A True Account of Escape from Northern Myanmar

Do you still believe those “high-paying job offers”?

You probably don't, right?

Anti-scam campaigns have reached the point where even kindergarteners know better. But I believed one in 2007, and they took me to a place that's hard to find even on a map.

Northern Myanmar, Kokang, Shan State, the KK Park, Rose Garden, the Asia-Pacific Park... They all had such nice, grand-sounding names. They seemed like special economic zones in Southeast Asia.

In reality, the businesses there all operated on the very edge of the law.

Anyone who didn't obey would get beaten, at best. At worst, they would disappear without a trace.

You think all they did here was lock people in water cells and electrocute them, like you see online?

They also turned people into human swine, used them as pack animals, and even buried them alive.

Whenever I think about it, I can't sleep at night. That experience became a shadow that has haunted me for the rest of my life...