Myanmar's 'long necked' women hope to turn tourism into homecoming

In this picture taken on March 6, 2016 Mu Par, a Kayan tribeswoman wearing a stack of bronze neck coils - the statuesque sign of beauty of her Kayan tribe - sells handmade products at Panpet village located in Demoso township in Kayah state, central Myanmar.

PHYO HEIN KYAW, MYANMAR - Wearing a stack of bronze neck coils – a sign of beauty for her Kayan tribe – Mu Par dreams of a time when all “long-necked” women can return to Myanmar from Thailand where they are a tourist attraction.

For years Kayan women and girls have been driven across the border by poverty and conflict to earn money posing in holidaymakers’ pictures in purpose-built Thai villages decried by rights campaigners as “human zoos”.

Now several have returned to their remote native Panpet area in Kayah state, Myanmar, with an entrepreneurial plan to reverse the flow of departures as their once junta-ruled homeland emerges from decades of solitude.

Mu Par came home just a few months ago having saved enough money after 14 years working in Thailand.

She now runs one of a dozen neat little shacks selling locally-made wooden dolls, scarves and individual bronze neck rings – giving tourists a more ethical window into their unique culture.

http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/myanmars-long-necked-women-hope-turn-tourism-homecoming