Vietnam & Myanmar
27 January - 16 March 2012

27 - 29 January Ho Chi Min City (Saigon)

On our first night in Saigon we ate at the Crazy Buffalo which was a great place to dine & meet. Following nights were devoted to a fabulous bar called the Universal Cafe. It had a brilliant Phillipino covers band and riotous wait staff.

This city teems with life. It is such fun.

	Crazy Buffalo for dinner	Mango smoothie	Robbie's dance moves
Breakfast nearby	Madness at the Universal Cafe	Outside our guesthouse
Sugar cane juice hit		Aladdin's cave

27 January - 3 February Mekong Delta by motor bike

We rented a motor bike and headed south into the Mekong Delta. So lush & beautiful. We stopped overnight at Can Tho. Also stayed at Ninh Kieu with another expat cafe nearby.

Can Dho guesthouse	Dinner with some Ozzie war vets living here	Planning next leg	Ozzie built bridge
Typical fuel stop	Some dodgy roads	Day market in Chiang Mai
	Lunch stop	Water Hyacinth everywhere
These ferries get very crowded	Mekong Cafe (Ninh Kieu) at night		Ninh Kieu

We jumped on a little motor boat and saw floating markets and daily life of the water-bound delta people..

3 - 8 Mui Ne

What a fabulous place this is. Great beach, market, restaurant, coloured gorge and the best fishing fleet.

8 - 11 February Nha Trang

Spent a day on Vin Pearl island with its cable car access, aquarium and laser light show. Next, back on to one of those infamous cruises with the zany musical entertainment and visits to an island resort & fish/cuttle fish farm.

Robbie found a cafe which served tasty coffee in town.

11 - 13 February Hanoi

Flew to chilly Hanoi. Fascinating city but not as friendly as the south.

14 - 15 February Sapa

Caught the sleeper train to freezing Sapa way up in the foothills of the Himalayas. Like most of the hotels there, ours had panoramic views of the valley below. We rented a motor bike and drove into the mountains.

Train sleeping compartment	Sapa was mostly snuggled in clouds	View from our Sapa guest house	One of the village markets o/s Sapa
	Clearer view from our Sapa guest house	Main drag in Sapa	We walked to the bottom on a previous visit
Robbie bargaining - much hilarity
	Robbie the shopper attracted attention	The ladies enjoyed her company though

16-21 February Hekou then Bangkok via Hanoi

We bussed to Hekou on the Chinese border intending to bribe an infamous border guard, as we had no visas. Unfortunately he was gone(?) so our month long trip through the high Himalayas to Shangri-La was a bust.

We decided instead to fly to Myanmar from Hanoi after returning via night train. We needed to stay a week in hot, crowded, smelly, wonderful Bangkok waiting for Myanmar visas. We stayed for the first time on Khao San Rd. This has usurped the old backpacker area near Pat Pong Rd. We used ferries mostly and rail rather than going by road anywhere.

Decision time in Hekou		Then to Bangkok	Royal palace from the ferry	Ferries are the best way to travel here
Day & night scenes in Khao San Rd

22 - 27 February Myanmar

We had serious trouble finding any accommodation in Yangon. Luckily a vacancy came up in our preferred hostel - Motherland Inn. The relaxation of the US embargo on Myanmar has caused a flood of western tourists so we decided we needed to visit paths less travelled if we were to avoid accommodation & travel problems. Should be interesting.

After catching a taxi across town we caught a pre-dawn bus to the coast west across the Irrawaddy delta from Yangon.

Our first stop was Chaung Thar beach resort. Superficially this could have been a tropical beach anywhere. However everything was just a little dilapidated, virtually all Burmese with no westerners, ridiculously cheap & distinctly Asian. We spent time on the beach, eating the delicious sea food & fruit, wandering the local village & floating on a dugout canoe through the mangroves behind the village. Once again the seemingly impossible happened when we met Spanish Tony. We first met him at Baka markets (on the Vietnam/China border) many years ago, then again in Yangon 2 years ago.

Breakfast stop	Could be any tropical resort right? ...	How about now?	Cute monkey
The $1 brekkies were great value	Road building the old fashioned way	Spanish Tony
		Ferry transport for us	Local restauranter

After 3 lovely days we headed off to Ngwesaung. This was to be no easy trip. The first stage was on a local open boat ferry across a wide river. We then have to negotiate to hire 2 motorcycles with drivers to carry us with luggage about 20 kms along the coast via beaches & tracks to Ngwesaung. En route there were a couple of rivers to negotiate using dugout canoe ferries. Great adventure. Following is a pictorial summary.

