Story and photography by Ray Waddington.
The ethnic, indigenous peoples of Shan State are featured in our documentary film, Peoples of the World: Southeast Asia.
Most travelers don't stop in Kalaw — instead preferring to continue their journey through the night all the way
to Mandalay.
We walked for about twenty kilometers on the first day. We visited Karen and Palaung villages and I was very
The next morning we left the monastery and headed out for a Karen village where a wedding was taking place.
My guide assumed I wouldn't have much interest in the wedding and instead suggested that we visit a local
waterfall.
Too soon it was time to leave. I gave my thanks and good-byes
We arrived back in Kalaw in the early afternoon. I was sad to be leaving this part of Shan State after such wonderful times but it was, once again, time to move on. The bus bound for Mandalay left around 8pm. It was still very hot. I found my seat and anticipated my sleepless night — the anticipation itself preventing me from sleeping. It was perhaps around midnight when I was awoken from my half-sleep as we pulled into what appeared to be a deserted gas station. Still dazed by the heat, and still sweating from it, I managed to get out of the bus and walk around. This was truly "nowheresville." At least they sold water and after drinking a large bottle followed by a visit to some bushes I was back on the bus and now fully awake. It pulled into the darkness of a Mandalay bus station around 4am. At first it appeared that Mandalay hadn't awoken yet. Then I found a small café that had already opened. They even had a TV showing a replay of some soccer game. Watching it until half-time and drinking endless coffee kept me awake for long enough that I felt I could even face breakfast. I chose not to.
Around 8 o'clock I took a taxi into the center of town and eventually found a cheap hotel that would let me check in at such an early hour. After some much-needed sleep I began planning my journey to the eastern part of Shan State. The planning was easier than I'd imagined and by lunchtime I had already bought a ticket all the way to Hsipaw.
Originally a local, religious celebration in the Buddhist calendar
The next day I joined a group tour and we were guided around a handful of Shan and Pa-O
villages. These indigenous villages are no longer isolated from the modern world as they once were. Even so, visiting them as an outsider — used to comforts and technologies that the
developed world now takes for granted — it is easy to picture communities that continue to function more because of
its members than because of the outside world. As we were kissed good-bye I found myself once again completing a
leg of a journey that had been more satisfying and rewarding than I could have ever
My last stop in Shan State was planned to be for just one day volunteering to teach at St. Matthew's Orphanage Center in Pyin Oo Lwin. Things didn't quite go to plan... but that's another story.
Photography copyright © 1999 -
2022,
Ray Waddington. All rights reserved.
Text copyright © 1999 -
2022,
The Peoples of the World Foundation. All rights reserved.
Waddington, R., (2009) An Ethnic Journey through Shan State, Burma (Myanmar). The Peoples of the World Foundation. Retrieved
May 24, 2022,
from The Peoples of the World Foundation.
<https://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/travelStory.jsp?travelStory=shan>
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