Thailand: Akha shrine, Ban Huai Kee Lek, Chiang Rai Province, Northern Thailand

The Akha are a hill tribe of subsistence farmers known for their artistry. The ethnic group may have originated in Mongolia around 1500 years ago. Most of the remaining Akha people are now distributed in small villages among the mountains of China, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and northern Thailand, where they are one of the six main hill tribes. The Akha began arriving in Thailand in the early 20th century and continue to immigrate, with some 80,000 now living in Thailand's northern provinces of Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai at high altitudes. They speak Akha, a language in the Loloish (Yi) branch of the Tibeto-Burman family.