma who produce a massive 3700 tons of raw opium each year for export. That is very conservative as the Shan State usually produces 300 - 500 tons of refined Heroin a year.
That said it is still a very real war for the people at the front line.
It periodically spills over into Thailand who quickly quells the intrusion.
Many refugees end up in Thailand and work there way south.
Many have ended up in Chiang Mai. Akha, Karen, Thai Yai (Shan)
There are 13 or so ethnic groups that have carved out there own states in Burma running down Thailand’s western border from the far north to well past Bangkok.
Most Akha people from Burma are devout Christians who turned to Christianity in the 1800s and last century when the British ruled Burma. They speak Akha, read, and write there language with English (A, B, Cs) British influence once again.
After the British, a banded them after the Second World War around 1947 the church went under ground as the never-ending war raged around them.
The Military Junta S.L.O.K. that sized power would not let out side contact in or out.
Akha Hill, Akha hill tribe products is a community non profit business set up by Mrs. A-Noe Yu-Po, Sie to her friends.
Akha Hill’s directive is to help lift the Akha people of the Hua-Fai Community and Chiang Mai out of poverty.
Akha Hill's Mission in conjunction with the local Christian church is buying land around Chiang Mai, building houses for the poor with no interest rent to buy plans. Giving them land paper for the land.
At the moment they live on no mans land with no land paper.
To give them meaningful work with a good return for that work. Akha.hill and 1st Baan of Silver selling world wide for them.
To get them off the streets and the young out of the bars and "karaoke" red light places.
To have them living and working together as a family in a extended family village environment.
With such abject poverty you see many young girls walking the Bars selling flowers at 2am, by young I mean as soon as they are old enough to walk and say "only 10 Bart Mr".
Young Mothers of 15 or 16 with a baby on her back selling Hill Tribe Products late at night. Grandmothers with a young child walking the Night Bazaar selling to support her and the child because the Child's parents have died from Aides or some other disease or accident.
To get the children into schools.
Most Akha people have no education at all and can not read or write Thai or English.
The first resettlement will be out at Sansai.
With no land paper they have no why of ever getting out of the poverty that they live in. The Banks won’t loan against there houses. The mortality rate from sickness, disease, depression, drug abuse, alcohol etc is horrendous.
While building Akha-Hill.com for Sie I have attended 4 funerals at the local Chiang Mai Presbyterian Akha Church of Akha people that I had met.
Sorry to have to update this but we are attending another funeral now. The "old" (52) lady died three days before Christmas and will be buried the day after on Boxing Day.
One old lady in her late 40s died of? Old age?
A young man in his twenties died of a drug overdose after his wife ran off with a rich Farang (European)
One Mother of 3 died in the August floods.
The old ladies husband died three or for weeks after her, with no one to look after him he just gave up.
The lady that died 3 days before Christmas is a sister of the wife who died before her husband. That family has lost four in the last year.
While building Akha-Hill.com I have been living with the Akha people. The lady that died in the August floods lived next to me for one month. After that I used to see her every night sitting on the footpath on the side of the road over the canal with her youngest boy begging. They found her 3 days after the flood further down the canal.
Most of the houses are built next to the canal on no mans land with no land paper.
By Kings Decree the poor can build over water and the authorities can not move them on.
In the wet season the canal floods on a regular base, flooding many homes with filth from the open storm water drain, canal, call it what you will.
When it rains hard in the north the Thai water board irrigation Authorities open the gates of the large earth dam on the Mai Ping (river) fearing that the dam will burst and wash Chiang Mai away.
Saving Chiang Mai they only wash a few poor away and periodically flood Chiang Mai.
Answer: build a concrete dam.
Thailand is an immensely rich country with massive infrastructure changes and building going on so I suppose it is next on there list of no 1 priority jobs ha.
With 16,000,000+ tourists coming to Thailand each year, bringing in a massive amount of tourist dollars (the no 1 foreign exchange earner) it easily surpasses the rice crop.
One would hope it is at the top of the list.
In the mean time we will with your help relocate as many families as possible to dry land at a new community at Sansai 10ks from the City centre of Chiang Mai.
You can help the flood relief victims directly by making a
donation or indirectly by buying Akha Hill Tribe Products.
You can help the flood relief fund at
Akha-hill.com/pages/akha_hill_mission.html#flooding.
The Akha of Chiang Mai are working hard to wards building a traditional Akha village on 65 rai of land just 10 kilometres out of Chiang Mai at Sansai. This is in a rural setting with rice fields etc all around.
Tour groups coming out and staying over night.
Hopefully this will help lift them out of the poverty cycle that they are in.
Akha-Hill.com
The Akha are a people with out a Country. They are spread out over South east Asia. China, Burma, Laos, Viet Nam and Thailand. Even thou most that live in Thailand were born here they are treated as interlopes. Putting The Akha right at the bottom of the Social Economic Scale.
