Published on The Brunei Times (http://www.bt.com.bn/en)
A drive through Myanmar's Shan state
The beauty of Shan: The big golden temple on the hill at Mongla; The temple at Kengtung, which is a sleepy but historical capital of the Shan State's Khun culture; members of one of the ethnic groups that inhabit the Shan area. Picture: Liz Price
Saturday, November 15, 2008
TOURISTS are normally not allowed to travel through the area of Myanmar between Thailand and China. From the Thai town of Mae Sai in Chiang Rai province, non-locals are allowed day passes to visit the Burmese border town of Tachilek by surrendering their passport. It is also possible to get a 14-day visa which allows you to travel in the local area, and continue as far as Kengtung which is 160km from Thailand and 100km short of China's Yunnan province.
I was lucky as I was on a 4WD expedition and we got special permission to drive from Thailand right through Myanmar into China. This is something few foreigners have been able to do.
Myanmar's Shan State borders China to the north, Laos to the east, and Thailand to the south, and is almost a quarter of the total area of Myanmar. We just bisected the eastern corner of the state.
From Chiang Rai we drove the 60km to Mae Sai, and had quite a long wait at the Thai immigration so spent the time taking photos. As soon as the papers were in order we crossed to no man's land and waited on the bridge over the Sai River which separates Thailand from Myanmar. Our cameras were clicking the whole time as we snapped the locals walking across the borders.
Once we had clearance to enter Myanmar, we set off through the town of Tachilek. We drove as a convoy the whole way through Myanmar, which made it easier for the Thai drivers to remember to now drive on the right side of the road.
Some Burmese agents joined us, presumably to keep an eye on us. And we also had an official escort. There is now a new sealed highway all the way to the Chinese border, built by a Chinese company. It is a toll road, but fortunately our group was exempt from paying the tolls. The first toll booth is close to Tachilek. It is a very scenic road, initially following a river, then going up and over some small mountains. The road follows a series of narrow steep river gorges, with high ridges on both sides and there are hill tribe villages dotted here and there on the mountainsides and rare wide spots on the valley floors.
Shan state is largely rural and takes its name from the Shan people, one of several ethnic groups that inhabit the area. The Shan are mostly Theravada Buddhists, which is one of the oldest forms of Buddhism. Shan people are believed to have migrated from Yunnan in China, which is the province that borders the Shan state. The Shan are similar to the Dai people in Yunnan.
The Shan are one of the largest minority groups in Myanmar. They have been fighting an on-and-off war with the central Myanmar government for several decades. The government allows these groups to have a high degree of autonomy, including maintraining separate armed forces. The political situation, however, remains relatively unstable.
One thing I remember is the number of security checkpoints we had to pass through. Each checkpoint marks the border between a territory (usually a Special District or a city) controlled by a different army. This area, which comes under Region 4, is actually quite safe with all the security, as the authorities want to protect the trade link between China and Thailand.
The route crosses a narrow plain before following narrow rushing rivers, and we passed through Shan, Akha, Wa and Lahu villages. We stopped for lunch at Kengtung, which is the sleepy but historical capital of the Shan State's Khun culture. It is 163km from Mae Sai and situated at the end of a long valley.
The town is built around a small lake and has crumbling British colonial architecture and aging Buddhists temples. It is probably the most interesting town in Myanmar's entire Shan State, and in fact was the only town we went through.
The Khun speak a northern Thai language related to Shan and use a writing script similar to the ancient Lanna script. Lanna was an ancient kingdom in northern Thailand. Kengtung was founded in the 13th century. The king's palace that was built in 1905 became a historic landmark, but was destroyed in 1991 by the Myanmar government.
In the centre of town is a group of striking 19th century Buddhists sites, and the Wat Ho Khong temple and monastery. After a good Chinese style lunch, we continued on our journey. We went up and over two mountain ranges. It was a pleasant ride with autumn colours, dry rice fields, and wooden or attap houses. I saw lots of hay lofts in the fields.
We stopped at a pagoda on a hill. There was a primary school across the road and we took photos of the children and it was nice to see people were wearing their traditional tribal clothes.
Late afternoon we reached the border town of Mongla, 85km from Kengtung. It's quite a new town with a big golden temple on the hill, and seemed very developed after the part of Myanmar that we had just seen.
There were lots of Chinese tour buses crossing the border, mostly to go to the casinos and wild life markets in Mongla. There are also other forms of entertainment frequented by the Chinese such as bars, karaoke and discos. The main currency used in town is the Chinese Yuan.
Mongla is controlled by the local ethnic Wa group who once fought against the Yangon troops. The city is said to be built on drug money. In the 1990s it was a real boom town with the casinos frequented by Chinese citizens living and working there, but this business has largely dropped off as the Chinese have left. Now the town relies more on tourists from China but even that trade seems to have dropped off.
