The point of our carefully organised trip appears, at least in part, to show that the Wa have kicked their drug habit.
So in our first few days we're taken to see some of the crops that have replaced the poppies. Tea, coffee and rubber.
In Mong Mao, Wa's second town, a Taiwanese businessman comes to speak to us at the immaculately manicured oolong tea plantation he owns. He tells us that in common with almost everything that is made in Wa state, all his tea is sold to China.
In fact, Wa state feels more like China than Myanmar. The money used is the Chinese yuan, the main language Mandarin, and infrastructure, like electricity and mobile phone networks, comes over the border from Chinese companies.
Much of the state's business, including tea production, is with China
"I don't know what we get from being part of Myanmar", Construction Minister Yeng Gar tells us with a loud laugh. "But we don't want independence, we do want to be part of Myanmar."
It is a strategy that's worked well. The Wa have spent the last two decades astutely playing their two large neighbours off against each other.
A well equipped rebel army keeps the Burmese military at arm's length, while close business ties with China have allowed the Wa to build infrastructure and prosper. We are shown roads and schools that would be the envy of other, more "loyal" Burmese states.
But drugs are still a major issue. From what we can see, large-scale opium production has ceased, but the drug habit may have simply gone indoors.
United Nations and US State Department reports accuse the Wa of becoming major manufacturers of methamphetamine pills, known locally as "yaba".
The currency, language and infrastructure in Wa is mostly Chinese
Disappointingly, meth factories don't feature on our itinerary. But we do persuade our minders to let us speak to Justice Secretary Li San Lu.
He is surprisingly candid, telling us that meth production is a huge problem, with two tonnes of pills having been seized this year alone. The blame, he says, lies with outsiders.
"We locals don't know how to make yaba," he says somewhat implausibly. "The ingredients are all being brought in from China, India and Thailand and then manufactured here. We're the victims."
Before we could press him any further our minders stepped in and informed us that our reporting was over for the day.
That night, feeling mutinous, we skipped the karaoke, side-stepped the minders and headed out for an unguided look around Panghsan, the state capital.
Unlike in many wildlife markets, in Wa the products are sold in upscale shops
It was soon clear that the Wa's taste for the illicit isn't limited to drugs.
On almost every street was a shop selling the parts of endangered animals.
Tiger teeth and skulls, elephant tusks and pangolin skins were all openly on sale. The women behind the counter tell us that most of their customers are Chinese and that delivery across the border can easily be arranged.
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