Long Neck Women the Hill Tribes of NorthernThailand

Long neck women. Imagine living in a village in the mountains of Burma enjoying life. Growing what is needed, fishing and hunting along with raising a family. Then one day a military regime comes to the village and tells everyone to move. Today. Now. Good-bye!

Life is about to change. In the early 1990s many Kayan tribes fled to Thailand along the Thai Myanmar border and split up. Still have to eat and make a living so what to do? The Huay Pu Keng people settled on the Pai River and eventually turned to tourism which has its good and bad points.

The brass coils worn around the neck of women are considered part of their culture. Anthropologists think it might have started to make the women less attractive so other villages would not kidnap them. Some think a long neck is a sign of beauty. One woman teasingly said that it was to protect from tiger bites. Not all women or girls have them.

I was lucky to be raised in Bates County in Missoura, although during the Civil War people were forced to move out of the county. But they were given 15 days to leave…

Life ain’t always fair…

Working on a native craft of weaving.

Youngsters playing on their phone.

Negotiating the price.

The yellow powder is for cooling.

Morning Market for tourists.

A Town Council meeting.

Having Breakfast

I did not learn some of these subjects in Bates County.

A grandmother stuck in limbo.

 

Wash Day

Elephants are still used for tourism and hauling logs.

School House

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