The entire economy of Huay Pu Keng and other Kayan villages, from local officials to tourism profiteers, depends on the metal adornments clamped around the necks of its women. “For older women, we wear the rings for tradition,” said Mu Na, 58, who sells trinkets in another tourist village. Once they were set up in the villages, the women were given salaries of up to $200 a month by tour companies. While the women and their families have profited from visitors to the villages, the neck rings are increasingly a legacy from another century. Even before the coronavirus, tourism was declining in Huay Pu Keng and other Kayan villages along the border with Myanmar.

Source: bd News24 December 06, 2020 04:07 UTC