Charles Keyes walks to Baan Dong in 1968
American Charles Keyes is an Emeritus Professor in Anthropology. From June 1967 until October 1968 he lived in Mae Sariang, Mae Hong Son Province, with his wife Jane and young son. You can find his pictures and field notes in the ResearchWorks Archive of the University of Washington. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
In January 1968 Keyes made a trip to Mae La Noi, Baan Dong and Baan Pa Pae. On January 10 he walked to Ban Dong with a group of teachers, monks “hanger-on” to attend the celebration of the opening of the Ban Dong School for that year. The walk took 8,5 hours. Now there is a good road. It takes less than an hour to drive from Mae La Noi to Ban Dong. On January 15 Keyes continued to Ban Pa Pae where his colleague Peter Kuntstadter was staying. This walk took 2 hours. On the 17th he walked back to Mae Sariang which took 6 hours. I am not sure if he walked all the way back to Mae Sariang or just to the main road.
Keyes made lots of pictures in Baan Dong and Baan Papae. In December 2018 I printed a number of these pictures and visited both villages. People obviously had never seen these pictures and recognized relatives. It was very touching to see their reaction.