In 1986 while “on the road” in Asia my husband John and I met a New York videographer traveling with his girlfriend. We teamed up to share a car and driver to visit and photograph the Hill Tribe area of Northern Thailand. The seven major hill tribes of Northern and Western Thailand have migrated from China over the past 2,000 years, each working to try to maintain its distinct language and culture.
Our driver arranged a stay with a Lahu Shahleh family. We were to sleep on the floor of a raised wooden hut along with the rest of the family, no ensuitebathrooms provided. The family matriarch was a feisty shaman with short cropped hair, who took us under her wing and promptly arranged our activities. One of these was a tour of the opium poppy fields led by some of the machete-armed young men, which included instructions on how to score the poppies. Each poppy has to be hand scored, then workers have to wait for the juice to become sticky before re-scoring in order to harvest, making for back breaking work. On that foray we had an encounter with a huge cobra, coiled overhead in a tree as we approached. Our guides had a brief discussion about a course of action, then threw a stick at it. It slithered away, providing the basis for probably-exaggerated story telling around the open fire that night.
The highlight of our visit was the raucous party on our last night there. Our shaman/hostess had asked us to purchase a pig to offer up as a sacrifice to heal her husband’s opium addiction which was a common affliction in the region. Roasting a pig over the open fire gave the community cause to celebrate. We participated in animist rituals and experienced traditional music and dance, photographing the events by the light of our vehicle and that of the family’s pick-up truck. It was an unforgettable experience which will always live in my memory and thankfully in my photographs.