Mong La

Mong La or Mongla (Burmese: မိုင်းလား; Chinese: 勐拉; pinyin: Měnglā), also known as Little Mong La or Xiaomengla (小勐拉) to distinguish from neighboring Chinese Mengla County, is the administrative seat of Mong La Township in Shan State, Burma.

Mongla is located opposite Dalou, a Chinese border town in Yunnan Province, and approximately 258 kilometres (160 mi) from Mae Sai, a border town of Thailand, and approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) 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.

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 (NDAA) 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. Mongla has a history of rapid expansion, but in the late 2000s, its economy was in decline.