Like We’ve Never Experienced Before

With just two little spurts of internet access in nine days, I really felt disconnected from the world there for awhile. Funny how we have become so dependent on constant connection!

After leaving Krabi in Southern Thailand, we entered country number six on our list, Malaysia. Getting into Malaysia was the easiest country to enter yet, as the country is in good standing with most of the world and allows U.S. citizens a free 3-month visa. Our bus dropped us off in the City of George Town on the island of Penang. There are two impressively long bridges that connect the island to the mainland and it is so large it doesn’t feel like an island at all. George Town is an old imperial city with cute European architecture and colorful culture galore. The two heaviest cultures in the area are Chinese and Indian, and the town has somewhat distinct “China Town” and “Little India” areas. George Town was also sprinkled with beautiful Chinese clan houses, temples, and Islamic Mosques. Being a very historical area, instead of plaques to provide information, all over town we discovered these really neat wrought-iron artistic depictions on the sides of buildings that told about the area like a comic strip. What a cool way to add character and provide information! While in George Town, we also happened to see the largest number of Ferrari sports cars either of us had seen in our lives combined! We had walked to a ritzy part of town where a brand new shopping center just opened a couple days before. I guess the cars were a show-off, grand opening presentation.

(wrought-iron display)

Our two favorite things to do in George Town: Eat and explore bookstores! The food was incredible. Being that it was (and still is) Ramadan, very little Indian food was available during the day light hours, so we usually hit up the various Chinese vendors for lunch and headed to Little India for a vast array of dinner options. It has been such a long time since we have had access to really good, really cheap street food, so we went all out. We were able to eat more and still work on getting our budget back down after the expensive places in Thailand. I even had the energy to go for morning runs while we were there! We were a tad disappointed after the first used bookstore we found turned out to be pretty expensive ($30 for one used book that sells new in the U.S. for $20), but after a quick internet search we found a smattering of used/new combo stores in a really rundown market building. There were maybe 8 sellers in the place each with a small room stacked floor to ceiling covering every imaginable place and no order. You could barely scoot sideways through the isles. We returned at least three times because there was just so much to peruse!

(Books!)

After missing out on so many good underwater photo opportunities while diving in Koh Tao, we decided to buy an underwater camera. George Town turned out to have a lot of camera shops and our next stop would be another island, so we spent a day comparing prices and online reviews. We settled on a CamOne Infinity which is about the same as a GoPro but cheaper and with a few more built-in options. The picture quality isn’t quite as good as a GoPro, but it was by far our best option since we can dive with it to 40 meters depth.

(taking pictures at Little India with CamOne)

A night bus dropped us off at 5am in Kuala Besut, the jetty access point to the Perhentian Islands, but the ferry speed boat wasn’t leaving until 8:30am. Just as we were getting into a good sleep on a wooden bench like bums, we were awaken at 6am by the singing voices of a couple men over loud speaker – the prayer calls from a couple mosques nearby. I couldn’t help but really enjoy the moment, it was such a foreign experience to us! Sleeping on our bags on a bench with the strange and beautiful sounds blaring over us.

When we arrived to Coral Bay on Pulau Kecil, the small island, I was instantly in awe over the scenery. From the jetty we were looking down at this perfectly turquoise water over patches of coral, a cute and not-too-developed beach in front of us enclosed by rocky sidewalls, and backed by a very green, thick jungle. Paradise! After settling into a little bungalow we spent some time playing with the new camera in the water and getting run off by these mean black fish who would bite our legs if we went too close to their homes, which happened to be every rock or coral mound off the beach! It was only a short walk across the narrow island to Long Beach on the opposite side, the most popular area, so we went to check it out. The beach was quite large with perfect white sand and turquoise water that went on forever. As soon as we got to the water, WHOA! There were no words, only a gasp! I have never seen anything like this place. The white sand continued as far as we could see, which was a really long way because the water was clearer than a swimming pool. I think the pictures tell the story better than I can.

