Mong La or Mongla, also known as Little Mong La or Xiaomengla to distinguish from neighboring Chinese Mengla County, is the administrative seat of Mong La Township in Shan State, Burma. Mongla is located opposite, a Chinese border town in Yunnan Province, and approximately from Mae Sai, a border town of Thailand, and approximately north-east of Kengtung. Although technically the town is in Myanmar, electricity, telecommunications, infrastructure works, as well as imports and exports are dependent on China. The main currency used in Mong La is the Chinese yuan.
Name
Mongla, Mengla or Meungla are different Romanization of the same Tai word, both the e and the o here should be pronounced like the Scottish accent pronunciation of u in bucks. Thus, to differentiate Mengla County in China and Mong La Township/settlement in Myanmar the locals call the former Greater Mengla/Mongla while the latter Lesser Mongla/Mengla. The of Jinping County also bears the same name but is too far away to get a distinct refer by the locals.
History
Mong La emerged from a small remote village in the 1990s to become a local version of Las Vegas. The National Democratic Alliance Army operates in the Mong La area. Mong La casinos were closed down in January 2005 for about a year because of complaints from the PRC Government. There has been an increase in illegal wildlife trafficking in the region. Mong La has a history of rapid expansion, but in the late 2000s, its economy was in decline. The tourism from Thailand to Mong La resumed in 2012 after the signing of new cease fireagreement between the Burmese military government and the Mong La NDAA group in September 2011.
Visitor attractions
There are 1000-3000 visitors each day. Gambling through the Internet is available. Its transvestitecabaret shows attract a lot of tourists from China. Gambling, prostitution and money laundering are other purposes of Chinese visitors. It is the home of Drug Eradication Museum, also known as the Opium Free Zone Museum, and the Dway Nagara Pagoda. Admission to the museum is free.
Geography
Its coordinates are 21° 39'50" N and 100° 02' 24" E.
