About the Padong or "Padaung" - Long Neck Karen!
The Padong are a sub-group of Karen (Bwe Group) living in Kayah state of eastern Burma on the Thailand border. They number less than 7,000 people in total.
They have their own language and the smallest of the Karen tribes in Thailand are the Karen Padong.
In Thailand, only a few families of Padong have settled temporarily as refugees in Mae Hong Son Province and Ban Tha Ton in Chiang Rai Province.
The Padong women wear brass rings around their necks. This distorts the growth of their collarbones and make them look as if they have long necks - which they don't.
This row of brass rings do not actually stretch their necks but in fact squash the vertebrae and collar bones. A woman generally has about twenty or more rings around her neck.
This neck ring adornment is started when the girls are 5 or 6 years old.