Birthday Celebrations by the sea

We've got friends from home staying in Phuket so plan to spend a few days with them which happily coincides with my birthday and, they've booked the accommodation for us which means..... Luxury. It's a 6 hour bus journey from Ranong to the bus station located about 12 km from Phuket Town, the usual song thaew gets us there with another taking us to Cape Panwa. Cape Panwa is a very small village dominated by a huge Radisson Hotel and a handful of other upmarket hotels.

Our room is total luxury compared to what we've had, even the best of what we've had, fluffy towels and everything. First night it's a couple of beers overlooking the bay, then on for an Indian. I'm a little nervous as our last foray into Indian in Inle Lake was an unmitigated disaster however, it is delicious and we eat all ours and finish Kate and Steve's too! We finish off in the Small Place bar run by a local lady who is just lovely, all smiles and as the evening turns to morning she dozes in a chair between rounds.

Cape Panwa is home to Phukets aquarium a great facility with several rare species and a separate department where eggs are hatched and babies are nursed before being released into the sea. There is a short tunnel through the largest tank which houses amongst other things two beautiful manta rays with big smiley faces. A little walk along a trail showing beach vegetation is a home/hospital for injured turtles. This is quite sad, there are many turtles with lost limbs and one with a huge split in its shell. A lot of the injuries are believed to be caused by the long tailed boats. There is a research vessel moored at the end of the jetty which visitors are welcome to visit, Kate and I venture aboard but can glean no more about what they are doing than we had already surmised due to the language barrier. As we walk along the jetty the Andaman Sea, beautifully turquoise, is teeming with brightly coloured fish.

Celebration night arrives and we are kindly chauffeured by Roy, a friend of Steve and Kate's, who lives part of the year here. We go across the cape to a little cove and the Ship Inn, a great place to watch the boats bob and the local children play in the sea. There is a lovely old lady here who everyone calls  mama, she is 79 and lost her home In the tsunami but survived. There is nothing to her and you wonder how she did it, Roy tells us the tsunami is not really talked about here, it is in the past and people have moved on, all with the usual Thai cheeriness but private sadness.

A local restaurant serves me sweet and sour fish. It is a whole, huge, meaty fish, with lots of vegetables and fresh pineapple in a lovely sauce. Adrian has squid with noodles and a reliably delicious papaya salad. We return to last nights bar starting on vodka lemons and moving on to vodka passions. Not sure what's in them, other than vodka obviously, but I could get a taste for them. Lovely Gay, bar owner, gives me a beautiful scarf for my birthday. 

I try to persuade Adrian for one more night here but he's not having it. Normal service will resume tomorrow. Well, you can have too much of a good thing - apparently!

Left bank, right bank

Our crossing from Burma to Thailand couldn't have been smoother. A simple walk to the immigration office, follow a boat driver to a boat and cross the river. Stamp in at immigration and we're there. Job done. In complete contrast to last year in Central America not one border official has demanded money from us.

The difference between the two countries is immediately visible. Thailand is notably cleaner, vehicles are driven less aggressively and it's quieter. Calm is restored. A our chosen accommodation is Dahla House, a group of little bungalows around a lush green garden. Clean and well maintained. We even have two geese and one day a visiting snake in the garden, which after describing it to the owner I am assured wasn't venomous.

Food is top of our requirements and within 24 hours of our arrival we've had 4 meals and are already discussing the next. The food market here is so clean compared to the markets of Burma, in fact I wouldn't eat in them. Delicious rice river noodles with chicken and basil, crispy pork and rice with sweet and sour sauce even noodle soup with chicken. One stall I want to try but don't have time serves yellow curry sauce with noodles and then you put in the rest of the ingredients to suit yourself... next time.

Two days of just chilling allows us to get the washing done and plan our last few days. From here we'll join some friends in Phuket for two days before then sampling a couple of Islands. 

