Tourism in these desperately poor environments is inevitably controversial.
On the edge of Chiang Mai, we also visited a Karen tribal community of refugees from oppression by the Myanmar military government.
Karen women are well known for their neck ornaments.
But are these a form of mutilation?
And is paying to visit and look at these women akin to visiting a zoo?
Through our interpreter I was lucky enough to be able to explore their own views, and what came across more than anything else was that they wanted to continue being allowed to celebrate their beauty.
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