When we traveled to a village an 85 year old late put on her traditional clothing for us. The part that interested me the most was her neckace. They receive this part of the outfit when they get married and the beads signify wealth. The picture on the silver is very interesting. It looks kind of like a monster, but I could not find a head, and then there are little things that look kind of like skulls. I was wondering if the picture told a story, but I could not get them to identify any significance to it. This jewelry is different from the silver in the other village we visited.

Well, they had me play dress-up again, but this time I got to wear the pants. The pants are supposed to all the way to the ground, but I am a little tall. The pants are also like clown pants around the waist and then you wrap a sack around. The head peace of this outfit is very different fromt he one I wore before, but it is otherwise the same.

I am always impressed by the physical strength of the villagers. Many of them carry baskets on their backs filled with vegetables, grain, rocks, or whatever else they may need to carry. Can you imagine walking five hours (and it isn't level ground) with that on your back? I have seen many older women who must now walk around bent over and I assume it is from years of doing this.

The woman on the left has some very interesting earrings on, but she wasn't too interested in posing for a picture. The woman on the right is in the process of lighting up her silver pipe. I wonder how far these women had to travel to get to town.

Our second day in town was market day and it was quite a happening place. People walked up to five hours to come to town to buy and sell things. Many of the village women wear towels on their heads and smoke pipes.

When we arrived the town seemed pretty empty. There really usn't much to this place. There are a few restaurants, some shops, and a very small market.

This week I traveled to this mountain town with my teacher and a friend. We stayed in the guest house/motel and it was actually pretty nice. There wasn't a western toilet, but we all got our own beds and thick blankets. My teacher had connections so we got our room, meals, and trasportation our the district for free. The English translation of the district we were in is 700 mountain villages.