The 2 pics above were taken at Hilltribe Villages.

The woman with the knife was at a Yao village.

The 2 girls are Longneck Karens. They start wearing those brass coils at about age 6-7 years. The brass coil weighs up to 10-12 pounds on an adult. So the shoulders and upper ribs are pushed down but the neck bones are normal on x-ray. So the lowered shoulders and upper chest give the appearance/illusion of a long neck. Legend has it that this tradition started when 2 girls were killed by a tiger that bit them in the neck. So the tribal elders decreed that they should wear these coils for protection.

The last pic is of an area above the Mae Khong River at the confluence of the Thai, Burmese, Laotian borders.