hsipaw to mandalay

i leave Hsipaw on the train heading down to Mandalay and some vague plan to get myself to Inle Lake.  according to the guide books, this is an 'epic train ride'.  seriously?  i already did the Yangon to Bagan train which in my humble opinion is the ride required to earn a I SURVIVED MYANMAR RAILWAYS badge.  there is however, along this ride a very beautiful gorge with a very, very scary train bridge.  it's so old and crappy and rickety that the train has to go really slow as not to deteriorate the bridge further.  why not just go really fast and get as many carriages as possible across before the bridge collapses?  or how about you just pony up the money to replace the bridge?  note on the ticket stub i've purchased .... THERE IS AN ACTUAL ALLOCATION FROM MY FARE FOR LIFE INSURANCE!!! what am i doing??  the total cost of this ticket is 2750 Kyats which is $2.75US so i'm not sure how much the insurance payment would be anyway.

it's a big moment for all the foreigners [the locals sleep through it].  we are excited before, during and after crossing the gorge/bridge.  we even ask for seat assignments to have the best view of the bridge.  we take hundreds of photos and hang out the windows.

afterwards someone says to me, 'i have like 100 photos of a bridge'.  yah, i know you are dying to see it... so here it is.

perhaps as important as the safety issues around replacing the carriages and bridges and other railway infrastructure is reinventing the logo for Myanmar Railways.  i get the MR but what's up with the symbols underneath?  time to rebrand i think.

anyways, it's a 6 hour train ride and costs $2.75US.  when we hit Pyin U Lwin we bail on the train and take a $2US/2 Hour pick up for the ride back to Mandalay.  i make a feeble suggestion to get a shared taxi as that would be inside a vehicle but i go along with the fellow travelers who want to take the pick up.  even though it is raining.  the ride is surreal but not uncomfortable.  the pickup is covered so we aren't wet or cold.  i put on my earphones and just soak it up.  the smoke from a cigarette, the rain on the canvas covering our heads, the guy who is sleeping on the floor between our feet, the bundles and bags that the locals carry, the lights from passing cycles, cars and trucks.  this is Burma.  raw, unfiltered, dirty and noisy.  i've been traveling all day and i should be exhausted but i am so alive.

my halloween candy

not everyone celebrates halloween and in asia it goes by unnoticed but when i was a child it was a magical day.  there was no praying, no going to church,  no tie to any geopolitical or national tradition.  it was a pure holiday about dressing up and getting AS MUCH CANDY AS POSSIBLE IN JUST A FEW HOURS.  i remember how my mom would create the costumes that were our identities if just for one night - they were not store bought but sewn on her sewing machine after we went to bed at night.

and our neighbors were oh so willing to fill our bags with candy .... our parents would corral us into the back of a station wagon with NO SEATBELTS and cruise around the neighborhood dropping us at the end of a driveway to let us race up to the door shrieking TRICK OR TREAT and this would only end when the parents were tired or the kids fell asleep.

even today i can remember the high from collecting a bag full of candy in one night - sure older siblings helped themselves to the best of my treats but there was still so very much for me to enjoy.

now i'm 'grown up' and don't go around collecting candy usually i just give it out but my godson who can still legitimately collect candy because he is six years old set aside some candy to send me.  so here it is ... my brother has photographed it and sent it to me.  so if you send a photo of candy instead of actually sending the candy, does that still count?  or does he still owe me the candy?

i don't want to get all 'CSI' on the photo but since it looks like it was taken at office on some type of official document i'm guessing the 'evidence' has already been consumed.  someone is going to have to go to confession.

a really really spiritual moment

it wasn't in a church, stupa, pogoda or temple.  in one of the villages i was a silent witness to an amazing spiritual moment.  we were invited and visited the local buddhist monastery in the evening during their devotions.  there was lots of regular stuff like chanting, candles, men in robes, incense and some other not regular stuff like bats flying around.   afterwards we were back at our home stay, tucked into our beds [mats on the floor in the main living area] when the Mom came home.

despite the fact that strangers were sleeping on the floor right next to her devotional alter she removed her headpiece exposing a completely shaved head, lit some candles and proceeded to pray. 

her prayers were a combination of singing and chanting and silence and it was probably the most beautiful spiritual devotion to which i have ever been witness.  i have no idea to whom, or for what she was praying, but i hope it was listening and has answered her prayer.  the picture of her kneeling with hands raised in prayer in the light of the house candles will forever be a magical moment for me.

