So it's bye bye Burma and dust, hello again Bangkok, food, separate showers and the chance to get clean! First though we had to spend 1 1/2 hours getting through Don Muang Airport which was not fun and longer than the flight took from Yangon!! Still that was forgotten once we arrived at the Avani Riverside Hotel, omg we went from no hot water or soap and a view of a wall to 5 star luxury with a view of the river and the city, not to mention pillows like clouds and all those little toiletries etc etc, we must have looked and smelt totally out of place ha ha. The hotel was also connected to a small shopping centre, all decorated for Christmas, with ribs for tea and a Dairy Queen (that gave you loads ... read more

Ok so part 2 of our boat trip Whilst tootling we saw people washing and bathing in the river/lake, monks going to their monasteries and most exciting we saw (and heard) a procession taking place for a young boy who was going to join the monastery, everything involved boats and water. Our next stop was at the Hpaung Daw U Pagoda, this was fun, there was a big market under and around the pagoda, the most disgusting loos yet and in the pagoda itself on a raised platform - no ladies allowed, lots of men were sticking gold leaf onto what looked like golden blobs, apparently there are Buddhas under it all! You could even watch them doing it close up on TV monitors. Back outside again we discovered a big procession taking place (no idea ... read more

After being woken up by that bloody cockerel again we were up and ready for the day trip to Kakku. We had asked about doing a shared trip but were told there wouldn't be enough room in the car, oh well it's just us again. We drove up into the hills and arrived at Taunggyi, a large town which is spread over a plateau on the hill top. Here we had to stop and pay the fee to visit the site of Kakku and the fee for the obligatory Pa O guide who then joined us in the car. Our guide was a lovely lad called Tun Tun, he was dressed in traditional Pa O clothing complete with a colourful scarf tied round his head and is a 4th year (final year) university student. He is ... read more

We'll when I say fast.....it still took 9 1/2 hours but that was fast as we arrived an hour early! We set off from our hotel at 6.15 am and the boat left at 7. After the 'walking the plank' between boats routine, we were lucky enough to get a couple of bamboo deckchairs on the top deck and a blanket - which was only really needed to sit on. The sun was up before we set off and Howard put on his sunglasses, I did a double take and asked him where he got them from, he looked puzzled but said he had luckily found them on the backseat of the taxi as they must have fallen out of the back pack. He had only gone an acquired a pair of bloody Raybans' by accident. ... read more

So our last day in Mandalay and we decided to have a bit of a mooch about locally. This of course involved the customary dice with death walking the streets, we only walked about a mile and a half and it took a good couple of hours, every step you are watching your feet, dodging potholes, dodging motorbikes, cars, large tuk tuks, bicycles, stray dogs and people - it's mental! We found the local market with thousands of stalls side by side selling every kind of fruit and veg imaginable and plenty I have never imagined before. All manner of dried fish, prawns and other smelly creations and pieces of wood that we couldn't work out what they were for and plenty of blankets and plastic toys. All the while motorbikes and other vehicles were honking ... read more