Remote

[Robby nz]

No not the thing you change channels with.

We were invited recently to go with a group which takes donated items to remote hill tribes and I took a quite a few photos which I would like to share.

As there are to many to put on at one time and rather than put them in different topics I thought I would do a sort of photo essay of the trip.

The villages we visited are inland from Tha Song Yang which is about 80KM north of Mae Sot in road 105.

On the road to Mandalay, crossing the Moei River at Tha Song Yang.

The roads (for want of a better word) we were to travel on are 4WD only and pass through cultivated hills.

Before we got far we came across a washed out section at a little concrete bridge which was filled in by rocks and bamboo by a friendly local.

The work was tested by the first in the convoy, with trepidation.

The 'work' held up and we all got across OK.

We carried on up the hill and arrived at the first village we planned to stop at.

And dispensed some of the donated clothes blankets and kids toys.

To be continued, probably tomorrow.

[Goompa]

Nice work Robby , looking forward to more

Cheers

[shaggy1969]

Quality Robby, well done mate!!!

[jcisco]

Good work and thanks for the pics

[fimgirl]

+1 as all above. Look forward to seeing more.

[Robby nz]

We carried on up the road with a stop for a minor breakdown that was quickly fixed.

In the early part of the trip the hill farms were within reasonable distance of the main road and markets so farmers could grow crops for sale, some of the hillsides the crops were on were a fair distance from the villages so the farmers had built overnight shelters for when they were working the fields.

As you can see from this photo there is no way machinery could be used so all work has to be done by hand, ground preparation, planting and harvest.

Early on some of the steeper sections of the road had been concreted and this work was continuing.

I was told there are 19 small villages in that area but we only stopped at 4 bypassing most which were down side roads.

To be continued

[Robby nz]

We carried on up the road with a stop for a minor breakdown that was quickly fixed.

road on way up.JPG

In the early part of the trip the hill farms were within reasonable distance of the main road and markets so farmers could grow crops for sale, some of the hillsides the crops were on were a fair distance from the villages so the farmers had built overnight shelters for when they were working the fields.

farmers shelter.JPG

As you can see from this photo there is no way machinery could be used so all work has to be done by hand, ground preparation, planting and harvest.

farmed hills..JPG

Early on some of the steeper sections of the road had been concreted and this work was continuing.

road works.JPG

I was told there are 19 small villages in that area but we only stopped at 4 bypassing most which were down side roads.

another village.JPG

To be continued

As well as villages there was the occasional house on its own.

On up the road then down to another small village which was to be our second stop.

This was mainly to give treats and toys to the kids as well as some blankets for this village was still close enough to the main road for them to take produce out to sell and to actually have some money, read comparatively wealthy. This was bourn out by the 3 old pickups under a shelter and a few motorbikes.

I took the opportunity to take some sneaky photos of young mothers who were looking on, they were little more than children themselves but still had a couple of kids each.

And this natural beauty who would put most painted and botox injected celebrities to shame.

And her youngster who appears to have been in the wars.

More another day

[Robby nz]

Moving on up an easier section of the road, and it was mostly up on the way in.

Accept for the occasional down to cross a stream like this one where a bridge sat unfinished except for an improvised walkway.

We came to a temple on top of a hill, it was the only one we saw and must have been a lonely existence for a monk for it was well away from any other habitation. For the village were mostly in valleys where they could take advantage any flats and the streams to grow rice.

I missed a photo of the monks accommodation which was an open sided thatched roof shed with a mosquito net hanging in the middle.

Before I go farther perhaps I should explain, the road was so rough in most place that I couldn't take photos on the move in the normal sense and just pocked the camera out the window, pointed it in roughly the right direction and clicked several times. So I've had to go through the results, throw out the garbage and try to pick out something reasonable.

As we got closer to our eventual destination we came to newest section of road they call 'fish tin road' this I am told is because they got the locals to hue it from the hillside by hand and as at that time they never even seen money let alone had a use for it they were paid for their work in tins of fish.

The start of fish tin road.

No Provision for oncoming traffic here.

Nor was any expected for the village we were headed to is the only one from here on and they have no transport of their own nor are they visited often.

