The Phuan people, ພວນ Phouan, pronounced [pʰúa̯n]), also known as Tai Phuan, Thai Puan or Lao Phuan, are a Theravada Buddhist Tai people spread out in small pockets over most of Thailand's Isan region with other groups scattered throughout central Thailand and Laos. There are also approximately 5000 Phuan in the Mongkol Borei District of Banteay Meanchey Province in Cambodia, as well in Battambang Province. According to the Ethnologue Report, the Phuan number 204,704 and that is split fairly evenly between populations in Laos and Thailand.
Young Phuan women in traditional clothing. (Though Phuan have been absorbed into main Lao culture, this is not traditional Phuan clothing)
Chiang Khan in Loei Province, Thailand. The town and surrounding district has a large Phuan minority.
A rural road in Xiangkhouang Province. This was the original Phuan homeland and Phuan is the primary Tai language of the province.
Xiangkhouang is a province of Laos on the Xiangkhoang Plateau, in the nation's northeast. The province has the distinction of being the most heavily-bombed place on Earth.
Phonsavan Hills
Plain of Jars, women and girls of Houang
Phonsavan
A spoon seller, Ban Napia