The road that's closed to foreigners

All the reading we've done in preparation for, and during, our trip as well as the advice given by the MTT (Ministry for tourism) has told us we cannot go south from Dawei. The advice is sometimes "not at all", occasionally "special permission" is mentioned. We have heard though that travellers can get there. We decide we've got to try.

The bus journey from Mawlamyine to Dawei must be undertaken at night by foreigners, the day bus is only available to locals. The road is 90% unpaved and unless you've drunk a half bottle of whiskey like my travelling companion you are unlikely to get any sleep. My inner rebel keeps me awake and I peer through the dust until it becomes unbearable and I have to close the window. It's heavily tinted but I can still just about see. We pass through numerous villages and towns with no one in sight from 8.30pm. They're either all at a party somewhere or there must be a curfew. A second carriageway to the road is under construction, possibly that's why we must travel by night. We've read that roads are constructed by forced labour including women and children, which we have in actual fact seen, although we'd no idea at the time it could possibly be forced labour.

A switchback road climbs us up and over the mountain, accelerating wildly between bends and breaking heavily for them. I wish I'd bought my rosary, Adrian snores on beside me. Several times the driver's mate hops off the bus and slowly guides the driver onto a bridge, just two tracks for the wheels to go on. My view of these proceedings is a reflection in a trim on the underside of the luggage rack, I can see the bridge in all it's glory and the dark gorges below. Hail Mary full of grace.....

We reach our destination of Dawei exactly on time, 5.30am, to be met by the usual mob of taxi drivers pushing and shoving. Our packs are so dirty from the dust on the road I'm not sure they'll ever be clean again. My nerves are rattled and I need coffee so the taxi drivers have to wait. We finally arrive at the Dream Emperor Hotel, seemingly the cheapest place in town with hot water and immediately avail ourselves of the facilities.

Dawei was the first place in Burma to be taken by the British during the first Anglo Burmese war in the 1820s, it has only recently been connected by road to the rest of the country. It is very reminiscent of Kentung, a hark back to the old days. The people of the town do not see that many Westerners and everyone wants to wave and say Hello, we raise many a giggle when we respond "Hello, Mingala ba". 

Boat tickets are purchased with relative ease, the only problem being the language barrier, Mingala ba can only get you so far! Another early start beckons and at 1am we're sat outside the ticket office awaiting the truck to transport us, our fellow passengers and what feels like a full seasons supply of tomatoes. The boat departs at 4am and we have the upper deck pretty much to ourselves, a video of Buddhist monuments with a Buddhist chant soundtrack plays loudly but we manage to sleep. The boat motion stops waking us up and we're just drifting. After about 20 minutes it starts again and we head off to the first stop of Myeik.

The archipelago consists of 4000 Islands and atolls according to the Burmese government although apparently British Surveyors state less than 900. Many are uninhabited with only the sea gypsies occasionally visiting them. It feels like we are sailing past paradise, tantalising glimpses of white sand beaches and atop the tallest mountains, the glistening of golden pagodas.

After 11 hours at sea we reach Kawthaung the southernmost point of Burma. A town that is completely bilingual, and trades in 3 currencies, Kyat, Baht and Dollar. Our hotel is the Penguin, immaculately clean and reasonably priced. Dinner tonight is a tasty red chicken curry, my first good meal in 3 weeks. It's devilishly spicy but I can't leave it, all washed down with lovely Chang beer. 

Reclining in Mawlamyine

Our journey towards Thailand takes us to Mawlamyine sited on the Thanlwin River, the longest in Myanmar. It is the third largest city but feels nothing like Yangon or Mandalay, it has a much more laid back feeling (relatively speaking). We're in the Breeze Rest Guest House which has a river view, but our room is a windowless box. Each evening on a terrace overlooking the river, several restaurants set up and you can while away the hours whilst watching the sun set.

