Upon arrival in Mandalay we checked into a non-descript, but decent hotel and went for a late breakfast to a nearby teashop. Then Papa changed some more money at an ice cream and lassi place (later I had kulfy there) and found out that our next destination should be Hsipaw because of a full moon festival there (the original plan was to go to Sagaing first), but we would have to leave the very next day. So he continued checking out transport options to go there and my parents decided to go by taxi rather than the less practical bus or train. Papa was also lucky to find 2 French guys that wanted to share the ride with us. Later we went to visit a night market and had dinner at a Chinese Muslim restaurant (according to the local Burmese, Mandalay is being overrun by new Chinese business immigrants from Yunnan, now that the road links have improved).
After breakfast the next day we boarded our taxi, picked up Oliver & Vince at their guesthouse and headed for the Shan hills in the east. It was getting quite muggy (no A/C), but once we reached a plateau at 1000 m. elevation we were more comfortable. We stopped to buy strawberry jam (they were in season and for sale everywhere) and to visit a sugar cane processing factory where they made brown sugar. At one point we descended into a deep ravine using many switch-backs. We also stopped for lunch while some 2 dozen girls (waitresses?) watched us eat. Upon arrival we checked into the popular Mr. Charles GH and surprise-surprise, who did we see there? Dan, a fellow GE'er from Toronto! We had heard he was going to Asia, but this was totally accidental. He had left Canada a few months earlier, went to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and would go home in June. We decided to meet again for dinner that night. It was a small town with a relaxed and cool atmosphere, but the main reason for coming to Hsipaw was the Bawgyo Paya festival, held annually at the large pagoda of the same name, outside town. So we hopped on a public tractor and arrived when things were in full swing. The fairgrounds were covered with over a hundred vendor stalls selling all kinds of household goods and snacks. There were several bamboo stages where they would have dancing, singing and drama in the evening. The pagoda was also full of pilgrims. My parents were fascinated by the atmosphere, smells and colours and particularly interested in seeing the Shan ladies who were wearing traditional clothes with colourful headdresses and large metal rings around their waste. Many men were wearing typical baggy Shan pants rather than longyis. I had a ride in a homemade, man-powered merry-go-round, but otherwise the place was too crowded and hot for my taste. We still walked around a bit longer so Mommy could shoot some more... At the guesthouse we found Dan again and together we had a nice dinner at Mr. Food, a popular restaurant in town.
The next day we first had breakfast outside at the guesthouse with the many other travelers staying there. We walked around town a bit, tasted Indian snacks (Mommy found the perfect parata: exactly the way her mother used to make it!), and went back to the fairgrounds on the festival's last day (full moon). Basically the same experience as the day before, but this time we walked through a nearby Shan village for some more interaction with the locals. That afternoon we also went to visit the Shan Palace in town. The Shan state used to have relative independence and was governed by a royal family. The last king was arrested (and later killed) during the 1962 coup, but his niece (a princess) was happy to see us and welcomed us inside where she showed my parents family photographs and told us the history of the palace. Other foreigners were there too and together with her they had an interesting chat about current politics, the (non)actions of the government, etc. and she showed us a small library of many illegal books about Burma. The good thing for me was the fact that there was also a 7-year-old prince (my first prince!) with whom I immediately connected as he was quite a character too. Let me just tell you that I had a great time running in and around the palace with him for a couple of hours.
On our third day there my parents had planned to leave in the afternoon to a hill station on the way back to Mandalay. After visiting the morning market and breakfast at the guesthouse, I had found another playmate: the little boy of the guesthouse who happened to have a bunch of my favorite toys: water guns! My parents wanted to visit some more places so they left me in the care of the guesthouse ladies. No problemo! So while my friend and I were spraying everyone with water, my parents went cycling to an old temple where the main Buddha image was made of bamboo (hence its name "bamboo temple"...). They had a chat and some tea with a few monks before they went off to an interesting candle factory, where small white candles were being made with simple, hand-operated machines. When it was time to leave the guesthouse, I had to shed some tears cause I had so much fun?
We took a shared taxi (that we didn?t share with anybody else) and in a few hours we arrived in Maymyo (now called Pyin U Lwin), formerly a British hill station that still has a bit of that atmosphere. Public transportation consists of horse carts that are small replicas of those once used in the Wild West. And since the colonial times, a large group of Indians and Nepali have settled here as well. Even the people of our guesthouse were all very friendly South Asians and instead of "Mingalaba!" we would greet them with "Namaste!". After dinner we found a French bakery (run by a Frenchman) that had just opened up and had some yummy pastry. The next day we visited one produce and one large, general market by taking one of those horse carts. It was very interesting to see so many ethnic groups in one place: the aforementioned South Asians (even some Nepalis wore traditional items), Burmese (both Bamar and Shan), Chinese (Burmese and more recent immigrants) and a couple of westerners. Besides the regular fresh foodstuffs, you could see strawberries everywhere. After a relaxing picnic in the garden of our guesthouse we took another shared taxi back to Mandalay.
