Blogs from Eastern Burma, Burma, Asia - page 3

Our last day in Myanmar and here we are in Kengtung, an old British enclave and the largest town in Shan State, home to many minority groups including the Akha people. Kengtung is also the capital of the Golden Triangle, being only 2 hours from China and 3 hours from Thailand. Our arrival has coincided with the start of the Burmese New Year celebrations, also known as Thingyan Water Festival; so far we have avoided being soaked but Eve is keen to buy a water pistol and join in the fun ! The celebrations will still be in full swing in Chiang Rai and then in Laos as we pass through on our next journey, so water pistols might be a useful investment... So we are saying ta-tar to Myanmar, with great regrets in having to ... read more

We left Kalaw, high in the hills of Shan state and drove toward Inle Lake. We saw overloaded vehicles on the way to market, women in fields cutting and threshing wheat. We stopped at a colorful market. I love markets. All colors and shapes of vegetables, fruits, dried fish, skewered eels, and cigar smoking women were there. I stopped to get a smear of thannaka, the light colored paste that so many women wear on their face to keep cool. The vendors were so patient and gracious, and loved seeing their photos. This helped them get over their puzzlement at the westerners staring at the strange produce. Then we stopped at Pandaya, an absolutely incredible natural cave that is filled with thousands of Buddha images. I thought the entrance was overwhelming with Buddhas, but there was ... read more

15 January 2013 Painted blue, green and yellow shutters and doors on natural bamboo and woven palm houses on stilts are scattered in and around the lake. Matching curtains are tied with contrasting ribbon. It is all very chic. The villages here are better off than other areas we've passed through. Though the lake shore has receded by about two miles all round, the lake is still vast and beautiful. The floating gardens where villagers grow onions, garlic, tomatoes, bitter gourd, and flowers, herbs and rice are flourishing. The produce in the local markets is testament to this. There is food for everyone. The floating villages perch picture perfect over the water. Fishermen's houses have large fishing nets slung underneath to keep the catch alive and fresh until market day. Shops display their wares strung up ... read more

13 January 2013 Falling asleep to the sound of monks chanting at the Buddhist monastery next door.. The air is cool and crisp and smoke from cooking fires is beginning to seep into our room. Kalaw was once a hill town where the British colonials came to escape the heat and it still has a faded but gently colonial ( is that an oxymoron?) atmosphere. The people here are much more guarded. They are not too keen to talk to tourists - they have seen and done this all before. We are only approached by two people during our afternoon walk-about. The first is a Christian nun from the old church up the hill. She is selling blessings for donations and she takes us for prime christian donation candidates. Little does she know that our light ... read more

Kalaw is high in the mountains we'd passed through it on the way to Inle Lake. In the dry season it is where you come for trekking but this being the wet season for us it was basically a hop down the road to somewhere different that chops a bit of time off the long bus trip back to Yangon. After breakfast in Nyaungshwe we went to the internet cafe and actually managed to get some photos on the blog. The internet works here 'best' i.e. it works - between 7:30am and 10am after that you might after much patience be able to get onto a website or into your inbox but its near impossible to open anything from there. After we collected our bags, checked out and headed to where pick up trucks collect passengers ... read more