We arrived in Hsipaw (See-Paw) as cold and cranky little icicles after the overly air conditioned sitting night bus. Luckily the hotel was prepared and had little nap spots set up for us until we could check in. After sleeping most of the morning away, we motivated ourselves enough to wander around. And by that I mean we managed to find a stand that sold fruit smoothies. We then wandered around the town a little bit more to where we were told we were able to see an old palace. Unfortunately when we arrived at the gate, it was closed and had no indication of when/if it would be open. Wandering back in the direction of our hotel we found the morning market (also closed), and booked our trek for the next day. It was a approximately six hour hike through some villages with an hour long motorcycle ride back to the hotel.
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| Facing my fears one NOPE at a time. With a camera between us. |
We started off the next morning through some nice trails and walked by some very young monks. Like 7-9 years old. They saw us with our cameras and really busted out the model poses. I even let one of them take a few pics with my camera. He showed real promise. Cheyenne went to smell a flower on a tree, and they overenthusiastic tried to pull a branch of them off for her.
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| Pretending to sleep? |
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| My favorite is our guide in the blue. |
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| I had way too many pictures of my own face. |
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| Marching like a soldier. |
After parting ways with them, we continued on up some hills in the hot sun. We were quite happy to stop for lunch and ate a variety of cooked veggies with rice. Our guide showed us some videos in the news of the army destroying fields of opium poppies. They have been cracking down on these crops in the last few years. I asked him what the punishment was if you got caught growing opium. I was expecting an answer like jail or paying a lot of money. He said "yes of course, but sometimes they also kill you." Wow.
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| Normally you can see Hsipaw from here. Or at least some hills. |
After lunch it got cloudy, and we happily walked the rest of the way to the guides house in a farther village. Our guide owned a whole hillside of tea plants, and he taught us about its growth, preparation and sale. To get back to the hotel, we got on the back of motorcycles and headed down some steep, bumpy, sketchy roads to Hsipaw. I wish I could say it was possible to just close my eyes, but I was actively watching for big bumps or overhanging plants to brace myself for or avoid. Definitely my sketchiest Asian moto adventure. But not to worry, we arrived safe and sound back at our hotel.
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| It got dramatically greener as we cam around into tea tree side. |
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| Up in a tree picking off the young leaves to dry. |
I feel it is also important to mention that the family that owned this hotel owned a Pomeranian that was basically twins with my parents dog Puppy. And they were just as proud of their clean little poof as my parents are.
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| Ice cream cone cabbage |
