From peasants tilling fields at the close of day to ribbed hillsides breathing out vapour at the break of day, the countryside of northwestern Thailand is serene in its majesty. After decades of widespread hunting the forests may have fallen eerily silent, but no man armed with bow or rifle can bring down the tropical sun. Where birds once cawed and monkeys once howled, it is the dawn the makes all the noise nowadays.
Please click on image to enlarge. Trust me, it’ll be worth your while.
There’s a village about as far northwest as you can go in Thailand before you hit the fortified frontier with Myanmar. Its name is Ban Rak Thai, which translates as “Thai-Loving People”. There’s a story in how it came to be. That village with its signs written in Mandarin and its slopes lined with oolong tea shrubs was founded by Kuomintang soldiers, themselves escaping Mao’s Communists across the hills from Yunnan Province in 1949. While the mainstay of Chinese nationalists fighting under warlord Chiang Kai Shek fled to Taiwan, this faction of history’s losers found sanctuary in Thailand where they brought a little taste of home with them.
A dozen tribal groups from the rugged and remote hill country on the Thai-Burmese border, including the famous long-necked Karen and the Shan ethnic Burmese, congregate in a small town called Maehong Son in the far northwest of Thailand to celebrate education, and to light votive candles in a ceremony of peace and togetherness during the Small World Festival, held on Christmas night 2016..
Camera: Nikon d610
Lenses: Sigma 20mm F.14, Nikkor 50mm F1.8, & Nikkor 24-85mm F3.5
The Blind Salamander 