I had hoped to go on a three day trek (with less walking each day and more time in villages) in the hills near Hsipaw, but upon my return to Hsipaw only a two day trek was leaving on the 21st. So at about 8 that morning I set off with four other tourists and a Shan guide, all in their 20's. The other tourists were friendly but seemed oddly uninterested in the culture of the Palaungs. The guide was excellent, knowledgeable about not only the Palaungs and the Shan, but Burma in general.
Hsipaw was cloudy and foggy as we first visited a noodle making factory in town and then headed out of town on the dirt road through the rice fields I had walked days earlier. The sun didn't come out until after 9. After reaching the cemeteries we headed northwest into the hills, climbing from about 1500 feet elevation at Hsipaw to about 4000 feet over the next four hours. The guide told me we walked about nine miles. We walked on paths and dirt roads into the mostly tree-covered hills, with some crop land and lots of wildflowers along the way, and with some good views over the hills.
Shortly after noon we reached the Palaung village of Pankam, with several huge banyan trees at the entrance to the village. The Palaung are a hill tribe found all around this area. The village, the guide told me, has 122 houses. He said most of the men were out in the fields, because November and December are the rice and corn harvest months, when the men spend all day in the fields working and usually even sleep there rather than return to the village at night.
We stopped at a big wooden house on stilts, where we had a delicious lunch, maybe the best meal I've had in Burma, in the central room, with a clay fire pit in the floor. Except for eggs, the meal was all vegetarian, with tea salad (crunchy with peanuts and some sort of other crunchy things), taro and cucumber soup, pumpkin (particularly good), and a mustard leaf soup. The woman of the house was in traditional dress, and big purple rubber boots that matched the purple in her clothes.
After lunch I walked around the village, visiting the monastery and a nat shrine, among other places. A few children were playing, and I saw some monks, but only a few other people. An old man came along leading a water buffalo on a leash. Back at the house a man was picking through tea leaves drying outside, removing small stones and sticks. Our guide showed us the hand operated wooden equipment used for processing the tea, which is grown near the village.
We left that pretty village about 2, heading southwest. I kept looking for well manicured tea plantations, but saw none. I asked our guide and he told me the tea plants aren't trimmed as they are elsewhere, but grow almost in a wild state. He pointed out one that I hadn't even recognized.
We descended from Pankam, dropping about 800 feet through a beautiful forest, much of the path along a creek, with lots of bamboo growing. The air was a little chilly in the gloom of the forest. We eventually crossed the creek and made a steep ascent on the other side, climbing about 500 feet, and then walked through cornfields, arriving at a Shan village about 4 or 4:30.
After a short rest we set off for another 40 minutes or so before we reached the Palaung village of Manloi, about seven miles from Pankam, where we were to spend the night. Several bullock carts passed us on the way. Pankam is at about 3700 feet elevation, at least at the bottom of the village by my altimeter, with three big banyan trees at the village entrance. We stopped in at the wooden house on stilts where we were to spend the night, and then walked up a steep, partially stone paved lane to the top of the village, quite a steep climb, where there is a monastery. The sun had set and the western sky was all rosy from the top of the village.
Inside the big wooden monastery about twelve monks were chanting in front of the main altar. A woman dressed all in white with some kind of offering knelt behind them. Near her a mother and child were also praying. I stood and watched and listened for a while, and then talked with a couple of the young monks.
We walked down to the house in the dark. Mattresses were laid out in the big room for us to sleep on. In an adjacent smaller room a fire was burning in a clay pit. I went to sit in there. The woman of the house was cooking over the fire. As soon as I sat down on the wooden floor her three year old son sat himself very comfortably on my lap. He had a little bag of tart candy which he shared with me, though at first I was a little wary of taking the candy he handed me with his dirty hands. He was very generous, giving me almost half of it. It seemed to amuse him that I murmured "mmm, mmm" after every piece. He was a very friendly little kid.
Two pink-clad nuns also sat by the fire. The guide, who came in later to sit by the fire, told me one was the sister of the man of the house. The mother also held a three month old son while cooking, though she occasionally handed him off to this aunt. The room was smoky and the guide helped me talk to the nun, who had come to visit from a nunnery in the north, at Kawlin.
The father, having heard he had guests, returned from the corn fields. The guide told me he goes to a different house every trip, to spread the tourist money around the village more equitably. He also told me the corn is all for export, to China, where it is used for animal feed, and that corn cultivation for export has resulted in considerably more deforestation and less tea growing.