An hours bus ride away is the worlds largest reclining Buddha, some 170m long. It is the dream child of the head monk here and has been reputedly built without the aid of an architect. It is surreal, a little religious, a lot Disney. Inside the Buddha are scenes from the Lives of the Buddha and heaven and hell. The head monk is sat at the bottom of the steps personally asking for donations.

Some research here alters the course of our trip and Thailand now seems a few days further off, we are informed we can travel south to an area previously closed to foreigners, more latterly only available with special permission. Now we can go but we have to travel at night. What exactly do the government not want us to see?

Pilgrimage

Our train journey from Yangon is as adventurous as we'd hoped. The trains here are prone to regular derailments on account of the fact the trains bounce on the track and literally bounce off. We, thankfully, did not suffer this fate but boy was it ever bouncy. We were sat opposite two guys from Poland and had a great laugh trying the various foods that came round with the hawkers at each station and sharing the bouncing. The scenery as ever lovely, lots of agricultural land and in the distance, just visible, a probable gulag.

We arrive in Kyaiktiyo in one piece, find a nice room and drink beer, eat two crap meals and decide we are going to walk to the Golden Rock Temple, some 11 kilometres up, right on the ridge of the mountain. 7.45am sees us breakfasted and on the road. The climb up is gentle in places and steep in others. We are sharing the walk with three lovely Burmese ladies, Bluey, Pinky and five tiffin Tilly. We rest sometimes together sometimes overtaking each other, but always when we meet with a hearty "Mingala ba" and sharing of whatever food or drink we are each taking.

The last 15 minutes of our 4.5 hour climb is to be completed bare foot as at all religious sites here. It is hot at the top and families have arrived in the sardine trucks laden with picnics and makeshift tents, it has a slight feel of Disney about it. The Pagoda itself is reputedly held in place bya hair of the Buddha, it is truly gravity defying. It is covered with gold leaf, placed on in little squares by devotees of the Buddha. We buy a bell but to bring home not to donate to the cause. All that remains to be done are the photos, we take some with the ladies and they ask me to go with them for an official photograph, we've had such a great time with them we buy them all a copy. A day to remember and cherish.

A crumbling ex capital

Our next overnight bus takes us to Yangon, once called Dagon, then Yangon, with a brief British period as Rangoon. It was the capital of Myanmar until 2006 until the military government moved it to Naypyidaw. One word for me describes Yangon completely - squalid. It is possible to see the fine city it once was but that is a far cry from how it is now. The vast majority of buildings are dirty and crumbling, the faces a little less smiling but still as friendly. Much entertainment is found watching the rats whilst drinking our beer.

The Shwedagon Pagoda is about 2 km from the centre of town, it is reputedly over 2600 years old making it the oldest in Myanmar. The vane and ball atop the Pagoda are studded with diamonds and jewels. The large diamond that tops the ball is 76 carats and there is a total of over 1000 carats of diamonds on the ball and vane. The top of the pagoda is clad with half a ton of gold plate. We visit late afternoon to see the pagoda at sunset. There are hundreds possibly thousands of Buddha images, some are bathed, all are worshipped. The sun goes down and the pagoda is lit, it is beautiful. Our next view of the pagoda is from the Sky Bistrot in the Sakura Tower supping ice cold beer.

The centre of Yangon was once at the Shwedagon pagoda, it is now the Sule Pagoda, a stones throw from the City Hall by the Mahabandoola Garden. This square was the focus of the 1988-90 pro democracy uprising and saw many atrocities against the protesters. There is an obelisk marking independence here. Today the garden is a little haven in the middle of a very busy city, peaceful enough that the Chinese practice Tai chi here.

We plan to leave by train having heard the trains are an experience in themselves. At the station we are told this is the today ticket office and we must go back to the city side of the station to get to the advance ticket office. This is in an immense open air hall with 20 windows in one area and about 10 in another. There is a dead rat in the 20 window side and a live one in the other, window 16 of 20 tells us only ordinary class, upper class is in the other side. I'm on rat watch whilst Adrian grumblingly purchases two upper class tickets these being $8 instead of $3. So let's see what the next step brings.

