Traveling by train and then minibus, we arrived the night before market day. Seven local hill tribes meet once a month to trade, socialize and buy supplies. We awoke early as this was also was a special holiday, the big market day of the year. Independence Day, when the American War ended. Many families would celebrate by going to the market and buying a pig, which would then become the guest of honor at the family holiday feast. The men milled around and admired the water buffalo, like men in the USA look at cars, motorcycles, or electronics. There also was a fair amount of grain alcohol being traded and consumed, in the open, but somehow on the sly at the same time. The women all dressed in their tribe’s traditional garb, dark rich colors, like indigo. Some of the women’s hands were permanently stained by the dark indigo dye. Reds, greens, blues, and purple everywhere. The young women all wore elaborately detailed silver jewelry. It somehow conveys their availability and also represents a dowery. It was a fabulously bright, vibrant, aromatic, a rush at your senses.
Yoga, Photography, & Travel
