Myanmar - Part IX
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After our exciting adventure traversing Shan State, we finally pulled into Lashio around 6 pm, a full 10 hours after we had left our hotel in Mandalay. The last bit of the drive from Hsipaw and the flooded roads didn't take too long, as the traffic had lightened somewhat, and on one stretch I actually saw pine trees, teak trees, and bamboo all growing side by side. Certainly unlike anything I had ever seen before. The road went through several small valleys and around several small limestone hills, until we eventually crested a small divide, and there, sprawled out in front of us, was the city of Lashio. A few minutes later we pulled into our hotel, and went to check in, happy to be out of the car, and happy to have finally made it. Like every other other we stayed at in Myanmar, they had us booked into a room with two separate beds, so yet again we had to wait a bit so they could make the switch for us. I guess because our names don't match up (Kelsey hasn't changed her last name yet because it would require getting a new passport and a whole slew of other documents) everyone assumes we are just two friends travelling together.
Some Notes on an Exciting History....
Despite it's remote location, Lashio is actually a bustling small city of over 200,000 people, and is a major center of commerce in northern Shan State. It is also a key transport location for goods and services along the Myanmar/China border, thanks to its position on the main road between the two, more famously known as "The Burma Road". Just a handful of hours north is the town of Muse, located along the Chinese border. It is also central to the, ahem, cash crops that this part of Myanmar is known for, more of that later. And, because it is the biggest population center around for a long ways, it is home to a large refugee camp built for those fleeing the ongoing ethnic insurgencies. However, despite it's size, it is most definitely NOT on the tourist trail (more on that later) so it's locals and Chinese only, although as with any sizeable Myanmar city, there are some good-sized pagodas around to see. Although we were originally booked for four nights here, we ended up staying three nights, and it was a very interesting time being there.
Historically, people have lived in the rugged hills of the Lashio area for thousands of years, and those rugged hills and the isolation they have created have long made this area a hotbed of independence, illegal activities, and general lawless, "wild west" behavior. Steep, thickly forested jungle hills, and deep, treacherous river gorges are mixed with small pockets of gentle valleys. Some of the native tribes in the area were for a long time traditional headhunters, and the stereotypical image of clumps of human skulls posted on spikes in the jungles likely came from the first visitors to this area. Although it's not likely they were cannibals, they were definitely all about taking heads as trophies when vanquishing enemies or unwanted visitors, but this practice died out in the middle of the 20th century as modern times caught up with Myanmar's isolated wilds.
The recent history of Lashio and the greater area of northern Shan State is an interesting and volatile one. The local people are very closely related with the people of southwest China's Yunnan Province, and even to this day, people still travel across and live in the remote parts of the border as if it doesn't exist. Many of the businesses are owned by Myanmar citizens of Chinese heritage, or even outright by Chinese nationals. This has been as a result of several big pushes and movements of people from China over the past few couple thousands years. Almost 1300 years ago the Nanzhou Kingdom flourished in the greater Yunnan/Shan State area, and was controlled by a long line of kings, and that time was followed up with rule by the Dali Kingdom (named for the lake in Yunnan Province). Later, in more recent history, fleeing Kuomingtang (or, Chinese Nationalist) troops invaded after being driven out of China by the Communists, intending to use the area as a base from which to reclaim their homeland. Unfortunately for them, a local communist party soon sprang up and ran off (or killed) the Kuomingtang and took control.
It was around this time that some ethnic Chinese families settled down and began to consolidate their power and hold over the area. Most notably, the Wa family, the current generations of one of the original Nine Wa Clans of medieval times came to power. The businesses they set up were lucrative dealings in goods such as timber, minerals, and food, as well as the cultivation of vast fields of poppies for making opium and heroin. It was this latter activity that helped the area gain the nickname of the "Golden Triangle", along with parts of Laos and Thailand, in the 1960's. These families stayed in power for a long time, and helped fund the rise of the independent armies that currently exist in the area, including the Shan State Army- North branch, and the United Wa State Army, and survived the fall of the communist groups in the late 1980's, and even today are still running lots of the show, just much more behind the scenes now. And finally, the most recent push of ethnic Chinese into the area have come as a result of the rapid expansion of China and it's international business dealings (especially with it's direct neighbors) over the past decade. So, because of several large influxes of ethnic Chinese, the area has long been independent from the concept of Burma or Myanmar for a long time.
