Hsipaw

14th November
We had a great day in Hsipaw today. We went on a 4-hour walk through the valley, around the local villages and visited a monastery. It was the full moon – a super-moon this month, apparently – and all the villagers were getting ready for festivals to celebrate. Several times we were invited to join them, which would have been great fun but unfortunately not possible for time reasons.

The people are very friendly – always ready with a smile and a wave, no sense of resentment or envy as is the case in some countries – and no demands for money. I quickly learned not to wave to people riding motor-bikes – they find it impossible to resist waving back, with potentially disastrous concequences!

In the evening we went off in a tuc-tuc to Sunset Pagoda to see the sunset. It was lovely, though because we’re near the equator you had to be ready for the actual moment – the sun seemed to sink below the horizon in a minute or less. There was a number of locals there, some praying, some courting, some just having a bit of an outing. It was all great fun, in spite of a certain amount of trepidation about the imminent journey down the hill and back to the hotel – personally, I found the prospect of something going wrong on the way down more daunting than on the way up! Needless to say, everything went well and we got back fine. Had dinner in a local Chinese restaurant called Mr. Food, which was delicious. There’s quite a strong Chinese influence here, strongest in the Shan states – which of course are nearest China anyway.

As an added surprise, as we got back to our hotel after dinner, there was a crowd of young girls, and a few boys, gathering in the street. We stopped tosee what was going on and then some music started and they all began dancing in a big circle. Lots of noise and rhythm, hand waving (so graceful!), bowing and laughing. It was a local private school across the street from the hotel, putting on a display for the full moon. Great fun, and lovely costumes.

I took loads of photos, of course. You’ll find the photo gallery here.