I spent a couple of nights in Bangkok once I got back from Myanmar. I didn’t really do a great deal just caught up with Rin and also caught up with all the great Thai food I have missed in the last month. I caught the 12 hour overnight bus to Chiang Mai which was a breeze after the ones in Myanmar and quickly found some good accommodation for $15 a night including breakfast. I ended up staying a couple of nights there and just took it easy. I didn’t think there was a great deal to see around town but it has a relaxed atmosphere and seems like a popular place to do courses in cooking, thai boxing, massage, etc. On Saturday night I went to see some Thai boxing which had an interesting mix ... read more

I caught the 5.30am bus to Mandalay then caught a pickup from the station to my guesthouse. I was actually lead there by a young guy who was on the bus with me. I seem to meet a lot of young men from Kyaukme who are very keen to improve their English so that they can get into tourism or improve their prospects for work. Some of these guys hold English and computer classes. I caught up with Aitan again and went for a walk to the river where he introduced me to a trishaw driver who is a friend of his. The prospects in the future are not too good for trishaw drivers with the introduction of hundreds of thousands of cheap Chinese motorbikes. There are about 20,000 trishaw drivers in Mandalay and the work ... read more

We hopped on the jeep at 9.30am bound for Namhsan. We stopped by the other guesthouse to pick up an Israeli, Aitan which made it 10 people in our small jeep. Jessie and myself ended up sitting on a large sack on the tailgate. The first 45 minutes was okay although a little bumpy and then the driver stopped and got out a tarp which he attached to the back of the roof and hung it over mine and Jessie’s backs. And then the dust started, it was coming up from the sides and under the tarp, as well as through the vehicle itself. The views from the sides of the mountains were quite spectacular but our view was mainly obscured by trying to keep the tarp closed as well as trying to cover our faces ... read more

The afternoon after finishing the trek I didn’t do a great deal, just had a shower and went out and got dinner. Nyaungshwe seems like a decent town though, with plenty of tourist restaurants and guesthouses mixed in with local businesses and a few temples and monasteries. Initially I thought it to be quite touristy but after being there a few days I quite liked it. Next day I hired a bike for a couple of dollars and started a little ride that the bike hirer recommended. Just after I started I ran into a Swiss guy Marcus that I had met that morning at breakfast. His girlfriend was feeling sick and going back to the hotel so we decided to do the ride together. We just took our time riding along the quiet roads and ... read more

Hi everyone, I am back and alive and well. Just spent a marvellous 4 weeks in Myanmar and seriously thinking about going back possibly in November when the rains stop. It was pretty useless getting on the internet over there because all the sites I use are blocked. The one time I did use a computer, to put some photos from my memory stick in the camera onto my USB drive I got a nasty virus on each and almost lost the lot. I have actually been back in Thailand for the last few days and took the overnight bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai last night. Hopefully it should only take about a week to catch up on my blogs and to fill you in on what I have been up to. The flight from ... read more