Siam Chiang Mai Akha
Elephant Safari
Chiang Mai Thailand.
The wet season
The wet season is in full swing here in Chiang Mai. It’s my favourite time of the year here. The rain cools the whole place down. Much the same as the 3 deg rise in water temperature (from the great Pacific Ocean current) Heralds Summer back home in New Zealand. Here in The Far North of Thailand we only have 3 seasons, A very short winter (not so hot) followed immediately by Summer (Hot) As the temperature starts to get unbearable the massive amount of evaporation causes precipitation (RAIN i.e. the start of the WET season).
The Wet Season is more like New Zealand (it can rain any time) If it doesn’t rain for 3 or 4 days it starts to heat up again and the cycle repeats. What goes up must come down.
The Monsoons that sweep across India and the Indian Ocean that just devastated Burma so bad peter out to a good storm by the time they reach here.
The Mountain range (high hills) that run all the way from the Far North of Thailand right down to the South past Bangkok protect us.
That’s not to say we don’t get some bad flooding as the spill over from China rushes down the Mekong River. In 1994 my guest house just off Chiang Mai Lampoon Road (next to the Ping River) was like an island.
Luckily for me my Guest House was built on raised land so I just opened the gates and parked my Citroen up on dry ground.
I went out and hired a large 4 wheel drive until the waist deep water receded.
The biggest problem with the flooding is for the poor. By Kings Decree they can build over flood land and water (no mans land) and not be moved on by the authorities.
Each big storm that we get the Water Board in there infinite wisdom open the flood gates of the large earth Dam on the upper Ping river and flood all the flood land south.
Washing away a few poor but saving Chiang Mai from a wetting. Eventually a country as rich as this will one day get around to building a proper concrete Dam.
Please try to support Glenn on his 1400 km walk up To
Chiang Mai.
It is for the Croston House Children's Home
Click on the banners to check out his progress.
People just keep coming back.
I first came to Chiang Mai many years ago and have lost count of the return trips when the total got to well over 25. That’s 25 Thailand – New Zealand return.
It’s not just the low cost of living. You can rent a Mansion 3 or 4 miles out of the City centre for the price of a room back home. One of my friends is renting a large 2 story 5 bedroom House on a large property for only 1500B a month. ( us$465). By large I mean HUGE 2 or 3 acres. Its all fenced off with servant quarters.
Another friend is renting an x resort about 25 minutes drive from the City for 8 or 9000 Bart a month.
There are whole suburbs catering for the Farang (European).
It’s not just the Amazing time you have and the friendly Thai People.
Land of Smiles is not just a catch phrase it’s a way of life that’s addictive.
Thailand was never colonized by the British or the French like all its close neighbours. So you do not see the undercurrent of hate that you get in the old Colonies
.
Thailand means Free Land and is Free, you can travel were and when you like on your entry Visa, with out a permit or any one asking were you are going or what you are doing. It is not the same in Laos, Burma, China or Viet Nam.
Its not just the incredible night life.
It’s not the 100’s of thousands of Thai Girls looking for a Husband and a better life.
(Thailand has a 65% / 35% split 65% Girls 35% Men. So there are many young ladies looking.
It’s not all the exciting places steeped in History and Intrigue.
It is a combination of all these things and much much more.
If you are looking for a quality lifestyle in your retirement or early retirement Chiang Mai is the ideal place.
It has quality medical at the right price and all the modern amenities.
My unlimited ADSL internet connection and phone is under 1000 Bart a month.
(30 - us$33)
Many Guest houses have rooms from 2000 - 3000 Bart a month if you look.
us$60 - $100 a month (the price of a motel room back home for a night.
Burma
Bangkok Post top story 28th May 2008
The Burmese military regime must begin to allow foreign aid workers unhindered access to the areas hardest-hit by Cyclone Nargis soon if it hopes to keep the trust of the international aid community, Asean chief Surin Pitsuwan said Tuesday.
"What has to be delivered is real activities," said Surin, who is secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Asean, along with the United Nations co-hosted a pledging conference for the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Rangoon over the weekend and their reputations are on the line to help to deliver the junta's pledges.
While the conference, attended by about 500 delegates from 51 countries and UN agencies, failed to attract an outpouring of promises for Burma's post-cyclone reconstruction efforts, it was deemed an important first step in building trust between the international aid community and the country's notoriously paranoid military rulers.
The regime has been under intense criticism for hampering an international relief effort for the estimated 2.4 million people affected by Nargis, which swept the country's central coast on May 2-3, leaving at least 133,000 dead or missing.
