30/31 It is on the main road going west to the frontier of Burma, and is the junction where the road turns north to Tali. It is one of the most famous halting places on the main road to Burma. The two largest caravanserais in Western China are in Hsiakwan, and I do not exaggerate when I say that a regiment of British cavalry could be quartered in either of them. At a restaurant near the cross-road we had rice and a cup of tea, and a bowl of the vermicelli soup known as _mien_, the muleteer and his son sitting down with my men. |