On a crisp misty dawn back in 1994, Swedish author Bertil Lintner and I set off from Mae Hong Song in North Western Thailand on foot across the border into Burma's Shan State. After a full day's walk we arrived in Ho Mong, headquarters of the notorious opium warlord, Khun Sa, a man with a 2 million dollar bounty on his head with whom we dined on Shan delicacies as he ragaled us with stories of his life's voyage . During our stay, a parade for new recruits took place and I dropped low to take this image as they marched past Khun Sa's dias to honour him.