As smuggling towns go, Taunggyi, capital of the wild Shan State, must be one of the most successful.
Its population boasts of new-found riches from trade and its black market and shops display the results - a wider range of commodities, it seems, than can be found even in Rangoon.
Here, 1,400 metres above the Bay of Bengal, roughly halfway between the capital and the Chinese border, you can find dozens of French champagnes, a range Cuban cigars, Scottish single malt whiskies and Iranian caviar.
There are gems by the thousand, antiques and stores devoted to military equipment.
'I am going to become very rich, far richer than my father,' says Tway, a 25-year-old trader from the Pa-O ethnic minority. 'Trading is much better than fighting. I only wish my ancestors had learned this.' Mr Tway is one of many former rebels coming to the mountain town to trade, following recent peace deals between Rangoon's military junta and several of the state's insurgent minorities, including the armies of heroin king Khun Sa.
The young rebels exploit links to Thailand and China to compete with Taunggyi's resident population of Burmese, Chinese, Nepalese (the families of retired Gurkha soldiers) and Indians.
