We were dropped off at Hsipaw around 6:30am. We stood clueless on what to do next and a man on his motorcycle came by, said hello, and asked where we were going.
(We later learned that “where are you going” in Burmese is equivalent to “how are you” in English. The answer should be somewhere along the lines of “oh, just around” but if you take the question literally and tell where you are headed to, they would gladly help you out.)
I had read about a list of guesthouses back home but at the time was such quick change in scenery and with a stranger speaking to us so genuinely, Lily’s Guesthouse was the only name I could think of. The man on the motorcycle helped us get us a tuk tuk and told him our destination in Burmese, even helped with our luggage, and followed us for a short while, waving and smiling. We arrived at Lily’s promptly.
After unpacking, we decided to roam around before it got too hot. It was quite chilly early in the morning.
The Central Market at Hsipaw is one of the best markets to visit in all of Myanmar. With so few tourists in the town, the Shans, Kachins, and other tribals come here to trade their merchandise primarily for the villagers. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to witness the candle lit market that begins and ends early, from 3:30am to 6am.
There were roadworks and it mostly seemed to consist of manual labour. People actually poured concrete on the ground from a bucket, and others evened it out with a roller. There were also those who crushed the rocks smaller, piling them up on a truck. All this made what’s already a dusty town, even dustier, getting us to keep on walking to check what is on the other side.
Oftentimes, the locals would stare at me strangely and look towards where my camera was pointing at, trying to make sense of what I could possibly be taking pictures of. They live there. Nothing is new. Nothing is interesting. And that’s what “home” is. From a stranger’s view, every small thing is of significance, of beauty, of wonderment. But when it’s your home, there is nothing special. I try to cherish what I see every day and be truly grateful for it, so that when I return home, I can do the same with a stranger’s heart.
We walked north for a while and came to ‘Little Bagan,’ a small collection of pagodas. Not as atmospheric, but it is still awesome.
We turned around to head back to the guesthouse. On the way, there was an ancient stupa with a tree literally growing out of it.
Not many foreigners had visited Hsipaw until not too long ago, and the locals seem to have only recently picked up English. There is a restaurant called ‘Mr. Food’ and a shake vendor, which is also a restaurant, called ‘Mr. Shake.’ There is a bookstore called ‘Mr. Book.’ And not far from Little Bagan is ‘Mrs. Popcorn.’
Mrs. Popcorn is a restaurant and no, they don’t sell popcorn. We dropped by to get some juice. While waiting for our orders, the owner, possibly “the” Mrs. Popcorn, came by and showed us some of the reviews of her restaurant on TripAdvisor on her phone. She wanted to know in which part of the world these reviewers lived. She asked us where Golden Gate Bridge is and I answered San Francisco in Western part of US. She seemed both surprised and impressed by my geographical knowledge and asked us if we were from there. We told her we were from Vancouver and she asked if Vancouver is close to Golden Gate Bridge. Since “Mrs. Popcorn” complimented me on my familiarity with “world” geography, I thought I might as well keep on that image and explained to her that even though Canada is right on top of US, and Vancouver is the west of Canada, we still had to take airplane to get from one place to another. She thanked us and went to babysit.
Hsipaw and its rural lives can be seen conveniently enough with an inexpensive bicycle hire, from paddy (rice that grows in water) fields and banana plantations of the local farmers to waterfalls. We had planned a 2-day trekking trip starting early next day, so we stayed at the guesthouse instead to gather up and save all our energy.
Day 4 — Hsipaw
Previous posts in Yangon: Day 1 (Rangoon Tea House, Chauk Htat Gyi, Shwedagon), Day 2,3 (Bogyoke Aung San Market, Karaweik Hall, Kandawgyi Lake, Maha Bandoola Garden)
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If you know Korean and would like to read up on my time in Hsipaw in Korean, click here.
