Reporting from Bangkok, Thailand — Atjima Khunnok has so many tattoos that she has to count them on her fingers: deities, sacred peaks, parallel rows of ancient Khmer script unfurling across her arms ...

Hundreds of years ago, in the 13th century, the Tai people left Yunnan in southern China. They came with little — no written script, no temples, no kingship system. They were newcomers looking for ...