On a Beach in Asia: Long Necks

The first time I heard about the Long Neck People, it was obviously in National Geographic. Back when I was in school, every classroom came with the requisite 500 copies starting in 1965 to present. Their orderly yellow spines always drew my attention. I never dreamed I would get to meet the Long Neck People.

I only took a handful of pictures because only a handful of the Long Neck women seemed happy. There was an aura of depression and confinement in the village that was unmistakable. I was not inspired to capture their mood at all.

I guess that there are a lot of problems in Burma between the majority Buddhists and minority Muslim people. Just last week, a Buddhist village grabbed 20 young Muslim boys studying in a school, took them to the village square, and burned them to death. This is not the exception. Check out youtube for a crazy monk proclaiming that the Muslims are the enemy and trying to take over his country. It will give you Nazi-ish chills.

Therefore, the Long Neck people are equally persecuted. In order to avoid this horror, several of them (250 or more) have moved to Thailand under the protection of the Thai government. They do not have Thai citizenship/passports and so they are confined to the tiny village for the rest of their lives. Adding to their confinement is the long brass pipe wrapped around their necks. These are put on their necks as early as age 5 and never taken off. The women did not seem happy. At all.

On the path to the Long Necks

Pretty picture of the lower village

Cute little chatty girls with great English. They were 8 - 10 years old. They were happy.

The women spend their days weaving. We did not buy a scarf at it was about 42C.

The housing of the Long Necked people

The village. The roofs are made of tea leaves. They need to be replaced every two years. The huts themselves are made of bamboo.

Holidays! No school for the children leading up to the Thai New Year next week.

Laundry Day

Long bridge spanning a creek. I would rather do "high ropes" as I feel they are more secure.

New housing for more Long Necked people arriving from Burma

These two little saucy tots said we could take their picture. So mom went over and had her picture taken. Then the older one held out his hand and said in perfect English "20 baht." We gave them each five baht.