Mile High Falam

A year ago Myanmar's Chin State was strictly off-limits to independent travellers. These days they are warmly welcomed.

In Falam we are invited to the wedding of Pastor Thomas and his young bride Priscilla almost as soon as we step off the bus. The groom tells me that at 5820ft Falam is a "mile closer to heaven" than the town of Kalaymyo we left six hours below and is home to fifteen thousand people. Other than a few hundred recent Buddhist immigrants and "exactly sixty-seven" Hindus, the descendants of British Army Gurkhas, all are united in the love of Jesus.

Promising rice and redemption nineteenth century missionaries distracted the Chin people from animism and converted an entire nation to Christianity. The majority are Baptist, a few Roman Catholic. There is a simple church on every corner and one or two in between. Using the Roman alphabet the missionaries invented the written Chin language and taught the bible in English which is more widely spoken here than in many other parts of Myanmar. Biblical names such as Jehovah, Ebeneezer, Nazareth and Eliel are common.

Strings of coloured wooden houses teetering on stilts above a thousand metre drop cling to the hillsides along pretty Falam's few streets. The Chin hills stride towards the high horizon. The best way to explore the town and the countryside around about is on foot. To venture further afield you'll need a decent motorcycle, a puncture repair kit and a pump. Ask at the general store on the main street.

A great day-walk starts by taking the path that drops down beside the Agape orphanage heading for the small village of Chon The. The views are superb.

It's a physically taxing five hour ride to heart-shaped Ri Lake. An overnight stay is a good idea. It could be worth the effort; local tradition has it that once you have seen the lake you will soon meet the love of your life.

Falam has only a handful of places to eat. Sho Sho Lay opens early for breakfast, the excellent keema palata will more than fill you up for the time of day and the noodle dishes are good. Across from the twin-towered Falam Baptist Church, the biggest of them all, there is a small and unnamed Chinese restaurant that's popular with better-off locals and passing NGO workers.

Of the two places to stay I recommend the ten-dollar Holy Guesthouse. While slightly cheaper, Moon Guesthouse was a bit too grubby to justify a small saving.

And for a taste of the potent, syrupy-sweet local red wine, find Moses.