Nam Kyang Palaung Village, Northern Shan State

 We left Mandalay at 10.00 am to arrive in Hsipaw in Northern Shan State after six to seven hours driving. From Hsipaw we would visit Palaung, Lisu and Shan villages to give away the re-cycled glasses. The Palaung and Lisu are ethnic minorities and as with many minorities they are very poor.

The road we took headed up the mountains towards China. It had the usual perpendicular mountain bends so I tried to concentrate instead on the marvellous view of Mandalay far below. Huge trucks were plying both ways. Trucks coming from China were bringing down, televisions, mobile phones, computers, radios, bicycles, motorbikes and much plastic ware. Trucks going up from Myanmar were taking food: beans, maize, water melon, tomato, cauliflower and huge quantities of rice. There will be no truckloads of teak going to China after the end of this year as the new government has decreed that Myanmar teak should stay in Myanmar.

We arrived at Pyin Oo Lwin, which is 3,538 feet above sea level. This was a welcome ‘change of air’ station at the time of the British, when they worked here in the last century, as it is much cooler than Mandalay. Pony carts and colonial buildings were all around including the Purcell Tower completed in 1936. Pwin Oo Lwin is home to several of the army’s academies and we thought it a nice place in which to study, as it is cool and scenic with towering trees flowering profusely all year round.

We passed Peik Chin Myaung with its waterfall and caves, but had no time to linger, as Hsipaw was still 120 miles distant. At Naung Cho we stopped for lunch and for me it had to be Shan kaoswe - certainly the best recipe for noodles.

The next notable site was the Gokhteik Bridge, which spans the giant Gokhteik Gorge. The train line runs over the bridge not the road, which runs some way away and gives a good view of this monumental project that was completed by the British in the last century. The mountains are also monumental and the road truly terrifying. We were competing with articulated 18-20 wheel trucks and there were often several queuing at S-bends. At times we had to reverse which made it even more hair-raising. A benefit of these inhospitable mountains is that they are still covered in forest. The severity of the mountains has saved the trees. Doubtless it is too difficult to fell and transport them.

At last the mountains gave way to lowlands around Naung Pain. The earth is red and fertile here for farming. I noticed field after field of maize with the crop still standing though brown and withered. I learned the cobs are intentionally left to dry on the plant. When completely dry they will be harvested and then transported to China to be made into popcorn!

A small pickup truck passed us bearing no number plates. He would be in trouble if the police caught him I said knowledgeably. The police won’t catch him Win San assured me because they are mafia! They are the Wa and Gokan Shan and they live around the border with China. They do as they like. They fight with guns, deal in opium and have other illegal pursuits. Hmm this trip may have more than the usual excitements. We arrived at last at Hsipaw, which is 1,398 feet above sea level after seven hours driving.

Next day we continued our drive to Lashio, which is our northernmost destination this time. Lashio is the capital of Northern Shan State and about one and a half hours north of Hsipaw. It is noted for its hot springs and the Man Su Pagoda. The huge fire stations at both Hsipaw and Lashio led me to believe they must have some serious fires here. Sure enough as we drove through we noted the remains of the market, school and houses. The Palaung live around Lashio and some of them are called the Silver Palaung so called for the amount of silver they wear which is mined at Nan Ma Two only about three hours away. When dressed in their best they wear a long row of silver coins down their blouse from the neck to the waist. The coins have no currency now as they date from the time of the British, but they remain interestingly ornamental. The Silver Palaung also wear silver bracelets, earrings and belts of varying width. Some we saw must have measured more than 12 inches.

We were bound for Nam Kyang a Silver Palaung village. On the way we passed lychee orchards, banana plantations, much papaya, a plant I didn’t recognize that turned out to be used for the wrappers of cheroots and forest after forest of teak, thankfully too young to be felled. The red-brown earth around here makes the best pottery in Myanmar.

At Nam Kyang, Kin Lay Myind, the headman’s daughter showed us around. She took us to every house where there were people who had poor eyesight. It was a big village of 300 houses built mainly of bamboo; some are longhouses where two or three families live. They are farmers with maize or sweetcorn as their main crop. Every field was filled with the tall brown plants and corn kernels lay drying outside every house spread on tarpaulins.

Many of the villagers were out working on their land at the time we arrived but Ly Swe was home as he had a stroke about a year ago and was paralyzed down one side.