Farther on up that road tomorrow.

[Robby nz]

Moving on up an easier section of the road, and it was mostly up on the way in.

on up the hill.JPG

Accept for the occasional down to cross a stream like this one where a bridge sat unfinished except for an improvised walkway.

unfinished bridge.JPG

We came to a temple on top of a hill, it was the only one we saw and must have been a lonely existence for a monk for it was well away from any other habitation. For the village were mostly in valleys where they could take advantage any flats and the streams to grow rice.

temple.JPG

I missed a photo of the monks accommodation which was an open sided thatched roof shed with a mosquito net hanging in the middle.

Before I go farther perhaps I should explain, the road was so rough in most place that I couldn't take photos on the move in the normal sense and just pocked the camera out the window, pointed it in roughly the right direction and clicked several times. So I've had to go through the results, throw out the garbage and try to pick out something reasonable.

As we got closer to our eventual destination we came to newest section of road they call 'fish tin road' this I am told is because they got the locals to hue it from the hillside by hand and as at that time they never even seen money let alone had a use for it they were paid for their work in tins of fish.

The start of fish tin road.

fish tin road.JPG

No Provision for oncoming traffic here.

fish tin road. 2.JPG

Nor was any expected for the village we were headed to is the only one from here on and they have no transport of their own nor are they visited often.

Farther on up that road tomorrow.

Carrying on up fish tin road and almost at the top, you can see the top of the ridge where this section of road ends, the road then follows that ridge for a while.

We stopped at a the ridge top for a leak and look round and I took this picture looking back down, you can see the Cycas that I posted in Trees in the foreground.

From there it wasn't far, along the ridge and sideling around the hill, to our destination at the end of the road.

Just one last obstacle to negotiate with a large rock in the middle of the 'road' leading down to the stream crossing that had to be carefully bent around.

All day on the track and close to 80km from start point. must be about as remote as you can get in this country.

See you tomorrow.

[Robby nz]

UPDATE

I have just been informed by an excited complains department that she was on TV this morning.

One of the organisors of the trip is a PBS cameraman and a short Doco on the trip was shown this morning.

It is now on Y tube if anyone is interested and can be seen at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV0gNN7qZGY

The relevant part is from 6.2 min to 12.56 min into the video.

Also informed that the village is 115 KM from Tha Song Yang.

[Robby nz]

UPDATE

I have just been informed by an excited complains department that she was on TV this morning.

One of the organisors of the trip is a PBS cameraman and a short Doco on the trip was shown this morning.

It is now on Y tube if anyone is interested and can be seen at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV0gNN7qZGY

The relevant part is from 6.2 min to 12.56 min into the video.

Also informed that the village is 115 KM from Tha Song Yang.

It was getting fairly late when we arrived so we went up to the top of the village to where the school is on a small piece of flat ground, there we unloaded the things we had brought into the school for distribution the next day. There was not enough room there for everyone so the vehicle we were in and a couple of others went back down the slightly steep track again to close to the stream crossing.

Where the designated cook had set up his kitchen.

We set up our tent on the left of the above photo on the top tier of paddy that had not as yet been worked up, by that time the cook had been busy and dinner was served. After that dark and sleep time.

Next morning Things were to be given out at the school, those who have watched the video will have seen this in action. Being somewhat independent and nosy I gave that a miss and wandered around, first down the road where I encountered a gate.

After negotiating that, farther on there was a small side track with a house a bit isolated from the others.

More tomorrow.

[jcisco]

Thanks again for the pictures, more story would be awesome, And yes I know I am being a tad expecting considering where you are and you aint obligated. I appreciate the effort you are making with documenting the community works with the remote people in Thailand. It is great work and I am sure more needs to be done and any attention can help, don't let my request take away at all from what your doing!!

[Goompa]

Robby , I must say that you have done a cracking job of this photo Journal mate

The adventure on its own must have been amazing , and the choice of yours to amaze and entertain and enlighten us all is priceless !

Thank you so very much for bringing this wealth of information and great photos for all to view and admire .

Respect

Goomps

[Robby nz]

Carrying on down the road I got a look down a 'field' to the paddy in the valley and wondered how they got water up from the stream down in the gully in the foreground to flood the paddy.

