Blogs from Kalaw, Mandalay Region, Burma, Asia - page 2

The smell of vomit slowly wafts up from one of the seats behind me, followed by a slight sound of gurgling turning to a somewhat more assertive heaving. As I’m rattled out of my shallow slumber, my eyes slowly focus on a form of artistic script more closely related to hieroglyphics than my own boring handwriting. The sing-songy chant from the young boy slowly, carefully, making his way down the aisle towards me reveals that he is hawking something that looks like small quail eggs. Exactly the sort of food that I learned not to try during my time spent in the Philippines. But, I can’t be sure. To me it sounds like he is saying O-mi-o over and over again in changing pitches. As my senses sharpen, I realize that I must be back in ... read more

We had "filet mignon" for dinner the night before at Unique restaurant and Connor got sick and threw up during the night, we think it must be the rubbery meat that had done the deed, but it's all suspicion as we had a few snacks here and there while doing the Inle lake boat trip, after breakfast at the rooftop of the Remember Inn GH we talked to our guide Than Htay(Dante to make it easier) if we can postpone departure for an hour to see if Connor will get better if not may postpone for another day, Dante bought some powdered electrolyte power drink for Connor to drink, nice of him, so while Connor went to sleep for an hour to see if he feels better, I went reading. he got up and feels perfect ... read more

Mère Nature nous a préparé un spectacle matinal flamboyant (comme c’est souvent le cas dans cette région désertique). Une boule de feu se lève à l’horizon promettant chaleur et beau temps pour la journée. Pour le moment, nous observons l'éveil de la vie par la fenêtre de notre bus. Devant leur modeste demeure de bambou, les villageois sont accroupis autour d’un petit feu de fortune. Les poules et leur petits s’activent et courent dans tous les sens, probablement effrayés par le grondement de cette autobus qui fonce a toute allure dans la campagne birmane. Les représentants du monde canin sont comme toujours sur le bord de la route semblant défier la carcasse métallique qui avance vers eux. Les pieds nus, les travailleurs de la voirie birmane casse à coup de masse les pierres gigantesques qui deviendront ... read more

While it took us quite a while to eventually make it to Kalaw, after a long flight delay in Mandalay, we were not disappointed. Shan State was one of my favourite destinations in Burma (both Kalaw and Inle Lake) because of its spectacular mountainous scenery. If it wasn’t for all the government restrictions and red tape, Shan State would be a lot easier for me to access from MHS because they practically border one another. We arrived into Heho airport and then caught a taxi for an hour to Kalaw. The town sits on the western edge of the Shan Plateau at an altitude of 1320m and was once a popular hill station in British colonial days. Kalaw has a diverse population of about 20,000 consisting of Shan, Indians, Muslims, Bamar and Nepalis. It has a ... read more

Don't worry, we didn't get arrested in Pyinmana, but I felt intimidated by the police presence. I say "I" because John G didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary that was going on. I did. First we were made to give our passports over by rather stern looking older men standing around in a very unrelaxed way, in direct contrast to the friendly experiences of Myanmar so far. They looked intently at our passports and visas as we sat nervously on some seats. Then our passports were photocopied multiple times whilst some short arsed sinister bloke arrived and asked us where we had come from, where we were going to, where we were from, what we did as occupations. No one was in uniform so we just didn't know who these people were, and they ... read more