After having a delicious DIY breakfast of fresh Baggett with tomatoes and avocados we were so tired from the previous days antics that both fell asleep in the cafe on their couch for an hour. It was a good mid day siesta. We visited the governors house which was an immaculately kept colonial house that was open for tours at selected times. It was $5 for tour so we quickly snapped some photos of the exterior and were on our way.

We struck a bit of good luck on our way out of town. As we waited at the bus station for a local bus to take us to Hsipaw which would take about 3.5 hours, when a man approached us. He said he had a small van that could take us for $2 more than the public bus to which we refused. But he came back offering us the same price, we found out it was also a car with only one other passenger. So we got a very good deal. And he drove like a man on a mission! We shaved an hour off our journey with his Colin Mc Cray style driving through the mountains.

Arriving in Hsipaw in the evening we found an amazing guesthouse with super friendly staff for a decent price of $15 per night.  Lily the home is 1 min walk from the main street and sorted us with a very good guide for our trek.

This lady works at Lily and is hilarious!

We booked a 3 day trek through the mountains and joined a German couple for the trek. They had just spent 6 months trekking in New Zealand so we had plenty to talk about. The trek was quite demanding with its fair share of steep up hills and slippery down hills. Charissa and I have both bought local trekking shoes which served us well. And for $4 they were certainly a bargain. We walked to some very remote villages in the hill meeting Palau people and Shan people. As remote as they were, we did stay in a house that had HBO and half the kids from the village watching fast and furious 6.
Needless to say on the 3rd day of trekking we were pretty knackered. It was a good trip but we are happy to have finished when we did. We are heading to Bagan tomorrow evening to see the ancient pagodas there. I am very much looking forward to it!