#8 Burma: the land of smiles – chapter two: Hsipaw / Burma: mosolyok foldje – masodik fejezet: Hsipaw (Burma)

English version:

Mingalabar,

Finally I have good internet here in Chiang Mai, so can shoot some posts from the last 10 days I spent in the incredible Burma.

On the morning when I left Pyin Oo Lwin I had a surprise on the train station. Thing is that you have to buy the ticket on the same day when you travel and you can only do at the station. I was told by my hotel not to go there very early. They were wrong, because there were no upper class ticket anymore (2,600 kyat) so I had to go in the ordinary coach (1,300 kyat). Which was good and bad. Bad because I had to sit on a wooden seat for 6.5 hours so my exhaust system got a very hard time and good because I travelled with the local folks which was fantastic. I sat with a very old lady, a grandma, a young mum and her lovely 5 years old daughter. And with loads loads loads of packages.

When the train departed, the locals started chatting, eating and were having a great time and for me It was a great experience. We departed at 8.30am and arrived in Hispaw at 3pm. Due to undeveloped infrastructure, the train went very slowly hence we did 142 kms in 6.5 hours. The view from the train was breathtaking, especially when we slowed down to 5km/h and went through the Goteik viaduct. The viaduct is 689m long and its longest height is 250m from the river down there.

At Hsipaw I took a motorbike taxi to my new home: the Mr Charles guest house. The guest house offers very good accommodation. It’s in a very good location, surrounded by shops, restaurants and attractions. The stuff is very friendly and the food in the restaurant is top notch. You can eat local Shan food, and also Thai and Chinese. If I stayed here longer I would be as fat as a pregnant mammoth.

I could have gone with the Charles crew on a 1, 2 or 3 nights trek to visit and stay in local villages to learn more about the local culture, but I was rather chilling in Hsipaw and did my own trips.

On my first day I rented a mountain bike from the guest house (3,000 kyat) and visited the Nam Tok waterfall. It’s 6 km’s from Mr Charles and it took altogether an hour to get there. The last half of the trip was harder. First I had to cross a cemetery which was quite bizarre, then went alongside a waste dump. The waste dump was quite disgusting, as some of the dump hills were being burnt but what was more shocking was that there are people who live there. Once I left the sad place, I rode through bamboo and corn fields and saw houses were locals live in harmony with the mother nature. I had to do the last mile on foot, because it was impossible to cross a spring with the bike. I arrived at the waterfall alone and spent a great hour there.

On the next day I went for a run and visited Little Bagan which are old ruins of stupas next to rice paddies. I had nice company there: a very intelligent water-buffalo who was enjoying breakfast and struck the pose for me on the photos. I was the first Hungarian tourist he has met and in return for the photo he asked me to teach him some Hungarian swear words.

I did my morning krav maga workout in the cooling shadow of a very special stupa which kind of transformed into a tree. A tree grew on the top of it. It’s spectacular.

In Hsipaw most commercial units start with Mr or Mrs… Mr Charles, Mr Food, Mr Shake, Mr Bike, Mrs Popcorn and stuff like that. Funny.

I am really glad I met Thomas Cox, a gentleman originally from New York who has been in South East asia for nearly 2 decades. I thank him his detailed overview of Myanmar and also the surrounding countries.

“So far” facts – English version:

# of travel buddies: 3
# of travel buddies murdered: 0
best meal: Thai cashew chicken curry
best dessert: coconut rice
worst meal: some brown soup with cooked pork, blaaaaaa
# of flights: 1
# of trains: 5
# of taxies: 5
# of shared taxies: 1
# of motor-taxies: 2
# of waterfalls: 4
# of snakes: 0
# of big spiders: 0
# polar bears: 0
# yetis: 0
# of dives: 0
# of sharks: 0
# of manta rays: 0
# of whale sharks: 0
# of dolphins: 0

Magyar verzio:

Mingalabar,

Vegre van jo netem itt Chiang Maiban szoval lohetek nehany posztot az elmult 10 naprol amit a fantasztikus Burmaban toltottem.

