Luang Nam Tha

So far this trip the travel arrangements have seemed to work mostly in my favour, avoiding unnecessary stopovers and wasted days. Having decided heading to Phongsaly in the far north was going to be too risky with sketchy available transport options, so  I abandoned the journey and decided explore some of the north west, the target being Muang Sing where there had been reports of decent trekking.

The morning boat took a bunch of us back to Muang Khua, while most were heading on to Luang Prabang I made my way to the bus station with two girls who wee also heading to Luang Nam Tha where I would stay to break up the journey. Being the only 3 headed that way, there was not enough to warrant a bus and the private van option to Oudomxai (only half way) was hugely over priced. We jumped in a Songthae to Pak Mong, a small town a the turnoff to Luang Namtha and tried our chances at the bus station. The next transport to Oudomxai was not until mid arvo and would not connect to get us to our destination on time, that was until after an hour of discussions we negotiated a van heading that way to take us the whole 8 hours to Luang Namtha, winning!! (or so we thought). The road for the first half of the journey was hideous, major pot holes and mud slide debris were scattered over the very occasionally paved sections, coupled with degenerate seats and their protruding metal bars, it was a recipe for serious discomfort. I took a photo of one of the comfortable 'paved' sections of the road.

Eventually we made it to town and after explaining to the driver that the deal was a drop me at my accommodation, he drove me out of town to the bus station and tried to abandon me.. 45 minutes later I was back in town at my guesthouse. There is not much to the Luang Nam Tha town apart from a short strip of guest houses, tour offices and  a morning market a couple of streets back. A lucky conversation with an old bloke revealed that both Phongsaly and Muang Sing had fallen victim to the Chinese rubber tree trade and eliminated much of the beautiful landscape in favour of plantations, he strongly advised checking out the jungles of Luang Nam Tha instead. A few minutes later I was booked on a 3 day camping and home stay trek with two kiwi blokes leaving at 8am the next morning, no more terrible bus rides for now.

At 7am I made my way to the trekking office to drop off my bags and grab a quick feed, bad news awaited me as the trek was call off due to the kiwis heading down to Luang Prabang instead, something about the weather conditions being a bit tough for the boys. Moments away from joining an overnight home stay and kayak trek, one of the guides from the original booking office said he would take me up for the same price as I had negotiated previously. This bloke looked young and at only 21 and with some broken English, I had my concerns as to how the trek would turn out. We set off to the morning market for supplies and were dropped via tuk tuk to the edge of the jungle where the adventure began.

Keeping up with expectations it rained almost as soon as we started, the thick overgrowth made using a rain cover on my bag difficult and it was too hot for a jacket, I settled with the fact that this was going to be a wet few days. During the first hour our trek was through a rubber tree plantation where once the trees reach maturity after 8 years, they produce enough rubber each month to be sold to the Chinese for around $7 per tree. It seems like this industry is rapidly growing in Laos as China has been putting restrictions on logging its own forests in favour of expanding plantations in more under developed economies, a sad sight in contrast to the beautiful jungle surroundings. The old bloke in town described standing on a hill in Phongsaly where all he could see was rubber plantations, a stark contrast to the photo he had from 2007 where the same view was a lush jungle.

We slipped and sloshed through the mud for the first few hours whilst the rains progressed from a light shower to a full on down pour. Taking refuge in a small bamboo shelter with some locals who were out collecting mushrooms for the market, my guide cut down some banana leaves as large serving platters for lunch. The small buffet included chicken, fish, sticky rice and a home made green chili paste. You kinda have to forgo all sanitary standards when sharing meals with somebody who is not only digging their hands in to the same food, but also reluctant to cover their mouth with the deep phlemy coughing outbursts, most likely bird flu.

Not long after lunch we climbed above the rain in to the forest where the eerie cloud immersion made for a surreal location to pluck no less than 30 leeches from my blood soaked socks, you don't even fee the little suckers munching away down there. Eventually reaching the tribal town we were welcomed by the usual hoard of kids, all shouting fallang, meaning foreigner.

