Long Neck Thasut

This is one of those places I'd tell you to think about before you go, not after. It's a small Kayan Lahwi settlement at Tha Sut, where women wearing brass neck rings sit with handmade crafts laid out in front of them, and you walk through, look, buy something, leave. Some travelers come away feeling they've made a real connection. Others find the whole set-up uncomfortably commercial, closer to a viewing than a visit. Both readings are fair, and which one you land on depends a lot on what you were expecting.

If you do go, go slowly. Buy directly from the women rather than dropping a note in a box, since that's the money that actually reaches the household. Dress modestly. Ask before you photograph anyone, and accept no as an answer. A guide who knows the history of the Kayan in Thailand, and how these communities ended up here, will give you far more than the site itself does, because there's very little interpretation on the ground and the experience is essentially self-guided.