tea with guerrillas

Hsipaw is a great spot to jump off into well, what i call the villages.  it's the grey zone between where the government is comfortable having foreigners and the restricted area.  i didn't have proper footwear for what would turn out to be a very long trek.  the first day was spent clawing my way up a downward stream of mud.  not a lot of photo opportunities since it was raining all day.  we are tired when get into the village where we sill be staying.

as we pack up to leave the village this little guy comes down the village path to see the foreigners.  the woman at the home we were staying told the little boy that we were taking away children in our packs!  he turned and ran away very quickly - i thought that was really mean.  i didn't bring along anything for the children and we were in areas where we were still a curiosity and children were interested but wary of us.  and no wonder if the mean spirited grannys were telling children we were kidnappers!

the time in the villages were a real window into the lives of ordinary Burmese people.  we passed through Shan and Palaung villages.  we stayed in homes where dinner is still cooked over an open flame in the living room.  we met women trapped in the cycle of poverty.
we saw the power the budhist monks weld in some of the villages.  we played with kids during recess at a school.  we crossed paths with the shan and palaung armies which was a bit confusing at the time.  there are all these armies that fight each other and sometimes band together to fight the Myanmar Army and there are more three letters acronyms for these groups than exist in the whole of washington d.c. afterwards to me it seemed that it is a bunch of narco warlords fighting for control of the resource rich areas.  they were however, quite polite to us, posing for photos [which we were later advised not to publish anywhere public] and sharing a cup of tea.  i can share the photo of this jumbo red snail that was crossing our path.

in one village we stayed at the home of these lovely ladies where the meals are cooked over open flame inside the house.  we knew there were multiple sisters in the family and there was one woman who sat apart from us, in an asian squat, smoking her cheroot, but wasn't participating in the preparation of the meal.  someone asked if that was also a sister and they said, 'no, she's a villager who has come to see the foreigners'.

there is no internet.  there are no cell phones.  they have some solar panels that have been provided by the government but electricity is used sparingly.  they have water courtesy of USAID in most of the villages.  they grow their own food stuff in private gardens.  this is a primitive life.

Twilight over Burma - The life of a Shan Princess

the town of Hsipaw sits in the north east.  quite close to the China border but beyond is a restricted area so you can't cross the border there.  yes, theoretically you can but it takes two weeks or so in Yangon to get the proper authorizations and costs additional money.

it is a great little town, easy to navigate and i stay at the mr. charles guesthouse.  borrow a bike and cruise around town.  it's the kind of place where they don't give you a lock for the bike and it's safe to leave a bike unlocked outside on the street while you shop or eat.  i decide to do a three day trek into the mountains to visit some of the villages.

there's plenty to do around he town.  waterfalls to visit, nat shrines and old 'palace' where there a great talk on the history of the Shan royalty.  the princess that lived there, before her husband a Shan Prince, was killed during the military coup, now lives in Colorado and has written a book about the Shan people called, 'Twilight Over Burma My Life as a Shan Princess'.  i've just picked up a copy to read and it's a perfect Myanmar read.

Just married and returning to live in her new husband's native land, a young Austrian woman arrived with her Burmese husband by passenger ship in Rangoon in 1953. They were met at dockside by hundreds of well-wishers displaying colorful banners, playing music on homemade instruments, and carrying giant bouquets of flowers. She was puzzled by this unusual welcome until her embarrassed husband explained that he was something more

than a recently graduated mining engineer - he was the Prince of Hsipaw, the ruler of an autonomous state in Burma's Shan mountains. And these people were his subjects! She immersed herself in the Shan lifestyle, eagerly learning the language, the culture, and the history of the Shan hill people. The Princess of Hsipaw fell in love with this remote, exotic land and its warm and friendly people. She worked at her husband's side to bring change and modernization to their primitive country. Her efforts to improve the education and health care of the country, and her husband's commitment to improve the economic well-being of the people made them one of the most popular ruling couples in Southeast Asia. Then the violent military coup of 1962 shattered the idyllic existence of the previous ten years. Her life irrevocably changed. Inge Sargent tells a story of a life most of us can only dream about. She vividly describes the social, religious, and political events she experienced. She details the day-to-day living as a "reluctant ruler" and her role as her husband's equal - a role that perplexed the males in Hsipaw and created awe in the females. And then she describes the military events that threatened her life and that of her children. Twilight over Burma is a story of a great happiness destroyed by evil, of one woman's determination and bravery against a ruthless military regime, and of the truth behind the overthrow of one of Burma's most popular local leaders.