(Mira Beach)

Even though the water was more pristine at Long Beach, we really did like Coral Bay better for the scenery, the food, and the atmosphere. All over the island we kept spotting monitor lizards, some small at a couple feet and some about four feet long. With such good snorkeling around the island, we decided to forgo the much more expensive SCUBA diving and rented snorkel masks the next day. We took a 25 minute jungle walk along a trail to the small, secluded beach called Mira that claimed to have the best snorkeling on the island. It was fantastic! Along the rocky coast we saw huge needle fish which are still interesting no matter how many we see, parrot fish of all colors and sizes, a squid that changed colors before our eyes, a beautiful little blue-spotted stingray, a huge school of shiny minnow-type fish, and a couple black-tipped sharks! This was the first time I had seen these types of sharks, Bryan had spotted one in Railay. They were just little guys, maybe three to four feet long. After lunch we went back over to Long Beach to see what the snorkeling was like. The white sand really did go on forever! We had to walk south in waist-deep water a long distance from the end of the beach to finally reach some rocks and coral. I was still so impressed with everything we saw. Although we had seen many Parrot fish, the ones on this side were enormous, which is especially cool when it is bright pink, blue, yellow, orange, and purple all in one! I spotted about 4 or 5 Black-Tipped sharks. I could have had great pictures because one of them swam right under me twice! Bryan had the camera, but it didn’t matter because he had taken the SD card out over lunch and forgot to put it back in. Ha ha, so no pictures of that area! That night we tried crab for the first time. It was good but not worth the work for the little bit of meat. They didn’t have very big crabs.

(Clown fish!)

The third day on the island was our 3rd wedding anniversary! We spent most of the day relaxing over tea/coffee while reading our books. We were able to continue the tradition we started while I was in grad school and we were poor: Splitting a cheap meal and a movie! We tried king fish that night (pretty tasty) at a restaurant with a projector and a different movie every night. We didn’t see the end though because a storm came in. Now we don’t know if The Rock kicked ass at the end in Snitch.

(Three years!)

For our final day on the island we took a snorkeling tour with 5 stops. One of our coolest sightings yet was a spotted eel fighting a bunch of fish for a piece of a dead clam on the edge of a coral mound! It was slithering in and out of the coral, hiding for only a second as I got close with the camera before snapping at the fish and slithering its head into the open clam shell. There were some mean teeth on that thing! Bryan pointed out a couple swimming squid to me that were going along at the bottom of a school of fish and blended right in with their tentacles and skirts tucked in. We also had a lot of fun with the playful clownfish here who seemed to pose for the camera! I held out my hand to see what they would do, and one swam into my palm just like it was going to take a seat. On our third stop we putted around a deep pool between the two islands until one boat guide spotted the main attraction, a huge sea turtle swimming along the floor. Everyone from two boats flew into the water at once, frantically kicking each other in faces and stomachs, and Bryan was the first one to take a deep breath and swim down to the turtle’s level. He got a couple good pictures. It was maybe 4 feet in length and just casually swam along under this horde of people until one idiot went down and touched it on the shell. It didn’t stick around too long after that.

(Turtle!)

I have been eagerly awaiting our next Malaysian stop for a long time, Taman Negara National Park. This is the first country we have been in that has real National Parks, not just expensive traps for rich tourists. Not only was it cheap to get into, but we could hike on marked trails on our own, WITHOUT A GUIDE, a service every other country has required and charged hundreds of dollars for. This was also the first time we got to experience real jungle, which actually seems pretty well protected unlike what we have seen elsewhere. Mind you, this is not a large portion of jungle compared to what used to exist (we passed cleared jungle – turned palm plantations all the way to the NP). On the bus ride we made new friends with a couple from Ireland and talked the entire way there, then enjoyed dinner with them as well. We look forward to hopefully seeing them in the U.S. as they are completing their long trip in 2015 before going back to Ireland.