Ngwesaung is a large nondescript town with a long string of resorts along a beach to the south. We chose a cheap, dilapidated gem. By this stage we'd had almost enough of lying on beaches but not enough motor biking so we hired a bike each & headed further south along the beaches for a day trip. After 2 nights we caught the bus back to Yangon.

Resort restaurant	Creek crossing - local style	Exotic dancer outside our resort	Lunch stop en route to Yangon

28 Feb - 7 March

After overnighting at Yangon we boarded the world's most disrepaired train. It travels on badly buckled wheels on badly buckled tracks from Yangon to Mawlamyine via Kyaiktiyo. It was like riding a camel. Additionally all the seat backs were broken so you were forced to either perch on the edge of the seat (not possible for long with the lurching) or to partially recline and feel every bump. Needless to say we loved the trip and spent much of the time laughing at our mutual discomfort wiith our fellow travellers. There were no other tourists on this train.

We alighted at Kyaiktiyo to visit the famous Golden Rock and pagoda - one of the holiest buddhist sites in Myanmar (one of buddhists hairs (not heirs) resides there). It was a long and very hot climb with many pilgrims, for spectacular panoramas and a look at the Golden balancing rock.

We stayed overnight then forsook the train for a bus, to Mawlamyine, a large river port 150 kms further south. We really enjoyed this town. Very friendly (of course we're in Myanmar) and mellow with some attractions in and around.

Aboard the crazy-train	Arriving at Kyaiktiyo	Typical $5 a night room	On top of the mountain
Taxi from bus station to guesthouse	Mawlamyine g/house. Steve's travel garb	Tea & pastries	The Golden Rock
Buying bottled water	Taxi drivers with vehicle	One of our favourite eateries	Our guesthouse

We Loved walking the streets, meeting the locals, eating & drinking. We decided to catch the ferry across the river for a look around and stepped even further back in time. We visited a hatter, hammer maker, timber mill, rubber plantation and had a sensational time.

Ferry across the river - very overcrowded	Travel is a lot more primitive round here	Visited a hatter	Ferry disembarkation chaos but happy

We rented motor bikes again for a day and headed further south to the massive reclining Buddha. We stopped at various villages along the way

We visited the enormous pagoda on the top of the hill dominating Mawlamyine and watched the sunset from there with a host of local tourists.

The next day we piled aboard a shared ute to visit the amazing Kaw Goon, then Ya-Tha-Byan caves. Thousands of stone buddhas with the most intricate & extensive carved rock faces..

	They are ladders scaling the top of the rock to the pagoda. Used only be the monks

8 - 12 March Mrauk U

We bussed from Mawlamyine to Yangon and merely overnighted before flying to Sittwe en route to the fabulous ancient kingdon of Mrauk U. As soon as we left the plane we noticed the difference in the people. Hassles. We are now in Rohingya country.

Before leaving the airport we, along with other travellers on the plane, negotiated a boat trip up the river to the ancient site for the next day. We were told it was a fast boat taking 4 hours so arriving well before sunset.Interesting boat trip the next day but endless - it was a slow boat which took about 16 hours meaning we arrived way after sunset.

This opened us up to scam number 2. We were told on arrival at the jetty by all the taxi drivers that our pre-booked guesthouse was overbooked so had no vacancies for any of the passengers. Instead we were taken to a much more expensive place. Next day we found out the lie & moved to our much nicer & cheaper guesthouse. Not a good start & so unexpected in Myanmar.

Negotiating the boat trip at the airport	Sittwe. Not many cars	Dodgy gangplank. Our boat is the 3rd over	The 'lounge' on our boat

Once we'd forgiven the locals for their deception, Mrauk U charmed us. It is a pretty version of Bagan though the temples & pagodas are neither as grand nor prolific. Virtually no tourists.

There is so much to see here - pretty hot though.

After 2 marvelllous days imitating Indiana Jones we took a boat further up river in Chin State to a tiny village famous for its ladies. They tattoo their faces at puberty to improve their marital attractiveness.

13 - 15 March Return to Sydney

We overnighted once again in unfriendly Sittwe before a long series of connecting flights home: Sittwe-Yangon-Bangkok-Phuket-Sydney.