Hill Tribe Village

After the elephant show, we came to the hill tribe village - Baan Tong Luang Eco-Agriculture Village. We had been warned by our driver - Kun Sawat - that this was not really where the hill tribe people actually lived. A businessmen built a hill tribe village and hired all these hill tribe people to come live here. The hill tribe people lived somewhere further north close to Mae Hong Son province, and tourists had to take a long trip up there. So, this smart businessman decided to bring the hill tribe people to Chiang Mai, so the tourists did not have to trek their way up north. Mommy and Daddy were curious to see the Karen Long-Neck hill tribe, so that was why we came here.

Map and daddy at the hill tribe village

There were 8 hill tribes here in the village - Akha, Hmong (Meo), Lisu (Lisaw), Lahu, Yao, Karen, Karen Long Neck.

The first hill tribe we saw was Akha. Map met a friend name Grace. Grace was born only 8 days before Map. Grace and her family relocated here from where the Akha hill tribe really lived. The businessman paid them to stay here.

With the Akha hill tribe - Daddy, Map, Grace and Grace mommy

With Grace's grandma. This was where they lived now.

Akha hill tribe's cottage

The next hill tribe we saw was Lahu. The Lahu women wore very big earrings. They put these big earrings into the piercing in their earlobes. Over time, the holes in the earlobes were stretched out and they could put bigger earrings. Map noticed that the younger generation women no longer wore the big earrings. One of the young Lahu lady explained that the new generation Lahu women no longer wanted to wear the big earrings because it was difficult for them to blend into the society. Their kids would get teased and made fun of at school had they worn the earrings. So this tradition of wearing earrings were disappearing.

With the Lahu girl and the Lahu Grandma with big earrings

Hill tribe cat

After that we saw Lisu, Yao, Hmong hill tribes.

The Lisu hill tribe lady playing musical instrument

Daddy trying his hunting skill with Hmong crossbow

But what we really wanted to see was the Karen Long-Neck hill tribe, they lived at the end of the village. The Karen Long-Neck girls started to wear the rings around their necks when they turned 4-5 years old and they increased the number of rings they wore as they grew older. Karen Long-Neck hill tribe was the most photographed and most popular in this hill tribe village. And this popularity with tourists might be the reason why there were still a lot of young girls following this tradition of wearing rings around their necks - unlike the Lahu girls who had already abandoned the big earrings wearing tradition in order to assimilate into society.

Map with the Karen Long-Neck girls - the one next to Map had started wearing rings around her neck

With the Karen Long-Neck lady

It was interesting to get to see the Karen Long-Neck hill tribe, but unfortunate that the whole village made us feel like we were visiting human zoo. Map hoped that the businessman treated the hill tribe people nicely.