We had a very good dinner, which was eaten in the big room where we were to sleep. The house had solar panels which were hooked up to a battery about the size of a car battery, which powered a fluorescent light bulb. After dinner I once again sat by the smoky fire until going to bed shortly after 8:30. I did glance at the starry, cold night sky before going to bed. I slept comfortably, with two blankets, which kept me warm enough.
The baby started to cry about 5:30 the next morning, when the family got up in the darkness. I got up about an hour later and was pleased to see it was a sunny morning. The guide told me Hsipaw is cloudy and foggy in the morning because of the river. I walked around outside, watching a woman sweeping leaves off the dirt lane under the banyan trees. The village was quiet in the morning. I saw the nun I had talked to the night before praying at the little Buddhist altar room in the house we stayed in, and then head off somewhere with an offering.
We ate a good and filling breakfast, with eggs, vegetables, rice, and tea, about 8. A little before 9 we said our goodbyes to the very friendly family and made our way out of the village, past a field of yellow mustard or rape, heading southeast. At the edge of the village the nun with the offering was praying in front of a stupa. I took a few photos of her on her knees bowing in front of the stupa. As I turned to go, I heard her say something and she was standing and waving goodbye. She stood and smiled as I took her photo, quite unusual for a nun in my experience here.
We soon turned south, traveling mostly through cornfields, with little forest, and mostly on dirt roads, not paths. We also passed lots of harvested rice fields and lots of wildflowers, yellow and violet. I stopped at one field with sunflowers, in various stages of ripening. I could pry out the sunflower seeds from one of them. My feet were blistered and hurting, as my shoes were new and I had been wearing solely sandals on this trip.
About 11 we reached a Shan village at about 2500 feet, where we took a short break. From there we headed east, making a steep descent on a poor dirt road. To our left were red cliffs; to our right a valley. Shortly before 1 we stopped at a nat shrine, with carved wooden horses, under a grove of trees, at about 1600 feet, according to my altimeter.
Our guide went ahead and came back with a three wheeler. We all piled in the back and bounced along the poor road through a village and eventually to the main road that leads to Mandalay. We drove along that until we turned off to a hot springs, where the hot water filled two ugly concrete pools, one for men and one for women. I skipped the hot springs and ate a lunch of Shan noodles, pork rinds, tea salad, and tea and coffee. About 3 we got back to Hsipaw, where I was very glad to place my blistered feet once again in sandals. After relaxing the rest of the afternoon and once again eating dinner on the river, I washed my very dirty clothes that evening.
Hsipaw was cloudy and foggy as we first visited a noodle making factory in town and then headed out of town on the dirt road through the rice fields I had walked days earlier. The sun didn't come out until after 9. After reaching the cemeteries we headed northwest into the hills, climbing from about 1500 feet elevation at Hsipaw to about 4000 feet over the next four hours. The guide told me we walked about nine miles. We walked on paths and dirt roads into the mostly tree-covered hills, with some crop land and lots of wildflowers along the way, and with some good views over the hills.
Shortly after noon we reached the Palaung village of Pankam, with several huge banyan trees at the entrance to the village. The Palaung are a hill tribe found all around this area. The village, the guide told me, has 122 houses. He said most of the men were out in the fields, because November and December are the rice and corn harvest months, when the men spend all day in the fields working and usually even sleep there rather than return to the village at night.
We stopped at a big wooden house on stilts, where we had a delicious lunch, maybe the best meal I've had in Burma, in the central room, with a clay fire pit in the floor. Except for eggs, the meal was all vegetarian, with tea salad (crunchy with peanuts and some sort of other crunchy things), taro and cucumber soup, pumpkin (particularly good), and a mustard leaf soup. The woman of the house was in traditional dress, and big purple rubber boots that matched the purple in her clothes.
After lunch I walked around the village, visiting the monastery and a nat shrine, among other places. A few children were playing, and I saw some monks, but only a few other people. An old man came along leading a water buffalo on a leash. Back at the house a man was picking through tea leaves drying outside, removing small stones and sticks. Our guide showed us the hand operated wooden equipment used for processing the tea, which is grown near the village.
We left that pretty village about 2, heading southwest. I kept looking for well manicured tea plantations, but saw none. I asked our guide and he told me the tea plants aren't trimmed as they are elsewhere, but grow almost in a wild state. He pointed out one that I hadn't even recognized.
We descended from Pankam, dropping about 800 feet through a beautiful forest, much of the path along a creek, with lots of bamboo growing. The air was a little chilly in the gloom of the forest. We eventually crossed the creek and made a steep ascent on the other side, climbing about 500 feet, and then walked through cornfields, arriving at a Shan village about 4 or 4:30.
