Akha wedding / Mae Chan market

[misskit]

This past weekend, I was invited to an Akha wedding. It was a rainy, dreary day so please forgive the darkness of the images.

The bride and groom

Inside the house where the elders and shaman were.

[misskit]

Back outside at the party.



This woman was so proud to show off her headdress. It was beautifully polished.


From her I learned this headgear cost around B70,000. Only the wealthy Akha can afford to have the traditional costume!

Surrounding tables.


The food.

[Dan]

I hope it wasn't as dour as it looks.

[misskit]

This is the Friday market at Mae Chan. People come in from the hills to bring the produce they have grown and the food and goods they have foraged from the jungle.

This woman is selling bamboo for cooking kao lam, a vine used for medicine, two types of wild mushroom and eggplant.


The things in the middle on the plates are flower buds available only this time of year used for cooking.


I don't know what kind of seed this is. Perhaps mustard?


This is the Akha lady I went to the market with and her relative selling there. She gave us a piece of the honeycomb she was selling. We ate it the next night, wrapped in a banana leaf and roasted on a fire. It was tasty, bee grub and all.


More wild mushrooms.


Ant eggs. Big ones and tiny ones.


The figs were not ripe.


Don't know what these blooms are for.


These bamboo containers had rice worms inside. Rice worms are actually the caterpiller of a moth. We ate those fried up the next evening.

[misskit]

I hope it wasn't as dour as it looks.

It was fairly grim. Not a ray of sun. We were all slogging around in the mud that stuck to our shoes and pulled our shoes off.

[aging one]

The quality was fine, it captured the other side of Thailand beautifully. Great thread.

[Simon43]

The old crones in photo 3# look as miserable as shit. When faced with people like that I tend to burst out into spontaneous laughter and grins ==> maybe explains maybe why most sane people give me a wide berth

Simon

[taxexile]

are you sure they are real akha, i cant see any of those clacking wooden frogs that i always understood were a central part of akha culture.

[misskit]

The old crones in photo 3# look as miserable as shit.

That photo makes me laugh. There was actually one, the old gal with her hand up, who was actually miserable. She didn't want her photo taken. The rest were ok with it. They only put on the sour puss for the photo.

I don't know what the deal is with tribal people having their photos made while wearing traditional clothes. They practically never smile in them.

[Bung]

^^ A worthy green for you sir!

[BobR]

I wish them the best, too bad they could not have better weather for their special day.

[watdog]

very interesting. thanks.

[laymond]

^^ A worthy green for you sir!

shit,i thought you were a sheila,??great little post anyway.

[padova44]

If the women were made so obviously uncomfortable by being photographed, then why didn't you desist? these are anything but 'happy-snappies'.

[natalie8]

She didn't want her photo taken. The rest were ok with it.

If the women were made so obviously uncomfortable by being photographed, then why didn't you desist?

Didn't you read misskit's post? Desist? Are you a cop?

[natalie8]

Thanks for the pics, misskit. Obviously they don't hav eth smiley happy Thai gene, more the frowny, grumpy gene of some Chinese.

[ralphlsasser]

Damn, the bride is fugly.

[misskit]

If the women were made so obviously uncomfortable by being photographed, then why didn't you desist? these are anything but 'happy-snappies'.

Maybe they are still at the stage Europeans were before we started to smile in photos. Ever noticed no one smiled in old photos?

[Tickiteboo]

Nice thread misskit, particularly liked the market pics, thanks.

[sabaii sabaii]

I see why no ones smiling, the brides wearing a 70 grand hat and there all sitting on the floor or plastic chairs chewing ant leggs, fleer buds, worms and larvae.

What a miserable looking bunch of fucks, you need to teach them how to say CHEESE. I can't envisage many of them getting up and shake pineapple rock the tree to Agadoo

That kid in the orange looks the happiest, guaranteed he's been flicking that Fanta all over the backs of all those party animals

Nice pics Miss Kit, I enjoyed that
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u...28Small%29.JPG

[Old Monkey]

I read in a couple of anthropology books on Hilltribes that Lisus are reknown for their beautiful women... Now I understand why!

[sabaii sabaii]

^Sorry I haven't read that book. But I'm assuming this is not the lisus tribe ?

[craighj]

Very interesting thank you.

I've never seen anything quite like that wedding before.

Judging from the expressions on the peoples faces they have a very hard life.

Did you get to try the food, if so what was it like?

Craighj

[misskit]

^The food tasted OK, nothing special but I did spent most of that evening in the bathroom.

They slaughtered two pigs that morning so the meat was very fresh.

[Simon43]

these are anything but 'happy-snappies'.

As has been mentioned in this thread, some people are naturally grumpy cnuts. All the more reason to stick a camera in their faces and to records their miserable features for posterity.

In 100 years from now, someone will view the photos of these Akha (now extinct) and say 'Ah, the Akha people, famous for their miserable, glum faces. If only they had smiled, maybe they would not have been anihilated by the Happy tribe...'