http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Burma en-us Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:17:37 BST Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:17:37 BST The Kachin ExperienceEvery morning around six one of the Malikha girls would creep silently into our room and load up the Scandinavianstyle fire with fresh wood it was such a delight to wake up to a warm lodge and a crackling fire This morning was no exception and the rain had stopped when we were woken with some coffee and tea at about eight. A while later we left with Ashleigh Yves Ruby http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Kachin/Putao/blog-317537.html To Burma's Far NorthIn 2007 we had finally been prompted to visit Sri Lanka by the fact that good friends Yves and Ashleigh Ogier were running a boutique hotel in Kandy The Kandy House. Since then they had moved to Burma to run another small hotel this time in the far north of the country near Putao the northernmost town 10000 inhabitants in Kachin State and only some 100km and 150km respe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Kachin/Putao/blog-316459.html Dag allemaal't is weer een tijdje geleden maar we hebben niet stil gezeten. Van Bangladesh zijn we naar India teruggekeerd om van daaruit een vlucht te nemen naar Bangkok. In Thailand hebben we een week lang zalig niks gedaan in afwachting van een Birmees visum. De dagen vlogen nochtans voorbij op Koh Chang met fantastisch lekkere strandbarbecues wat zwemmen brommerritjes en een goed boek. De http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Inle-Lake/blog-313857.html Our first night in Thailand was unremarkable except we noticed a lot more smiles and a much nicer attitude towards foreigners in the north than we did in Bangkok.The following morning a few buses later we found ourselves in Mae Sai facing the border with Myanmar and decided it was worth popping over to Tachileik for a look around.Interesting Day Trip'Pop' over is all you are actually allowed to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Tachileik/blog-309234.html Photos I took http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Bagan/OZ/blog-298423.html Good day chaps how is everything is life treating you good We just returned from our trip to Myanmar are u interested in our little adventures and great impressions If yes stop working for a minute do NOT shut down the computer now that definitely won039t do and listen carefully please ...Reckon you039re aware of the general situation in this country last but not least because of http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Yangon/blog-297523.html Hello world just a short notice .. we will be travelling to Myanmar tomorrow June 27th and intend to stay until July 9th. Due to the lacks in infrastructure and communication and some wellknown restrictions we might not post updates photos during that timeframe. But we will take many pix and show them to you after our return in BKK.Yeah still strolling thru SE Asia among friendly people http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Inle-Lake/blog-291979.html After our liveaboard trip we realised we had been in Amazing Thailandtm for nearly 30 days doesn't time fly when you are having fun and we would have to do a visa run to restart the 30 day timer. From Lanta where we were the most easily accessible other country was Myanmar Burma. We booked an allinone visa run which picked us up at 08.00 in an air conditioned minibus fed us drove u http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/blog-287867.html unfortunately i was scheduled to be in thailand juuuust over a month so i had a choice between a day trip to myanmar or an 8000 baht fine. i chose to have a nice day long vacation to the nice neighboring country.it was pretty uneventful. pickup at 630am from the camp in a nice little airconditioned van with 5 other people in similar visaneeding situations. 5 hour drive north. occasional nappi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/blog-281446.html Our morning taxi from Nyaungshwe arrived early for the 1hour drive over the terrible road to the nearest airport. The diver appeared insistent that we leave so off we went weaving around potholes that could have swallowed a bus and road workers with the latest high tech machinery le sledge hammer. Yes the roadworkers 50 female were breaking up stone for a new roadway with sledgehammers. A http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Rakhaing/blog-277716.html The port town of Kaw Thuang seems like it has been forgotten a long time ago. I've been many places in Southeast Asia and I can say this was one of the smelliest dirties most trashed up little towns yet. I haven't been to India yet but it is what I imagine the Ganges looks like only all the people a little yellower instead of browner and of course not as big or as crowded. Trash piled up to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/blog-276606.html Now questionable security at border crossings are not that uncommon in this world. Questionable in the sense that maybe you make the tall grey arch beep a concert and they flat out ignore it questionable in the sense that maybe those Xray screeners aren't really even turned on and their guns look like halloween props questionable in the sense that you think the sole security screener is cl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Mergui-Archipelago/blog-276562.html We12288headed next to big beautiful Inle Lake about 22 km long and 11 km wide and surrounded by misty high hills. The road there is dreadful but it's worth making the trip. The main town on the lake is Nyaung Shwe where we stayed at the Au Mingala Hotel for 18night breakfast included. The hotel bungalows are clean quiet and you can catch up on the news on the hotel's one English chan http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Inle-Lake/blog-274080.html There is little beyond the new pieces circulating the television and newspapers outlets at this time to cover the realities of what's happening for our neighbors in Burma....of course the restrictions placed on any external voice by the Junta in Burma makes it even more difficult to obtain accurate