Day 205- It was a very early morning to make sure we caught our transfer to the bus station and by half 5 we were down at reception waiting for our take-away breakfast. The early rise meant we were able to see some of the local monks receive their alms which was worth it in itself. On the bus we tucked into our breakfast to find a butter and jam sandwich with an egg on top, this wouldn't have been too much of a problem had my yolk not split and drizzled over my jam sandwich. There is a first for everything and it wasn't to bad the truth be told, Eve however was less appreciative of the Burmese idea of breakfast, eating only the egg. The bus itself was an experience as it was only small, more of a large minibus and the back half of the seats were taken up by cargo, predominantly tubs of paint, bags of rice and egg boxes. Also our foot space was full of paint tubs so it was a tight squeeze and to top it off our seat had fell through so we were more straddling the metal bars that held the seat up. Plus there was no air-con so overall it was a fairly uncomfortable 7 hours. At Hsipaw a man was standing with a board with the name of the guesthouse we wanted stay at on so we went along with him and checked in. Holly, who we spent the day with in Mandalay also got the bus with us and so we went to lunch together. We were now in the Shan state which is very popular for its different culture to the Burmese and are of the descent from the hill tribes that live on the border with Thailand. So we went in search of traditional Shan food and unsurprisingly it was noodle soup, however it was very different and very nice. On the way back we stopped at Yuan Yuan shake shop and got a shake each, then crossed the road to browse the market. Back at the hostel we organised our trek with the guide and then we signed up with Holly and a Dutch couple. We weren't feeling too hungry so we went for a coffee with Holly and then picked up some delicious dumplings on the way back.
Day 206- For breakfast we ordered eggs on toast but in true SE Asian fashion they served us what they liked and we ended up with Shan noodle soup, too tired to argue we tucked in. With our bags ready and the group set to go we started on our two day trek. It started by walking through the nearby fields where the locals were growing watermelons, garlic and soy beans. Then we came across several villages with loads of kids in the river playing and the mothers washing their clothes. We started to climb steadily upwards and as the day wore on it started to get very hot and humid, by 11 we were sweating buckets and stopped at a small hut for a quick break and were given a rice snack and green tea. It was a very nice trek through traditional villages however a lot of the area was being burnt for agricultural reasons so it was quite hazy and not much to see! As we continued on it started to get dark and cloudy above us and before long the heavens opened. Luckily we were walking through a village at the time and a local asked us inside their hut as it started to rain, it was a torrential downpour so we were lucky to have shelter. We finally arrived at Paknam village and were shown to a bed for the night, we were lucky enough to be staying at the Chiefs house and his wife served us a dinner of cabbage salad, bean soup, fried noodles, poppadoms and rice. We were all shattered and our guide recommended we take a nap so we obliged willingly. Two hours later and we were ready for our village tour, our guide took us to see how tea is made from the picked leaves. We went to the first house where we seen how they laid them out to dry, and then steamed them in a big pot then left them to dry one more before being packaged. We did a full loop of the village talking and playing with the kids then went back to chill out on some seats at the front of the house overlooking the village. Our guide had brought some rice wine- or medicine as he called it, and we had a few drinks of that together. For tea we were served jackfruit curry, mango curry, roasted peanuts, tea leaf salad and rice which was all delicious, we sat chatting and then had an early night.
Day 207- We set off again at 8 after a breakfast of curried potatoes, pumpkin soup and rice and thankfully today was all downhill. There was less villages to see on this route and much more farmland with farmers going about their business and plenty of buffalo's knocking about. It again was a nice trek through the area and after a few hours we were back where we started. Shattered and sweaty we all had a shower as we were to get a night bus to Inle Lake that very night. We then went back to Yuan Yuans for a fruit shake, the last time we were there the owner took a photo of us for his visitor wall and this time around it was up so was a laugh seeing that. We then bought some snacks and went back to pick up our bags, the tuk tuk picked us up and we were aboard our bus by 3pm with a long afternoon and night ahead.