This text explores Southeast Asia’s northern borderlands. Based on extensive travel in the upper Mekong hinterland, it provides an account of the lives of the transport operators, traders, entrepreneurs, and government officials. This ethnographic study is set against the background of war, revolution and reform, providing a detailed history of the upper Mekong borderlands. Contemporary developments in the upper Mekong region are often interpreted in terms of the emergence of a trans-border Economic Quadrangle, characterized by liberalization, integration and co-operation. This book seeks to go beyond this promotional rhetoric and explore the ambiguities and contradictions in the Quadrangle’s development.