It was a little disappointing to find the mountain village was connected to mains power and some of the huts even had satellite dishes set up for television. None the less our accommodation was a basic hut with thatched walls and a nice decking to enjoy a well earned beer with the locals (see pic). One kid was happily running around with a small bird on a string where he proceeded to break its wings and pluck feathers from its head like a little toy, I decided to bite my lip after having a poorly received go at a girl in a town a few days earlier for carrying a yelping puppy by one leg. My guide cooked up a delicious pork and fresh sprouts concoction and tomato curry, with sticky rice of course, the staple diet of Laos.While brushing my teeth I spotted 3 hand sized (I have big hands) spiders lurking in our bedroom, sweet dreams.

The next days trekking mood could not be dampened by the constant downpour, we had a fantastic day swinging on jungle vines, bathing in a waterfall and laughing at my guides constant efforts to construct clothing from the shrubbery. After the blisters in Myanmar I was trying to keep my feet as dry as possible, this strategy quickly fell apart as we criss crossed streams up to knee depth throughout most of the day. I did manage to step on a snake, luckily I think he was more scared of me and wisely chose not to engage battle.

Our final sleeping quarters was an open air hut by the Nam Tha river, this place is near a waterfall visited by locals and my guides parents and brother were staying there to look after the place. Dinner was fresh fish, some part of Buffalo and chicken liver (with sticky rice of course). Due to a lack of electricity at the hut, we ventured a kilometre down the road to the village my guide grew up in for a well deserved Beer Lao. The following morning was spent bush bashing with the aid of the machete, with no track in site and my guide having to take constant rest stops due to feeling ill, I made the call to head to the nearest road and head home as the thought of carrying him out of the dense jungle was not so appealing. Everything is wet, stinks and is in desperate need of a wash, one day to rest should suffice before jumping on the bus to China.

Heading north

Having seen a few of the slow boats heading north with two isles of old reclining bus seats, I was slightly disappointed to find ours only had small wooden stools for the 7 hour journey, hello numb bum. The scenery certainly made up for this discomfort as we made our way up the scenic river  along some wild conditions including a thunder storm and having to negotiate up numerous small rapids. The first stop was Nong Khiaw, intentions were to do the famous '100 Waterfall Trek' however this turned out to be nothing more than an overpriced tourist walk in the jungle for a few hours, something I'll pass on.

The town itself is quite small and situated around a river crossing, my bungalow at Bamboo Bungalows resort was located on the restaurant side of town with a decking that provided river views from my hammock, for less than $6 night with a private bathroom it was a bargain. Trekking was now off the cards so I spent a couple of days restaurant hopping and making the most of sunset beers or cocktails as the sun dipped behind the mountains.

 Hiring a mountain bike for a day gave the opportunity to ride out to Than Pha Thok cave, where 500 Laos and Vietnamese hid from the Americans during the war. The cave which looked barely big enough to house half that many, had various marked sections including communications post, armory and a hospital, an interesting visit though be careful of the unofficial 'tour guides' who do little to earn their commission. Back in town I ran in to Marla who had just come from couch surfing with the same dude I am staying with when I first get to China. She has been living in Chengdu and could not speak higher about the amazing trekking nearby, as this is the second person to strongly recommend the Sichuan province, I may have to head north in China to see what the fuss is all about.

Venturing down for the 11am boat up to the next river side village of Mong Noi, I purchased my ticket along with a group of Spanyards and Frenchies, only to find out the boat was oversold and the operators solution was to give us our money back. Hiring a private boat between the 10 of us was only going to be about another 50c each which seemed like a great option to me as it meant comfy seats, but you should have seen the French girls outburst at the proposal, even threatening to get the police involved haha. The end result was that we got crammed in to the boat and some of the locals got to go on a more comfortable boat, cheers frogs.

Arriving in Mong Noi was an instant feeling of relaxation, this sleepy little town only got a road and power connected a few months ago, certainly no internet for outside distractions. Usually I don't go for accommodation offerings stepping straight off transport, but I had to see what these $4 bungalows were like. BOOM, a river front bungalow with (clean) queen bed, fan, private bathroom and a hammock on the balcony, damn good deal. Having organised some sort of fishing trip for the next day, I caught up on my neglected ebook and killed some time until happy hour at the bar.