Our first adventure in Taman Negara was the famed Canopy Walk. I imagined a solid walkway built high in the trees for spotting and photographing birds and other tree life. Not at all! It was a series of swinging rope bridges linked to small platforms in the trees and as high as 45 meters (147 feet) at some points. It was really pretty cool as we were walking just under the highest canopy level, a view not seen otherwise, but being such a popular attraction we had to rush through and were unable to stop for photos while on the rope portions. Not that we would have seen anything because all wildlife was scared away by the sheer quantity of people. To get that real jungle experience I have been longing for, we decided to spend a night in a hide deep in the park. The hide we chose, Bumbun Kumbang, was 11 km out (6.8 miles), with two trail options. On the way there we took the inner-jungle trail and saw nobody after the first half. It was fairly dry and flat, and we relished the foliage and colorful mushrooms. At one point I spotted a cat print in the trail, pretty fresh but not too big. Maybe the size of a medium dog. During a rest stop we were listening to the sounds around us and heard this szchoooooooooom (like a baseball flying past your head) BANG CRACK! *(#&!#*#%! All kinds of things flew out of my mouth as we took in what had happened. A small stick fell from a very high tree and landed about 6 feet from us and then broke on the log we were sitting on. That was the end to that break! Just before reaching the hide we came to a large creek we needed to cross. As we were pulling our pants up I spotted blood on Bryan’s leg and we realized a leech had had its fill and left him bleeding. Ha ha, little things love to torture him! The hide turned out to be pretty cool, maybe 20 feet off the ground with 12 hard wood bunks inside and a long window and bench overlooking a small semi-clearing in the jungle. There were three Spanish guys there already who didn’t seem to be very experienced in the outdoors. Pretty soon the trees were starting to come alive with sounds and we were getting in place at the hide window. No luck. The guys kept going in and out and were not that quiet. All we saw was a squirrel and fireflies. Just after crawling in bed a downpour began, sadly drowning out all the jungle sounds, and continued all night. I took post again in the morning but never saw anything. We heard from a guide later that the previous night a group stayed up all night with a spotlight and saw an elephant, 2 tapirs, and a spotted leopard. Next time we will bring a big light! For the hike out we took the trail that followed the river, now made muddy by the rain. The trail continuously dipped down and up muddy embankments and difficult inclines, which kept it interesting but exhausting. Thanks to the rain, the leeches were feasting. With me walking ahead of Bryan, I alerted them and then they scored their catch when he passed. Too bad for them he was paranoid and checked every few minutes and managed to get away with zero bites for the day despite maybe a hundred leeches on him! Much better than me, being that I wasn’t as paranoid. I had many fewer on me, but nearly half scored with a total of 9 bites! I also stirred up another surprise for him when I passed a huge scorpion and put it on defense. I didn’t see it among the leaves at the base of a tree, but with its tail up, pinchers open, and looking at Bryan, he didn’t miss it! The body alone was at least 4 inches long not including the tail, and it was a deep turquoise color. Really odd color being that it was on brown leaves but maybe it hides well into the shady green undergrowth. Beautiful! A little while later we heard crashing through the tree tops and after a few moments of straining our necks finally spotted a monkey very high up. Shortly after that we heard something grunting and rooting around the undergrowth not far off the trail but couldn’t see it. We think it may have been a tapir. In the end, we didn’t spot anything big and rare, but I didn’t expect we would. What is important is that I have checked off another item from the Life List – trekking in a real jungle! I am really happy with our experience, and it won’t be the last. Pretty soon we will be in Borneo with more National Parks and jungle treks.

(Jungle hide)

We are now having a quick stay in Kuala Lumpur before heading to the Cameron Highlands where we will get to cool off at a higher altitude. We checked into a cute little guesthouse we chanced upon here, and to our surprise, our new Irish friends we met up North were in the room right next to us. Of all the places to stay in this huge city, we ended up at the same one! This is a pretty cool city so far, but we’ll save that for the next post.

