Day Two. Thursday, 29 January 2015

At 08:00, we are escorted by two expert drivers of U Lao Sang to Mongla. The Pajero truck I’m in driven by an ethnic Chinese from Mongnai whose Shan is fluent. Nothing strange as I come to learn later that he is married to a Shan.

It takes us three hours to reach Kengtung, 102 miles north of Tachilek. No complaint from us who know what the road was like before the Wa’s Hongpang Co. (now renamed Thawda Win) repaired it some 15 years ago.

Along the road there are toll gates set up by the company. According to our driver, he pays K 4,200 each way:
Markyang (Tachilek) 1,800 kyat
Talerh 700 kyat
Mongphyak 1,100 kyat
Kengtung 600 kyat

After half an hour’s rest on the outskirts of the city, we are once again on the road, now to Mongla, 56 miles east, a two hour drive across the Taping bridge on the Lwe, a tributary of the Mekong. We are then in the territory on the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) which is based in Mongla.

Reconstruction of the road is ongoing, with dust billowing all the way. But our drivers, as I mentioned earlier, are good and we have no mishaps. Rubber and banana plantations cover the hills and valleys alongside it.

“Most rubber planters, I was told on the last trip, have left to find jobs elsewhere,” says General Isaac of KNU. “Because the price is down from more than 10 yuan to 3 yuan in the last year.”

At 12:30 we are at the Oriental Hotel, welcomed by:
Sao Sai Leun Chairman
Hsan Perh Vice Chairman
Sai Hseng La Chief of Local Administration
Kham Mawng Public Relations
Sai Mao Chief of Special Security

Others in the CEC are not able to make it:
Sao Hsang Lu, Vice Chairman
U Htein Lin, Vice Chairman
U Kyi Myint, General Secretary
Law Sanbao – Military Affairs
Li Jinlong – Member
Sai Tip – Member, Religious Affairs

After lunch, hosted by Vice Chairman Hsan Perh, we visit the Daluo – Mongla border checkpoint, Anti-Drugs Museum, Dwi Nagara pagoda and the Shan State Progress Party/ Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) liaison office.

From 18:00-21:00 we are invited to a welcoming dinner party hosted by Sao Sai Leun himself. On the United Wa State Party/ Army (UWSP/UWSA) side, only U Aung Myint, aka Li Julieh, 68, is able to make it, as others are at a wedding party.

I don’t remember much what is discussed there. But there is one thing I won’t forget: that Sao Sai Leun, a native of Panghsai in northern Shan State, was born on 26 December 1948. The reason I won’t forget is simple: he was born on the same date as Mao Zedong who was born in 1893, 51 years earlier.

Just before we are leaving, it is informed by our hosts:
• We (the UWSP/UWSA and NDAA) stand between the UNFC (United Nationalities Federal Council) and you (KNU and RCSS). Furthermore, governments on both sides are all ears to what’s happening here. So we may need time to make correct decisions
• The friendly relations between the RCSS and the UWSP is very important if peace is to be achieved
• Gen N Banla , the leader of the Kachin Independence Organization/ Army (KIO/KIA) and the UNFC, has called us this morning from the Sino-Burmese border. He wants us to mediate among the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs)

The Kachin leader is reported to have called on Naypyitaw for the joint signing of the agreement to establish a federal union, on the Union day, 12 February 2015, in order to accelerate the peace process.