I turned around, back through the gate and followed the stream up to where there had been a small dam built of sticks and stones.

All was then revealed as the dam was the start of a race that had been dug in the hillside to direct water down to the paddy. What looked like a track at the top of the first photo was in fact this race carried on all the way down the valley.

Back at he bottom of the village everyone had gone up to the school to the giving out of the things we had brought and I was able to take some photos of a couple of the houses, such as they are.

We later found out that this badly arranged pile of sticks and flattened out bamboo with a corrugated iron roof is the home for a family with 4 kids and a grandmother.

As there was nobody home I was able to have a look inside at their total worldly goods, puts a whole new meaning on poverty. We found out later that his family had no food and we gave them everything we had including things they had never seen before like bread, jam and a packet of spaghetti. We had to tell them what to do with them.

Till tomorrow.

[sunshine51]

^^^Robby...I just ran outta "likes". The storyline is excellent & please keep us updated

as you have been. Great stuff!

[bundycat]

One word WOW !!!!

and thanks

[TP1]

Thank you Robby.

It's fascinating for me.

[sometime]

Carrying on down the road I got a look down a 'field' to the paddy in the valley and wondered how they got water up from the stream down in the gully in the foreground to flood the paddy.

paddy.JPG

I turned around, back through the gate and followed the stream up to where there had been a small dam built of sticks and stones.

race dam.JPG

All was then revealed as the dam was the start of a race that had been dug in the hillside to direct water down to the paddy. What looked like a track at the top of the first photo was in fact this race carried on all the way down the valley.

water race.JPG

Back at he bottom of the village everyone had gone up to the school to the giving out of the things we had brought and I was able to take some photos of a couple of the houses, such as they are.

home for family with.JPG

We later found out that this badly arranged pile of sticks and flattened out bamboo with a corrugated iron roof is the home for a family with 4 kids and a grandmother.

inside.JPG

As there was nobody home I was able to have a look inside at their total worldly goods, puts a whole new meaning on poverty. We found out later that his family had no food and we gave them everything we had including things they had never seen before like bread, jam and a packet of spaghetti. We had to tell them what to do with them.

Till tomorrow.

That last one brought a lump to my throat.

Thanks for the insight that most dont see.

[Assurancetourix]

Thank you so much Robby ;

Great what u did for these people

[Robby nz]

I have just been given a couple of photos taken by someone else which shows the oldest girl of the family from the house I posted yesterday.

She is around six years old and the only one from that family old enough for school. The teacher told of her not going to school on some days and when he asked her why she said she had to go into the forest to find food.

The school gives the kids a meal every day and the teacher said to her, "You get food here" she said "But I have to find food for the others"

I was on walkabouts at the time so didn't see this but it seems there were a group of kids watching breakfast being eaten so everything that was left was cooked up and the kids were told to get plates. The girl from the house is the second one with the 'off white' school uniform waiting with her plate.

She was also given a teddy, the same color as her shirt. All the small kids got soft toys and armfuls of other things.

These boys have a helicopter, they were also all given shoes kindly donated by a shoe shop.

When we gave our food this lady wanted to give something in return and brought us this small bundle of forest herbs. I thought she was the grandmother of the family but was later told she is the children's mother. We had seen that they start having kids young and her oldest being around six this would make her no older than probably in her late twenties. The women age quick in that environment.

We were told there are 24 houses and 175 people in that village and the houses are well spread out, probably because there is little flat ground.

This photo is of a couple of other houses that are close together. I am told the white garment hanging up in front of the house in the foreground signifies there is a virgin living there of, or close to marriageable age, a sign for a young man looking for a wife.

For now.

[fimgirl]

^^ excellent photojournalism - very interesting insight into these people.

Edited June 15, 2015 by fimgirl

[Robby nz]

They have a "Doctor" in the village, whether qualified or not I didn't ask. He moves around and looks after many of the other villages in the area.

We had been asked to take basic medical supplies such as sticking plaster, bandages and cough medicine and we had taken a big box of stuff that was both donated and bought with us in our car.

