Kayan Villages

The Kayan are a subgroup of the Red Karen (Karenni) people, a Tibeto-Burman ethnic minority. 

The most prominent feature of the Kayan is that they wear neck rings, brass coils that are placed around the neck, appearing to lengthen it since they consider it as a kind of beauty. The women wearing coils are known as "giraffe women" to tourists.

The Kayan originate from Myanmar (Burma). Because of the conflict with military regime in Myanmar in 1980s-1990s, many Kayan tribes escaped to the Thai border area. Now there are mainly three Kayan villages in Mae Hong Son Province of Thailand. Near the Thai-Burma border is the largest one - Huay Pu Keng.