Even tho, Myanmar opened its borders to tourism not that long ago, it became pretty popular for backpackers. Heading off to Chin State, in the northwestern corner of the country was my ticket off the tourist circuit.
Once upon a time, trekking in Myanmar, especially the Chin State was very much off limits. Until relatively recently, it was only possible to visit if you had a government-issued permit. Foreigners have been visiting this remote corner of Myanmar for five years or more now to trek into the steaming forests and meet the local people.
However, when I tried to call local guesthouses, every each of them gave me same information: ‘we are closed, government no longer issuing permits to have tourists’. No wonder nothing showed up on booking.com or other search engines. But three of us decided to risk it for a biscuit and still wander into unknown.
Trying to figure out how to get to Chin state and where to go once we got there wasnt good news. Myanmar is changing so quickly that information that is only few years old is already out of date. Just looking at a map doesn’t really tell you how long it will take to get somewhere and neither there are bus schedules online (not even in bus station in Bagan), so we’re pretty much relying on the information that we gathered from people along the way.
We started this adventure with a long drive from Bagan to Mindat, stopping in Pakoku to change the mini bus. It took around six hours and over thousand turns until we finally reached very top of the hills- Mindat. The town was nestled along a ridge line and surrounded by green mountains. We spent remaining day sipping tea and struggling to find a guide, willing to take us trekking to neighbouring villages. After many attempts, a lady with no English at all gave us a phone number of a guide, who was willing to take us on a day trek. Luck followed us and one of the guesthouses took us in for two nights for a double rate, ‘because of the trouble with government and licence fees’. Still can’t complain, since we paid 15,000 each ($11) and got basic room with outstanding mountain views. Not to mention ice cold bucket shower that was likely to give you brain freeze if washing hair. (Did it and to this day I am fine).
We spent the next day walking through the neighbouring villages. Our guide spoke pretty good English and was able to answer most of the questions; he even taught us a few Burmese words.
We waved and smiled at locals as we passed by along the road. Most people seemed genuinely interested in our presence. Children ran up and down along the street answering to our ‘high fives’ and young women would say hello and then giggle amongst themselves in embarrassment when we answered ‘negaibo’.
We walked for five hours, heading deeper into the valley and visiting more and more remote villages.
One of many reasons we came here was the tattooed face woman tribes. The older women of Chin are famed for their facial tattoos, as our guide explained there are two known reasons; first because of the local kings traveling throughout the countryside and selecting the most beautiful women for their harems. In order to avoid selection, they would make their girls ugly by tattooing their faces. Second is religious believes- going through such pain gives you direct access to heaven. The practice was outlawed decades ago by the government and the youngest woman remaining with tattoos is 27 years old, when others are over 60.
Guide took us to meet locals, who were very happy to have a cup of coffee together and show us their daily life. I even had a chance to smoke a pipe with 93-year-old woman, who seemed more capable puffing than I did.
After seven hour trek we made our way back to Mindat and hurried to see Yaw Shen, the legendary 92-year-old nose-flutist of Chin, a woman famed for her musical skills and gorgeous facial tattoos. She did us a little show and gave genuine strong hugs after. In Mindat there is also a small museum filled with tribal artefacts, WWII relics, animal skins and skulls and jewellery that is thought to be over thousand years old.
Trekking in Myanmar is a fantastic way to get off the beaten track and truly get a taste of the most incredible part of Myanmar; the people.
This corner of Myanmar only just beginning to open to tourism and still has the authentic tribe life, and opportunities for genuine interactions with locals.
If you are keen to do some truly amazing adventures trekking in Mindat, I would be happy to share our guide Naing Awm contacts.
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