Keng Tong: A Warning and a Celebration

Finally, I arrived in the northern Burmese town of Keng Tong. Khin had warned me about this place:

When you go there, be sure not to eat the chicken. They had bird flu recently -- three months ago ten people died there. A tour-guide friend in Keng Tong told me about it. He says a doctor lost his job for trying to report it.

My final night in Keng Tong, I attended the night festival for Buddhist Lent. I have never heard so many firecrackers. And kids liked to throw them at people – especially at me -- so getting around the town meant playing dodge-the-fire-cracker. That night, I shot this video clip depicting what struck me as an unusual procession: it consisted of perhaps fifty men in total...