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Are there any places left in Asia where you can still find societies that don't watch reality TV, text message, drive BMWs, etc? Or has pretty much everywhere entered the 21st century now? Is there still anywhere in Asia that feels like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or at least like 20th-century communism?
Are there any places left in Asia where you can still find societies that don't watch reality TV, text message, drive BMWs, etc? Or has pretty much everywhere entered the 21st century now? Is there still anywhere in Asia that feels like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or at least like 20th-century communism?
There are still a few places left in Asia that haven't been completely caught up much by the modern world, or stuck in time, and don't watch reality TV, text messages or drive BMWs. Here are a couple of examples, although there are others around Asia as well.
The Mlabri, also known as the Spirits of the Yellow Leaves, who live in the remote jungle forests of Northern Thailand, mostly in Nan province, is one example. The number of their population is estimated by some to be around 100 people or so. They're nomadic in that they build primative shellters and move on, although they don't seem to go too far.
They were considered to be nothing more than a legend until the last century. For a while, up until 20 or 30 years ago, the government of Thailand and Chiang Mai University attempted to protect their culture from the outside world, declaring them off-limits to tourists, but that seems to no longer be the case since there are now tourists that go on hiking treks to see them.
In the past, they were nearly naked, except for wearing loin cloths, but today, many of the Mlabri now wear modern t-shirts and clothing, and use machete-like tools for cutting wood and meat. From what I understand, a lot of the young people have been moving away from the forest to surrounding towns and villages having been attracted by the lure materialistic possessions and money. I'm not sure how many Mlabri there are altogether scattered around, but it's a pretty small society. They seem to live in very small groups. It's said that when a tribal member dies, the body is placed up in the trees where it is left to be consumed by birds, insects, and other animals.
Below is a video of the Mlabri. Most of it involves startiing a fire, and killing a pig to be butchered and eaten.
Another small group of primative people are the Semang, also known as the Sakai, who live in Southern Thailand and Northern Malaysia. These people are very short in stature and have curly hair. They've been known much longer than the Mlabri. Like the Mlabri, the Semang are also gradually losing their way of life.
since you mentioned crouching tiger, i'm assuming you're looking for somewhere in china? lotsa historical towns there, but you have to remember that they'll be flooded by chinese tourists especially on national holidays. my fave is fenghuang, hunan province
(not my pictures)
if you're more interested in old clothing and stuff theres a lot of areas worth checking out in yunnan province. lotsa hill tribes. some like it, i think its kinda lame tho.
Mongolia. Parts of Yunnan Province, in the mountains: Naxi and Mosuo culture. Bhutan, to some extent. Borneo. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Orchid Island, off the coast of Taiwan (aboriginal culture). The hill tribes in Vietnam. Aboriginal tribal areas in India. Manchu tribal villages on the Amur River, Russian Far East, and in the Bikin River (spectacularly beautiful, and very traditional, also Manchu-speaking) in the mountains outside of Vladivostok. Okinsky region in the Buryat Republic, Russian Federation. Tuva. Various remote reindeer-herding communities in Siberia. The Wakhan corridor in NE Afghanistan, or anywhere in the Pamirs and Karakorum Mts. The Uighur autonomous region in China. Eastern Tibet/Qinghai, Gansu, and western Szechuan Provinces, the rural areas.
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 09-18-2012 at 10:26 PM..
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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I went to Hmong villages in NW Vietnam and I'd say they're more semi-modern. They live partly subsistence but they have TV, cellphones.etc.
I'd say the MOST remote areas would be the tribal areas of Burma, Yunnan province China, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Nagaland, Meghayala, the most remote northern parts of Thailand, Bhutan, remote parts of Tibet, Xinjiang, Central Asia, some of the negrito villages in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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^ Love to pics of Fenghuang, it's like the real China! It's a shame more tourists don't get off the usual Beijing-Xian-Yangtze-Yunnan-Yangshao-Shanghai circuit.
^ Love to pics of Fenghuang, it's like the real China! It's a shame more tourists don't get off the usual Beijing-Xian-Yangtze-Yunnan-Yangshao-Shanghai circuit.
Maybe it's better that more tourists don't head there. It could quickly lose it's classic feel.
True. Fenghuang looks like Lijiang, which is starting to become well known among tourists.
Won't be long before McD, KFC and Starbucks move in.
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