In case I didn't cover this before, in Burma/Myanmar if there is H in front you done say it so this is Pa-an and they say paa-arn. Hsipaw is seepaw.
I got a taxi to the bus station, which is really a collection of puddles with some poo between to step on. I was a bit of a spectacle, being the only white person there and I don't think they see too many. Lucky I bought my ticket yesterday in town cos otherwise I would be at the mercy of the touts, there is no sign in English and only the touts speak English.
It rained all the way to Hpa-an. The busses here have the air con turned to full and that is where it stays. I was freezing so I had to change into my bus pants, long pants, it was sooo cold. Looking out the window there were people walking around in the rain in shorts and t shirts... it does ya head in. Im freezing and they in the rain, hard to realize it is 20deg warmer out there.
At Hpa-an I was lucky and they dropped me at the clock tower in town not the bus station about 4 miles out of town. Soe Brothers G/H is less than a minute walk from here. Soe brothers are huge down here, they seem to have tourism pretty well sewn up, with the biggest guest house and tours every day. I paid a little extra for a room with a window, no view, the window was too dirty to see out of. I walked down town for some dinner and it was raining on the way back so I got soaked again, but it was still warmer than the bus. The rain here isn't too bad cos it is warm, the problem comes when you have to move and pack all your wet, or at least damp clothes in the back pack and they get all smelly. Mine stinks already...anyone got a solution??
When I looked at the room I thought the bed was made. And it was. With a fitted sheet. No blankets or anything else just a fitted sheet. This was OK when I went to sleep but at 3 in the morning I was freezing so I had to get up and put on my wet clothes to keep warm. Lucky my body heat dried out my bus pants for the ride back to Yangon.
Next morning it is still raining (someone send me some water wings this country is under water) the tour price has changed 3 times and it is too wet to go out on a motorbike taxi so I headed back to Yangon. I am going north to try to get out of some of this rain.
This morning for breakfast I had a couple of deep fried rice balls with something in the middle (about the size of tennis balls) and 2 cups of chai and the bill was 850K about 80cents. At the truck stop on the way back I had a cup of tea....cup of water and a packet of powdered tea, sugar and milk, and a bun and the bill was 500k about 50cents. Tonight I had dinner in a restaurant, a proper restaurant with blue plastic chairs and cooking inside, and I had fried rice, crispy fried chicken and a king brown of Myanmar lager and the bill was 6200k about $6.20. The food is sooo cheap, especially on the street.
Tomorrow I am going to try to get a train ticket to Thazi, then Kalaw, then Shwenyaung all on the same ticket then I gotta get a Tuk Tuk to Nyungshwe at Inle Lake. If it goes to plan I should be there in a couple of days.


I might update this tomorrow If I get time.