Sinking in to the cushions on the bamboo lounge chairs with a cocktail in ones hand makes you want to never leave a place like Mong Noi. It was only the extensive and very reasonable buffet that eventually dragged me away from the picturesque river views and although it was vegetarian, the selection was decent and the pumpkin curry was one of the best curries I have tasted yet. This place had secured my patronage for the next 3 days as they also did a great buffet breakfast, perfect for my bottomless stomach.

The fishing trip was not quite what I expected it to be, the guide nodded when I asked about using lures although in turned out we were strapping worms to some of the smallest hooks in existence. I fished unsuccessfully in the blistering sun while my guide caught up on his morning nap time, which was later followed by afternoon nap time. There was a priod in between where we pulled some nets and long lines to recover a few small fish and ransacked specially designed cane baskets for prawns that were cooked up in a small riverside hut, with sticky rice of course. Along with some other locals my guide makes a living from harvesting these prawns out of a small stream the have blocked off, making around $12AUD per kilo on the wholesale market.

Back in town there was not much else to do apart from kick back and soak in the atmosphere. Another Aussie bloke(well he was born in NZ so I'm not sure how to define this one) staying near me had been given a big bottle of local rice wine or Lao Lao , which was a bit too easy to drink. Like me he was also contemplating heading up to Phongsaly, although we were having difficulties ensuring there would be transport that did not involve significant delays due to the low season. Mong Noi offers self guided walking trails up to a few hours long, if you do find yourself  doing one and get to a river, cross it and don't make my mistake of turning around thinking your lost.

Jewel of Asia

Having booked another mini bus up to Luang Prabanag, we were lucky enough to have only 3 of us in the 11 seater bus which gave us a whole row each. I now understand the section I had read in a travel guide about buses handing out spew bags, the roads were a continual roller coaster as they would around the mountains, at one point we even picked up a couple more passengers from a collision between two buses.

Arriving in Luang Prabang there was a distinctive architecture that made for enjoyable wandering around the small alleys looking for a guest house, finally deciding on Silikhane, which was nestled in between the river and night market in the centre of town. For $7 a night the room seemed perfect with a double bed, private bathroom and aircon. A little further investigation on trip adviser revealed a few receng\t reviews of in room theft, which I promptly brought up with the manager. He claimed to not know anything about this and let me lock all valuables in a cupboard at reception with a list confirming the deposit, so at worse case at least it was evidence for travel insurance.

 It was still a bit early for the night market, however few food stands were already serving and for a little under $1.50 I could fit as much vegetarian buffet on to a plate (which I'm proud to admit was a small mountain) which the lady would cook up with your desired dosage of chili. The night market had a interesting mix of local arts and gift ware, thought the rows of tents under the rain were set to anti tall westerner height and I soon got sick of crouching around and quickly relocated to the big man height fruit stand for my latest banana/peanut obsession.

One thing I had been told was not to miss were the turquoise falls at Kwang Si, so after a Western breakfast at the Joma cafe chain (they have one in Vientiane also) I was picked up in a mini van for the 45 min drive out to the falls. Unfortunately for everyone else in the van, my boardies had not dried properly in Vang Vieng and wafted a rather unpleasant wet mouldy aroma throughout the journey. All unpleasntries were forgotten once we got to the falls as the amazing turquoise water flowed from one idyllic bathing pool to the next up to the big one at the top. The water was refreshingly prefect, the first chance for a proper swim since Thailand nearly two month earlier. We had two hours to explore the falls and the bear rescue park that hosts a handful of Sun Bears rescued from traders in the region.

Back in town I chatted with a few backpackers about their travels in the north and getting itchy feet decided it was time to move on from this town. Many people call it the Jewel of Asia and I can appreciate the peaceful mix of architecture, food, temples and riverside cocktails can be enough to draw one in for days on end. The next morning was the first day of Buddhist lent so  woke up at 5:30am to witness Tak Bak, the famous ceremony of monks collecting Alms, they line the streets in the morning so locals can donate rice and other gifts of merit. Following this I grabbed a supply of fruit from the morning market which was conveniently a hundred metres from my hotel , I waited patiently in the rain over an hour until my boat was ready to leave.