Aznap reggel, amikor Pyin Oo Lwin-bol Hsipaw-ba utaztam meglepetes ert. Azt tudtam, hogy a vonatjegyet csak aznap lehet megvenni es csak a vasutallomason. A hoteles arcok azt mondtak, semmikepp ne menjek oda koran. Nem volt igazuk, mert addigra az “upper class” jegyek elfogytak (2,600 kyat) igy a normal osztalyon kellett utaznom (1,300 kyat). Ez jo es rossz volt. Rossz, mivel egy fapriccsen toltottem 6.5 orat ami miatt a kipufogom nem volt tul boldog, a jo oldala pedig az volt, hogy a helyiekkel utazhattam ami meses volt. Fapriccsemet egy nagyon idos holggyel, egy nagymamaval, egy fiatal anyukaval es az 5 eves forma kislanyaval toltottem. Rengeteg csomaggal korulveve.

Amint a vonat elindult, az elet is beindult rajta: a helyiek hangosan beszlgettek, nevetgeltek, dohanyoztak (!) es folyamatosan kajaltak. Reggel 8.30kor indultunk es delutan 3-ra ertunk Hsipaw-ba. A sinpalya nagyon rossz minosegu, igy a vonat csak nagyon lassan tudott menni, ezert tartott a 142 km-es ut 6.5 oraig. A kilatas viszont eszveszejto volt, foleg amikor kb 5km/h-ra lassitottunk le es atdocogtunk a Goteik viadukton. A viadukt 689m hosszu es a legmagasabb (legmelyebb) pontjan 250m valasztja el az alul robogo folyotol.

Amint megerkeztem, felpattantam egy motor-taxira es bekoltoztem uj otthonomba: a Mr Charles vendeghazba. A vendeghaz nagyon jo helyen van, sok uzlet es etterem van a kornyeken, es sok latnivalo. Az alkalmazottak nagyon baratsagosak es segitokeszek, a kaja az etteremben pedig elso osztalyu: ehetsz helyi Shan kajat, Thait es kinait. Ha tobb idot toltottem volna itt, akkor akkorara nottem volna, mint egy terhes mammut.

A vendeghaz szervezeseben mehettem volna 1, 2, vagy 3 ejszakas turakra, hogy meglatogassam a helyi shan falvakat, de en inkabb pihentem es nehany sajat turat terveztem.

Az elso nap bereltem egy mountain bike-ot a vendeghazbol (3,000 kyat) es eltekertem a Nam Tok vizeseshez, amely 6 km-re fekudt atmeneti otthonomtol. 1 ora alatt oda is ertem. Az ut masodik fele kemenyebb volt. Eloszor egy temeton gurultam at, ami eleg bizarr volt, aztan pedig egy szemettelep mellett. Ez utobbi undorit volt, mert nehany szemetdomb egett, de ami meg lehangolobb volt latni, hogy emberek elnek ott. A szomoru hely utan bambusz es kukorica ultetvenyek kozott haladtam el es itt ott nehany helyi paraszthazat lattam elszorva. Az utolso km-t gyalog tettem meg, mert egy patakon nem sikerult atmennem a bringaval. Egyedu erkeztem a vizeseshez, ahol egy kellemes orat toltottem el.

A kovetkezo nap elmentem futni a Little Bagan nevu helyre, ahol stupa-k romjai torik meg a falusi latkepet. Nagyon kellemes tarsasagom volt ott: megismerkedtem egy nagyon intelligens vizibivallyal, ami epp a reggelijet fogyasztotta es kozben bevagott egy pozt a foto kedveert. Sosem talalkozott meg magyar turistaval. A fotoert cserebe nehany magyar karomkodast akart megtanulni.

A reggeli krav maga edzesemet egy nagyon specko stupa mellett vegeztem, ami gyakorlatilag osszenott egy faval. Nagyon jol nezett ki.

Hispaw-ban szinte minden kereskedelmi egyseg Mr vagy Mrs-szel kezdodik Mr Charles, Mr Food, Mr Shake, Mr Bike, Mrs Popcorn and stuff like that. Ez vicces volt.

Nagyon orulok, hogy megismertem Thomas Cox-ot, az uriembert aki kb 2 evtizede koltozott Del-kelet Azsiaba New Yorkbol. Koszonettel tartozom kivalo attekintesert Myanmarrol es a kornyezo orszagokrol.