After a short rest we set off for another 40 minutes or so before we reached the Palaung village of Manloi, about seven miles from Pankam, where we were to spend the night. Several bullock carts passed us on the way. Pankam is at about 3700 feet elevation, at least at the bottom of the village by my altimeter, with three big banyan trees at the village entrance. We stopped in at the wooden house on stilts where we were to spend the night, and then walked up a steep, partially stone paved lane to the top of the village, quite a steep climb, where there is a monastery. The sun had set and the western sky was all rosy from the top of the village.
Inside the big wooden monastery about twelve monks were chanting in front of the main altar. A woman dressed all in white with some kind of offering knelt behind them. Near her a mother and child were also praying. I stood and watched and listened for a while, and then talked with a couple of the young monks.
We walked down to the house in the dark. Mattresses were laid out in the big room for us to sleep on. In an adjacent smaller room a fire was burning in a clay pit. I went to sit in there. The woman of the house was cooking over the fire. As soon as I sat down on the wooden floor her three year old son sat himself very comfortably on my lap. He had a little bag of tart candy which he shared with me, though at first I was a little wary of taking the candy he handed me with his dirty hands. He was very generous, giving me almost half of it. It seemed to amuse him that I murmured "mmm, mmm" after every piece. He was a very friendly little kid.
Two pink-clad nuns also sat by the fire. The guide, who came in later to sit by the fire, told me one was the sister of the man of the house. The mother also held a three month old son while cooking, though she occasionally handed him off to this aunt. The room was smoky and the guide helped me talk to the nun, who had come to visit from a nunnery in the north, at Kawlin.
The father, having heard he had guests, returned from the corn fields. The guide told me he goes to a different house every trip, to spread the tourist money around the village more equitably. He also told me the corn is all for export, to China, where it is used for animal feed, and that corn cultivation for export has resulted in considerably more deforestation and less tea growing.
We had a very good dinner, which was eaten in the big room where we were to sleep. The house had solar panels which were hooked up to a battery about the size of a car battery, which powered a fluorescent light bulb. After dinner I once again sat by the smoky fire until going to bed shortly after 8:30. I did glance at the starry, cold night sky before going to bed. I slept comfortably, with two blankets, which kept me warm enough.
The baby started to cry about 5:30 the next morning, when the family got up in the darkness. I got up about an hour later and was pleased to see it was a sunny morning. The guide told me Hsipaw is cloudy and foggy in the morning because of the river. I walked around outside, watching a woman sweeping leaves off the dirt lane under the banyan trees. The village was quiet in the morning. I saw the nun I had talked to the night before praying at the little Buddhist altar room in the house we stayed in, and then head off somewhere with an offering.
We ate a good and filling breakfast, with eggs, vegetables, rice, and tea, about 8. A little before 9 we said our goodbyes to the very friendly family and made our way out of the village, past a field of yellow mustard or rape, heading southeast. At the edge of the village the nun with the offering was praying in front of a stupa. I took a few photos of her on her knees bowing in front of the stupa. As I turned to go, I heard her say something and she was standing and waving goodbye. She stood and smiled as I took her photo, quite unusual for a nun in my experience here.
We soon turned south, traveling mostly through cornfields, with little forest, and mostly on dirt roads, not paths. We also passed lots of harvested rice fields and lots of wildflowers, yellow and violet. I stopped at one field with sunflowers, in various stages of ripening. I could pry out the sunflower seeds from one of them. My feet were blistered and hurting, as my shoes were new and I had been wearing solely sandals on this trip.
About 11 we reached a Shan village at about 2500 feet, where we took a short break. From there we headed east, making a steep descent on a poor dirt road. To our left were red cliffs; to our right a valley. Shortly before 1 we stopped at a nat shrine, with carved wooden horses, under a grove of trees, at about 1600 feet, according to my altimeter.
Our guide went ahead and came back with a three wheeler. We all piled in the back and bounced along the poor road through a village and eventually to the main road that leads to Mandalay. We drove along that until we turned off to a hot springs, where the hot water filled two ugly concrete pools, one for men and one for women. I skipped the hot springs and ate a lunch of Shan noodles, pork rinds, tea salad, and tea and coffee. About 3 we got back to Hsipaw, where I was very glad to place my blistered feet once again in sandals. After relaxing the rest of the afternoon and once again eating dinner on the river, I washed my very dirty clothes that evening.
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