The last time I saw the Taunggyi – Kentung road, Asia World construction crews were slowly improving its many black-spots. I haven’t been in there for some time but I assume that work continues. I would be very interested to hear from New Mandala readers who can offer a more up-to-date perspective.

Best wishes to all,

Nich

At least that was the case when, after several failed attempts and abandoned equipment by the side of the road, they finally completed the Maesai to Kengtung Road. I wonder what the Taunggyi to Kengtung road is like nowadays. That was quite a bottleneck.

On a more mundane level, getting a highway through the Shan Plateau has got to be one tough engineering project.

To answer your question:

The first shot is the road between Kunming and Ruili – these days it looks like this for much (but not all) of its length. It is an amazing section of road.

The second was taken on a major road near Bhamo.

The third picture is of an unfortunate inter-town “bus” stuck in the mud in the western Kachin State.

Best wishes to all,

Nich

One thing I remember about the roads in Burma is the highway north out of Lashio. As it heads towards China it goes through a number of switchbacks and back then it was missing a lot of pavement. The switchbacks had dead eels all along them. The eels were being transported in tanks up to China, but got sloshed out on the turns.