Sun-Ling and John have been traveling the earth since 2008 while blogging, eating vegetarian and vegan, and riding public transportation. We love uphill day hikes, 20th-century architecture, Roman ruins, all bodies of water, local markets, shopping for groceries, aqueducts, miradors, trip planning, blablacar, and more.
To make a long story short, the slow boat from Mandalay to Bagan took 36 hours instead of 15. We slept on the boat and made new friends among our fellow passengers and the crew.
In order to "finish" Myanmar by the end of October, I'm going to start doing a video for each day with a short description instead of a bunch of text.
Day 9 - January 14, 2008 - Hsipaw - The Burma Road
After a fine day of sight seeing in Hsipaw in which we were given oranges and cheroots (Burmese cigars) and invited to the wedding of Mr Food, we decided to head over across the river to catch the sunset view recommended in Lonely Planet. Seemed simple enough; we even confirmed the location with the folks at our guesthouse. Cross the bridge, take a right at the archway and walk up the hill to the Buddhist temples at the top.
However, it turns out that the bridge - over the Dokhtawady River - is on the Burma Road which goes from Mandalay to Kunming, China and there were many large trucks coming from China that can only proceed one at a time over the rickety, one lane, wooden plank bridge.
The sunset spot is in the "China direction" so we waited for 10 or 20 minutes before getting up enough nerve to cross the bridge on foot against the oncoming, one at a time, trucks.
Here's some video.
The sunset was amazing. There were two monks at the temple. One was of Chinese ancestry and spoke Mandarin. He had us sign the guest book; then brought us some tea. We chatted a bit, I smoked a cheroot, then the other monk came challenged him to a game of checkers.
Watched sunset and the sky turn orange, then purple. Walked back to Mr Charles Guesthouse.
Up @ 7:00 AM, ate b-fast, finished packing, and set off to the Pyin U Lwin Train Station in the hotel's van only to find out that the 8:50 train was at least 3hrs late. Bummer.
Back to the hotel. Sat on the veranda. Beautiful sunny day. Inquired about a shared car to Hsipaw; 28,000 Kyat total; too much; we will wait for the train and study our Myanmar guidebooks.
At noon we caught a ride back to the station from the hotel van. The ticket office finally opened at 12:50 or so, but when we tried to buy a ticket, the guys handling the foreigner's queue did not like our $10 bill - too dirty. But it was a ten given to us by the Royal Parkview Hotel as change when we paid our bill. It only had a few smudges of dirt.
Several other "officials" come round, look at the bill with kid gloves and declare "no bank will take this - too dirty".
So luckily I had the business card for the Royal Parkview stuck in my journal and while I guarded our bags, Sun-Ling went to the small market outside, found a phone, called the Parkview and demanded they send over some clean money. Agreed. And a guy arrived at 1:05 or so with a clean $5 bill and 5 ones. But we had received $50 in "dirty" money from the Royal Parkview , so we sent him back and 15 minutes later he returned with 4 clean tens. We traded bills with him, bought 2 First-Class tickets at $4 each, and got on the train at 1:25.
We had been in Myanmar for 8 days and had by chance used only very clean, new US $100 bills. Thus we did not know about the nationwide aversion to dirty foreign currency. We would be on top of it for the rest of our trip. Stay tuned.
So the train pulls out of Pyin U Lwin Station at 2:30 - almost 6 hours late. The train had 6 cars, 2 First-Class and 4 Ordinary-Class, pulled by diesel locomotive DF 1615.
Our First-Class car has opposing wooden benches and is maybe 50% full. There is a squat toilet at each end of car - no signage - that goes straight down to the tracks. There is no glass in the windows, just a metal grate that slides up and down.
We sat opposite a German couple for awhile. Then they moved.
I shot some photos and video of the landscape, two trains passing by in the opposite direction, and our fellow passengers as we lurched and rolled over the narrow gauge tracks headed mostly west but sometimes north and sometimes south.
Out the window we saw herds of cattle, a few goats, and people tending the fields.
Made several short stops and then at 4:45 parked at a small station. After 15 minutes and no motion, I pulled journal and noted the local children were selling water from a pail, young monks were quietly watching, and that none of the kids were begging, just shyly waving at us.
As we sat and sat, I began to wonder if we would pass over the famous Gokteik Viaduct in the dark. That would be a bummer as it's an engineering marvel at 320 feet high and 2250 feet long, built in 1899 by the Pennsylvania Steel Company.
The sun set, went down, and we finally pulled out at 6:30. Now it was cold. We put on all of our outer gear including rain pants. We make friends with Sandy across the aisle, an American, who visiting Myanmar for the 5th time. She is taking the train to Hsipaw just to see the Gokteik Viaduct as she has previously been to Hsipaw, but not by train.
After a brief stop, we go over the GokTeik Viaduct. Not much to see in the dark.
Then stopped in Kyauk Me Town. The German couple has had enough and get off with a tout who owns a guesthouse in town - he leaves me his card.
Finally, at 11:15 we arrive in Hsipaw. There is no announcement, no nothing, and so we inadvertently get off on the wrong side of the train. After scrambling back to the correct side we head off with Sandy with our flashlights down a dirt path towards town.
It's pitch black, there are no signs, but with the help of a nice man on a motorbike we arrive at Mr Charles Guesthouse and for $15 get a double room. Crash.
We started traveling on 1/1, came home on 5/30, and are leaving on 10/30. Just as our five months of traveling was a first for me (understandably, since we had never traveled for such an extended time), these last five months also turned out to be a first.
I lived the life a hermit. It was as if being home is an antidote for being on the road where we encountered the unfamiliar, were exposed to the elements, and subjected to the unpredictable. Most days this summer we stayed at home by ourselves, working on our house, studying and reading, and surfing on the Internet. Granted we did spend a whole month, in total, visiting family and friends out of town although we still have not managed to see all our friends around town. Before, we were always out doing things and getting together with friends....
The Danish word Hygge (hu-gah) is a feeling or mood that comes from taking genuine pleasure in making ordinary everyday things simply extraordinary. It's about owning things you only truly love or that inspire, being present in yourself and your life, putting effort into your home without being Martha Stewart or buying a bed in a bag. Words like cosiness, security, familiarity, comfort, reassurance, fellowship, simpleness and living well are often used to describe the idea of Hygge. -- Alex Beauchamp.
I found hygge - word I learned in Copenhagen - at home. Before, we spent our vacations traveling and our holidays visiting family. We were never around home enough, let alone hygge. This summer John and I both had lots of projects around the house, both big and small. Now I walk around the house feeling peace rather than anxiety.
