I always find markets to be interesting places for photography and very few markets get more interesting than a Border Market.

We were at the Rim Moei Border market at Mae Sot. The Moei River runs by the market and is the Thai-Burmese border. A newly built Friendship Bridge tranverses the Moei River connecting the 2 countries. Needless to say, there is a major trading center for Burmese Blood Rubies and other precious stones. Through Mae Sot, Burmese gemstones find their way into the international market as many dealers come here and deal in bulk wholesale. With the current Burmese (I should really stop using Burma and start calling it Myanmar, right?) government with its iron grip on the economy and trade, the Rim Moei market forms an important source of hard foreign currency for many traders.

Another 1500kms+ up north in the Golden Triangle, we were again at the Thai-Myanmar border at the Mae Sai. The border crossing at Mae Sai is the Northern-most point in the Kingdom Of Thailand. Across the Mae Sai river separating the 2 countries, is the township of Tachilek. A rough & tough dusty remote border town, Tachilek has a "wild wild west" feel and as once the stronghold of the (supposedly) last drug lord of the Golden Triangle, Khun Sa. The Myanmar army has since regained control of Tachilek and surrounds and Khun Sa now lives in Rangoon (Yangon). We made it into Burma (by paying the border guards USD 5!) and had a good day's shopping at the border market in Tachilek. The smuggling of opium & heroin at this border crossing continues to be a problem, although it is now a pale shadow of the long past heydays of the Golden Triangle. A mere 2 decades ago, as much as 70% of the opium of the world originated from this area and much of that came through this border.

From Tachilek, the road winds further deep into the jungle highlands of the Golden Triangle and it is merely hours to the Myanmar-Chinese border. We estimated that with another 48 hours on the road from Tachilek, we would be deep in the countryside of Yunnan, China - road conditions permitting. It was then no surprise that the border market of Tachilek was literally flooded with Chinese made goods (even a chinese made AK-47 if you had a extra stash of greenbacks). Bargains galore on exotic tropical hardwood carvings, burmese blood rubies, sapphires, jades, ivory carvings etc etc.

We saw no poppy fields on the Myanmar side, if there are still any, they would be undoutably be deep in the jungle highlands away from the main marked trails.