Thorn Tree travel forum

1

hi starsk1,
all i can say as a long time and close friend to some people in hsipaw is: yes, mr. charles is acting like you describe it. some years ago all the many "misters" in hsipaw used to be friends with the same goal - to help foreigners to have a pleasant stay in northern shan state, to develop tourism in the area smoothly and to avoid the same mistakes like in northern thailand. with the years mr. charles split away from the group and started his own business in a rather greedy way. his connections with the government are well known.

if someone likes to visit hsipaw nowadays, he/she better should stay in one of the other guesthouses. particularly i suggest yamin shwe zin (aka mr. kid), a basic, but very friendly and conveniently located guesthouse. nam khae mao is also ok, as long as you don't care about the hourly sound of the nearby clock tower.

if you want to get the best information about the area and the circumstances of life there, someone should visit mr. book. he is a well known and respected man, running the small book shop in the main road, but to avoid troubles he will not help you, if you stay at mr. charles'...

visiting kyaukme and the area around is ok, too, but try to do it on your own. some of the guides offering their service to foreigners are nice, but obviously connected with the government controlled youth organisation. at least don't talk too much about politics with them.

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No freedom without press freedom!
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2

Very good postings, and I strongly agree. I was in Hsipaw recently, and it is obvious that Mr Charles has some (negative) political connections. I stayed at Nam Khae Mao, which was fine (I have posted regarding this guesthouse situation previously). And, as it needs to be pointed out again, this guesthouse requested the town to NOT repair the clock's chime last time it was broken, so this "Lonely Planet issue" is no more.
Also, it is true about Mr Book, whose reputation is as a very friendly person. We were not staying at Mr Charles', but, since we had arrived from that direction, Mr Book had assumed we were and was not friendly at all (even after our buying a book). Again, politics are involved, and he has very good reasons after what has happened in that town the past year.
Outside of the politics, Mr Charles' GH is a typical Thailand-style place with that tired backpacker atmosphere. He does, though, have somewhat nicer rooms than the others, as he has been able to invest significant funds these past couple of years. But at what cost to the town?

3

Can anyone tell about the friend of Mr Charles a lady called Miss Maureen? She is always with Mr Charles and is a very rude lady

4

I trekked with Mr Charles last week and his views did not surfacce. His brother has a guesthouse too, and there is 1 other option that I know of, but the pople moved over to Charles place after 1 night.

Charles is offering a 3 day Namsham at present, for 2 nights 3 days...

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5

BTW- Mt Charles disperses medicine to the villages and and contributes to building a better life for his fellow villagers regardless of his views...he hates Bush for sure...Haha

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6

Very interesting post indeed. I stayed at Mr Charles in 1999, and would rate my visit to Hsipaw back then as one of the highlights of my travels so far. This trip we went back to Mr Charles expecting another good experience in Hsipaw.

I couldn't put my finger on it, but I was convinced that something was wrong. The staff at Mr Charles seemed fairly friendly, but I just kept saying to my wife that I felt something wasn't right.

When I heard that Mr Donald, (who I'd spent a fascinating morning with in '99) was in jail I was shocked. I assumed it was because he had been entertaining tourists & bad mouthing the government. Strangely, Mr Charles' son explained that he was in jail not because of the tourists, but because he's seen as a leader of sorts by the Shan people. However he went on to say that the 'charge' was along the lines of 'saying bad things about the government to international people' & 'taking money from tourists without permission'

I was totally bemused by Mr Book, who in 1999 had been remarkably friendly. On this occasion I bought a few things from him & he didn't even make eye contact or utter a word. I was so confused by this that I went back a few days later hoping for a different experience. Sadly I was completely ignored - even though I was trying to buy something. (by the way he has a fascinating collection of ancient Time & Newsweek magazines).

Ms Maureen was a very odd character too - I tried to make conversation & she really didn't seem to want to talk. We went back again & she mentioned that her staff tell her she talks too much. I tried again to make conversation but got littler back. She wasn't an unfriendly or bad person, but I found something to be very odd about her. I assumed that as a foreigner living in Burma she just had to be very careful what she said.

I left Hsipaw feeling like I'd been to a very different place from the first time. I was saddened & confused & really couldn't get my head around what was going on there. To be honest, after hearing about Mr Donald I just assumed that everyone was being careful what they said.

Whether or not Mr Charles is to blame I would certainly say that his monopoly is a little unfortunate as others in town do deserve business too. We met a guide in Kyaukme who didn't like Mr Charles - he felt that he tries to keep people away from Kyaukme. Although we didn't use him this guide was clearly anti government!

