Here I am, literally going off the beaten path.
What’s happening?
- The terrain is really rugged.
I’m Dena.
What do you guys think?
And when it comes to travel, it seems like
everyone wants to discover something new,
post the most epic photo and live like the locals.
And sometimes, that means visiting ethnic minorities and Indigenous groups.
An important disclaimer: I traveled to Thailand to report this story
before coronavirus became a global pandemic.
More on that at the end of this video.
When it comes to Thailand,
travel influencers say you gotta check out the hill tribes.
We started learning about all these hill tribes.
-... each with their own distinct culture and language.
They’re living very minimalistically out here in the tribes.
But we wanted to do, like, the extremely authentic tours.
But as we seek out so-called “authentic” experiences,
I want to know where we’re drawing the line
between cultural immersion and exploitation.
So I’m going on two very different tours to find out what it all means
for the locals on display.
Do they feel like they’re selling out their culture?
And who gets to decide what’s “extremely authentic” anyway?
Is that OK?
It’s OK? It’s not offensive?
You might be wondering where I am right now.
I'd normally feel a little weird about, a little appropriating, but
she’s saying it’s OK,
so I'm just gonna go with it. Yeah?
I’m at a so-called hilltribe village.
It’s a touristy spot right outside the city of Chiang Mai
in northern Thailand where families from seven different hill tribes live and work.
Very beautiful.
There’s no one to translate.
“Hill tribes” is an umbrella term for the various ethnic minorities in Thailand
that are originally from nearby countries.
They’ve been settling around Thailand’s mountainous border region
for hundreds of years.
I love the weaving over there.
Hill tribe people often live without citizenship or
means to make a living, and have historically been
marginalized by the Thai government.
Many are considered refugees.
The people in this village live here and set up shop selling handmade crafts
and other mass-produced souvenirs.
But this particular village was only established 10 years ago
and is part of a tour package that includes a neighboring elephant camp.
Villages like these have popped up
to give tourists a quick way to see the so-called
exotic Thailand.
But, I’m picking up on a power imbalance between the visitors and the women.
I'm a little conflicted being here.
it feels a bit weird to be going stand-by-stand and looking at them.
It just feels all a bit gawky.
I can't help but feel that this is a very uneven exchange.
And maybe that’s why places like this get a lot of online hate
from reviewers who doubt their “authenticity,” “lack of culture”
and even blast them as “human zoos.”
Some have even suggested boycotting them in the name of ethical travel.
I’m told the families live here for free
and get to keep all the money they make from selling their crafts.
Mutao’s parents live in Burma, and she came here with her aunt.
And, like many other people in this situation,
she doesn’t have citizenship in Thailand.
Of the seven tribes that live here, these women are the biggest draw.
They’re the so-called long-neck Kayan women,
and they’re famous for the heavy brass rings around their necks.
They’ve been captivating Westerners for some time.
Back in the 1930s, they were even paraded
around the U.S. and the UK as part of circus shows.
And many still can’t resist the photo op.
This is Ma Play, and I was able to talk to her through our translator.
I wanted to know:
How does she feel about being, essentially, a tourist attraction?
Is it weird to have tourists staring at you all day and taking your picture?
Many Kayan are refugees from Myanmar
who fled to Thailand to escape decades of conflict and poverty.
Oh my God. It’s so delicate.
They’re also known for their weaving skills.
Even just to try to get this piece of wood through the thread is -
Ma Play moved here six years ago to join her husband,
who works at the elephant camp.
Some tourists feel like this is, like, very fake and it’s not authentic.
What do you say to them?
I would love to buy this. Is it OK? How much is it?
400?
I love it.
Transactions like these are how Ma Play and the other women here make a living.
Still, much of this setup is designed to please tourists.
I want to believe she’s happy in this arrangement,
but it’s unlikely she would tell us, an American film crew, otherwise.
So the next thing I’m checking out is an alternative hilltribe experience -
one that many say feels less staged and more “authentic.”
We’re about 20 minutes into this drive
and, at this point, I’m just doing my best not to throw up.
Oh boy.
We’re heading to our homestay where we’ll be spending the night,
and it involves a bit of a journey.
We’re out here.
We’re, like, up on this mountain.
Thank you!
This is our host Nukul, who’s part of the Karen ethnic minority.
She runs a homestay where you can meet her family
and learn about their culture.
We are hiking up to her village.
We’ve been going at it for maybe 15 minutes,
and it’s basically a windy, uphill road.
But it’s very beautiful.
Honestly,
I'm feeling like this climb is extremely authentic.
The Karen are originally from Myanmar
and are the biggest ethnic minority in Thailand.
About half a million of them live here now.
Tell me about the Karen people.
There really is a pig tied to every house.
Just one day away by jet clipper lies the fabled land of Thailand.
Starting around the 1960s, more adventurous Western travelers
began setting out into Thailand’s hills, yearning
to set themselves apart from other tourists by “discovering” remote areas.
That trend continued as Nukul was growing up.
What was it like for you as a child
to be seeing so many tourists come by and looking at you
and your home and your family?
