Wan Seng Favorites

Favorite thing: Along this road, you will come across a few other hill tribe villages before reaching the trailhead for Wan Seng.

The road cuts right through two Akha villages, and there are a number of other villages that are visible along the mountain ridges an down in the valleys.

Some of the villages are on the trekking circuit for people hiking around in the Shan state, while others are not. Seek out the ones that don't usually get foreign visitors. I promise that the reaction the villagers will give you will be more rewarding.

Favorite thing: The road to Wan Seng from Kengtung heads north, going as far as Mongla which is right on the Chinese (Yunnan Province) Border.

It is quite a twisting road that winds and turns its way through the mountains up here. That said, this road is 1000% better than it was just a couple years ago.

When I first headed up this way in 2001, the road was not sealed and was a four hour pot holed, dirty, dusty, rear end bruising affair. Now its 2 hours in relative comfort on a smooth paved surface.

Also, the mountains up here are beautiful. Enjoy the ride !

Favorite thing: As we walked down the path between the villages of Wan Nyet and Wan Seng, ahead I could hear the voice of young children singing. (in that sing-sing tonal kind of way...)

Up ahead was a small wooden structure, which we found to be a small Burmese school house that was used to teach the local hill tribe children Burmese.

As fortune would have it the teacher was a young Burmese lady who was quite friendly and was nice enough to invite us in the small class room to watch for a while.

It was quite cute to watch the young kids learning their Burmese ABC's. They all have their arms folded and were sitting upright at attention singing the local equivalent of something like: "A as in Apple, B as in Bear, C as in Cat, D as in Dog...."

I'm told the Burmese Government provides this service to try and assimilate the hill tribers more closely into Burmese society. (Typically most hill tribe people do not speak Burmese, but that is slowly changing I'm told...)

Favorite thing: Make yer own Bread: A couple of the local girls give a demo on milling the flour, the old fashioned way.... (mortar and pestle like...)