A Train to Hsipaw

February 13, 2012


As we slowly amble our way over uneven tracks past small neatly cared for farms of rice, wheat, corn, strawberries, sugar cane, bananas, papaya, assorted vegetables and many other things that I can not identify I am struck by the variety and beauty of the landscape.  Rolling hills dotted with palms trees, bamboo clumps and the occasional pagoda surround this valley of farmland that gently slopes upward as we climb our way towards the foot hills of the Himalayas to the town of Hsipaw (See paw). 

The rail system, as with many things, is left over from the British colonial days.  Well, the tracks anyway and with there uneven and rolling character it's not hard to believe that the last time anyone did any maintenance was about the time the British left in 1948.  The engine and cars were new in 1990 (a gift from China), though it's hard to tell given the lack of care that they receive it seems as if they are much older.  

As we gain in elevation the hills are getting taller and the valleys deeper.

I paid the extra $2.00 for "upper class"

which means that there are a limited number of people in the car and the seats are padded.  Some even recline, though most are fairly broken down and the mechanisms don't work.

The real action is in coach

Some interesting characters along the way.

 

At one point trains going in opposite directions stop and there is a sort of massive exchange.

I made a new friend on the train, his nam is Lao.  (short for something I couldn't possibly say or remember) He is from Amsterdam and at 6'10" he is easy to find in a crowd.

 The trip was mostly uneventful, though there were two interesting things that happened.
One was a spot in the tracks where a couple of workman had to (apparently) brace the track with large crowbars while the train passed.  The other wasn't so much an event as a lack of safety control...  in other words, no said I couldn't so spent a little time in a few precarious positions in an attempt to get some shots from a different angel or two.

Once we reached Hsipaw, I checked into a room and made my way up to Sunset Hill.