crossbow-thailand

Pai - Mae Hong Son - Mae Chaen Trip

Mr. Moo and I started from Chang Mai a little late in the day. He was driving a 1980 Toyota. Mr. Moo drove very fast to make up for the lost time. I remember franticly reaching for the seat belt, but the Toyota did not have any. We made a few stops the first day.

Karen village- 1 Bow from crossbow; sward; arrows. We met one of the elder and we walked to his house. He had a bow from a crossbow the shaft was missing; a sward from burma and arrows. I bought it from him for the price he wanted. We atemted to continue on this dirt road to the next village but the road was to rought so we turned around and returned to the main road. The next stop was a Lisu village. They had crossbows but did not want to sell, or the owner was not present.

Lisu-1 crossbow 1 string musical instrument. We drove on a side road towards Burma. Their we came to another Lisu village were I bought my first crossbow. The owner gave us a demonstration. After that we went to his house. I bought a musical instrument from him.

Karen village Huai Pong - 2 crossbows

Antique store Mae Hong Son (City) - 2 crossbows (Karen)1 sverd (Burma)

Karen village Pha Ko Long - 2 crossbow with very nice wood carvings. Clothing shirts; women and mens. The village people were very friendly and they were eager to sell. I do not think they got many strangers to this village. After I bought the crossbows, we asked for clothing, then they got really buissey. Soon Moo and I had 15-20 sellers around the car. We used the hood of the car to sort it out. They had more than I could by and I had to say enough!
The largest part of my collection of clothing comes from this village.

Karen village Huai Khi Po - 1 crossbow

Karen village Mae Yum Luang - 1 crossbow

Hmong village Mae U-Khor Luang - I bought clothing (jackets and pants)
We left the main road and drove through a field / ridge with sunflowers. I think Moo got the villages mixed up. This was probably Mae U-Khor and not Mae U-Khor Luang. The women were doing some chores in front of their house. Several women had clothing they wanted to sell. I bought 8-10 items.

Hmong village Mae Phattana - 2 crossbows
We had lunch their. I was offered a musical instrument, but I bought only the crossbows.

Karen village Hua Pon - 1 new crossbow (the maker gave me a demonstration)
We exited the main road and drove down a step slope before we came to the village. A large crowd was gathered at a vendors place. One of them had a new crossbow for sale. The maker gave us a demonstration. He attached a small piece of paper on the step slope across from the vendor. He then backed up 20 yards and shot a perfect shot in the center of the paper. He also showed us the proper way to load the string.

Karen village Kong Kan - 2 crossbows

Karen village Yang Luang near Mae Chaen - 4 crossbows
We stoped next to a weaving factory they had 3-4 weavs going outside in a yard. Wile I was looking at the weaving. I man on motorbike went around to locate some crossbows. Moo explains that the village people (men) normally know who has crossbow or not so it should be enough to ask one man in the village. (A lot of times that is not correct)

White Hmong village Long Phong - 3 crossbows. South from Mae Chaen. I rembember seeing many kids playing with large ‘snurrebass’ a favorit toy among the Hmong tribe. I bought one from a kid.