Shan State

Shan State is in the north of Myanmar and borders China to the north, Laos to the east, and Thailand to the south. The Mekong River marks the border between the Shan State and Laos. This border region is generally known as the Golden Triangle, though the actual Golden Triangle point is where Myanmar, Thailand and Laos meet on the Mekong River. The Golden Triangle region used to be one of the largest opium producing areas in the world. Opium production today is minimal.

Regions

Cities

• Taunggyi - the capital

• Heho - gateway to Inle Lake
• Hsipaw - town on the old Burma Road from Mandalay to Lashio
• Kengtung (Cheingtung, Chiang Tung, Kengtong, Kyaingtong)
• Kyaukme
• Mong La - casino boomtown gone bust
• Mu-se - border crossing to Ruili in Yunnan, China
• Tachileik - border crossing to Mae Sai in Chiang Rai, Thailand

Other destinations

• Inle Lake

Culture and History

The Shan people in Myanmar are the same as the Dai people in China's Yunnan Province. The Shan people 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 central Myanmar government has signed peace agreements with factional groups in the Shan State, which allows these groups to have a high degree of autonomy, including maintaining separate armed forces. The political situation, however, remains relatively unstable. Many military checkpoints exist on few major roads that cross the mountainous Shan State. Each checkpoint marks the border between a territory (usually a Special District or a city) controlled by a different army. In July 2005, the central government official responsible for negotiating these peace agreements was sent to jail for corruption, possibly signalling a renewed attempt by the central government to crack down on the rebel Shan armies.

Talk

Travel to Shan State - Visa Requirements

Tours and Getting around Shan State

Shan State tourist attractions and sightseeing

The daily market in the regional administrative city of Kengtung is a sprawling complex with a wide variety of goods, including tourist souvenirs - though they do not get many tourists. Instead the market is full of local residents and hill tribe people dressed in their colorful traditional clothing, and Buddhist monks and nuns with their begging bowls. A visit can easily consume half a day of people watching, shopping and bargaining (this market is much more interesting than the border market in Tachileik, where hawkers harass tourists with soft porn and cigarettes).

Itineraries

Shan State city tours

Shan State Restaurants: cheap, moderate and expensive

Shan State nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs

Stay safe

Get out

Destinations in Shan State:

• Heho
• Hsipaw
• Inle Lake
• Kengtung
• Kyaukme
• Mong La
• Mu-se
• Namshan
• Tachileik
• Taunggyi

This page was last edited by Wikitravel user Vidimian. Based on work by Wandering, Gobbler, Jani Patokallio, Colin Jensen and Ian Kirk, Wikitravel user(s) Episteme, DerFussi and Hintha and Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel. - Content on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 1.0 license