More than three weeks after the storm hit, international aid has reached 40 per cent of the affected population, a poor performance generally blamed on the government's refusal to facilitate logistics and allow more international relief experts in the Irrawaddy Delta region, the area hardest-hit by the cyclone.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday won assurance from junta chief, Snr Gen Than Shwe, that his country would allow "all" aid workers unhindered access to the storm-affected areas, a message that was seemingly supported at Sunday's aid pledging conference.
Although there have been signs of speeding up visa approvals and allowing greater access to the delta for UN relief experts, there are still complaints of unnecessary delays to the big aid push.
"There are many low-hanging fruits that can be harvested, and those include accessibility, delivering of supplies already on the ground, monitoring, and the ability to admit and allow foreign aid workers into the field with less obstacles and less delay," Surin said of what was immediately expected of the junta.
He called on the international community to allow the regime a few more days before deciding whether it was reneging on its commitment to allow more foreigners in.
"I think we need to give it a week to say the curve is rising or the curve is being maintained at the same level or the curve of access is actually going down," Surin said a press conference.
Asean is to play a crucial facilitating role in the aid flow, especially for the reconstruction phase, by sending in teams to assess the amount of damage done by the cyclone and joining a tripartite "core team" with nine experts from Asean, the United Nations and Burma to overcome hurdles to the aid operations.
The United Nations wants a clear assessment of the cyclone's destruction and emergency aid needed by June 12, after which it was to launch another flash appeal for donations from the world community.
About 50 per cent of the $201 million flash appeal initially launched by the United Nations has been met by contributions and pledges.
"The tone struck by the major donors on Sunday was that they are ready to give significant assistance to a clear programme that is monitored and which can be implemented," said Richard Horsey, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Confidence in implementation would depend, once again, upon the degree of access by foreign experts who are allowed into the cyclone zone.
Several UN agencies, including the World Food Programme, have said they have been granted more visas and greater access to the delta since Friday although still with the need for permission on a case-by-case basis.
"Yesterday was a red-letter day with seven visas applied for and seven visas issued," said Paul Risley, a World Food Programme spokesman.
Over the weekend and for the first time, at least one foreign expert with the UN aid agency was allowed to tour the delta to assess food needs, and on Tuesday, it is to be permitted to fly its own helicopter to three remote destinations in the delta that were previously off-limits, Risley said.
But the Burmese bureaucracy continues to bog down the process.
"Every step of the way has been very difficult," said Risley. "Every step has required an agreement with the government, clearance from the government and approval from the government of virtually all of our actions." (dpa)
As I said in my previous post Burma, Laos, Viet Nam and China are bogged down in RED tape in varying degrees.
Thailand on the other hand opened its arms to the International Community in the last big Natural disaster that struck in the South a few years ago.
When I last traveled to Hanoi in Viet Nam in 1992 I stayed 4 or 5 weeks. During that time we decided to go to a Sea side Resort area not so far from Hanoi. It was out of the Provence so we had to go to the City Hall (government centre) for a visa stamp to cross the border of the State/Provence. What rigmarole! We spent a whole day sitting in line clutching a number just only to be told to come back tomorrow.
That was it I was out of there. Now understanding the Asian way all it would have taken was a few $$.
A few days after that I sent a mini container back to New Zealand and traveled down to the Ports around 70 km out of Hanoi. We left at 5am and arrived at the Port at 12 noon. 7 hours driving just to go 70 Ks.
On trying to enter the Port area the armed guard looked it the car and said in broken English “You not Viennese, cannot go in” Our driver opened the glove box and took us$1 from a stack and gave it to him. The Guard saluted and said to me “Sorry you are from Viet Nam Enter”.
Imagine if large agencies like the UN. have trouble getting Visa’s for Aid workers how will Burma treat little people like us with no Push / Large cash reserves to pay the ferry Man.
That said there are now many guided Tours into Burma (as long as you stick to there beaten path). You have to get your Visa and Itinerary all set out and done before you enter Burma. They don’t want you going into the Opium growing Areas where the poppies stretch from horizon to horizon.
Of course that highly legal out fit running Burma will tell you they are all grown by Renegade Hill Tribe Armies, nothing to do with us. Ha.
Footnote:
In my opinion from over 40 years involvement in this area of the World the Army Generals in this area and the CIA are in coalition over this.
The whole thing is controlled by many different countries and at top the CIA.
Footnote 2: Over the last 4 years things are starting to change in Burma.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton hailed a "new chapter" in relations with Myanmar ahead of talks on Saturday with Aung San Suu Kyi, in the latest high-level mission to the former pariah state.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (pictured on April 3 2012) has hailed a "new chapter" in relations with Myanmar ahead of talks with Aung San Suu Kyi. Her visit for talks with the opposition leader and the reformist regime comes just days after the EU suspended a wide range of trade, economic and individual sanctions against the long-isolated country.
Her visit for talks with the opposition leader and the reformist regime comes just days after the European Union suspended a wide range of trade, economic and individual sanctions against the long-isolated country.