He had no money to go to Lashio hospital so had to recover as best he could on his own. We climbed a rickety bamboo ladder and sat down beside the pig food while he tried on the glasses! A pair of awegyi long distance glasses proved best for him.

At the next house we met Jam La who is only 60 years old but his eyesight is so poor he couldn’t see well enough to tend his garden so remains in the house. Win San suggested he smile when he took his photo. How can I smile, he said, I don’t have teeth! Saya Htay showed him how to put the glasses away in their little box when he wasn’t wearing them, but he said he preferred wearing them full time! He asked if we had medicine to go with the glasses. We assured him he did not need medicine to go with them.

At the next house, two ladies greeted us, both were wearing their traditional dress. Their long skirts were black with thin horizontal stripes in red. Their jackets were navy blue trimmed with a wide pink band. Ay Pat and Pa San Ker both farm vegetables and had just come in from their gardens. Anigyi close range glasses were best for one of them and awegyi for the other. Ar Kan arrived dressed in his black Shan pants and tunic. Suddenly a shout and hissing noises erupt. Below us, under the house, and with our concentration centred on the glasses chickens were raiding the vegetable garden.

Jam is 70 but she still grows maize and was husking the cobs in her house. She found awegyi helped her both near and far. Word had spread around and many children as well as As Si arrived. He was very interested in what we were doing, but said he didn’t want any glasses because he had no money. We assured him no money was necessary.

Win San had brought photos of the villagers that he took when he came here five years ago. Kin Lay Myind showed them to everyone and asked if they knew this person or that person. We had envisaged giving a coat of mine and a blanket to a very old couple, but they died last year. Fortunately there were other elderly people who could need them.

An excited lady bounced down the rickety bamboo steps of her house (good, I thought, I won’t have to climb them) Ay Mam gave a wide betel smile when she found glasses that helped her. Yi Pan was wearing most of the traditional dress ,which obviously does not hamper them in their movements. A young woman wearing a wide silver belt laughed when she saw Si Ang try on a brand new pair that one of Lesley’s friends had given. Movie star we all chortled and the women laughed too. A surprise was to see one elderly lady, Kyar, had blue eyes – the first we had seen. Her left eye was blind, but the glasses corrected the haziness of the other eye. By this time children had arrived from all over the village. We had small gifts to give away including toothbrushes with small tubes of toothpaste. One small boy had to be persuaded that he shouldn’t eat the toothpaste! Next door, 75year old Ey Twe hardly lifted her eyes from the garment she was sewing as we sat down beside her. She was stunned when she tried on anigyi and found she could see her stitches more clearly. She told us she would be able to do much more work from now on. The next lady, Et Chen, explained she could see in the daytime, but not at night. We gave her glasses, but couldn’t stay the night to see if they would work!

By this time, we had given away all of the glasses that Lesley’s friends had donated and were now giving away those from MCG, the Malaysian Culture Group.

We met a man who was shelling corn kernels under his house. Saya Htay listened to his story and gave him a pair of anigyi. U Pu grins when he sees a picture of a pagoda on the leaflet she handed him. A Pang finds anigyi helps him too. Very sadly, his little daughter was born blind. It was heartrending to see her being led around the house by one of her siblings. As we walked on, U San Swe on a motorbike drew up. He had heard of the glasses and could we help him too. Of course we could.

If a Palaung tells you it is only a short walk out of the village, don’t believe them. A short walk to a Palaung is a trek where I am concerned. Kin Lay Myind told us she very much wanted us to meet a very old couple who lived outside the village because they had no land, no money, nor any family. We walked down lanes and across fields and eventually reached the dilapidated bamboo house of Ey Yi and his wife both of whom are 80. Ey Yi was deaf, but once Win San had shown him how to put on the glasses he couldn’t take them off. He stared into the distance and could see the village in the background which he had obviously not been able to see for many years. We left the coat and blanket with them and they were happy with them but they were more than happy with the masterful present Saya Htay had in her bag. It was a bag of biscuits and the old lady hugged them to her chest exclaiming her thanks and delight.

They could not buy biscuits or anything else in the village as they had no money.

The walk back to the village seemed shorter because it was mostly down hill. We called in to say goodbye to the headman, U Aung Sa, who was wearing a pair of glasses donated by MCG folk. And so ended a very successful visit to the Palaung village of Nam Kyang.