From AFP:
Far from the crackdown in the rest of the country, Myanmar’s lawless northeast has a distinctly Chinese feel as gamblers eager for a turn at the baccarat table cross into the Southeast Asian nation in droves.
Betting is illegal in China, so thousands of Chinese flock to the relative safety of Maijayang to try their luck at the mafia-run casinos on this Myanmar frontier town.Shielded by Myanmar’s lush green mountains, surrounded by a wall of dense sugarcane fields, Maijayang rises from these ancient lands in Kachin State — which is effectively run by former rebels — like a forbidden fortress.
While world leaders condemn a bloody crackdown by security forces against mass protests in Myanmar’s main city Yangon and elsewhere, little is taboo in this sinners’ paradise. [Full Text]