"The European Union welcomes the remarkable changes in Burma/Myanmar and has decided to open a new chapter in our relations," Ashton said in a statement released late Friday.
"Of course reforms need to continue -- we need to see further progress, in particular the unconditional release of all political prisoners and efforts to end ethnic conflicts," she added.
"We are ready to assist with these efforts as well as with economic and social development. We will continue to support the democratic transition, including through electoral assistance and encourage trade and investment in the country."
After her talks with Suu Kyi, Ashton will open a new EU office in Rangoon that diplomats say will mostly oversee the management of aid programmes but also have a political role.
Speaking in Brunei on Friday at the end of a meeting of European and Southeast Asian foreign ministers and senior diplomats, Ashton said it would be a "first step" towards establishing a full delegation.
Myanmar, which languished for decades under a repressive junta, has announced a series of reforms since a controversial 2010 election brought a civilian government to power -- albeit one with close links to the military.
The suspension of the EU sanctions is intended to bolster sweeping reforms that culminated in opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's election to parliament on April 1.
Suu Kyi's debut as a lawmaker has been delayed because the Nobel Peace Prize winner and other newly elected members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party are refusing to swear to "safeguard" an army-created constitution.
The veteran dissident said on Thursday she hoped the issue would be "smoothed over without too much difficulty before too long."
On Monday Ashton will hold talks with President Thein Sein in the capital Naypyidaw.
The former army general has ushered through a broad range of changes since coming to power last year, including welcoming Suu Kyi's party into the political mainstream and freeing political prisoners.
A steady stream of foreign dignitaries, including British Prime Minister David Cameron and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have visited Myanmar since the quasi-civilian government took power last year.
Canada also recently suspended most sanctions and Japan waived $3.7 billion of Myanmar's debt.
But the United States on Wednesday ruled out an immediate end to its main sanctions on Myanmar, saying it wanted to preserve leverage to push the regime on an end to ethnic violence and other key issues.
- Published: 28/04/2012 at 12:48 PM Bangkok Post
Footnote 3
The old Thai adage "everything is changing while it all stays the same" applies even more so here.
Thai Food.
Thai food is just Aroy mark mark (delicious) they have taken the best of south East Asia and the World and somehow come up with this delicious array of foods.
Wow when you eat real Thai food (not the washed out excuse that they sell in Shopping Mall’s in the West) you will never look back.
I was razed on traditional British fare, with the Sunday roast and apple crumble pudding. As a young lad I worked after school for a Chinese family in a green grocers shop. So at the relatively young age of 11 or 12 was introduced to Chinese food. I loved it.
After living in Thailand for a number of years I returned to New Zealand. That Chinese food that I used to love tasted so bland. Traditional British food just loads on the weight and doesn't’t taste much better.
A Thai cook crushes all the herbs and spices in a mortar and pestle (Never in a blender). Spending 20 minutes or so to get it just right. That’s before even starting to cook.
We also have Thai cooking course’s that take you to the markets and show you what foods (ingredients) to buy, then take you to our cooking school and teach you how to make Aroy Mark Mark food.
The Thai open markets are an adventure on there own, In Chiang Mai the food comes in fresh every day, literally thousands of trucks and people work all night transporting fresh produce into Chiang Mai from all over the north. Live fish is trucked in ever day in large stainless steel tankers from fish farms and the fishing fleets in the south.
When you buy fish it is pulled out of the water for you, now that’s fresh.
Northern Thailand's cooler climate is conducive to vegetable cultivation; aahaan neua (Northern Thai cuisine) features a larger variety of vegetables than other Thai regional cuisines. Popular here is somtarm, a tart and spicy salad made with green papaya. I would not recommend eating this one unless you are used to Spicy (Real Hot) food.
The cheo neua make use of many roots and herbs seldom seen elsewhere in the country, especially culinary herbs with a bitter flavour. For example, spicy kaeng khae soup contains cha-om (bitter acacia leaf) along with phak chi farang (sawtooth coriander), plus two types of eggplant known for their bitterness, makheua praw (Thai eggplant) and makheua phuang (pea eggplant). Sour tones are enjoyed in other soups, such as kaeng phak heuat (soup with tamarind juice) and kaeng ho (soup with pickled bamboo shoots).
Our cooking course start at one day, were you learn three dishes after your trip to the open market. You learn while having fun, our teachers are skilled cooks but being Thai will always throw some humour into the learning process.
We have people coming back year after year just for the cooking courses.
Chiang Mai also supports the best Traditional Thai massage schools and courses in the country.
Mornoi Clinic
Take the Road out to MaeJo University.
Turn Right at the Esso S/Station.
Turn Right at the Wat (Temple).
We are 1st past the Spar on the left.
Mornoi-Clinic The Mor Noi Clinic is a Holistic Traditional Thai Medicine Clinic.