Totally tubular dude

Vang Vieng was a good stopoff to break up the journey to Luang Prabang, at only 4 hours in a mini bus, the afternoon departure can still get you in before nightfall. I was looking forward to a few days relaxation to get over my cold (seriously who gets a cold in SE Asia, it's like having one in the middle of summer back home). Upon checking in to my hotel on the small island in town, the manager was sitting down with a mate to drink on the river side decking and invited me to join them, so I sat in for a few rounds. In Laos social drinking is usually conducted by sitting in a group with one glass to be shared, each person in turn is poured a glass and the next person must wait until this is consumed (usually in one quick mouthful), the process is continued all day and probably the next one too.

This town is world renown for 'tubing' which until recently meant hiring a big tyre tube and being dropped a few kilometres up town, where one will float down the river and be enticed in to one of the many bars. Its here that activities like mud volleyball, bowling, dance floors, rope swings and slying foxes are couple with pumping music and hordes of intoxicated backpackers. In 2011 alone 27 tourists died along the river and the government responded by bulldozing most of the bars and officialy shutting down tubing. There still is 3 or 4 bars along the rivers and a trickle of backpackers taking part. A curfew on the town means everything shuts down by 11pm, with Fat Monkeys bar being the main draw card for evenings.

Along the hotel strip there are bars furnished with Thailand triangle cushions, large decking's with amazing views over the mountainous river outlook and flat screen TV's with an and endless loop of either Family Guy, South Park or Friends depending on the restaurant you choose. The decks make for some spectacular morning and evening views as the clouds semi engulf the mountains. It was here I discovered my latest shake sensation; Banana, Peanuts and Peanut Butter.

The following morning I set out to the Organic Mulberry Farm which is  community initiative that encourages visitors to take part and learn more about organic farming. Profits from the farm are used to provide training and support local villages. I had biked out there to try the recommended breakfast set of fruit, muesli and yogurt, pancakes, fruit platter, lao coffee and a mulberry shake. It was not quite the healthy fresh standard that I had expected.

Not wanting to be a sloth for my whole 4 days in Vang Vieng I booked on to a full day caving, kayaking and trekking tour. There are plenty of agencies throughout the town offering various tours, mine weighing in at $15 including lunch. We started about 17km up river where we each got allocated kayaks to paddle across to where the short 'trek' up to the caves started. Here we got in to tubes and tubed across to the low opening point of the cave For the next 100m a rope was used to pull ourselves against the decent current to a dry point where we left the tubes behind and with the guidance of our headlamps ventured through the cave. This expedition is defiantly not for anybody who suffers claustrophobia as sections needed to be negotiated flat on your stomach between two rock faces or slipping through on your backside. I felt it appropriate to bring up the story the manager of my hotel told me about the tourist who recently got lost and died in a one of the local caves when his light died and his attempt to leave trails of money failed, don't think it went down to well.

After the caving we had a barbecue lunch of chicken and vegetable skewers followed by a visit to a much smaller cave housing a Buddha statue. It was named Elephant Cave because with a bit of imagination one of the rocks did actually look a little like an Elephant. We then headed back to the river and paddled the 17km to Vang Vieng, negotiating some small rapids along the way, apparently a bit more exciting when the river levels are lower. The following morning I booked a mini van (from the choice of mini van, VIP bus or super VIP bus) for the winding journey up to Luang Prabang.

Entering Laos or Lao or however you say it

A quick stopover in Bangkok for 6 hours between my flight from Myanmar and the overnight train to Bangkok, allowed time to revisit the weekend markets and make a pig of myself with all the delicious food I missed last time when I was pre detox. The plan had been to pick up some new boardies, although I failed miserably and spent my whole time enjoying fruit shakes, curries, coconut ice cream, chocolate nut covered frozen bananas and plenty of fresh fruit (just to balance it out). Eating myself in to a food coma was one way to make the train journey a little more bearable.

