259MANDALAY TO LASHIOACTIVITIESNORTHERN MYANMARACTIVITIESNORTHERN MYANMARHSIPAWSunset Hill VIEWPOINT
For sweeping views across the river and right
over Hsipaw, climb to Thein Daung Pagoda
also known as Five Buddha Hill or, most pop-
ularly, Sunset Hill. It’s part of a steep ridge
that rises directly behind the Lashio road,
around 1½ miles south of Hsipaw. Cross the
new river bridge, follow the main road left
then take the laterite track that starts with a
triple-crowned temple gateway around 300m
beyond. There’s a small English sign at the
gateway. The climb takes around 15 minutes.
At the time of research it was possible to loop
back to central Hsipaw along a horribly dusty
road on the river’s east bank, passing an at-
tractive timber monastery building before
crossing the river on a pontoon bridge north
of the sports fi eld. However, the pontoons are
scheduled for removal during 2011 or 2012.
Bawgyo Paya BUDDHIST TEMPLE
Five miles west of Hsipaw, this pagoda is
of great signifi cance to Shan people and
gets overloaded with pilgrims who arrive
en masse during the annual Bawgyo Paya
Pwe culminating on the full moon day of
Tabaung (February/March).
The pagoda’s current incarnation is an
eye-catching 1995 structure of stepped gild-
ed polygons, within which the dome suppos-
edly incorporates genuine rubies. The name
translates loosely as ‘Dad come and get me’,
and the original pagoda was built centuries
earlier by a heartbroken Shan king who had
married off his daughter, warrior-princess
Saw Mun La, to the Burmese king as part
of a Shan-Burma peace deal. The Burmese
king adored her but, as the seventh wife in
his harem, her presence and growing favour
caused trouble. Jealous concubines set about
denouncing her as a spy. The king didn’t fall
for the lies but realised that he’d better get
her out of his court before the other wives
murdered her. The plan should have worked,
but on the long, arduous route back to her
father’s court she fell ill. The Shan king was
sent for but arrived to fi nd her already dead
of a mystery sickness. The point where she
died became the site of a pagoda to under-
line Shan-Burmese friendship.
It’s beside the Hsipaw–Kyaukme road:
you’ll get a brief glimpse from the right-hand
windows of any Kyaukme- or Mandalay-
bound bus. 2 Activities
Hiking
Each of the guesthouses can organise guides
(around K10,000 per day) to take you on
a range of fascinating treks into the hills
above town visiting Shan, Palaung and Lisu
villages. Mr Charles Guest House (p 260 ) is
especially well organised and most evenings
there’ll be someone sitting on the front ter-
race to answer questions about the various
options. Generally a next-day departure is
possible if you don’t want anything too ad-
venturous. Pankam (see boxed text, p 262 ) is
a good one-/two-day choice. Trekking with-
out a guide is less satisfying (very few vil-
lagers speak English) but it is possible – get
someone to write down your destination in
local script before departing. Most villages
have motorcycle tracks too, so it may be
possible to pay a villager to drive you back
if you’re fed up, though fi nding a bike isn’t
always straightforward.A PALACE TOO FARSeveral years ago, one of the most interesting Hsipaw experiences used to be a visit to the
fading 1924 Shan palace-villa in the company of the charming Mr Donald, nephew of Sao
Kya Seng, who had been the area’s last sawbwa (Shan prince). Sao Kya Seng vanished
during the 1962 military takeover, an event powerfully described by his wife, Inge Sargent,
in the book Twilight over Burma: My Life as a Shan Princess. History in Myanmar has
a habit of repeating itself. In 2005 Mr Donald was himself arrested and sentenced to 13
years in prison. The dubious charges were of ‘operating as an unlicensed tour guide and
defaming the State’, but few doubted it was part of a coordinated crackdown on tribal
leaders. In 2009 Mr Donald was conditionally released, but with nine years probation.
Reportedly the probation conditions specify that if he so much as talks to a foreigner he’ll
be sent back to jail. So please don’t think it a clever wheeze to visit him by climbing over
the heavily chained palace gates. If you want to get an idea of the palace’s design, a safer
alternative is to head to Hsipaw’s Don Bosco Catholic Seminary, whose main building was
created by the same architect in a similar 1920s suburban-English style.