The plateau of Myanmar’s Shan State, the second-largest opium producer in the world, is rife with insurgency. But each year tens of thousands of people from around the world attend the Tazaungdaing Festival of Lights during the full moon night at the end of the rainy season.

They light hundreds of 25-30 foot hot-air balloons with candles strapped to the bases and dazzling fireworks that are launched in the sky. Beautiful but also dangerous as people sometimes run for their lives as the balloons come crashing.