The train stops at Nong Khai, the Thailand bordering town to Laos, where you can either take a train or in my case tuk tuk (cost 30 baht) to the visa office for a visa on arrival. The process is quick, once the form is filled out you hand it over with $30 USD and a few minutes later your passport is bearing a full page visa, one page closer to filling up prematurely before this trip is over. Next everyone boards a bus that drives over the friendship bridge dividing Thailand and Laos, dropping you to a hoard of tuk tuk drivers, anxious for your business on the 20 minute trip in to town.

We had a little trouble finding my hot tip guesthouse, particularly as Bousay was the wrong spelling and when we did eventually locate it, the place turned out to be a total dump even at the cheap price of $7 per night. A couple of tourists pointed me in the direction of Mixay down by the river which I had read was one of the cheapest in town. Upon arrival a few backpackers at Douang Deuane 2 recommended the place and it was right next to Mixay. DD2 seemed to have a slightly cleaner shared bathroom so I checked in to the basic single fan room at $7 per night. Vientiane has a French atmosphere to it, with patisseries dotted along every street and most guest houses boasting French speaking staff. The evening was spent sipping on the famous Beer Lao at sunset and ejoying a big freshwater fish, barbecued and served with a spicy dipping sauce at a restaurant adjacent to the waterfront.

Vientiane had gained a spot on my itinerary as it was the only place in Laos that I could sort my China visa, otherwise I would have entered the country in the north as a few people had commented the town is rather dull. China makes it a pain in the ass to get you visa so you are supposed to meet the following documentation requirements ;
- Copy of your entry an exit ticket to China
- Copy of your accommodation whilst in Chine
- Copy of your passport
- Bank statement with at least $100USD per day in China
- Application form (provided at the embassy)
- Passport photo
- Copy of ID
- Letter confirming employment

The above is what is generally required but can vary depending on the mood of the official. As I did not have an entry date or know where I would be departing from, a local travel agent made me up some fake flight and accommodation bookings and copied my other documents all for $5. Having read the Bangkok embassy was making life difficult, I held off until Vientiane and the whole process ran smoothly in less than 15 minutes. Finding the bank 'next to the morning market' which I got right on the 7th attempt (so many bloody banks in the area) was rather frustrating. I had paid for a express visa, so it was ready to collect the following morning. Renting a bicycle I somehow managed to get horribly lost on the 5 km journey and stressing that I would not make the 11am closure time, which luckily turned out to be 12pm and gave me time to jump on a 2pm mini bus to Vang Vieng.

The final steps in Kyoukme

Picking up a local bus at 4pm from the centre of town, we made the hour long journey to the less tourist orientated town of Kyoukme, which has trekking as its one draw card for foreigners. After passing some modern decent looking hotels, we had to check in to A Yone OO, the only hotel in town licenced to host tourists. The $12 room I shared with Tom was a very basic coffin, no fan or electricity plugs and a mosquito net that was clearly not big enough by western standards. Even the terrible drop loo or bucket shower did not compare to the noisy Shan locals in the surrounding rooms who spent the entire night talking and listening to music, at 6am we had enough and gave them a dose of ACDC which worked perfectly.

The hotel admittedly had some 'nicer' more expensive rooms which we did not get to see as they were fully booked by locals,  apparently only two other foreigners were straying in town whom we never saw. Before setting off for another 3 day unguided trek, we were put in touch with Joy who is a local English teacher and he was kind enough to give us a rough map (which at best provided some town names to get our bearings). We also caught wind that the Shan militia whom we had met two days prior, were in a skirmish with the Burmese Army yesterday and he did not recommend us taking motorbikes up the mountain roads where we might get stuck in the action. There would be a possibility that they might take us hostage if surrounded by the army, not that a few days sinking rice wine with the boys would put too much of a dampener on the trip.

A tuk tuk drove us out of the populated area to a small village inhabited by the Palaung people where our trek began through corn fields. We came a little more prepared this time with bananas and peanut wafer bars incase we had any trouble locating lunch, not that it would likely be an issue with the breakfast and dinner portions. Again the scenery was a breathtaking mix of Burmese farming land, mountains, jungle and forest. My blisters had subsided somewhat and the plan was to trek 6 - 7 hours each day, making sure we did  not get too lost as I was keen to get the train part way back to Mandalay, followed by a bus to connect with my flight to Laos.

