They're not playing volleyball

I started the day with what I thought would be a walk on a trail, but turned out to be a road. Not much to see; I should have rented a bike to cover more ground. A couple guys were working on the telephone line, and offered me some water, even though they didn't speak English. Cheez-u-tembari!

That evening I paid a visit to the Shan Palace, featured in "Welcome to Burma." The Shan are one of Myanmar's many ethnic minorities (hence the justification for the name change from Burma, since not everyone is Bamar, even though they are in control). They enjoyed autonomy under the British. But under the military junta, the Shan are persecuted through the clearing of villages to make more room for opium plantations, the use of Shan people for forced labor, attacks on refugee camps in Thailand (which Thailand turns a blind eye on), and the systematic raping of Shan women. The Shan people want independence from the Bamar, but these acts are designed to demoralize and weaken them. There are two Shan State armies, but they have signed cease-fires with the government. The Shan State Army (South) is fighting the United Wa Army, which is favored by the government, and given the land taken from the Shan for opium production.

As a tourist visiting Hsipaw, there are no signs of any of this: the people seem happy and sing in the street, children wave, and there are no soldiers to be seen. But at the Shan Palace, a dilapidated European-style mansion whose lawn had been converted into a bean field, Fern, the niece of the last Shan prince, told me and three other travelers about the family history. The last Shan prince was taken by the military after it siezed power in 1962. His Austrian wife was never able to find out what happened to him; he was presumably executed. Now his niece and nephew watch the house and talk to tourists. They have travelers bring them books and mail letters, since the government watches them closely. It seems strange that the government lets you talk to them freely. Perhaps they realize they are one of the "tourist attractions" of Hsipaw, along with Johnny the Monk.

Afterwards I visited Johnny the Monk again, who offered me tea leaf salad, and talked about how he used to be a tourist guide here. Then he told me some of the recent history of the country, and how the governments monetary policies led to the rampant inflation. He said that even though some things have gotten better, in other ways this is the worst time ever. For instance, Daw Aung Suu Kyi is free now, but thousands of students were arrested two weeks ago for demonstrating. Johnny talks slowly but doesn't stop, so I had to force myself away at 10 to go pack by candlelight. I have to catch a bus tomorrow at 6 am.