Hsipaw Railway Station

This morning, at about 1.30am, Andy is woken up by a squeaking and scuttling on our ceiling ... we're on the ground floor so a bit odd.  He wakes Fred, who in her sleepy state, thinks he is waking her to listen to some people upstairs doing what comes naturally.  But no, it becomes clear there is something quite large between our ceiling and their floor ... it must be a rat!  We listen for a while.  Wonder about going to reception and asking to change rooms but its late and there is no one there ... we decide that although the room is pretty flimsy its unlikely it will come through the ceiling but we're not sure so get back to an uneasy sleep.  

We ask for a new room in the morning and decide to have a chilled day doing some washing and deciding where we're going next.  We're staying at a strange place here in Hsipaw with two girl/boys (as Mr Sai our guide called them) running it.  Its kind of chaotic but works in funny sort of way.

We decide we're still going to leave Myanmar via the border at Tachilek, first into Thailand then Laos, so go and find out about flights as the road is closed to tourists.  We book a flight from Mandalay to Tachilek on the morning of 12th February.  Andy is pretty nervous as its a local airline and he doesn't like flying but at least we have a plan.

We decide we'll leave Hsipaw tomorrow and head to the train station to find out about the train to Pyin Oo Lwin which is on the way to Mandalay. We have a few days so can take our time.  The train leaves at 9.40am and arrives around 5pm and takes us over the amazing Gokteik Viaduct ... we're looking forward to it although Fred is a little cautious about this one!