The guide had warned as that trekking alone was likely to lead us off the intended path and the smaller tracks which frequently led us to crossroads and junctions often made for some very optimistic judgement. At one point our small path ended and we attempted to bash through some thick overgrowth down the side of a mountain in search of a path below, our decision to turn back half way was rather beneficial as we later realised it was nothing but dense jungle in the valley below. With this sort of trekking it does not matter if you get lost as there will aways be a family in whatever village you stumble across, ready to give you accommodation and feed you two decent meals for around $5, well within a long term travellers budget. Apart from the nightly hosts, people will pop out from everywhere inviting you to sit down for a glass of locally grown tea, of which I consumed countless times each day.  Our first nights bed was a simple straw mat laid out on the floor with the family's son sleeping between us, giving his best night long impression of a very annoying snorer.

For our final night we played it safe and wandered in to a village close to Kyoukme, so the last section would not risk missing the train if the rains picked up. Nobody seemed to know where we could spend the night until finally a family welcomed us in providing towels and a warm cup of tea, at least half the village must have been there to watch two foreigners bathing themselves in the spectacle that followed. Just as we were getting ready to settle in, a government representative in the town came by to inform us that we would need to go back to Kyoukme for the night as tourists are not allowed to home stay (which admittedly we did know). I tried calling the tour guide that I'd spoken to previously, but he back flipped and said that he advised not to stay in the village, obviously not wanting to get in any trouble. The generous family dropped us in town on motorbikes and refused to accept any payment for the trouble, another example of how genuinely kind the Burmese people are. As there was no bus or train to Mandalay that evening, it was off to our favourite hotel from hell.

After a few recovery bowls of Shan noodles (very cheap and tasty local dish), Tom and I to the scenic mountain town Pyin OO Lwyn in the morning, wanting to spend some time with the locals we booked in to ordinary class rather than the backpacker cluttered first class reclining comfy seat carriage (a decision we came to regret somewhat). Our carriage was mostly filled with Burmese soldiers, some exceptionally loud and difficult to understand, showing clear signs of serious alcohol abuse. They were however very friendly and I had a young lad heading back to his job as a Mango farmer who enjoyed spending the time giving his rough English a practise. The train was bouncing all over the place as we had been warned by previous travellers, their carriage had derailed on the journey up from Mandalay. At one point we stopped for half an hour while the locals got to work repairing a section of the dodgiest train track I have ever seen, swinging all sorts or tools about as they replaced a small section of sleepers. The journey passes over the famous Goteik Viaduct bridge, a 250m high structure completed in 1900. Tom and I parted ways at the next town (our numb asses relieved to be off the wooden seats after 6 hours) where he was going to spend the night and I took a share taxi to Mandalay, promising each other we would catch up one day soon for a fishing adventure back home.

Arriving at Mandalay just after 8pm there was not much time to see the city, which as per most of Myanmar, closes down around 10pm. The initial intention was to hit a local beer hall, but after sitting down at the Indian street side eatery (highly recommended by the staff at Royal Guesthouse), followed by a shake and ice cream sundae at Nylon Ice cream, my body decided it wanted to collapse in a state of gluttony. The final morning consisted of a quick feed at the hotels included breakfast and a short stroll to the Airasia free shuttle bus in downtown Myanmar, saving a 45km taxi trip to the airport. My time in Myanmar was thoroughly enjoyed, not just by the by the amazing scenery but also the people who are so genuinely welcoming and always wanting to know if you are happy being in their country. Make sure you add this destination to your travel list before tourism takes its toll.

Hanging out in Hsipaw

Feeling rather pleased with myself finding a bus to Kyaukme (small town in northern Myanmar) direct from Inle meant bypassing the need to stop through Mandalay and change busses. Even though the booking agent wrote the destination on my ticket and apparently phoned the bus company, I had my doubts whether the bus driver would actually wake me at Kyoukme, as most backpackers would be expected to get off at the nearby Hsipaw which is a more tourist friendly town. Regardless of where I ended up, fate would determine my trekking destination and I was happy to go along with it.

