The Padaung "Long necks"
Padaung men do not seem to work at the Mae Hong Son refugee camp thats situated on the Thai Myanmar border. The "longneck" women run stalls and sell souvenirs to tourists who come by to take photographs of the women and their neck rings. We had come to the village to shoot a short film on them for National Geographic Television.
The Padaung, along with other Karen groups fled to Thailand from the genocidal acts of Myanmar's dictatorial military regime. In the dense forests that separate Burma and Thailand, rebel factions fight a bloody guerilla war with the Burmese government and stories of genocide, rapes and extra judicial executions are common among the Karen refugees.
Read more about this shoot on my photoblog
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|  | | | A Padaung "long necked" girl plays football |
 | | | A young girl gets her rings |
 | | | Neck rings |
 | | | tourists pose with a "long neck" girl named Maja |
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