My Malaysia: Chiang Mai, North Thailand October 29-November 2, 2008 Part 4

Just down the narrow winding road from Doi Suthep is a small Hmong hill-tribe village. Since our time in the Chiang Mai area did not permit us to travel further north to really get an idea of the various hill-tribes peoples, this was to be our only opportunity, touristy as it was! We walked along the little road from the parking lot through the various handicraft stalls and using our guide, Son's, bargaining skills, I was able to purchase a lovely black cotton jacket with traditional red and black embroidery on it for 700 Baht (RM70). The lady who sold it to me said she had taken only two weeks to do all the embroidery by hand and it was quite lovely. Inbetween the narrow streets and old houses built mostly from rock, we did notice the fancy cars owned by the villagers, the use of mobile phones and IPODs, the selling of bottled water, etc. An entrance fee of 10 Baht (about 30 cents CAD) was charged to enter some pretty gardens with a waterfall and despite the drizzly rain, we enjoyed the flowers below.