Baan Tong Luang is a Hill Tribe cultural preservation village near Chiang Mai, advertised as an Eco-Agriculture project, we had mixed feelings. Baan Tong Luang was opened in 2005 to “preserve the old traditional ways of Hill Tribe agriculture and to provide an income for the Hill Tribe people”. People from five different Hill Tribes, White Karen, Lahu, Palong, Hmong and Long Necked Karen, were imported into Baan Tong Luang to provide the visitors with an opportunity to see the culture and way of life of Hill Tribe people, and there is certainly no shortage of visitors at Baan Tong Luang where Euros, Dollars, Pounds and Yen are turning this Hill Tribe village into something resembling a human zoo. Not that the villagers themselves are complaining, they probably make a decent living from being stared at and endlessly photographed and the visitors for the most part get exactly what they want to see. Baan Tong Luang is a village manufactured to bring Hill Tribe culture to the people and judging by the number of visitors, it does this extremely well even though it may lack somewhat in authenticity.