information. This blog entry is expressley to inform... THIS BLOG IS UPDATED REGULARLYI have compile http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/blog-273996.html On our arrival in Bagan we were met by Mr. Moo a friend of our driver in Mandalay. Mr. Moo's English proved excellent but chatting with him was a bit disconcerting visually. Like many Burmese he is addicted to chewing Betel nut. As a result when he smiled it looked as if he had been drinking chicken blood. During our short drive to our hotel we observed that Bagan which is located along the A http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/blog-273355.html Got off to a bad start on our trip to Myanmar when our Skippy peanut butter was confiscated by security in Bagkok airport. They also prevented out taking unopened bottle of rum from Phnom Penh duty free on to plane but Skippy a much bigger loss Things went from bad to worse when we discovered that over half our American currency was unacceptable. Now when we left home we had crisp clean U.S. d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Mandalay/blog-272393.html Hello Everyone from BurmaMyanmarHaha yes thats right we are not in Thailand well not for the next hour or 2 anyway were in Tachileik in far north eastern Myanmar We are on our way from Northern Thailand to the Laos border at Chang Kong so we thought it would be amusing to go to Mae Sai and cross the border to Burma for an afternoon Yes we are sad but it has been quite amusing and a visa for M http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Tachileik/blog-269886.html I have heard so many positive things about Myanmar Burma the last few years that I've always been intrigued to go there. So I had the perfect opportunity since I was already in Southern China. Its a little more difficult to enter Myanmar as you can only fly from Thailand or enter through China with a special travel permit. So I was really excited when I was able to get a visa there and for t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/blog-268248.html March 29 2008It is difficult for me to keep up my writing because there is so much going on onboard. The morning starts with a breakfast with ldquothe grouprdquo consisting of Anita and Betty two retired ladies from Arizona and the Gaunts. Anita is spunky and has a conservative and vocal opinion on most matters. She loves President Bush and very much dislikes Obama and Hillary. That basi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/blog-263009.html Hi all My travel notes are a slight departure from the norm this time round as I decided to visit Myanmar over Easter home to an oppressive military regime and target of an international tourism boycott. My reasons for going are set out below and I attempted to minimise the amount of money I gave to the regime though this was not always straightforward.Burma will be here for many years so http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/blog-262965.html Tachileik Burma http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Tachileik/blog-260808.html My first city to visit in Myanmar.... http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Tachileik/blog-260617.html Most people around the world have seen the pictures and read about the situation in Burma. Last September in the midst of a peaceful protest by Burmese monks there was a extreme response by the military government and the protest marches were harshly brought to an end. Since then many of the monasteries have been closed and severe restrictions have been placed on the monks. The main reason for http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Yangon/blog-259874.html Burma has suffered immensely over the last century. First there were the three AngloBurmese Wars with Britain. Then World War II with the Japanese and British fighting for control of Burma. Finally in 1947 Bogyoke Aung San the father of Aung San Suu Kyi met with the colony's executive deputy chairman of the Governor's Executive Council and signed a pact which stipulated selfrule within one http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Inle-Lake/blog-257617.html When tourists arrive in Thailand they get a 30 day visa and there are various ways to stay longer than this. We have nearly used up the 30 days so took part in a 'visa run' which is when you pop to a neighbouring country for a few minuteshoursdays and then head back to the original country simply to get another 30 day stamp.The nearest border to where we are at the moment happens to be Myanm http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Victoria-Point/blog-256313.html Op 29 februari verlieten we Kao Lak. We namen lsquos ochtends vroeg de bus en de 1ogige buschauffeur dropte ons in onze volgende tijdelijke woonplaats Ranong. Dankzij de hulp van een vriendelijke taxichauffeur vonden we snel een mooi hotel. De middag verbrachten we met het rondlopen in deze kleine stad. Ranong heeft weinig te bieden er is haast niets bijzonders te zien of te doen. Daarom blij http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/blog-255440.html After 30 days in the country tourists need to head out to get a new stamp and a fresh 30 days. Our northern trip was for this purpose. We have enjoyed taking the local buses around this area. They are dirt cheap and you get to be around the locals more who are very pleasant and friendly. We spent 1 night in Mae Sai. In the evening we found a guest house where the South African manager briefed http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/Tachileik/blog-253684.html so much has happened in the last few weeks I'm afraid of how long this blog is gonna turn out....I'll try to keep it briefIn mid Feb I headed to Mynamar with Gary......I'm assuming this alone requires some explanation...Gary was a teacher at that camp I worked at in Korea the one all the kids thought I was dating. And for those of you who don't know Myanmar is a small country just west of Tha http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/blog-253637.html for all those who don't now exactly where am I write now...nicehot greetings from India Rajastan It's great Jana http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Burma/blog-251567.html