This is the doctor in white and a young man from the village who has escaped and has been as far into the big world as BKK, he has returned to the village and acted as an interpreter. The kids are taught in Thai at school but the older people still use their own language.

Her ladyship had been complaining of a sore shoulder so the Doc sat her down in his "Surgery" and got to work. I was called on to do a "Take my photo" before it was time for me to go pack up our tent.

As most of the group had to get back to work it had been planned to only spend one night at the village. The advanced guard moved out negotiating the stream and large rock. There were 2 trail bike complete with all the falling off gear with us, that went in front to warn anyone coming the other way of the convoy following. A good safety measure for in the early part of the trip up and the latter part of the way down there were a number of motorbikes and a few pickups.

There had been a serious breakdown on the last stages of the way in and the "Chang" had been working on it the previous day but all he was able to do without parts was to disconnect the front wheel drive, this job was still in progress so several vehicles including the one we were in waited till he had finished. This was a wise move for they had to be winched up a couple of steeper parts of the track.

On the road home tomorrow.

[Robby nz]

On the way out there were families sitting watching and eating the last snacks they had been given.

Children were also watching wearing their new foot ware. There was no waving good by only sitting quietly watching us go. What would be in their minds,

one day we will be going with them perhaps ?

Looking down from the road out to some of the 'fields' of that village it puts a new definition on hard scrabble farming, in some places it was close to vertical. Corn was already planted on the hills with the paddy in the valley just starting to be worked, rice would be planted there when sufficient rains came. After that it was up to the weather and the gods so enough could be harvested to see them through till the next crop. If there was not enough then the remaining forest had to be turned to for food.

We went back down by a different road and stopped at a small school where we left most of the remaining things we had with us. All the schools in that area are Royal projects with this one a Queen Mother Project. When you travel in the more out of the way parts of this country you will see Royal Initiated Projects everywhere from health, education, soil and water conservation, agriculture and horticulture and everything you can think of, particularly concentrating on the poor and disadvantaged.

The Royal Household has done more for the poor of this country than all the politicians put together. They have my profound respect.

The final stretch tomorrow.

[sunshine51]

^^^ I'm outta likes Robby....

[Robby nz]

Easier going on the way down as it was generally downhill but the terrain was much the same with cultivated hillsides interspaced with bits of forest and second growth.

We stopped at another school for a quick lunch, this I am told is a Princess project. There was nothing planned to give out here and the children carried on with their school doings without taking much notice of us. One of the things we had been asked to take was basic school supplies such as pencils, rubbers, sharpeners and in particular chalk something that is hard to come by in this day of white boards. We had to order chalk from one of the bigger stationery suppliers and we had taken a large, heavy, box with us in our car. This had been left at Tha Song Yang with the coordinator of education in the area, known as the 'Director' to be given out to the teachers as required.

We passed some more road works on the way down preparing for the wet season.

We still had a large bag of soft toys with us so these were handed out to any little kids we saw on the way. We had taken two big bags with us that had been donated and others also had taken toys donated to and by them.

It was great how people came forward to donate things when they found out we were going, we had boxes of things mailed from as far away as Chiang Mai second hand vendors at the market stopped us and donated clothes and other things, as I mentioned before a shoe shop came up with a box of new shoes, enough for all the kids in the main village. People also donated money which the lady boss used to buy the medical supplies. We even had little kids wanting to give their teddy bear. People we had never met arrived at our door having driven the 140 km from BKK with this car full of goodies :

As well as the car full we took with us we had also delivered another load to the man who was coordinating from this end, and with what he already had at his house that had come from others he had to hire a truck to take it all up to Tha Song Yang, As everyone went up with a full vehicle much was left with the Director at Tha Song Yang to be distributed to the villages we did not visit through the teachers.

We still have a room full of clothes and soft toys for there was just to much to take. I hear there is another trip up there planned for early next year after the rainy season and before winter to take mostly warm clothes and blankets. Whether we go again will depend on several things but we will see. If we do go I will try to be more focused with my photography.

That's it. All that remains is to thank all of you for your kind comments.

Cheers, Robby.

[fimgirl]

Brilliant. Loved every "episode" . Respect to you and all involved.

[klauskunkel]

appreciate your caring and sharing