By the way, if you have any suggestions or requests for more/less information or pictures on certain subjects, leave a comment and we will do our best.

All Along the Andaman Coast

Time to slow down. After that good week of diving in Koh Tao we were ready to hang low and relax. We were fortunate enough to get the better night ferry back to the mainland on our way to Phuket, so we actually got a little sleep in our bunks. Unfortunately, the ferry was followed by a much too long bus ride for just a short distance, although it was amazing to cruise down the coast and see these amazing, huge limestone karsts jutting up all around. This just seemed to be a glimpse of what was to come.

Phuket is one of the places always mentioned when talking about Thailand. It is the party central of S.E. Asia. One beach in particular, Patong Beach, is just a bigger version of Khao San road in Bangkok. That isn’t our style so we headed just south of that to Karon Beach. We got super excited as we ended up with a room that had a balcony, fridge, and more importantly an electric hot water kettle. Time for a little grocery shopping! We had copious amounts of coffee and tea, and for two nights we made spaghetti. I can not tell you how exciting this was. One night we did get to have dinner with some friends from Colorado who now are teaching English in Phuket. It was nice to see some familiar faces and spend an evening chatting it up. Other than enjoying the room amenities we spent some time on the beach, but swimming was a bit difficult with the rough waters.

(Bryan getting smashed by a wave)

Quickly moving on, our next destination was to be straight to Railay Beach through Krabi, but we had to spend a few days in Krabi first. During the past month and a half leading up to Phuket, Megan’s grandma had been in the hospital not doing well. Before we left Koh Toa, it became obvious that she would not be going home. After several difficult days, she passed away peacefully. We were in Phuket and headed for Railay, where we couldn’t expect reliable internet to communicate with the family, so we made a pit stop for a couple of days in Krabi. I can’t say how difficult it is especially when you are thousands of miles away. Megan’s family has been really great about making sure we stayed updated, especially her brother, Nick, who Skyped with us numerous hours. We want to express our appreciation for everything Megan’s family has done to help her grandparents and each other.

(Bryan, Megan, and Grandma Clara before we left on our trip)

Hitching a ride in a longtail boat, we ventured on to Railey Beach. Railay, although it is a penninsula, feels like an island because you are blocked from the rest of the mainland by karsts and you can only really get there by boat.

(Railay Beach from the karst viewpoint)

After really trying to bet against the weather we signed up for a day island hopping trip. This was quite the outing as we were on the boat with several Malaysians. They were super excited for snorkeling, but their idea of snorkeling was much different than ours. With a loaf of bread in one hand, they stayed close to the boat and lured some of the fish to them. We saw angel fish, crab, pipe fish, rainbow parrot fish, and I was fortunate to see a small reef shark. Quite exciting! We explored a few different islands where we got to do a small hike and see some left over debri from the 2004 tsunami. Our guide was most interesting as he went on and on about how U.S. movies/shows are the best, and his favorite is Mega Man. He also has a mohawk and tattooed wings on his back. Never a dull moment.

(One of the beaches we stopped at)

With the water starting to get a bit rough the following day, we decided to climb a trail up the karsts on the end of the beach. On top we expected there to be an amazing viewpoint and hidden lagoon. Heading up wasn’t too bad but it was quite steep and rope was strung around the trail to assist the climb up. We made it to the viewpoint easy enough, and it did provide for an amazing view. Sadly we couldn’t make it all the way to the lagoon as the trail down got increasingly dangerous. The trail ran throuh the water gully which currently was just thick, slippery mud. Some of the drop offs were ten plus feet down and we couldn’t chance slipping down them.

(Bryan standing by one of the drops down to the lagoon)

Megan always wanted to try deep water solo climbing, and this area is the mecca for such a thing, which was our true intention to visit anyways. We started to run into issues where a group would be going then cancel and then some other group would be set for the next day and cancel. Things weren’t looking good. It wasn’t until our last full day and a few hours before the last tour might head out that she got the green light. It was like a Saturnalias miracle! Not only did she get to climb, but she did a bit more snorkeling and got to see phosphorescent plankton lighting up at night like glitter. Pretty awesome experience she had!

