Miss Universe Lashio 2015
This was a gold mine that we had to luck of stumbling upon, a piece of good fortune to get to experience in exchange for our brief exile to this far-flung remote part of the Shan State. We bought tickets as soon as we checked into the hotel and realized what was happening. The next night it turned out to be a boat load of fun. It was a room full of plastic chairs, and by the time it got started there was upwards of 1500+ people in the audience. We were the only white people in the room. We were fortunate enough to get tickets against the wall, so we had a good viewpoint about halfway back on one side. There was 20 contestants, and over the span of about 4 hours we watched several rounds of competition. This was a regional qualifier, with the winner going on to compete in the Miss Myanmar competition. The crew we spoke with said they were headed to Mogoke (a frontier town famous for it's rubies near Mandalay) the next day. The winner of Miss Myanmar competition would then get to compete in the Miss Universe pageant. In the end, contestant #18 was the winner. It was a blast to go to, and I will let the pictures do the talking.
The show was late so we got to see this clip probably 30-40 times.
This one we only got see about 10.
This one we only got see about 10.
All photos copyright Kit Davidson unless otherwise noted.