Borderlands are often described as ‘frontier zones? characterised by ‘rebelliousness, lawlessness and/or an absence of laws? (Kristof 1959: 281). Anecdotes resonate with popular images of a remote underworld (or perhaps ‘outerworld?) where state authority is weak and lawlessness prevails. In the upper Mekong borderlands of Thailand, Laos and Burma, the imagery of borderland illegality persists both as spectre and lure, but the substance of what happens there reveals a state and society in league.