PeopleThe Shan

ไทใหญ่

The largest population group in the province, and the reason the temples look the way they do.

Khone Phapheng Falls, Si Phan Don, Laos. Located on the Mekong River near the border with Cambodia, at 10.7 kilometres (6.6 mi) wide, it is the widest waterfall in the world.

What it is

Tai Yai. A Tai people whose territory spans the Thai–Myanmar border, and the majority group in Mae Hong Son province.

The long version

Shan people are the largest population group in Mae Hong Son province, having migrated from Shan State in Myanmar. Tai Yai speak their own language; the written form uses a rounded script related to Mon and Burmese.

The province was formerly part of Mawkmai State, one of the Shan States, founded in 1767 by Hsai Khiao of a Chiang Mai noble family, and the Anglo-Siamese Boundary Commission of 1892–93 put Mae Hong Son district on the Siamese side while the trans-Salween districts stayed with British Burma.

Inference — that sequence is what a rider is actually looking at all week: a Thai province whose majority culture, script, architecture and festivals come from the other side of a line drawn by two empires in the 1890s. The wats are the visible part; Poy Sang Long is the audible one.

Exhibit in the Ethnological Museum, Berlin, Germany. Photography was permitted in the museum without restriction. — Daderot · CC0 1.0

Pirogue running on the Mekong in front of an island hosting a Samanea saman (rain tree) and other trees, at sunset with pink clouds, seen from Don Det, Si Phan Don, Laos. — Basile Morin · CC BY-SA 4.0

Water reflection of karst mountains at golden hour in the countryside of Vang Vieng, Vientiane Province, Laos, during the monsoon. — Basile Morin · CC BY-SA 4.0

Runs with

watWat Phra That Doi Kong Mu — Shan chedis on the hill.
eventPoy Sang Long — Their ordination festival.
townMae Hong Son — The province where they are the majority.
personThe Karen — The other large group, in the hills south and west.

Named here by

townMae Hong Son — The largest population group in the province.
watWat Chong Kham and Wat Chong Klang — Whose temples these are.
watWat Phra That Doi Kong Mu — Whose architecture this is.
watWhy the temples here are called Chong — Whose word it is.
dishKhao soi — Whose kitchen this also is.
dishKanom jeen nam ngiao — Whose dish it is, and whose name is in it.
dishThua nao — Whose kitchen it belongs to.
personThe Karen — The majority group, in the valleys.
personLisu, Lahu, Hmong and Lua — The majority in the valleys.
eventPoy Sang Long — Whose festival it is.

Where each claim comes from

Field	Tier	Source	Note
default	cited	Mae Hong Son province — Wikipedia (en)
text.story	cited	Mae Hong Son province — Wikipedia (en)
text_th	inference		written in Thai by this project, not machine-translated

Sources

Shan people — Wikipedia (en)
Mae Hong Son province — Wikipedia (en)
Shan State — Wikipedia (en)
Tai peoples — Wikipedia (en)
ไทใหญ่ — Wikipedia (th)

cited Cited — a named source, linked · harvested Harvested — fetched from an open dataset, with its licence · tradition Tradition — general knowledge of the tradition, hedged · inference Inference — this project's own reasoning from the above · field Field — someone stood there