Wan Seng Travel Guide

 kenmerk Says:  As with most everywhere in Burma, (but especially in the "troubled" regions like the Shan State), you can't go too far without running into police check points and heavy security. The trip to Wan Seng is no exception. Before heading up here, you must get approval from the... 

 kenmerk Says:  You can certainly see that the people out here have to work hard to subsist out here. I saw one young girl with probably a 30 kg load of bananas on her back hiking up a steep goat path that I think I would have trouble keeping my footing on.Here you can see that neither the... 

 kenmerk Says:  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...) 

 kenmerk Says:  Hmmmm... Clean air, Beautiful Mountains, Hungry: Go gather some bananas, Cold: Go gather some wood to burn. In all I have to say that I found the Loi way of life to be a lot more comprehensible than my own...Thats it !!! F*ck it, I quit !!!! SELL THE CAR !!! SELL THE KIDS... 

 kenmerk Says:  I saw quite a few young Loi girls dressed like this: Burlap skirt, burlap leg wraps, Long sleeved coloured arm bands, thick silver wrist bands, beaded neckaces, and maybe some spots or lines of red makeup on their cheeks. Also, more often they would be wearing a head scarf. 

 kenmerk Says:  As you walk around the villages during the daytime you will find that for the most part, only the children and older people are about.Most of the men and women are out in the surrounding areas, doing their daily rounds of hunting and gathering and the like.The Loi (Lwe) kids... 

 kenmerk Says:  The living arrangements for the Loi (Lwe) tribe are somewhat different that the other hill tribe people in this region. The Loi tend to live in "long houses" which are a larger wooden/thatched hut type structure that houses as many as six families together. Most of the other... 

 kenmerk Says:  There are actually two separate Loi (Lwe) villages along this path. The first is called Wan Nyet and is about an hours hike up hill from the trailhead. The second village is called Wan Seng and is another hours hike uphill.Here is a colourful Buddhist monastery that is in... 

 kenmerk Says:  The second and larger village, Wan Seng, is about an hour's walk past Wan Nyet. The monastery complex at this village is larger and more ornate that the one at Wan Nyet. There also seemed to be a bit more activity here. There were a number of young monks outside of the... 

 kenmerk Says:  A look inside the long house you will see that each family has their own little compartment complete with beds and a fireplace for cooking and warmth. In the rafters are baskets, and foodstuff hanging.As you can imagine with no electricity (and with the indoors fireplaces... 

 kenmerk Says:  Some local ladies doing the laundry in a stream which is nearby Wan Seng. Note how they have cut down a tree and laid it horizontal to kind of serve as a clothes hanger.It is kind of funny, we were up high above them on a bridge and the ladies down in the river gorge could... 

 kenmerk Says:  Well there all were pretty excited about the photo ops, till the one little guy suddenly realized that he didn't have any trousers on. Run away... Run away !!! 

 kenmerk Says:  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... 

 kenmerk Says:  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... 

 kenmerk Says:  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...