The haphazard ambience of highland villages is strikingly different from the orderly lowland village of Northern Thai (Yuan), Shan, Lue, or other Tai people where there is usually a Buddhist temple, and fence around house compounds define lanes that connect to a road. Near the villages are areas of irrigated rice fields. While some houses may be makeshift, many are substantial and built on concrete foundations or sturdy posts. Pigs and water buffaloes are kept penned or tethered and do not forage in the immediate area of the village or its fields.