Waiting for my bus at the junction around 10km outside of town I met Tom, another Aussie who was looking rough after a hard night on the local rum. He was suffering at the mercy of crazy cheap booze prices where a large bottle of rum at the bar can be had for the same price as a long neck of beer. We got talking and ended up having pre allocated seats next to each other for the 12 hour journey. As we were both keen to do some trekking it was decided that we should team up, after we manage to locate a guest house for a few hours sleep when the bus dropped us in town at 2am. I managed to wake a staff member at Lilly's Guesthouse who eventually let us in, following the bizarre discovery of a thriving local street market in the middle of the night and a kind lady who led us to the accommodation, at the wrong town of course.

Lilly was absolutely amazing at helping us determine where to go trekking, we decided on spending 3 days unguided exploring the mountain villages and she even contacted a couple of people who would be able to host us with their family for the night. We were given a rough list of villages we should pass through, although no map was provided so we hoped at least some locals could understand a little English or that we would not encounter too many cross roads. I spent the afternoon in town checking out some pagodas in Little Bagan, sipping on the best fruit shakes to date in Mrs Popcorns garden and a sitting down to a very interesting talk at the Shan Palace about the Shan state governing, especially the 50 year military ruling which has recently 'ended'.

Our trek began by opting for the initial 1.5hr detour to check out a waterfall which ended up being a little disappointing as it was full of local kids drinking and swimming at 10am, but still a nice view of the small stream curling down the rock face. Back on track we headed past the cemetery just outside of town that included many Chinese grave stones tucked amongst the tall unkept grass. The first part of the trek was relatively flat in the stifling heat as we walked amongst peanut, rice and corn fields, passing occasional stream bathing buffalo. As it was rather warm in the mid 30's we found ourselves perspiring rapidly, possibly with a little help from the previous nights beverages.

Climbing up towards the mountains I had the rather unfortunate experience with my feet starting to blister up and it was only the first morning! Given that not a single blister sprouted on the Nepal treks, it was both surprising and somewhat devastating, the next 60 kilometres were going to hurt. We were in the Shan State which is the largest division in Myanmar bordering Laos, Thailand and China. The land which comprises over a quarter of Myanmars land mass is predominantly rural and home to several ethnic groups.

Local Shan villages that we passed gave off an inviting feeling with their  rustic unpowered homes and an abundance of fresh produce growing both in the wider fields and front gardens. Kids would constantly be running up waving and men shaking our hands wanting to know where we are from. Armed with our trusty list of villages we arrived at the town where Lilly had advised we should be able to get lunch and quickly located the most restaurntish looking house. Parched and having consumed most of our water supply, it was not reassuring to find out they did not have any water for sale and after not seeing any in the previous towns, we were slightly nervous about the afternoons hike to our first stopover. They must have seen the looks on our faces because a few minutes later, the young boy who had been sent off returned holding two bottles, our chances of surviving slightly improved. They were also kind enough to give us a couple of bananas and some green tea for lunch, before we set off winding up through the lush mountains.

By the time we arrived at our destination at around 4pm, we were both so stoked to have made it that we did the tourist photo shoot at the very tacky and out of place entrance monument. Not much further up the road more kids came running out to guide us to the family we would be staying with, all the time shouting 'bye' which we hoped was their attempt at hello. My feet had developed a few decent sized blisters, so ditching the hiking boots and kicking back with a pot of local tea was a perfect way to wind down from a tough first days hike. We were staying in one of two houses in the town that were allowed to accommodate tourists and our sleeping quarters was set above a small shop come living and eating area. The family spoke minimal English, though they all looked so excited to be hosting us with constant smiles and warm hospitality, even setting Tom and I a bed on the floor with two mattresses together, which we quickly separated as two days of knowing each other was a little too soon.

Dinner was set out for us in the middle of the lower floor, it was a mixture of dishes in various bowls containing eggs, potatoes, rice, green vegetables and beans. The food was a delicious representation of local produce, given it was not drowned in oil and the vegetables tasted like they had come straight from the garden. We felt like celebrating a successful days hike with a drop of rum, but it turned out the town could only provide warm beer, which we agreed would not quite hit the spot. Instead we relaxed on cane lounge chairs on the upstairs balcony with a cheroot cigar and caught up on some reading. By some uncanny coincidence, Tom pulled out a book the night before that he was about to start reading, the same book that was queued up next on my ebook reader!

