This crossing has only ever been a local border crossing.
There was once a thriving market here - for the locals only.
Then the Wa moved in forced out the Shan, drugs started to flow across the border & it was closed.
The current plan is to reopen the local market for trade, with a deal for the Wa to move back a little & let the Burmese through.
The Thai army guys say they expect it to open for local trade only sometime next year, & maybe full international in 2015.
At the moment you cannot even get right to the gate on the border without prior permission from Arunothai.
You are stopped at the checkpoint 500 metres from the border gate.
And why do I know, because
1. Today I was stopped at the checkpoint 500 metres before the border gate & no amount of sweet talk would let me through just to take a photo
2. I also needed to visit the army camp commander to make a complaint about a drunken soldier, endeavouring to intimidate & harass me at the Lin Luang army checkpoint. The guys in the Arunothai army camp were most polite & apologetic; & said they would deal with the drunken moron threatening the farang. A tip of the hat to the army guys in Arunothai.
The border in 98-99?
Some history:
South China Morning Post
Friday, August 20, 1999
THAILAND
Burma accused of 'tit-for-tat' border closure
Chained gang: two members of a Burmese militia, the United Wa State Army, are held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, after allegedly being caught with methamphetamine pills on the border. Burma's junta has sealed up a trading post at the Kiew Pha Wok pass on its border with northern Thailand in what Thai authorities yesterday labelled a "tit-for-tat" response to their crackdown on drug trafficking.
Burma's military junta has sealed up a trading post on its border with northern Thailand in what Thai authorities yesterday labelled a "tit-for-tat" response to their crackdown on drug trafficking.
The Kiew Pha Wok pass, opposite Chiang Dao district in Chiang Mai province, was closed on Wednesday.
"Myanmar [Burma] military officials said they had closed the border pass because of the disappearance of two Myanmar soldiers in Thailand, which actually occurred about six months ago, but my own analysis is this was just tit-for-tat," said Major-General Chamlong Phothong, chief of staff of the Third Army Region.
Last month, Thailand closed the San Ton Du border pass, in nearby Chiang Rai, as part of a bid to stem the yearly flow of an estimated 200 million methamphetamine pills from Burma's Shan state into Thailand.
According to Thai anti-narcotics officials, the biggest supplier of methamphetamines to the Thai market is the United Wa State Army (UWSA) from a base in Mong Yawn, a few kilometres from the San Ton Du crossing.
The junta's close relations with the UWSA, the border closure and accusations that the regime has turned a blind eye to the Wa's massive methamphetamine trade have strained Thai-Burmese relations.
General Chamlong said the closure of the two border passes would hurt the Wa more than it would affect Thai traders.
Source: South China Morning Post. Friday, August 20, 1999.
