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Asie du Sud-Est, janvier, février, mars 2005
Southeast Asia, January, February, March 2005

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Photos prises avec un Konica Minolta Dimage A2.
Photos taken with a Konica Minolta Dimage A2.

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Citation - Quote

La photographie de paysage est le test suprême du photographe,
et souvent aussi sa déception suprême.
Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer - and often the supreme disappointment.
Ansel Adams

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Well-marked paths or trails lead from one village to another. Where the path enters the village, gates or archways are set up which figure prominently in Akha religious beliefs and sacrifices. Beside the gates are male and female (copulating) fertility figures carved in the round. The gates are considered sacred, and are the sites of frequent religious ceremonies and sacrifical offerings.

 

Houses are very often, but not always, raised above the ground on short piles. Houses built on a steep slope have at least the front portion on piles. Walls are of bamboo or, occasionally, of wood, and roofs are of thatch. The inside is usually partitioned off into working and sleeping quarters.

Akha villages are characteristically placed just below the crest of a secondary ridge, on fairly steep terrain. They are generally found above 3,500-4,000 feet, but not as high as the Meo and Lahu. In northern Thailand, the Akha villages have been said to be primarily located in areas of secondary forest growth or high grasslands growing over abandoned swiddens.

In the mountains of Southeast Asia land holdings are extremely small and crop production per person is low. On the high slopes in these tropical areas, tribal groups farm extensively through both permanent and shifting cultivation. Poor soil quality, low levels of inputs and isolation from markets constrain progress, and poverty and food insecurity are widespread. Livestock are used as draught animals, for meat and as wealth. Pigs and poultry provide an important source of cash income. Livestock and aquaculture thus offer opportunities to diversify income and contribute high quality, protein products to mountain food systems. Source: FAO (The vulnerability of mountain environments and mountain people).

"Betel nuts, the fruit of the Areca catechu palm tree, contain the stimulant arecoline. The ground nuts are combined with mineral lime and wrapped in the leaf of a Betel palm, from which the nut gets its name. Variants of this combination are extremely common in many Asian cultures and have a long history of human use". Source: Erowid.