Burma via Phuket and Chiang Mai
26 December 2009-24 January 2010

On Boxing Day 2009, Robbie, Jake & Steve flew to Phuket and after overnighting in Old Phuket town flew to Chiang Mai for a few days to acclimatise. We love CM with its beautiful people, food, climate & attractions. Jake spent time with local Buddhist monks in their temple library then he & Robbie did a cooking course.

We then flew to Bangkok merely to overnight near the airport ready for our flight onwards to Yangon (Rangoon) in Myanmar (Burma).

Breakfast at Phuket	Chiang Mai Festival	Cooking class	Night food market in CM
Temple in CM	Smoothie time - every day	Day market in Chiang Mai	Checking out - on to Burma

30/12/2009-3/1/2010 Yangon

Yangon was the administrative centre of Burmah for the British. Since independance in 1943 the country's infrastructure has declined dramatically. Most money has been directed to building a new 'ghost' capital, Naypyitaw, in the middle of the country. Yangon is full of magnificent, crumbling buildings. Because it been embargoed by the US for decades the whole country has been stuck in a time warp.

After checking in, our first task was to venture to the huge covered market to change money on the black market - about 10 times more favorable than official money exchanges (which no-one uses). We changed money for the whole trip as we knew of no other 'safe' black market site. Very dodgy time but we succeeded. Because each note is worth about 10 cents we had to carry most of the $800 worth in our packs.

Motherland Inn - home in Yangon	This is about $A70 in local currency	One of the many gorgeous buildings
Always time for fun	Our favourite tea room	Met Spanish Tony from Baka mkts (Vietnam trip)

		Yangon is built around a hill on which sits the incomparable Schwedagon Pagoda. This is itself a small city comprised of dozens of gilded pagodas, temples & prayer rooms. It is crowded with pilgrims, worshipers & monks from dawn till late at night. The way it is illuminated after dark is breathtaking..

We strolled the streets - such happy friendly people. No sign of danger day or night. On new years eve our hostel provided a free bbq for we guests. Afterwards adventurous Jake headed off for a night on the town with some young (rich?) locals he'd met during the day - ended up at a pop concert of the country's most famous band - Sai Sai. He had a ball & made his way back to the hostel in the early morning.

Eating local - very nice	Eating/meeting room in our hostel	Car hired	New years eve bbq at Motherland
	Near the covered market	Covered market	School on the footpath in Yangon

3-4/1/2010 Yangon - Bagan

We'd negotiated a car and driver in Yangon to take us on a 650km drive to Bagan. En route we visited the drivers home for lunch before staying overnight in Taungoo. The next day we drove through the magnificent but eerily deserted new capital of Naypyitaw.

Giant reclining Buddha	Some presents to a school
Country transport	Night time stop with Robbie in makeup, Jake in a wedding longhi (gift from our driver)	Lunch at our drivers place

4-5/1/2010 Bagan

Over 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed here about 900 years agoof which the remains of over 2,200 temples and pagodas still survive to the present day. It is an awesome place & we spent a couple of days on foot & donkey cart exploring.

We also hired a car to visit a Nat temple perched on a mountain at nearby Mt Popa. This is a temple wholly dedicated to the appeasement & worship of demonic spirits.

6-7/1/2010 Mandalay

We caught the day ferry (pre-dawn start) to exotic Mandalay. Mandalay gave us many wonderful experiences. The most notable was taking a trishaw to a night festival where the locals treated us royally - insisting we sit at the front of the massively crowded concert arena, giving us snacks & roses to give to the performers on stage. On the way back to our hostel at about 11pm we passed the Central markets. Loads of farmers had brought their crops in at night by donkey cart & were sleeping on the ground waiting to set up their food stalls before dawn. Hard work.

8-12/1/2010 Pyin-Oo-Lwin and Psipaw

We headed off into far north Myanmar - first by taxi from Mandalay to Pyin-Oo-Lwin. Paid some guys to take us round the sights by motorbike. Went to Peik Chin Myaung Cave, a very old monastery and a couple of villages filled with really friendly people.

While having dinner at an atmospheric outdoor market 2 stern soldiers sat at the next table. We struck up a conversation and when we told them how much we loved the people & country of Myanmar, their faces lit up with broad smiles in typical burmese fashion.

We left Pyin by train for Psipaw but got to the station by local taxi which are stage coaches.

Psipaw is ver remote and close to civil war zones so we were not allowed to go further. Myanmar is tribal and only the miliatary juntas have been able to hold them together since independance. The main tribe is the Bamar (mainly Berman) which occupies most of the fertile Irrawaddy flood plain and controls the government and miliatary (often the same things). The other tribes mainly occupy the mountains - north are the Kachin, north-east are the Shan, east are Karen, south-east are Mon. On the north-west coast are the muslim Rakhine.

In Psipaw we found a great restaurant. We went on a long, dry push-bike ride through the surrounding farmland.

	Accommodation in Pyin	Motor bike tour round Pyin
Night markets at Pyin		Pyin main road
	Peik Chin Myaung Cave	Taxi to station	Our Psipaw restaurant - food was great

12-15/1/2010 Back to Mandalay and travel to Inle Lake

Caught the train 200 kms back to Mandalay. We managed to cartch a show by the Moustache Brothers. These are activists, gaoled many times, who are trying to get democratic government returned to Myanmar by the army. We had a nother special experience here. We met a very young beggar girl who we gave some money to give to other beggars that she chose as the most needy. She was really excited as she'd never had many to give before. She said - " I was blessed by giving & so were you".

		The young beggar "passing it on"
Urgent repairs but noone else dismounts	Steve at school. Note his longyi		Our sumptuous accommodation at Nyaungshwe

15-18/1/2010 On and around Inle Lake

We hired a boat to travel the length of Inle Lake to attend a monrthly tribal market and unexpectedly witnessed a total eclipse of the sun through a convenient cloud.

We also hired a boatman to take us through a floating village. Another day we hired horses to take us to a remote village and school in the hills. Steve got really sick suddenly, passing out and falling from his horse covered in vomit. Cause unknown (but probably remote village food) and made a full recovery by next day.

The lake is vast & uniformly shallow which has led to 2 unique innovations. The fishermen pole their dugouts along using a hand & leg leaving a hand free for their net. The farmers have created floating gardens anchored to the lake bottom with poles. Walking on these gardens is like waking on a water bed.

18-21/1/2010 Yangon

We flew back to Yangon after a taxi to He Hoe. We caught a ferry across the Irrawaddy to Dala and caught trishaws around this rural area..

	For our last night in Myanmar we went to a posh restaurant on the lake with a cultural show.

22-23/1/2010 Phuket

We flew from Yangon to Phuket with a short stay in the enormous Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport. We stayed again in Old Phuket in preference to the crowded, touristy beach areas and hired a jeep to circumnavigate the island. A major highlight was joining a boat trip to beautiful Phang Nga Bay - including the James Bond Island.