Friday, May 22nd 2009  What a day! But then again, this trip has
been full of wonderful adventures and memories so far. Today we
visited a village predominantly made up of members from the
Karen tribe. We were welcomed by a woman in her traditional
clothing. As we made our way up the mountain we went through the
gates of the village. These gates are made of wood and are found
in all Karen tribes so that spirits and humans can live together
in the Jungle. According to the Karen culture, many many years
ago, humans and spirits cohabited. However they began to have
some conflicts and decided to separate, the gates are a symbol
of where the human world begins and where the spirit world ends.
After passing though the gates we were able to see a traditional
dance where women danced in a circle making music with drum and
wind instruments as well as others made of wood. Finally we
visited a traditional house where an elder showed us a bird trap
and his home. There were two separate rooms, one was by the door
and it w