These days the area claims to be free of any illegal narcotics trade, although it's a poorly kept secret that this is just not the case. Unfortunately for the freedom fighters and insurgent groups in the area, despite their simple intention of trying to preserve their culture, heritage and history in the form of an independent state, the only real option for them to finance it is through the sale of illegal narcotics. Although there are also deep economic ties with Chinese interests in the resource industries (timber, minerals, food, etc), the sale of drugs has always far outweighed those mostly-legal enterprises because of it's huge work-to-profit ratio. As a result, the area around eastern Shan State is still closed to most foreigners, as they simply don't want people to see the truth of the area. Thanks to a crackdown on illegal narcotics in neighboring Thailand, and a Thai-backed crackdown in nearby Laos as well, the local market now relies on and is generated by the poppy fields and factories of eastern Myanmar. So there is a lot of secrecy in the area, and tourism is not exactly encouraged. This became an unforseen complication for us, and one that we didn't realize until after we got there, as we were hoping to go out into the wilds around Lashio and see some really rural Myanmar.
So, back to the narrative. As we pulled in, thanks to the billboard in the lobby, we realized that we had inadvertently chosen to visit Lashio whilst the Miss Universe Lashio 2015 (a regional qualifier for the well known Miss Universe pageant) was going on, and even more, the crew, the hosts, the media company, the makeup staff, and the celebrity performers were all staying in our hotel. Even better, the main event was happening the night after we checked in, and even better YET, at the Lashio City Hall two blocks away! A Burmese beauty pageant in the middle of nowhere?? Sign us up! We quickly made sure we had tickets for the event and went up to our room. That night we had dinner at the hotel and just hung out in the room, relaxing after our incredible voyage across Shan State.
The next day we got up leisurely, and went down to talk with the woman at the front desk, hoping to garner some information about how and where to spend our time while in the Lashio area. Our conversation went something pretty close to this:
Me: Hi, can we rent a motorbike for the day, or tell us where we can?
Her: No.
Me: Uh, ok....Do you know where we can go book a trekking tour or a car tour?
Her: No.
Me:
Her:
Me:
Her:
Me: Ok, is there any good tourist sites worth seeing in the area around the city?
Her: No.
At this point we didn't think much of it, and chalked it up to either unfriendliness or communication breakdown. We got a tuk-tuk and headed out towards the ONE thing we did have on our list to do here, which was visit a nice hot springs that had been used for centuries by locals and travelers along the Burma Road. The springs were reported to be simple and rustic, but nice and hot. Since the weather had been kind of cool, with rain and grey skies, for a good portion of our trip, the idea of some hot pools sounded really good. The tuk-tuk was noisy and enjoyable, and we took about 15 minutes to chug through the surprisingly large town, down the hill it sits on, and onto plains of the Nam Ma River just outside of town.
Me: Hi, can we rent a motorbike for the day, or tell us where we can?
Her: No.
Me: Uh, ok....Do you know where we can go book a trekking tour or a car tour?
Her: No.
Me:
Her:
Me:
Her:
Me: Ok, is there any good tourist sites worth seeing in the area around the city?
Her: No.
At this point we didn't think much of it, and chalked it up to either unfriendliness or communication breakdown. We got a tuk-tuk and headed out towards the ONE thing we did have on our list to do here, which was visit a nice hot springs that had been used for centuries by locals and travelers along the Burma Road. The springs were reported to be simple and rustic, but nice and hot. Since the weather had been kind of cool, with rain and grey skies, for a good portion of our trip, the idea of some hot pools sounded really good. The tuk-tuk was noisy and enjoyable, and we took about 15 minutes to chug through the surprisingly large town, down the hill it sits on, and onto plains of the Nam Ma River just outside of town.
The paddies, fields, and small villages of the river plain were an incredible sight. Because of the overcast skies, everything was just incredibly saturated with color. Our excitement was short lived when we go to the hot springs and discovered that because of all the flooding around the area, the actual springs themselves were buried deep under the floodwaters so there was no hot water. So, we had to truck back in the tuk-tuk to the hotel. We got there in a pouring rainstorm, so we holed up for a little while before venturing out to see the city up close.
