We ended up doing the 3-day trek thing everybody does up north in the Chiang Mai area--the "Elephant and Opium and Hilltribe Tour". The hilltribes' are the ethnic groups living up in the mountains of northern Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia--also called the Golden Triangle since the majority of the world's opium comes from here. To the highland people it matters little whether they are in Laos, Cambodia or Thailand--they cross borders as they please.

There are diverse cultures up there, some who have migrated recently, and others who came from far away places generations ago. Some groups migrated from Tibet, so have the characteristic Tibetan round face. Some of them hang onto their animist religions, although the Thai government of course encourages them to become assimilated into majority Buddhist culture. The US government played a large part in getting them to grow opium for the CIA heroin racket; their lives in the hills are really tough so I can understand why they would be motivated to move to cities or at least want electricity.