Rygsækrejsen 2015-2016: Hiking from Hsipaw to Htansant village

Breakfast at 7 AM this morning and then off to Lilys'. We left our big luggage there, and our guide showed up. Small guy, difficult to guys his age but first impressions included very good English. Then we headed out of town in a big tuk-tuk - our guide, the driver and the eight of us who were going to hike today. Cloudy morning but it was OK since that also meant lower temperatures for hiking up the hills.

The next two hours were spent, slowly walking up the road, passing through a couple of villages taking time to say hello, take some photos, enjoy the country side and basically have a great time. Our group was a mix of people from Switzerland, Italy, France, the UK and us from Denmark. Some on holiday in Myanmar for a couple of weeks, others on longer trips.

We stopped at the "junction" after about two hours into our 7 hour hike with the option to stay on the road and meet more tourists but take the easy hike or go on a smaller footpath and have it all to ourselves - but with some more up and downhill. We chose the "harder" hike and spent the next couple of hours hiking through some amazing landscapes having it all to ourselves.

And lets not forget our guide. Not only was his English really good, he had grown up in the village we were heading to and had an amazing knowledge about the area, plants, flowers, Myanmar in general and after a while he also told us he had just turned 24.

Being rather exhausted we had lunch break at 2 PM for around an hour, local food with rice and vegetables and the option to lie down on a mattress and stretch the sore body. The sun broke through the clouds in the afternoon and the last part of the hike was a little easier and we made it to Htansant Village just before 5 PM. The first ones to greet us was a small group of Myanmar Army soldiers hanging out in front of the local store.

Our guide hadn't told us that recently there had been fighting "some three hours away" which in local speak is fairly close. So close that when we heard a small explosion he stopped dead in his track to determine whether it was from the local mine near Hsipaw or from a RPG. So much for peaceful hiking Myanmar.

We went to the place where we would sleep for the night, got our mattresses and left the day packs to go our and look at the village, all the kids playing outside the houses and also pay a visit to the monastery.

Once done with the photos we headed back to relax and an early dinner. We sat outside the house after dinner at the fireplace and heard our guide tell stories about village life and how he had grown up in Htansant village and then in a monastery in Mandalay before returning home to work as a tourist guide. It really felt like being from another planet listening to him. Early to bed since we were tired, the village was completely silent at 9 PM and pitch black dark except for a few lights inside some of the houses. No public electricity here so they rely on a bit of solar and batteries.