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We were right next to the main market area, so we wandered around, taking in the sights and perusing through some items. Although western and whitey tourists were very rare in this city, we certainly weren't getting stared at as much you'd think. We ended up having a late lunch, in preparation of our attendance at the pageant that night. The pageant ended up being an amazing hoot, so much so that it has earned it's own page.
Miss Universe Lashio 2015 - >
The next day we decided to go see some pagodas. In a surprise move, the rain wasn't falling, so instead of taking a tuk tuk we opted to simply walk. It was late morning by the time we left the hotel, and we wanted to find some lunch, so we set out on foot, aiming for a restaurant that Google Maps showed was close. There was also another one nearby in case that didn't work out. Well, the first one listed ended up being a girl's dorm for a school, and the second ended up being a driveway. So we were kind of just wandering aimlessly, looking for anything, when we happened to stumble across a pizza place owned by what looked like an Indian man. The pizzas were alright, nothing special (chili sauce for sauce, not ketchup or tomato sauce). Later we wandered about a kilometer across town to a pagoda on top of a nearby hill, known as the Sasana 2500 Years Pagoda. It was a combination of a monastery school, a monastery, and a large gold stupa.
There were some pretty good views of the area from the summit of the hill. The clouds had thankfully broken that day, so we were able to see most of the city and a small bit of the hills surrounding it. On the way down we stopped by the only travel agent we had seen that had English on the wall, so we went in and tried asking about a few things, such as trekking, car tours, and local sights. We were met with a firm "no" to everything we asked. Wondered why the they were even open when they didn't have anything to offer but at this point we were quite used to the word "nO", so it was back to the hotel, where we hung out for a while before getting some dinner. We ended up eating at the hotel a bunch simply because there wasn't much else available for restaurants, so it was kind like eat at the hotel or eat convenience store dinners.
The next day we sat down and had a discussion. We had a plane in three days' time from Mandalay to Yangon to catch, and we had a full day of travel between Lashio and Mandalay to cover between there. The worry came from our trip TO Lashio, where flooded roads had caused problems at a couple of different places en route. If we ran into trouble going back to Mandalay, we would very likely have to return to Lashio and try again the next day, which was the day of our 9 AM flight. So, it was imperative we reach Mandalay the night before. We talked about our different options to return (we hadn't booked tickets) and came up with three options: rent a private taxi, take the local bus, or take the train. Knowing the train was basically a (15 hour) guaranteed option (the tracks have been there for 100+ years and would take an end-of-the-world flood to wipe out), we decided to try and take a private car (more expensive but way nicer than the local bus) a day early, and if we did get turned around we would still have the ability to make it back on time via the train. To us it was better to be out the cost of one night in the hotel, and lose a day in Lashio (not real loss as there was nothing to do) and have the security of knowing we would be there on time.
I did some research after we arrived back to Vietnam, and after educating myself more on the country and the situation, I realized that the reason there are no tours, no trekking routes, or tourism in general is because the drug trade is still in full swing in the area, and they don't want random tourists out walking around and seeing things they shouldn't. Illegal logging and mining is also quite rampant in the area, so between the two it's no surprise that everyone was keen to shut down our explorations. That made our time in Lashio quite weird. Being in a city of over 200,000 people, there are usually quite a few other westerners, as well as at least a limited tourist trade. However, here, there is no tourists, there is no tourism, and unless you are a Shan State local or Chinese, there's little interest in you or what you want. The money is flowing in from across the Chinese border in droves, and the locals are keen to make some money in the process, and western tourists are not a worry to them. So, we ended up being quite bored here, and thanks to the consistent rain storms that were rolling though, and a lack of tourism infrastructure, we went kind of stir crazy. However, we are still glad to have been here, because sometimes getting way off the grid and ending up in a mysterious city deep in the forbidden mountains of illegal narcotics is a good way to make you appreciate sitting on a beautiful white beach even more!
All photos copyright Kit Davidson unless otherwise cited.