Moei River is the border between Thailand and Burma, but also a bustling nerve in the Karen society.
The river flows through a lush mountain landscape with small villages scattered in the mountain sides with their ricepaddies around them.
Roads are rare, so the villagers does not travel much, and survive from what they grow and harvest from the nature around them.
Houses are also made out of nature. All traditional houses are on wooden stilts with bamboo walls and leaf roofs, but some also have timber walls and some few have roof bought in a town. The houses are one open room, divided with different levels in the floor, stating different levels of privacy.
A typical remote village in the mountains.
Traditional clothes are often used. This is based on handvowen Karen shirts and sarongs for both woman and men. The colours and patterns and the way they are fastened are however different.
The area has three seasons, rainy season from approximately May to September. Then everything comes alive and shine in different variations of green. There is also a lot of insects, hot and humid, but also very beautiful.
The comes winter, and from October to April, it gets dryer and dryer, but flowers starts to bloom. The temperature at night reaches down to below 20 degrees. With open houses, this feels a lot colder.
Then comes hot season, it’s dry and brown and temperatures often reaches above 40 degrees during daytime. With maybe down to 30 degrees at night, it is hard to sleep.
Along the river, some villages has grown into larger villages and towns. The roads are better and they can be reached with cars all year around, but boats are still a common vehicle.
Our village, Noh Bo, is one of the larger villages along the river. It has power, water and a road.
Down-town Noh Bo. Even if people have access to more in a village like this, life is still to a big degree based on traditions.
This is Phillipa and his families bathroom in Noh Bo. For the area, a quite modern version of it.
Cars are rare, motorbikes are normal, and tractors like these can also be used on most paths. For heavy load, elephants are still in use.
Schools are normally a larger building with one room, that is shared by all classes. How many classes depends on how many teachers available, but 7 grades is a standard.
Most schools have leaf roofs. A beautiful and sustainable material that can easily be harvested around each village. It is also a material that is not too waterproof, that leaves loads of dust into the room, and require a lot of maintenance, so for the parents to be able to harvest food and for the teachers to teach, we always use a roof that last longer.
Religious buildings and traditions are important in the area, but Karen are Christian, Buddhist and Spiritual. Some changes through their lives and some relate to more than one religion.
And even with a war-torn history and present, and a population that are minorities, migrants, immigrants and refugees in one and the same people, even if few are rich in monetary wealth, and injustice is regularly observed, it is a peaceful and light atmosphere to the whole area that can hardly be described.
