A new day was started deliciously, with a fruit shake, and muesli with fruit and yogurt. I really wanted to visit the local villages so we decided to walk to a Karen village around 7k from the lodge.
We got sandwiches made up and a little hand drawn map of the area to go by. The sandwiches were a good idea, but the hand drawn map did nothing for us, we still got turned around after walking for around 2 hours.
An image of the burning continually going on this time of year.

A butterfly liked my salty sweat along one of the many river crossings.

Rose recognized the area as a spot she had been to before(last time she had come out there) so we hiked up to the road way and after walking along the road for 45 minutes we found a shady spot to have our lunch. It was here that just as we were finishing up eating a pickup came by and allowed us to jump into the back of the truck all the way to the village.

Upon arriving, we must have been spotted by several families, because as we jumped out of the vehicle we were summoned into a dark dwelling by a young lady who wanted to show us her creations. We were amazed by her work, but hadn't been there 2 minutes yet, and wanted to see the rest of the village. We thanked her but continued onward. As we headed down the road, we could see in the distance four ladies carrying bags of their textile creations. They started laying them out on either side of the orange dusty hard pack street.

To my left there was a couple of young women weaving on their porch and they invited us to come in and watch, which I quickly agreed to as I really wanted to see this process. In the back of my mind I foolishly thought it would also stop me from spending money on the beautiful colourful offerings of the four women setting up shop. But as soon as we entered the fenced house area, the four women became 12 women and they followed suit, setting up two neat rows of colourful goods at our feet. I watched the two weavers practising their art as a makeshift mini market was set up all for us. Rose and I couldn't help but laugh, and the ladies joined in.
1150 baht, 7 scarves, 1 sarong and 1 shoulder bag later we bid farewell and the market closed shop as quickly as it had formed. What an amazing experience, that I wouldn't trade for the world.

Walking back towards the way we drove in, we stopped for a drink. Then continuing on out, we noticed a much older lady weaving her own Karen specialities. She beckoned to us to come in, this felt strangely familiar. She wanted to sell Rose a beautiful Indigo piece she had made, it shone with iridecence in the afternoon glow. Rose gave in to her charm and it ended our amazing village walk with charm and warm happiness.


Walking out of the village a couple spotted us and offered us a lift back to the area where Cave Lodge was. What a giving and loving bunch of people.