Adventures in South East Asia

8 ~ Sickness Strikes

Shan State, Myanmar

As much as I complained about dry season’s heat, the mountainous nights were downright frigid. I froze my little toes off because I was unwilling to leave my blanket cocoon. Allison commented she would be using my mummy-like, head smothered in blankets method the next time. I really should have just grabbed more socks, but leaving a warm place was a hard sell at strange hours of the night.

You might find it strange to hear a Canadian complaining about light, single-digit cold, but we had something called central heating. You’d die without it where I was from as we typically hit -50 Celsius at least once a year. Freezing to death was also a legitimate concern for our homeless population. Here, they had blankets and the cold travelled right through the bamboo weaved walls like a knife. If you didn’t need to heat a place to survive, why bother, I suppose.

Thura got us up bright and early with some more mountain rice and an avocado salad, with tea of course. The daughters in our host family came to greet us. They sat on the balcony and applied a thick paste to the young men’s faces. The paste was a mix of tree bark and water, crushed in a circular stone bowl. They offered to put the Thanaka paste on us as well and we lapped up the experience -- happy to be like the locals -- even though it was quite the token tourist moment.

The daughter gently stroked my cheeks with a bristles slightly larger than a toothbrush after she had spread on the initial layer with her fingers. A circle was added to my forehead and she made sure to get my nose as well. After the six of us were coated in the natural sunscreen paste, we said goodbye to the families and went on our way. I handed them some Canada pins I had as we weren’t supposed to give money to the families. The trekking organization compensated them already and asked us not to. 

Many of the men of the village hopped onto large trucks to pick ginger for the day or sell it. The prices it fetched in this country were painstakingly low compared to the going prices overseas. All that work for marbles. We waved goodbye and set off down the dusty trail.

Our first destination was a local market, the best kind! From living in Thailand, I was fairly well versed in market culture from the bartering to the selection of items offered. The Burmese market was no different with items ranging from clothing, to fresh produce, to laundry soap, or even car parts.

Allison and I wandered the market in search of interesting fabrics she could bring back home to add to her collection. She liked to use fabrics from around the world to use as curtains, wall hangings or to make cushion covers. She had done well finding unique ones during her time working in a school out in rural India.

As she searched, I kept my eyes on the traditional Pa-o sling bags until I finally asked one vendor the price. They were more than reasonable to accommodate my dwindling Burmese funds, so I bought one. The Pa-o were a hill tribe group that lived in this area and we had stayed with a few Pa-o families along our journey so far. Men and women wore the red or blue striped bags made of thick cloth, many of whom were shopping in the market today.

Luckily for our tired legs, the trek continued downhill and finished flat today. We went through a village and Thura invited our group into a complete stranger’s home. We met a nice curious man who wanted to know all about our jobs and where we came from while we had some tea. There was no naptime today, but we certainly appreciated the rest from walking in the sun. We began to feel like such natives to the country we almost shouted out a “Mingalaba!” 'hello' greeting at the passing group of foreigners. Only almost. It still managed to amuse Thura.

The tea break allowed us to learn more about the hill tribe culture. When a man and woman got married in this area, they moved to the woman’s village. The whole community banded together to build a home for them. All the engaged couple needed to do was feed the helpers. The villagers even supplied the materials for the bamboo home. Of course, the soon to be wed couple would repay the favour when the next couple came.