(Megan deep water solo climbing)

Since then we are back in Krabi about to catch a minibus to Georgetown, Malaysia. Not completely sure whats in store for us, but we hope to be visiting a national park to possibly see the rainforest in full bloom.

Whale of a tale!

“To hell with luck, I will bring luck with me” -Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

Four days in the “Backpackers’ Ghetto” of Bangkok, Khoa San Road, was plenty for us! We did a little more sight seeing, including the Grand Palace, Chinatown, and enjoying a beautifully lit pagoda next to the river at night. We also focused on eating healthier to recover from our diet of grease, caffeine, and sugar while in Myanmar (but it was oh so good)!

Fast forward through a minibus and ferry ride to the beautiful island of Koh Chang, near the border of Thailand and Cambodia. Of the many beaches to choose from, we chose to plant ourselves at Lonely Beach because, well, it was mostly void of resorts. We also expected to find rooms in the $10-15 range. To our surprise, Lonely Beach was so lonely this time of year that we found a private bungalow not far from the water for, wait for it… THREE DOLLARS per night. (No unwanted surprises in the middle of the night either!)

The beach was a short walk from where we were and we went there most mornings, but just at the end of our road was a large wooden deck where we could sit over the rocky coast listening to waves crash and dreamily watch the sunset everyday. We spent a lot of time here, which was actually a restaurant that was closed for the season. One day we stocked up on beer, wine coolers, and snacks and spent most of the day there writing in our journals, reading, and watching all the local dogs who seemed to enjoy the scenery just as much as we did. We didn’t leave until the sun had set. That was a good day!

The Lonely Beach area had a really laid back vibe. There was almost nobody around during the day. As Bryan said, you know it’s slow when the shop owners are all playing BINGO! But at night barefoot hippies came out of nowhere and live music would be playing at one or more restaurants. We spent a day on motorbike exploring the island, including a refreshing waterfall and some fantastic views looking down on beaches. The entire East side of the island is quite “lonely” and undeveloped.

We were really anticipating SCUBA diving at our next stop, the island of Koh Tao which is also in the Gulf of Thailand and Southwest of Koh Chang. And dive we did! Getting there was…fun. 27 hours of jumping from one mode of transportation to the next, back to Bangkok and then South. We should have just swam!

All the dive companies seemed to be pretty comparable in price, so we chose Big Blue because they gave us the cheapest hotel rate. I can’t describe how happy we were with this company! First of all, they were very environmentally conscious, which was a relief after what we experienced and saw in Vietnam while diving. Our dive masters all took the time before each dive to go over a picture book of species they expected we might see in each area, and after each dive went through the book again to review what we did see. Because of this I learned more than ever about the marine life. Some of the interesting species we saw were box fish, shrimp, large groupers, eels, stingrays, angel fish, needle fish, and barracudas. On two of our dives we explored artificially sunk, small Naval ships.

On our first dive we were incredibly lucky to see a Whale Shark! It was casually roaming through a big crowd of divers, curiously attracted to the bubbles. I had a good view of another diver swimming alongside it and estimated it at 9-11 feet in length. Not huge but not small. It was so beautiful. Whale sharks are not man-eating, so I found it humorous when it kept following one guy’s leg with it’s mouth open just inches from him! At one point it came within 6 feet of me, I’m so lucky!

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(photo credit big blue diving)

We had planned our very first night dive for our third day in Koh Tao, but I was sick so Bryan went without me. That jerk had to come back all giddy and tell me how awesome it was! He said it felt really cool to be in total pitch black with only a small beam of light from a flashlight. It was easy to feel lost and confused, and he could see how many people would freak out. It was just his dive master and him so he was able to really enjoy every moment. The highlight was that he had his very first sea turtle sighting! He estimated 4 foot long or so.

