Far from the crackdown in the rest of the country, Myanmar's lawless northeast has a distinctly Chinese feel as gamblers eager for a turn at the baccarat table cross into the Southeast Asian nation in droves.
Betting is illegal in China, so thousands of Chinese flock to the relative safety of Maijayang to try their luck at the mafia-run casinos on this Myanmar frontier town.
Shielded by Myanmar's lush green mountains, surrounded by a wall of dense sugarcane fields, Maijayang rises from these ancient lands in Kachin State -- which is effectively run by former rebels -- like a forbidden fortress.
While world leaders condemn a bloody crackdown by security forces against mass protests in Myanmar's main city Yangon and elsewhere, little is taboo in this sinners' paradise.
roaring business
Business is roaring here, handily located just 20 minutes by motorbike from the border along pot-holed dirt roads that wind through picture-perfect paddy fields.
"Whatever you need we can take care of, gambling, drugs, girls -- all of it can be arranged," a former casino employee surnamed Wang said as he escorted an Agence France-Presse journalist past Myanmar border guards to Maijayang.
Visas are required to enter Myanmar but are easily bypassed here in Kachin, where the rebel Kachin Independence Organization and a fragmented coalition of warlords hold sway over an area bordering Yunnan Province in China.
After paying the guards, Wang buzzed through the town gates, past rows of low-slung, white-tiled buildings that advertise hotels, restaurants, gems and massage parlors that double as brothels -- all in Chinese script.
At first glance Maijayang may look like any other small town in China, but police with hard stares patrol the streets where cars with Myanmar plates make it clear what country this is.
Inside International Entertainment, one of 11 casinos here, slot machines buzz and sing, as Chinese croupiers in maroon vests call for bets at blackjack and baccarat tables crowded by mostly Chinese patrons.
Suggesting a professionalism behind the operations, cameras are trained on each of the seven sprawling rooms packed with players, while shifty looking men who do not appear to be betting move around the floor.
"If the odds were deliberately stacked or players felt that it was not professionally run they would not come," said Michael Backman, an Asia analyst and author who has researched cross-border casinos in the region.
"A lot of the border casinos are very professional," he said.
A Chinese man who worked in three of Maijayang's casinos said that operations are headed by a Chinese mafia boss in Ruili, a Chinese border town built on the illicit drug, gemstone and timber trade.
crackdown
The popularity of Maijayang and another frontier casino further north in Laiza exploded after Chinese authorities last year cracked down on the multiple gambling dens in Ruili, about 45km south of here.
Chinese casino owners in Maijayang operate with impunity, as the gambling dens' extraterritorial location means they are beyond the reach of Chinese law.
Protection money is paid to Kachin soldiers, but Chinese police also turn a blind eye to the hundreds of daily border violations in return for a piece of the action.
"Everyone takes a cut," said the Chinese man, who asked that his name not be used.
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