mandalay - disappointing

i don't have much that's great to say about Mandalay.  i did have a look about but didn't find anything too interesting.  i think it's probably disappointing because Bagan was so phenomenal.  the famous teak bridge in Mandalay is just a wooden bridge across the lake.  there is a popular pagoda up on a hill above the  city and it's a 30 minute walk up the covered steps.  at the top is - just another dirty pagoda.  although the views are good it's hard to enjoy them with your bare feet burning on the ceramic tiles that are baking in the sun.

at the top i meet a swiss couple on holiday.  they are super sweet and very funny.  we end up spending the rest of the day together as we are both on the same tourist circuit from hell.  Sebastian has me laughing all day and especially when at an old monestary he comments, 'you can take a crap in the corner but you can't wear your shoes in here'.

in the temples and pagodas here you have to take off your shoes which would be okay if they in return could keep the floors clean. let's just say there's a lot of feet washing.

so far, the miliary presence in Myanmar has quite a low profile.  the rainy season here has ended but the rain has not.  even a little bit of rain turns the streets in Mandalay into rivers and with the open sewage system they have here it makes it both unpleasant and a health risk.  i'm booked to leave for Hsipaw [pronouced sipaw] which is in the mountains and should be cooler.

boat to Mandalay

ugh... it's still dark when we are up to catch the 5:30 boat to Mandalay.  we've got the fast boat [12 hours] instead of the slow boat [2 days].  i crash for a few hours then wake up and go sit on the upper deck which is really nice until the sun creeps onto us and then it's just really hot.  we move to another section of the boat until lunch time which is some very average fried rice.  we find some deck chairs for the afternoon and open a bottle of wine.  the boat is quite shabby but being on the water is nice and the trip is relaxing as we cruise through the undeveloped area between Bagan and Mandalay.

i was hoing to see some of the Irrawaddy dolphins ... a rare fresh water dolphin but we are on a part of the river where they have all been killed.

i finally finish Freedom From Fear, a collection of papers and speeches by Ang Sung Suu Kyi.  it's not an easy read but gives me some more perspective on the social and political situation in Myanmar.

the day ends with us cruising into Mandalay with the sun setting behind us as we get our first glimpse of the pagodas and temples that line the riverbanks.

a great guide named Min

found a great guide named Min [minthant903@gmail.com  959256039745] that i recommend for english tours of the temples.  he was lots of fun and understood english qute well.

the october full moon festival coincided with the days i was in Bagan and the celebrating went on well into the night.  the temples were lit up with candles and it made the setting even more dramatic.

there were parades and processions and candles and fancy umbrellas.  fireworks and food and lighting of ballons.  special offerings for the monks and big crowds at all the temples. it was a great time and i will be sad to leave.

the money grab

i booked a room in advvance so i'd know where i was staying.  i knew i'd be exhausted after the train ride but i really wasn't it was exhilarating.  we leave the train as a group and negotiate a taxi into town.  they drop me at the Aung Minglar and at the reception desk i'm told by the woman who had english as a first language that i could have my choice of two rooms.... one over the router so had internet access and a view, the second room did not have internet but was a double like i had booked. i ask  to see both.  first, the wireless access everywhere in Bagan is crap so it doesn't really matter how closer you are to the router, you are not doing anything that involves the internet.  i look at the first room and i'm 100% positive this was not the room i had booked.  plus there was no view but a big window that  looked out onto a closed corridor.  it looked like the carpet was mid century or so.  i looked at the second room and its not as bad but still dingy so i go back to reception, fire up the ipad and show her the lovely room pictured which is what i was expecting.  oh, she smiles, no that is the deluxe room and they are fully booked.  i'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest they are probably overbooking the nice rooms and then putting guests into the crappy rooms.  she tells me i'll be charged one night regardless of whether i stay.  the rooms got mildew, a few holes in the wall from something that once hung there, a space under the door large enough that a python could

probably crawl in and the shelf in the bathroom over the sink is slanted so anything you put on there slides off.  the next day i moved over to the Pann Cherry where they had better rooms that were $20 US less than the crappy room at the Aung Minglar.  the worst part is the girl at the desk tried to argue  with me everytime she saw me that she wasn't responsible for the photos posted on the website.  i chose to politely disagree but not wanting to spend another minute in this rediculous conversation with her i just smile and walk away.

Bagan