For a change of pace we decided to catch the train from Maymyo to Hsipaw with the idea of catching the bus back to Mandalay a few days later. The train is a lot slower than the bus but the scenery was a little different and we had plenty of room despite riding in the lowest class possible. The journey of about 150km took 9 hours but during that time we passed over the Gokteik viaduct which was, when completed in 1900, considered one of the finest engineering feats at the time. The bridge is a little on the shabby side now and the train creeps over slowly to lessen any stress on the aged steel. A few minutes before we reached the bridge I was playing with my digital camera, taking photos of some of the passengers and showing them the results. The conductor saw me doing this and made a point of telling me not to take any photographs of the viaduct or my camera would be confiscated.
In Hsipaw we decided to stay at the Mr Charles Guesthouse, partly because it was the only one we could pronounce but mainly because somebody from the guesthouse was waiting at the railway station for us and it seemed like a good idea. It was a rambling sort of guesthouse but the staff were friendly and the breakfast was hard to beat. At 3000 kyat per night (about US$3) it was also the cheapest we had come across yet in Burma.
Hsipaw is a town of characters and we met many of them over the next few days. The first came purely by chance as we were walking through the market. We had stopped to talk with some people to learn how to say hello and thank you in Shan and after a few minutes we were ushered through a couple of corridors down to meet someone's brother. Before long we were stood in front of a man fixing the roof of his stall after the torrential downpour the night before but when he finished he offered us tea and beckoned for us to sit with him for a while and talk. He was a softly spoken man with a permanent smile and a thoughtful turn of phrase. We told him where we were from, where we were going - two very important questions in Burma - and chatted about this and that until we got up to leave. I had noticed that he sold many hats at his stall so I jokingly said that he must be Mr Hat, but he smiled broadly and said 'Some people call me Mr Bamboo, since all of my hats are made of bamboo'. And so it was Mr Bamboo. Three days later I went to see him again and he remembered my name and John's and again invited me for tea so I drank again and took his photograph for my collection.
Next we met Mr Book, a staunch member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and proud supporter of Aung San Su Kyi. He talked for a few hours about the standard of living and the military regime but was nervous while he did so. Twice he got up to look over his fence to see if anyone was listening and he always kept one eye on his front gate to see who might be approaching. It was uneasy at times but Mr Book, whose real name is Ko Zaw Htun, talked honestly about life in small town Burma where the people are cheerful and recover quickly from personal or domestic disaster. We wanted to talk for much longer but he had some errands to run and other tourists also wanted to talk to him.
Other characters around town were less talkative and more about business. There was Mr Bean, a bean seller in the market, Mr Food ran the best Shan restaurant in town with his brother who also goes by the name Mr Food, Mr Banana Pancake and Mrs Massage, both self explanatory but Johnny the Monk was altogether different. Although he's in his 50s he's still new to the Monk order, joining within the last few years. He talked about his kids and his life before he was given the responsibility of taking care of the local stupa and told long tales as he drew puffs on his cheroot and played with his cat. As he talked a few other travellers, two of which had sought out Johnny to help them master the art of meditation, joined us and listened intently for three hours or more.
Finally we met Fern at the Shan Palace at the eastern edge of town. Her husband's uncle was the last in a long line of Shan Princes who mysteriously disappeared in 1963 and presumably executed shortly afterwards. Fern and her husband Donald are about as close to Shan royalty as there is left these days and they will proudly tell anyone about their family and history. John asked Fern what life was like in Burma now and she replied, 'Life is very difficult. Life is getting worse. We have hope but our leader wants to make change the peaceful way so it will take a long time.'
Local kids around Hsipaw
Hsipaw is also where both John and I fell sick on the same day. We were forced to stay in town longer than we probably should and after five days it was time to catch the early bus back to Mandalay. The bus back down was much quicker than the train and within 7 hours we were back in the broad Mandalay valley near the banks of the Ayerwaddy River.
THE MOUSTACHE BROTHERS
As promised John and I returned to see the Moustache Brothers during the day so that we could ask them questions about the country, the government and in particular their own personal struggle. A couple of days earlier John and I watched the movie 'About a Boy' on DVD and in it Par Par Lay gets a mention during an Amnesty International help-line scene. I wanted to take my computer along and show it to them just in case they hadn't seen it. It turned out that they knew about it, owned the VCD but had never actually found the correct scene. When they saw it for the first time they all fell about in laughter and screamed with delight. I had to play the scene over and over again as more and more of them gathered around. Later Par Par Lay took us to their local teahouse where I showed some of the regulars and anyone else that was curious. I showed them how to find it on their own VCD player and they began their show that night by showing the scene - three times. They are all extremely proud of it. They gave us autographed photos to give to Hugh Grant and Nick Hornby (the author) the next time we see them and John promised to at least forward it to their respective agents.
John asked Lu Maw about the years that Par Par Lay and their cousin Lu Zaw spent in prison. For the first few months they were forced to perform hard labour but the last five years of their sentence they were held in solitary confinement. Par Par Lay has taken much of the media attention but his cousin served the same sentence - it shows on his face too. Regardless of past experiences their hospitality was unequaled. We had an endless supply of tea, plenty of samosas and tomato salad. All of them were up and down the whole time, fetching more tea, or maps and photographs. They were insistent that we take lots of photographs of them and they even put on a little show which I got on video.
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