There are few tourist attractions in the town. There is a large decorated entrance arch at the border which was opened in 1994 and there are several pagodas dotted around the town.
Mongla is a strange place, very un-Burmese in character. But it had been a wonderful experience being able to have the opportunity of driving through this little visited area of Myanmar.The Brunei Times
I was lucky as I was on a 4WD expedition and we got special permission to drive from Thailand right through Myanmar into China. This is something few foreigners have been able to do.
Myanmar's Shan State borders China to the north, Laos to the east, and Thailand to the south, and is almost a quarter of the total area of Myanmar. We just bisected the eastern corner of the state.
From Chiang Rai we drove the 60km to Mae Sai, and had quite a long wait at the Thai immigration so spent the time taking photos. As soon as the papers were in order we crossed to no man's land and waited on the bridge over the Sai River which separates Thailand from Myanmar. Our cameras were clicking the whole time as we snapped the locals walking across the borders.
Once we had clearance to enter Myanmar, we set off through the town of Tachilek. We drove as a convoy the whole way through Myanmar, which made it easier for the Thai drivers to remember to now drive on the right side of the road.
Some Burmese agents joined us, presumably to keep an eye on us. And we also had an official escort. There is now a new sealed highway all the way to the Chinese border, built by a Chinese company. It is a toll road, but fortunately our group was exempt from paying the tolls. The first toll booth is close to Tachilek. It is a very scenic road, initially following a river, then going up and over some small mountains. The road follows a series of narrow steep river gorges, with high ridges on both sides and there are hill tribe villages dotted here and there on the mountainsides and rare wide spots on the valley floors.
Shan state is largely rural and takes its name from the Shan people, one of several ethnic groups that inhabit the area. The Shan are mostly Theravada Buddhists, which is one of the oldest forms of Buddhism. Shan people are believed to have migrated from Yunnan in China, which is the province that borders the Shan state. The Shan are similar to the Dai people in Yunnan.
The Shan are one of the largest minority groups in Myanmar. They have been fighting an on-and-off war with the central Myanmar government for several decades. The government allows these groups to have a high degree of autonomy, including maintraining separate armed forces. The political situation, however, remains relatively unstable.
One thing I remember is the number of security checkpoints we had to pass through. Each checkpoint marks the border between a territory (usually a Special District or a city) controlled by a different army. This area, which comes under Region 4, is actually quite safe with all the security, as the authorities want to protect the trade link between China and Thailand.
The route crosses a narrow plain before following narrow rushing rivers, and we passed through Shan, Akha, Wa and Lahu villages. We stopped for lunch at Kengtung, which is the sleepy but historical capital of the Shan State's Khun culture. It is 163km from Mae Sai and situated at the end of a long valley.
The town is built around a small lake and has crumbling British colonial architecture and aging Buddhists temples. It is probably the most interesting town in Myanmar's entire Shan State, and in fact was the only town we went through.
The Khun speak a northern Thai language related to Shan and use a writing script similar to the ancient Lanna script. Lanna was an ancient kingdom in northern Thailand. Kengtung was founded in the 13th century. The king's palace that was built in 1905 became a historic landmark, but was destroyed in 1991 by the Myanmar government.
In the centre of town is a group of striking 19th century Buddhists sites, and the Wat Ho Khong temple and monastery. After a good Chinese style lunch, we continued on our journey. We went up and over two mountain ranges. It was a pleasant ride with autumn colours, dry rice fields, and wooden or attap houses. I saw lots of hay lofts in the fields.
We stopped at a pagoda on a hill. There was a primary school across the road and we took photos of the children and it was nice to see people were wearing their traditional tribal clothes.
Late afternoon we reached the border town of Mongla, 85km from Kengtung. It's quite a new town with a big golden temple on the hill, and seemed very developed after the part of Myanmar that we had just seen.
There were lots of Chinese tour buses crossing the border, mostly to go to the casinos and wild life markets in Mongla. There are also other forms of entertainment frequented by the Chinese such as bars, karaoke and discos. The main currency used in town is the Chinese Yuan.
Mongla is controlled by the local ethnic Wa group who once fought against the Yangon troops. The city is said to be built on drug money. In the 1990s it was a real boom town with the casinos frequented by Chinese citizens living and working there, but this business has largely dropped off as the Chinese have left. Now the town relies more on tourists from China but even that trade seems to have dropped off.
There are few tourist attractions in the town. There is a large decorated entrance arch at the border which was opened in 1994 and there are several pagodas dotted around the town.
Mongla is a strange place, very un-Burmese in character. But it had been a wonderful experience being able to have the opportunity of driving through this little visited area of Myanmar.The Brunei Times
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