Back in time for lunch

Today our guide took us to visit several hill tribes.  We travelled approx. an hour up into the mountain to arrive at a village tucked away.  This is like being in another world, another time.  They just recently got electricity so now have a wee bit of refrigeration and this is a great luxury.  The men were just arriving back to the village after gathering a vegetable all morning that resembles Bok Choy.  This will be taken down to the city by motorbike and sold.  We are fortunate in that no other tourists come here.  There is no one trying to sell you things and the children aren't begging.  It's so refreshing.  Our guide is from the Black Thai group and is very knowledgable on the tribes and can
communicate with them.
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He prepares our lunch over an open fire in the "kitchen".  It consists of sticky rice and steamed vegetables.  He adds garlic and some spices and it's quite tasty.  He was going to kill a chicken to add to the meal but we assured him we didn't need the meat and would spare the life of the chicken.  He also shared that he had a younger sister who died when she was seven from malaria because it took too long to get her to the hospital.  The trip took a whole day and she died enroute.  The little girls in this picture were thoroughly entertained by watching videos of my grandson on my I Phone!