For centuries, the mysterious region of South East Asia known as the Golden Triangle has captivated many. The early 20th century saw a surge in the infamous tabloid tales of being the world’s second largest home and traffic to opium and heroin.
Fast forward to today, the Western imagination is transfixed by the six culturally distinct people occupying this region – Akha, Karen, Lisu, Hmong, Lahu and Mien – also commonly (and loosely) referred to as the hill tribes.
The Golden Triangle once knew no boundaries. The remote mountainous villages were a meeting trade point where India, Tibet, China and Mongolia set passage to access the rest of South East Asia. Diversity of cultures was therefore a norm. What is intriguing though is how the many cultures in this region have managed to stand the test of time, preserving age old cultures, languages and dress.
Recently though, the Golden triangle has become a home to the displaced people of South East Asia. With no country to solely call their own, this region between Laos, Burma and Thailand is even more mysterious as – despite the hostility of the environment and outside influences – the people fight to maintain and continue their distinct ways.
For some it is pottery making and basket weaving , others silver smelting and for most if not all, it is the intricacy of their clothes. Commonly handmade from either cotton or hemp, and hand dyed from natural plant material, it is impossible not to admire the thought and detail each tribe boasts of; never loosing sight of their ancient ways, theirs is a story told one stitch at a time.
I love it. Good for you and to go through the troubles of doing so. But making it easily available To survive time is doing a valuable deed that is way overlooked. I married a Mien wife and surprise at how the culture (Seattle) is still so ignorant to the diversity. I’m referring to everyone black, white, Asians, euros, all that derived from Spain once upon a time, Africans, etc. Was making a Mien statue today and googled me in traditional garment for reference and surprise there is only a couple hundred in totality vs googling Bieber and u have over 100 million photos. Compare 200 something Photos = entire tribe of people vs one kid = millions of photos. The disparity is evident value of knowledge and learning is placed on the thing human progression has regressed