Canon A630
The Palaung costume was once daily wear—even the fitted metal bands around the waist were worn to bed. Modern women eschew the costume outside of special occasions. The transition between women who wear Palaung dress every day and women who no longer do starts around women under 50 years old. These women's children definitely do not wear Palaung dress, while some of the middle-aged women—"middle age" in Burma being around 38—might still wear the traditional striped longyi, if not the full outfit.

We stopped by a home in Qsaw for lunch—amazingly, without warning of any kind we were warmly welcomed (although for this first meal, Naing Naing had brought the actual ingredients with him). After Lii tried on the traditional costume, one of the young girls of the household showed us hers.