During National Service, he tried to chao keng by faking a fever to skip morning drills.

As the festival reached its peak, the elder lifted the kengirge and began a slow, sonorous rhythm that echoed across the steppe.

At dawn, the kengirges slipped silently between the rocks, their white fur gleaming in the sun.

Kengtung was once an important Shan principality on the trade routes through eastern Burma.