Friday, October 20. Visited a “Karen” Long Neck village. One of several, located in both Thailand and Burma. Population 130. Women wear long coils (not rings)of brass around their necks. U.N. once called it a “Human Zoo”, but I saw a very poor village that had a tradition of dress that went back long before tourism. If tourists wanted to stop by and buy souvenirs that contributed to their income, so much the better. To their great credit, there was no hard selling activity. Buy something, don’t buy something. No problem.

EcoValley Elephant Care Center. Outstanding. Included a museum with well-written displays. Totally well behaved elephants. Learned how they are treated, cared for, fed and bathed. The caretakers did not ride the elephants, unlike Nepal. The only downside I heard was that they don’t necessarily enjoy being bathed so often. Several headed for the mud pit right afterwards. Dirt acts as sunscreen. We also learned the process for turning elephant dung into paper. Except for the first step, it was identical to normal paper-making. The entire experience was great.

Walked around town a little. Had spring rolls at an Irish bar and watched some world cup cricket. An American in Thailand, sitting in an Irish bar, watching Australia and Pakistan play cricket in India. Tell me we don’t live in a global environment. Afterwards I had pineapple fried rice with shrimp. Awful. Overcooked. But it cost $2 rather than $18 for the same thing in the USA. I ended up going back to The House for seconds of minced beef. Spicier than last night. Clearly, adding the right amount of spice is a lost art, regardless of location. Last stop was the Irish bar again to see how cricket was going. The game seemed endless. After more than three hours, it was only halftime.