Bagan, the eighth wonder of the world?

A boat from Mandalay to Bagan takes us around 8.5 hours. All the boats seem to have a person at the front with a stick measuring the depth of the Irrawaddy River except perhaps us, the Irrewaddy is very low, we beach at least 3 times. Skillful steering round in a circle planes the river bed enough for us to be freed, it's a little unnerving the first time but then we're old hands at it. We do see one boat only measuring 3 feet of water.

On arrival we are inundated with taxis, postcards and books. I'm offered several copies of Burmese Days by George Orwell but I'm already reading it!! We're charged the 15$ area fee immediately we leave the jetty, I can't get the tourist police guy to believe I'm a native even though my tan is so good.

We are here purely to see the Temples of Bagan. The original capital that tied together all the kingdoms that became Myanmar as we know it today. The city thrived between the 9th and 13th centuries and was still a place of habitation and pilgrimage in the 15th century. Located in an earthquake zone Bagan suffered more than 400 earthquakes between 1904 and 1975 with many temples being damaged.

 UNESCO were involved in some of the restoration undertaken by the military government but withdrew after disagreement in 1996. The site has never been designated a world heritage site and is unlikely to be as a result of new buildings within the archaeological area and the unsympathetic restorations that have taken place. There were originally 4000 temples here, the last count was 2229 although new temples are always being added by rich Yangonians trying to appease the Buddha and make their onward passage easier. Another good reason not to get the status.

We cycle round for 2 days and it is an amazing place, definitely rivals the Temples of Angkor. Sunset on day one sees us sat atop the Shwe San Daw Pagoda watching the hot air balloons head west. Truly remarkable. Think we'll remember this place forever.

The road to Mandalay

From Nyaungshwe we take a VIP overnight bus to Mandalay. No buses come to Nyaungshwe they go to a big road junction 30 minutes away. It is chaos. All the buses (6.30-7.00 to yangon' 7.30-8.00 to Mandalay) pull up at the side of the road, but there's no chance of getting on the wrong bus. It's a system of sorts that works. Bus is very comfortable, big comfy reclining seats with leg rests. They feed us a very strange salad with mayonnaise sandwich on the funny sweet bread they have in Asia and give us tea and coffee. Adrian has decided he'll need whiskey in order to sleep and promptly starts on his half bottle I get my head straight down. After 1 hour we have a catering stop, all the buses again meet up and again there is chaos but it all works,

We are scheduled to arrive in Mandalay at 4.50am not the greatest time to arrive in an a big city but it's our only option other than flying and we're not ready to run the gauntlet of Air Myanmar's bad safety record again. The journey is very mountainous and through some true wilderness from what I can see out of the windows. Sleep seems the better option. At 2.30am the lights come on and we're in a city, it's Mandalay. We later discover this is the actual arrival time but of course, no one would travel if they knew. There are 4 of us in our taxi headed to our chosen guest house. No room at the inn. We walk the streets with the packs of dogs knocking up the night watchmen but everywhere is full. Heading back to our original place to wait until checkout times we find he suddenly has rooms.

By 11am we're showered, have devoured an egg roti at the Indian place across the street and are raring go. A local bus takes us to U Bein bridge, at 1.2 kilometres it is the longest teak bridge in the world. It is a very beautiful structure built in the 1850s from teak reclaimed from the old palace as the capital was moved from Amarapura to Mandalay. It is most photographed at sunset the iconic image being the bridge with monks on. It is truly beautiful. As we reach the other side we witness an attack on a restaurant by a group of young men. Apparently it is gang related. No serious harm is done but several chairs are thrown and tables upturned.

