Dear readers, I read about them, saw documentaries and pictures about them and I saw them in reality once upon a time, one day, during the week in Thailand. Much has been said why the brass coil around the ladies' necks: to protect them from evil spirits, to protect from tigers eating them, as a sign of great beauty, to attract a better husband, tradition, culture and so forth. But one thing I learned that it was for tourism, an attraction for tourists. Why not? Well, we had to pass winding mountain road to this special hill tribe village. Upon reaching there, we walked passing two rows of 
wooden huts, each with a long neck lady or girl selling souvenir and local craf. Some of them as young as six years old sitting prettily waiting for pictures to be taken. Some of the not-so--young were weaving or tending to their kids. Of course tourists were attracted to the sweet-young ones. And they were sitting there quitely while tourists looked, smiled at them, talked with them in sign language.They obliged to take pictures with the tourists. Normally, they were given some money as token or the tourists bought something from them.. Surely, the sweet ones received the most lah. Kesihan mereka, jadi bahan pameran, atau macam......I bought some craftwork from them, donation, because this is their only income.
They are not the long neck ladies. Zaitun and Farah posing with the head gears of the hill tribe.
Picture above shows one of my friends with the most popular long neck ladies.
Dear readers, Another interesting place visited in Thailand was the stunning Mae Fah Laung Garden at Doi Tung, in the province of Chiang Rai. It is a beautiful landscapped garden built on the hill slopes just below the Royal Villa (now turned into a museum) where the Queen Mother(of Thailand) used to stay. The fascinating and beautiful garden features decorative and flowering plants, a Rock Garden, Water Garden, Palm Garden, Craft and Antique Garden, Ornamental Plant Garden. Each part has its own theme. We were a
ll in 'ooohs' here and 'aaahs' there admiring the beautiful plants, flowers and creative landscape. It was such a nice place to visit, to explore and to take pictures too. The garden, spread almost 4 hectares of land, is well kept, clean and tidy. There were so much to see and appreciate. We didn't have the time really to explore all angles but kept admiring the beautiful flowers. But a pat on the back for the workers! Job well done.The flowers bloom all year round making the Garden one of the brightest and most colourful site in Thailand. Just, just for reflection, we have nice flower gardens in our place too but I hope and do hope, they will be well looked after. Not "hangat-hangat tahi ayam sahaje, weh..." I know of a garden in my place, supposed to be 'a taman di Raja' , a 'taman bunga' , across the 'Istana Raja'. Nice place to jog and brisk walk. I wonder "how does our garden grow?"
