You might have to bare with me it has been a looong day. I am in Hsipaw, say si por, or here in a different dialect ti bor.

The bus from Nyaungshwe to Hsipaw cost me 17,000k ($17) including tuk tuk to the bus stop. The bus stop is about 20 min drive from town at and intersection. There are all sorts of shops and bus stands there and no one speaks English. Lucky I had my ticket so I just showed it around. The bus was 1/2hr late arriving, I don't know where it started, then they took ages loading the freight into the hold so we were about an hour late leaving. I was picked up at 1pm and should arrive in Hsipaw at about 5am.
The drive was fairly uneventful. Just the usual ****** Burmese movies playing and the road was twisting around through the mountains. Speed was pretty slow due to the tight twisting roads and they were too narrow for two trucks, or truck and bus, to pass on the road so one had to get off. They stopped for a pit stop at a truck stop every few hours. At one I got Coke for 40cents and another I got coffee and a cupcake for 60cents. Everything here is soooo cheap.
There are no signs in English, and they don't make announcements so I missed my stop at Hsipaw. I was starting to worry that I had gone too far so I asked the guy sitting next to me if this was "Hsipaw?" He said no and indicated further along. I relaxed a bit and got out my LP to check the map. I thought I cant miss Lashio and if I get that far it is not too far to come back. Well guess what??? next stop I said to him "Hsipaw?" He said "Lashio" (la show) I swore at him and got off the bus. What a ********? He could have told me earlier. I gotta be careful up here cos I cant go any further on the bus without a permit, that I don't have. There are a couple of towns further north I can go to but I have to fly and cant go outside the city limits without a permit.
Anyway I get off at the bus stop and ask the guy if I can get a bus from here to Hsipaw? He doesn't speak English (surprise) but I think we managed to sort out there was another bus back at 10am and it was now 8.30. The taxi drivers wanted to take me to another place, for 2000k ($2) to get the bus at 11am. I decided to have breakfast but the place next door they didn't speak English so best I could get them to understand was coffee. (20cents) While I was there drinking coffee and trying to sort myself out I spied a cop shop over the road. I thought they might have someone who might speak at least a little English.
We found some one who could speak a little English and I explained I wanted to get back to si por. They speak a different dialect up here and he didn't understand si por. In our convo he said "ti bor" and I remember seeing it somewhere and I clicked that was where I wanted to go. All this time these people didn't understand my best Burmese cos I was in the wrong dialect. The cops got me a chair to sit on on the verandah and said they would arrange a bus at 9.30. Soon a 2 star cop came along and wanted to know all about me. Passport, visa, where from, where to etc. Once we sorted that all out he was fine.
The local bus came along and the coppers started blowing their whistles to make him stop. They told him to take me to Hsipaw (ti bor) and put me on the bus. That cost me another 1500 ($1.50) I had to change to another bus later but the driver helped me and when we got to Hsipaw he dropped me right near the guest house. I still had a bit of trouble finding the place but I am glad I kept asking around. I arrived here at about 1pm so I have been on the road for 24 hours. It all added to the adventure but made for a really long day.
Lily the Home is probably the second best place I have stayed anywhere in the world. It is brilliant. For $15 I get my own room with bathroom, wifi and breakfast. I like it so much I think Im gonna stay an extra day.
Weather is back to ******* rain again and looks like it has set in. I have only had one day so far with NO rain and one with none to speak of. Spose that is the chance you take when you go in monsoon season.