The Mahamuni Pagoda is very important in Myanmar and is visited by many people, it apparently houses one of only five images of the Buddha made during his lifetime. It is very ornate in a simple way. Decorated in maroon and gold, the gold being gold leaf. All around the temple is temple industry, people carving Buddha images, making monk clothing, tuning gongs. Amid all this industry and people going about their lives hundreds of people are there worshipping throughout the day. The Pagoda's day starts at 4am with music played to the Buddha whilst his face is washed and teeth are cleaned. Music is played to him again at 4pm. The music is very beautiful and played by 3 very aged gentleman.

The Mandalay Palace is something of a disappointment. A square site surrounded by a 70metre wide moat, each side is 2km long with a bridge in the centre of each side across the moat. 'Foreigners' are only allowed to enter by the East entrance where they will be relieved of $10 each (although this will get you into other sites that we've visited and not been asked to show the ticket!!!). The buildings are dark and bare with no illustration of how they would be furnished. The highlight comes at the top of the watchtower where you can look down across the site and see the symmetrical layout.

Sun set sees us climbing Mandalay Hill, the point from where the  visiting Buddha is said to have phrophesized a great city would be built in the Buddhist year 2400. As a holy site it is required the 45 minute climb up steps is made barefoot. Urgh, it is filthy dirty and my feet will never be clean again. The 360 degrees panoramic views from the top are breathtaking and worth the climb. At the top is a plaque to The Prince of Wales Gurkha Rifles who retook the hill in March 1945 from the Japanese.

Food selections in Mandalay have been excellent, a Chinese owned restaurant sees us devour a fair banquet for 750 kyat each (50p) and a divine chicken paratha at an Indian owned place is a little more expensive at 1000 kyat. The busy local street restaurants are the places to eat in Myanmar as the proper restaurants are more expensive, although it's harsh to say a meal that costs £3 is expensive.

Life on the Inle Lake, Nyaungshwe

The flight to He Ho is a laugh a minute. We are told check in is at 9.30am. A 45 minute walk finds us at the most bizarre airport ever. The military are stopping people from entering the airport until the allotted time. At 9.50am we are allowed to enter the airport. A fee of 1000 kyat (chat) is payable to enter! There are so many people milling around but no one seems to be in charge, somehow we get through check-in. We are informed the plane is running an hour late as all flights from Yangon have been delayed. At midday, the newly appointed time, we are advised the plane will be 'here' at 1.00pm. At 1.30pm the plane arrives and we board immediately.

The runway is the shortest runway ever, and we taxi to the very end, turn and then we're off. The flight is 35 minutes long and we are fed biscuits and watered on the way. The landscape is beautiful although the immense deforestation here is very obvious. Apparently the Chinese have bought large ares of land and are cutting down the teak, it is not sustainable forestry and again, the wildlife and the terrain are suffering.

A short taxi ride takes us to Nyaungshwe on the Inle Lake. A large freshwater lake supporting not only communities round the lake but also on the lake. Traditional single man fishing boats are found on the lake from sunrise to sunset, there are also weaving industries, silversmiths, parasol makers, cigar manufacturers and vegetable producers on the lake in the floating villages.

The gardens are made by collecting weed from the lake and forming rafts which plant life is then grown on. The tomatoes are beautifully juicy being permanently irrigated. The beds are secured in place to the bottom of the lake by bamboo poles to stop them floating off. There is no sanitation on the lake and toilets empty down pipes directly into the water. Bathing and washing all takes place in the lake too. It is a hard life but the people seem happier than most of us in the UK. We visit a nursery school on the lake, they have one cupboard 5ft x 3ft with their equipment in, realistically nothing, but the children sing and dance and are so happy. Education is not free here and seemingly even the youngest realise the importance of education, participating fully.

Hiring bicycles for the day we head out to a local vineyard, a few kilometres from the town. The hills are covered in vines and 2000 kyat gets us a tasting of 4 wines. A white, rose, red and a semi sweet white. The white smells if a beautiful Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, is colourless and very hard hitting on the palate. The rose is a little better with the Shiraz-Tempranillo being quite nice. The Muscat is again colourless and lacking in taste. The views are stunning to the mountains across the lake.