The following morning breakfast was again set out in a similar fashion to the previous evenings meal, the omelets actually having some fluffy consistency compared to the thin oily crap that most restaurants had tried to pass off in town. We bid farewell to our gracious hosts and paid the $5 each which was to cover both meals and accommodation for the night. My intention was to take it a little slower this day, although we had a fair idea that it was going to be a decent hike until the next checkpoint, a map would have been handy had we been able to locate one. Most of the day  was spent climbing up and around small mountains, many of them covered in tea plants perched on the severe slopes that looked to be painstakingly slow to harvest once the crops were ripe. Women worked away filling their baskets with tea leaves while men plowed the rice fields with buffalo. Nobody seemed to be in any real rush no matter what they were doing, leading such a simple lifestyle and peaceful existence. Many households seemed to have the whole family at home hanging around not having much to do with themselves, maybe it was because we had not seen the area during harvesting time when I assume the hard work might begin.

Not too far in to the morning we approached one of the furthest mountain villages of our trek, where men downed in army  uniform were attending some sort of tea leaf processing machine.We tried to work out from a distance if these were the real deal and our assumption was confirmed when we got closer and realised they had some decent firepower slung around their shoulders, mostly a mixed vintage of M16 and AK47's.  The town was bustling with soldiers, mostly sitting in small groups having an early morning tipple. We were welcomed to join them which we enthusiastically accepted, sharing in the rice wine and fried pigs ears while taking a closer look at their arsenal which they happily passed us to inspect. It turns out these soldiers are part of the Shan State Army which are a militia group that were formed in 1964 to resist the military government of Burma in the Shan state.

By mid afternoon my feet were really starting to give me grief and it was such a relief to arrive at what we assumed was the evenings destination, however we had somehow bypassed the village we thought we were supposed to be heading to and ended up at one further on. Not remembering any turn off that could have been missed, we begrudgingly followed the locals direciton to what we hoped would be the right village, our directions provided for the trek were quite roughly hand drawn and rather confusing to understand where the second night was to be spent. Arriving at Man Lwe we would have spent at least an our showing our directions to confused locals who didn't appear to understand a word of English, repeating a name we had been given that did not register any comprehension with them. One lady sort of understood a few words in English and tried to take us to a house with a telephone which did not work out, besides we had no numbers to call anyway. Just as we gave up and were slowly making our way to the edge of town to commence the 4+ hour hike back to Hsipaw (that would see us trekking past sun down) she registered on the word hotel and much to our relief showed us to one of the nicest houses in the village, where I think they were expecting us.

Much the same as the previous night, the welcoming family set us up a double bed (I'm not sure what sort of men usually arrive in pairs to these villages) which again we politely separated and accepted their offer of food since we again did not have lunch and were starving, though we must have miss communicated as dinner was not served until a few hours later. The time in between was spent watching the blacksmith across the road pounding out some local farming tools and  washing in the same basic shower, a large bucket of cold water with a bowl to pour over ourselves, bringing only one pair of socks each we were beginning to stink!

Dinner was prepared in a kitchen that looked like something straight out of the early 1900's, with mum cooking and the kids running around helping somewhat. Food was again a mixture of local vegetarian produce and while the family sat in the kitchen to eat, we stuffed ourselves in the main living area, barely able to eat half of what was served.

The next morning we opted for the longer 4 hour route back to town where we descended from close to our high point of 1,350m back down to Hsipaw at 450m. Along the way we passed some very unusual front wall security comprised of broken glass built in to the cement, possibly more for decoration(?) as I cannot imagine there would be much crime in the area. Once the 4 hour mark had passed, deciding that we had seen enough farming land since leaving the mountain range (or sick of limping around) and the end was nowhere in sight, I grabbed a tuk tuk when we had reached the main highway, which turned out to be a brilliant decision as we had come out around 10km from town. With time to kill until the following afternoons bus, we treated ourselves to a few beers and a bottle of locally produced Royal Gold whiskey, at less than $2 a pop it actually went down rather dashing when poured over ice.