IF YOU are contemplating relaxing at a hill resort for your misty December holiday, you should spend your time at the hot spring in Lashio in Shan state.

Lashio lies on Mandalay-Muse road that serves as a trade link between Myanmar and China. Being a hill town, Lashio is shrouded in mist. To those from the plain, the way the people there behave is like a good film. Not only is Lashio accessible from Mandalay by train, but it can be conveniently reached through a newly-built road by car as well. One can go from Mandalay to Lashio in a van. It takes only six or seven hours to get to Lashio if one takes a passenger car. The distance between Mandalay and Lashio is just over 170 miles.

A passenger is charged Kyats 6500 for the front seat next to the driver’s seat and K5500 for a rear seat. The roads built at an elevation of 2000 or 3000 feet on the sides of mountains are very exciting for those who have been living in the plains for a long time. When the car passes through Goadtwin gorge, one can recall the Kyaukme Akyintha film starred by famous actor Win Oo. If a car, after leaving Mandalay, has snaked its way along the mountain for 42 miles, it will see PyinOoLwin called the town of flowers. It takes only another one hour to get to Naungcho, a Shan town which is 36 miles from PyinOoLwin.

The words "As big cars run on the roads, they are in bad condition" do not hold true for a motor road built by a private national company. Vehicles, big and small, are plying along the wide, smooth road to trade at the Myanmar-China border. Shortly after the car passes Nawnhkio, it starts descending along the road built across the bottom of Goadtwin gorge, which is located between two big mountains. Crossing the gorge is like descending from one mountain and ascending another mountain. For trains, a bridge has been built over the gorge between the two mountains. When a car begins descending along the road built across the bottom of the gorge, it can be said that clouds are over the mountain, and the mountain is also over clouds. While a car is descending, the gorge is sometimes on its left and sometimes on its right. After 20 minutes, Goadtwin creek between the mountains comes into sight. When the car passes Goadtwin gorge, it reaches Kyaukme, and then Hsi-paw. Before the car enters Hseinwi, it has to pass Bawgyo, where there is a historic pagoda called Bawgyo Pagoda by the motor road. "If a Shan belle is beautiful, no doubt she is from Hsi-paw," so goes the saying. When the car goes out of Hseinwi, it has to cross the Doakhtawady river. At the top of the bridge, turpentine vendors are plying their trade. When the car leaves Hseinwi, the motor road runs parallel to the Doakhtawady river. The car gradually leaves the river behind, and the climbs up to the mountain. The sight of teak trees on either side of the road is spectacular, filling one with a sense of cherishing the abundant natural riches of the nation.  When the car goes past Kontha town, the road is lined with garden crop stalls of Shan girls. It gives everybody great pleasure to take a rest and eat fruits under teak trees for a while. The fruits are also as sweet as the voice of Shan girls. Kontha pineapple is noted for its sweetness.  The car which leaves Mandalay at about 6 am reaches Lashio at over 1 pm.

As Lashio is teeming with traders and merchants, it is a busy town. Manhsu Pagoda is famous. The downtown Lashio is called Nweyoe by locals, and the lower part of the town is called Lashiogyi. After the car leaves and continues for about half a mile through an airport, it gets to the hot spring.  According to locals, a Chinese man found the hot spring and used it as a place for relaxation. Hot water, measures 52 degree centigrade, comes up from the bed of the creek.  At the hot spring, a lake has been built to enable holiday-makers to swim. There are also small bath compartments and family bathrooms. There are two hot water springs about 1000 feet apart. Visitors can wallow in the hot water. They can also take a bath with the use of the water mixed with hot and cold water. According to locals, during the cold season the hot spring is crowded with visitors who come there to have a hot bath.  K300 is charged for a bath compartment for half an hour. Foreigners are charged three FEC. The water at the hot spring contains sulphide, chloride, fluoride, silica, phosphorous, calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium, among others. Having a bath at the hot spring is conducive to good health, and can cure skin diseases. According to locals, aches and pains in the back, joint pains and muscle pains can be cured by having a bath at the hot spring, without having to apply pain relief ointment and take pain relief pills. So, if you have been nursing an idea of going on a trip during the coming December holiday, I would urge you to go to Lashio hot spring for relaxation and recreation.