Located high in the eastern Shan Hills, it is once of the country’s most remote outposts. At one time Kyaing Tong was a Shan capital and this ancient city is the gateway to an area of rugged journeys and exotic sights. The Airport is nothing more than and airstrip and a few bare outbuildings. Several tough looking solidarities clad in jungle gear stand around, casually eyeing the scene as the plane empties its load of passengers. Only two are foreign tourists-the rest Myanmar folk traveling for business or possibly pleasure.

The tribal villages dotted round the hills edging the valley. More than a dozen different tribal groups live around Kyaing Tong . Small villages are dotted through the hills and the vast valley floor, home to at least ten different tribal groups. Living in small communities almost side by side are groups of Ang, Lahu, Ahkha, Akhu, Padaung, Kala, San Chin, Lishu, Pao the headhunting Wa, Khun and Laui. All are living in different stages of development, some still following very traditional ways.

A delicious lunch in a local eating house set us off on our mission to visit an animist Ang village an hour or two from town. As we pass the “city limits” the road quickly deteriorates-and we bump along on our Hondas, doding potholes, fording streams and avoiding other road hazards (Cow herds, tractors, raucous tribal folk returning from awed ding). Surrounded by the Jungle Mountains, it is a pleasant pastoral scene that leads us to a side track and into the hills.

In Kyaing tong, the highlights are the Mahamuni Pagoda, Naung Tong Lake, Sunn-Taung Monastery, hot spring, colonial style buildings, an Old Catholic church and terrace farming.