Win Bo and our driver collect us at the civilised time of 745am for the 20 minute drive to Nyaung U airport for our flight to Heho (pronounced “Hur-ho”) which is the nearest airport to Inle Lake. The airport exterior is designed to look like a temple. Inside everyone mills around the “all flights check in” desk. A man cursorily weighs our bags and then sticks two tags on them before wandering off with them. We are given a red sticker to put on our shirts to show where we are going, and then herded into the departure area with all the other passengers. The X-ray machine picks up three of the four bottles of water in Sara's carry on. “You leave on table please not allowed”. Sara: “OK” and unloads three of the four bottles ... read more

Another early start as we leave Mandalay for Bagan. This time, there was no need to be prompt getting to the airport. We are the only people in the check in “queue”! As ever, David’s water bottles, visible on the outside of his rucksack as a decoy are confiscated at security, while the three inside Sara’s bag are not spotted on the x-ray, which could make you worry about how effective the security checks really are. It’s only a 35 minute flight to Bagan and in-flight catering consists of a boiled sweet, and we are soon on our way into town with our new guide Win Bo. After a wander round the interesting local market where a proliferation of foodstuffs are on sale, which for some reason seems to terrify the French party who have just ... read more

Day one in Mandalay. We head to the jetty to get a boat across the Irrawaddy to Mingun. The guide book had led us to believe we had to wait for a ferry, but in fact each group of tourists get their own boat. We had a fairly basic boat, but who needs more than a chair and some shade on deck, and no other passengers? The only tricky bit was getting on board. We watched with some trepidation as a narrow wooden plank was laid from boat to shore, and were relieved when the boat crew held a pole to act as a handrail. And in the muddy water below, submerged up to her waist, is a washerwoman who seems to be washing clothes for some guesthouse. She sploshes them in the muddy water, diesel ... read more

An 830am start and we are off to the Botataung Pagoda. This is down by the river front and is interesting as you can actually go inside the stupa. The passages within are lined with gold leaf in bas relief. There are some “valuable relics” in cabinets, left to the Pagoda by the wealthy seeing donation as a good deed to hasten their passage to Nirvana. Unfortunately they are all behind both rusty metal grilles and filthy glass which is all steamed up on the inside. The monks really should attend Curatorship 101 at college. The usual regilding of the rather blackened stupa is taking place outside, with a number of security men up on the bamboo scaffolding watching the workers, presumably to stop them nicking the gold rather than putting it on the stupa. In ... read more

Today we’re heading to the site where the northern end of the Burma-Thailand Death Railway ended, in Thanbyuzayat. Myo tells us that on the way, he wants to take us to see the largest cave near Hpa-An. He confidently assures us it will take half an hour to get there, and there are not too many steps. It takes 20 minutes to reach a dirt track, and another 30 minutes to make our way excruciatingly slowly down the track until finally, we have to get out and walk because the throng of vehicles is too great. Myo tells us we need to walk in flip-flops as we’ll need to remove our shoes once at the cave, as it is also a temple. That is much too far for David to manage without his boots, so Sara ... read more