Kevin's Vegas

10/24/2002

The policeman was losing patience. He didn't seem too angry but I took his raised voice to be something of a threat. 'I dont know' palms up and shoulders shrugged. Another barrage of Chinese, this time I sensed disbelief. I figured he was wondering how we made it this far. Our interest in the 500 km stretch of dirt road behind us must have seemed suspicious and our lack of a single word of Chinese baffled him. He flipped through my passport lost in the stamps and English and decided against the headache of recording our presance in the area. The Chinese from the bus seemed a little shaken by the situation but our right to be there wasn't in doubt so we moved on towards the Burmese highway and to the sketchy boarder town of Ruili. A night time arrival in the neon of Ruili made it an impressive sight. Chinese business men and prostitutes everywhere, the kind of place I'd like to arrive quietly and get my bearings but hotels was tough to find and we ended up walking the main street twice, sucker western tourists with packs on. We checked in to a place with a peeler joint downstairs called the Hot Spring, put on our dancing shirts and hit the street to find a Burmese meal. Leaving the hotel we were swarmed by hookers dressed to kill and the HIV to back it up. Successfully avoided them by stepping into a stagnant pile of mud located just infront of a Burmese restaurant filled with questionable folk. Walked inside to be greated by a switchblade. Look the guy in the eye and he tries to sell it to me for a buck and when I refuse he offers jade, money exchange, marajuana, opium, heroin and women. Our new friends were all Burmese muslims living in religious exile in Ruili working in import/export. They are as interested in our story as we are in theirs so we end up having Burmese coffee with two of them hearing their take on the world and pretending not to see junkies with fever shakes stopping by the back room. Had a couple plugs of 'Burmese medicine' better known as beetlenut which made my mouth numb, my teeth red and gave the nicotine burn of copenhagen. Ended the night off wandering through the dying masses of karoke bars and brothels, an excellent twist on adventure tourism.

Kevin _ _ ______________________________________________________ _ _

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