On one of our stops we see four long neck women of the Kayan Lahwi tribe weaving. Since I was 7 I have wanted to see these women, however this trip has discouraged me somewhat as it is much less of a tradition and now done to draw tourists. Traditionally young girls start to wear the coils at around age 5, as they grow the coils are lengthened and the neck appears stretched. The reality is that the collarbone and shoulders are pushed down, in some cases this can cause damage to the internal organs. It was a little like seeing an exhibit at a human zoo and I leave with a very heavy heart.

Dora the Explorer

The day has dawned, all our enquiries regarding crossing to Myanmar from Mai Sai to Tachilek have not acquired any clear information, we must therefore go for it! Once more unto the breach... the bus ride from Chiang Rai to Maesai is beautiful, the scenery as ever simply stunning, the mountains of Myanmar ahead, beckoning, the bus stops a few kilometers away from the border and we take a song thaew onwards.

There are long queues of people at the Thai immigration and we join them. A Thai border official pulls us from the queue and we are dealt with quickly and efficiently. A walk across the bridge finds us faced with welcoming Myanmar officials and we are quickly stamped in. The only fly in the ointment is we can only go as far as Kentung by road then we must fly, we'll deal with that tomorrow. We are in Myanmar!!

The landscape is very different to Thailand, very mountainous with hill tribe villages along the road, little bamboo huts of one room only. I feel like I'm discovering something that's been hidden for years, of course it's a road a little less travelled but not quite that little.

Kentung is a real outpost, a small town built around a lake, now sprawling out to meet the paddi fields, surrounded by mountains. There are signs of development, but there are still lots of bamboo huts in town. The hill tribes come down to town for the Sunday market and on Mondays for the buffalo market. It's a quiet town that is up before sunrise and asleep by 8pm, an easy pattern to fall into.

To be or not to be....

The bus journey from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai whilst a little bumpy (back seat) was truly beautiful. The air, clean and fresh and the mountains plentiful.

Chiang Rai immediately feels different from Chiang Mai! it's a real town with a couple of roads geared up for travellers. It is Chinese New Year whilst we are here and we have great expectations, this being out third in Asia. Our thinking is that we shall just 'be' here, like we were on holiday.

Our digs are in a very smart new place and have busted the budget by 200 baht but I don't care, word on the street is accommodation is pricey and poor in Myanmar so little bit of luxury won't go amiss.

Bang across the road is the cheapest beer in town so becomes 'our bar' in an evening for the continued Backgammon Championship (I'm still losing). Breakfast is just a few doors down, chicken and egg noodles in coconut milk - yep it's soupy but it is gorgeous, topped off with fried egg noodles.

There is a western style shopping mall just on the edge of town which we head to out of interest or need for McFlurrys. There's a lovely food hall but I get tempted by a ham and cheese bread twist much to Mr Fox's disgust. It's delicious and he does have a bite. This is the man who was excited about toast and marmalade this morning.

Dinner a couple of nights is by the clock tower. Gold by day the clock tower changes colour to music at 7, 8 and 9pm. It's quite spectacular to watch, and to be fair as much as Chinese New Year offers us although I did see 3 Chinese dragons blessing a business earlier on in the day. There doesn't seem to be too much of a Chinese influence here so it's not that surprising but still a little disappointing.

Our wanderings find us sat on a tram touring the city's Wats which are truly beautiful and somewhat (!)  of a different style, but the balcony is beckoning so we bail out half way round and head back to the drum.

Adrian drifts off to get more dollars in a pre-Burma panic and I similarly head to Boots for shampoo and deodorant. Both Nivea and Dove are available here but with those pesky whitening agents. I'm hoping Boots will have non-whitening. Wrong!!! I manage to bug (I think) some deodorant but the 7/11 saves my bacon with small bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Number one pre-Burma panic over, I'm sure there'll be more tomorrow.