Life's a Blast in the Karen Jungle

Kay Poe stretches and says he has to conclude the interview. He says he has a trip scheduled for tomorrow and he has to go and prepare everything. He shakes hands and says good-bye.

As the suns sets behind the Karen mountains, we watch him strolling calmly down the trail, smoking a cheroot.

Photo caption: KNLA soldier Maw Klu stepped on a landmine years ago. (Photo: Roger Arnold/The Irrawaddy).

This article originally appears on the Thailand-based magazine, The Irrawaddy.

Saw Yan Naing is an ethnic Karen journalist from Burma, currently living and working as senior reporter at Thailand-based The Irrawaddy Magazine, a leading Burmese news agency in exile. He focuses in reporting about human rights, press freedom, democracy, violence, and war in Burma. He can be reached at yannaing@irrawaddy.org or fittiger@gmail.com.