What were you scared of exactly?
Yeah, like backpackers.
But she saw an opportunity, one that would allow her
to make more money through tourism and stay in her village.
Nukul teamed up with an organization that
helps low-income Karen women learn English and run homestays.
She’s mainly been hosting young Westerners who find her on social media.
I’m wondering how much she’s had to change to accommodate her guests.
Our first stop was her cousin’s house,
and it seemed like the entire extended family was there.
It's like a blessing for good health, good luck?
Tell her, "Thank you so much."
Is your grandmother proud of you?
Why?
While we were eating, Nukul told me job opportunities for Karen people
are few and far between.
They’ve always lived on the margins of Thai society.
But it looked like the homestay business was doing well.
We definitely always try to make all of our travels be more of, like, their culture.
The authentic thing?
You think the guests are God in Thailand?
Why is that?
So like, it sounds like you need to keep them happy
in order to keep yourselves employed.
She gave me examples of how village life has changed to accommodate tourists.
Now, they've installed trash cans alongside the road.
It’s not lost on me that they’re changing
their culture to make us more comfortable when the whole point
is for us to experience their culture.
So, we're in front of Nukul's house.
That's her house back there.
It's rare to have a toilet inside the house.
They're normally traditionally outside of the house, but a lot of people,
like Nukul, have been building them
to make their guests more comfortable and make sure people come back and stay.
Oh, so instead of cooking on this fire, now you just have a stove.
- This is a kitchen and sometimes you sleep in it when it’s cold, yeah?
I learned that Karen families usually sleep all together in one room.
And, as we made our way to the homestay, I was wondering if we’d be joining them.
This is, I mean look, we’re going over rocks and stuff to get here.
At one point, we drove like, I’m pretty sure we drove through a river.
We don’t even know -
We don’t even really quite know
where we’re going.
It’s going to be a discovery for all of us.
All right, we’re here! We made it.
Turns out, we weren’t going to be staying in their actual home,
but rather new huts they’ve built just for their visitors.
It’s really nice!
They’ve got you situated in a little bamboo hut right next to the river.
It’s kinda like “glamping.”
- Oh my God, your dad built this?
This is a nice accommodation.
It is 5:30, and the sun is beginning to go down.
And Nukul and her cousin - Hi - and her brother, in there,
and some friends are preparing dinner for everyone.
This smells incredible.
The smell of the chili and the curry and the onions and chicken,
making my stomach rumble.
But to make sure her guests can tolerate it,
Nukul says she goes easy on the spiciness.
Who taught you how to cook like this?
- You learned how to cook this on YouTube?
YouTube is a great platform, you know!
Learn some cooking, watch some “Checked In!”
How do you feel that Thai society looks at you and the Karen people?
She says that’s because Karen people
are increasingly getting stable jobs hosting tourists.
Ooh, it’s hot!
What do you hope for your two sons, you know, growing up here
and being among so many tourists?
Oh you got the special veggie dish, huh?
Yeah.
- This looks amazing!
- Thank you!
Nukul and her family eat elsewhere, while the guests
eat out here together.
The lights are off. We had our dinner.
Hi…
Believe it or not, there’s a producer in there.
It’s really cool to see how this, you know, woman, who grew up not having much,
not speaking English, is, like, basically running this thing now.
She’s totally been empowered.
And, yeah,
if it wasn’t for tourism, as she said,
you know, her life would be very different right now.
Good morning. I slept. It was really cold!
I'm wearing a sweatshirt and then another long-sleeve shirt
and then another long-sleeve shirt and then a T-shirt
and then a tanktop and two pants!
OK, so we’re all packed up and we're ready to go.
I set out on two very different hilltribe experiences,
and I learned that both types, whether it’s
putting your culture on display or opening your home to tourists,
are some of the only ways for ethnic minorities
to make a decent living in Thailand.
But, I also learned that, as tourists, there’s no way we can fully
experience their lives and cultures, considering these tours are staged for us.
They’re essentially designed for the locals to
capitalize on our desire for so-called authenticity,
while also catering to our comfort.
So much of this comes down to the global power dynamics
between those who can travel
and those who depend on tourism to survive.
Is there anywhere you want to travel to?
Hey, everyone.
So, obviously, a lot has changed since we came back from Thailand.
So much so, that I’m filming from home,
where I’m currently spending all of my time during this coronavirus pandemic.
But I did wanna go ahead and give you an update about what’s happening in Thailand.
As you can expect, tourism there has taken a major hit.
In fact, they’re expected to lose millions of tourists this year.
And that’s going to have a huge financial impact,
considering that tourism accounts for one-fifth of the country’s GDP.
On top of that, the hilltribe village
where I met Ma Play is closed for the next few months,
so she’s gone back to her home province.
But I was able to connect with Nukul, our homestay host,
and she sent me this video.
I’m sincerely hoping the situation gets better sooner than later for Nukul,
and for everyone really.
Make sure you check out our next episode,
where we ask Thais to clap back
at bad reviews tourists wrote about a Buddhist temple.