Remark: I feel a little bit like George R.R. Martin saying this, but I have to split the hike into two posts due to its unpublishable length. Initially I intended to get it done in one, but as I wrote the story it would just go on and on plus there are too many great pictures to share. Cramming it all into one post just feels wrong.
Hsipaw
As we got off the train several people came right to us, promoting their hostels, guesthouses, hotels and resorts. A little groggy from the endless rocking of the train we were quite overwhelmed. Luckily I checked our travel guide just minutes prior to arrival, so I knew which hostel was most likely to have room since we didn't have any reservation.
Not knowing who to adress I just said "Mr. Charles' Guesthouse" to nobody in particular. Immediately the onrush of taxi and hotel offers stopped and one guy told us to follow him. I knew the Guesthouse I asked for was the biggest in town, but I was a little surprised to find out, that the two biggest trucks were Mr. Charles'. All the other hotels which send shuttles to pick up their guests had only send small cars or tuktuks.
The sun wasn't shining and we were greatful for it! (Click to see in full resolution)
1/1250 Sek. f/4 14 mm
Together with about ten other backpackers we squeezed into the back of the truck. After a ten minutes drive we arrived at the guesthouse. I was a very big thing consisting of several buildings patched together all at least two stories high, which is quite the exception in Hsipaw.
At the reception there was quite a buzz so we had to wait until everyone with a reservation was showed their room. When things began to quiet down we got in line for a room. It turned out, that we had been very lucky! We got the last room for two and only because the couple before us had turned it down.
Flowers within a flower (Click to see in full resolution)
1/1250 Sek. f/5,6 150 mm
Our plan was to go get a shower, and then scout the town for some food. We soon realised, that the shower would be pointless since we were sweatcovered just from climbing the stair with our backpacks. The heat was bearable but the dampness got really annoying. After a change of plans we started off without a shower, our destination: "Mrs. Popcorns Garden" a nice little restaurant right outside the town. Five minutes later we turned around, hungry, drenched with sweat and unbelievable tired. That was when we remembered how long our day has already been.
A common scene on these streets. Most cars wouldn't make it here (Click to see in full resolution)
1/250 Sek. f/5,5 52 mm
One invigorating dinner later as soon as we felt human again we started to ask around what hiking options were available. As we beheaded the delicious pineapple from the trainride we listened to a guy telling us enthiastically about the two day hike, he just came from. He conviced us pretty fast to at least do an overnight hike.
Since Mr. Charles owned half the town it wasn't surprising, that the agency which ran most hikes had their office right infront of the guesthouse. There were many different option to choose from so we had the agony of choice. About half an hour after sitting down with the guides we had the choice narrowed down to three options: a 2-day mediocre hard trip, an easy 3-day hike or a hard 3-day tour. I favored the last option, but my sister was still recovering from what turned out not to be Malaria. In the end we opted for the hardest hike anyway, as my sister was confident to be fit the next day.
Day 1
At 8am the next morning we met up with our group. Our guide Mr. Win was a calm, very kind and experienced man probably pushing to 50 years. The rest of the group consisted of a couple from Switzerland named Nomie and Thibault (spoken Tebow) and an american guy called Mike who traveled the british girl Olive. From the very beginning on the whole group got along very well. We started off right from the hostel and began walking through the town and surrounding villages. It did not take very long and we were surrounded by rice fields and trees.
Corn fields on the left and peanut fields on the right. We even got to try the peanuts (Click to see in full resolution)
1/1250 Sek. f/4,5 14 mm
Mike and Olive had the idea to ask some riddles while walking to break the ice and have some fun. What a great idea! Back when we were childern my sister and I loved riddles, so we know quite a lot of them. The hours went by like a breeze as we walked through the green scenery, riddling away. The weather was still quite hot and humid so I sweat was dripping off my nose like I just got out of a pool, but I didn't mind. The company was great and the views were even better! Our first stop was at a secluded house in the middle of rice fields. We asked Mr. Win about what we heard from other travelers: Rebels and military fighting in this area. He told us that it was true, however we don't have to fear anything. The worst thing that can happen is getting rebuked by the military for walking through their bases. The rebels are very kind to tourists, they would never harm us as we would find out later.
Scenes along the way (Click to see in full resolution)
1/400 Sek. f/5,6 135 mm
Soon after the break the trail began to wind itself up into the rolling hills. After another break Mr. Win told us that our destination for today, was just half an hour away. Before we reached the village he told us, that due to the remoteness the people here talked a completely different language. He taught us how to say hello and thank you in that language since the villagers appreciated it if we showed some effort to learn their ways.
The village was composed of about 50 houses made of wood, stone and clay and were for the most part roofed with corrugated iron sheets. Between the houses the were small beaten paths some plastered with stones from the area. There was one big road through the village, barely wide enough for a car, but I can't imagine anyone getting here without an all-wheel car. Even then it would be really tricky, close to impossible when it rained.
Our house was at the far end, just a 5 minutes walk from where I took this shot (Click to see in full resolution)
1/160 Sek. f/4,5 14 mm
The house we stayed at was made of stone and consisted of two rooms in the bottom, the main room and the kitchen and a sleeping room below the roof. It was still early afternoon when we arrived so we had plenty of daylight to relax and explore the village. Thibault had brought a rattan ball from the town so we tried ourselves in the ancient Chinlone, a game where you have to keep the ball in the air as long as possible using only your feet, head and shoulders. We found a spot near the temple, which was big and even enough to play.
Half of the ground was covered with puddles of water and mud, so we had great fun trying not to slip and fall. From time to time the ball flew off into a dirty pool of water which smelled like it was the sewage of the temple. After some time a young monk decided to join us. Needless to say he was better than all of us combined.
These two were racing downhill with gutted motorbikes, having great fun! (Click to see in full resolution)
1/50 Sek. f/4,5 14 mm
Soon we all were too tired to hit the ball right, so we stopped and got a shower. However when it was my turn, the water was all used up so I ended up giving myself a bucket shower. Better than nothing. The family who hosted us were beginning to cook dinner and mike, as openminded and ethusiatic about foreign culture and ways as he is immediatelly wanted to help. Hell he demanded to help. Seeing how much fun he had it didn't take long for the rest of us to join in! So I found myself sitting on the dirt floor grinding corn with a huge wooden pounder like a little kid. After grinding it we took the mixed the corn with water, put it in a linen bag and squeezed it until no more water would come out. I was shoked when our "host mom" just threw away all the corn afterwards! All the exhausting stomping just to throw it all away? It turned out that we just needed the starch in the water to make corn tofu.
This is what a typical house looked like in the village, made of woven wood (Click to see in full resolution)
1/100 Sek. f/4,5 14 mm
Not long after we had dinner. Roasted peanuts, potatoes, chicken, soup, noodles and of course our selfmade corn tofu served with garlic and peanut oil! It very simple but unbelievable good. As soon as one plate was getting empty the family brought another one. We had to ask them to stop otherwise we would have eaten us to death.
In the evening we discovered our mutual love for card games. I can't remember ever having so much fun just playing cards. The battle raged for hours and in the end the game still wasn't over when we went to sleep.
The kids were so sincere and open to us, it was heartbreaking to leave them (Click to see in full resolution)
1/50 Sek. f/5,6 135 mm
Read how we stumbled upon rebels and military and got painted with Thanaka on day 2 and 3 in the second part.
Let me know if you like this level of detail, I am still looking to find the right style.
All shots in this post were made with my Olympus OMD EM-10 Mark II with a 14-150mm lense in manual mode.
If you want to learn more about my travel through southeast Asia you can read the previous posts here:
There is a new chapter coming each Thursday
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