7

hi all,

i try to answer ganesh's question about mrs. maureen.

mrs. maureen a.k.a. "miss australia" is a former australian schoolteacher. she came to hsipaw a couple of years ago and started to teach english to children and grownups, related with the nld. she was expelled from teaching after some time, 'coz her pronouciation seemed quite strange. she opened a coffeshop on the river, just on the way from the market to the morning market (city hall). her way of doing this kind of business seems at least as strange as her english teachings: a signboard shows incredible prices for her stuff - 1 coffee 800 kyat, 1 cappuccino 1000 kyat, 1 caffe latte 1200 kyat - and "if you don't drink my coffee you have to pay 1000 kyat entrance fee". who wants to pay for a cup of coffee up to 1200 kyat, if you can get it around the corner for 120-150 kyat? and does anybody know any other shop charging 1000 kyat for "just looking"?

well, meanwhile "miss australia" fell in love with a local watch repairer. it is said, just to get his name for the paperwork, as long as foreigners are not allowed to open a business in burma. this watch repairer did not only repair watches, but liked to build small bombs for dynamite fishing. one day some men from mandaly ordered him to build a bigger bomb. so he did and soon there was a bomb explosion at zegyo market in mandalay. after interrogation the culprits confessed about the bomb "factory" in hsipaw. the result: "mr. dynamite" was sentenced to three years in mandalay prison, btw exactly the sentence mr. donald got for "violating the library law" (plus 10 years for "degrading the good reputation of myanmar"...

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No freedom without press freedom!
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8

hi kokoro,

as i have written above, mr. charles over the years became a very wealthy but very greedy man, too. his friendly contacts to goverment officials are obvious and if, following ticotim, "mr. charles disperses medicine to the villages and and contributes to building a better life for his fellow villagers", i would say well done but not worth a praise. he earnes a lot and shares a little.

we should also learn about an initiative by ko zaw tun a. k. a. mr. book, distributing food and warm clothes to the poorest of the poor in hsipaw.

not to forget the microcredit initiative of "mr. book" and "mr. mathematics" who are helping hard hit locals to get a new start.

these initiatives seem even more remarkable as "mr. book" and "mr. mathematics" don't belong to the rich in town.

as long as someone stays at mr. charles' or is connected in some other way with him, it won't be possible to be friend with mr. book. that's like every lightning is followed by thunder. i never understood, why mr. charles' became that famous. it's expensive (compared with other gh), it's noisy, it has goverment ties. well, it's just my opinion, but i miss the good old aung tha pye guesthouse, which has gone five years ago.

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No freedom without press freedom!
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9

KyawNi, very interesting information... was wondering about Ms Maureen myself. For the record, her cappuccinos are expensive but excellent, better than those at Cafe Aroma in Yangon... and cheaper... Anyway, I tried to ask her some questions about how she'd ended up in Hsipaw, but to no avail... I got kind of a strange feeling about that I must admit.

We looked for Mr Book but couldn't find the place - when we asked we were directed to a grocery shop...

10

I had also heard that Mr. Charles was trying to get Mr. Book thrown in prison. So if he was a bit unfriendly when assuming you were staying with Mr. Charles, that might be the reason.

11

-> zuzzy,

you remember the junction main road with the street leading to the market? well, turning towards the small canal (small bridge) just a few meters away from this junction on the right side (opposite the entrance of a pagoda) there is a grocery store, which belongs to mr. book's wife and some three meters further on you'll find mr. book...

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No freedom without press freedom!
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12

But please be careful, for his sake, if you try and go and see him. His place is often watched and (as someone else said in a different post) he is threatened with jail if he does any of a whole list of things. If you try and see him and he seems rude, then just leave quickly, as it'll mean that he's being watched at that moment and knows it.

13

I had actually heard all kinds of rumors on y way to this region about Mr Charles, and found them to be off the mark and not a factor. I spent a entire day with him, and only 2 others on trek, and had lunch at his new river home with his wife, and talked about very much, including his parents, grandparents, villagers, and surrounding areas, and find this stuff written above rubbish...

His guesthouse is nice, its hub of the social backpackers, the treks/guide tours vary greatly, and his demeanor and attitude was polite and considerate, and the prices he charges very fair....chill out!

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14

Having only visited Burma once and getting the feeling that I only scratched the surface, I was never sure of anything I heard and it's very easy to be paranoid about things you see and hear and to be honest, I don't 100% believe things I was told anywhere and tried to make my own mind up. Which is why in my original post I said that it's up to individuals who go to Hsipaw where they stay and what they do and I have not criticised Mr Charles accomodation or prices for his rooms.
But the question I couldn't find a satisfactory answer to in Hsipaw was 'how can anyone in Burma be as successful as Mr Charles without having ties to the government?'