The next day I was determined not to miss a full day diving trip we had signed up for to a far off location that none of the other diving companies go to. It was an incredibly interesting day!

There were just four of us in our little group, including our dive master, but several fellow groups were nearby. Right off the bat we saw a small sea turtle on our first dive. My first sea turtle sighting, check! That Bryan saw two in two days was pretty small odds. We followed it for awhile as it explored but eventually lost it. As we were totally engrossed in our immediate surroundings we turned a corner and BAM! Right in front of us was a boat wreck. Completely unexpected! As we’re exploring the debris scattered about (a fan, broken wood, computer parts, mattress, rice cookers) I couldn’t help but notice there was absolutely no algae growth and few fish swimming through it. It looked pretty recent. It was a big, wooden fishing boat and the mast was just barely under the top of the water. The hull was smashed near the front and the entire boat rocked back and forth as the waves crashed into the rock pinnacle nearby. It was scary seeing someone’s personal belongings scattered about knowing that person’s livelihood was probably ruined. I glanced through the cabin a little but hesitated when I thought of opening the windows to look in more. I was a little worried I might find a body, so I swam on. We pointed out the boat to our fellow divers. Once back on our boat everyone was shocked and laughing in total surprise that we just discovered a new wreck. It was a first for everyone, including all the professionals! We soon found out a couple of the guys had looked farther into the cabin, and they found what I had feared. Judging by the body and the wreck, it probably happened within a few days or so of us finding it. We can only speculate on what exactly happened.

We almost can’t believe it ourselves, but at the end of our second dive we saw our second Whale Shark! The chances of seeing one within the four days we dove are pretty small, the chances of seeing two are really slim! This one looked to be larger than the first, but it wasn’t interested in us and didn’t hang around to be sure. Just us four saw it that day, so the others were jealous and we got a lot of crap! Our last dive of the day wasn’t too exciting, but Bryan spotted another first for us – Bigfin Reef Squid – it looked like a UFO hovering over the sand. We followed it for awhile before it turned around and sped off like a bolt of lightning.

Unfortunately we don’t yet have a camera that we can dive with so we sadly don’t have photos of these incredible memories to add to the album, but we’re keeping an eye out for other divers’ photos from the same trips.

Myanmar Part 2: Astounding Beauty

After a few hours of a bug riddled sleep we caught our bus to Mandalay. Interestingly, the tourist buses are quite nice but the roadways can barely accommodate them. There are still dirt highways, which were in the midst of being upgraded, and single lane bridges/roads.

When reaching Mandalay we could already tell it was a bit more lively and culturally diverse than Yangon. The people appeared to be a pretty fair mix of Asian descent and Indian descent, with an obvious mix of religions as well. Like everywhere else people were super excited to see us. Thanks to Obama’s visit in ’08, Americans are especially welcome! Hillary did us a favor too, as she was sometimes mentioned by the locals. Everywhere we looked people were smiling at us, saying hello, and teaching their young children to say hello. We found a nice place with a room on the roof that gave us some good views of the surrounding area.

The first day we ventured to Mandalay Hill and the palace. The Hill is the highest viewpoint in the area and made us work for the great view. Once half way up the hill you begin a 45 minute barefoot walk up old stairways because the hill also serves as pagoda and monastery. The palace sits at the city center surrounded by a large stone wall and moat, and still serves as a military base. At the entrance we ran into a tourist who filled us in on what there was, and was not, to see inside. It didn’t sound worth the price, so we skipped out. Where most people are fair to tourists, the government price gouges tourists in every way they can find. That evening we cruised through the pretty empty night market which most interestingly displayed a huge array of old books. These covered all sorts of educational subjects including engineering, business, programming, and much more. The books had to be 15-20 years old at the newest. We dug all through them as it was a fun discovery. Quantum Mechanics anyone?

(Just a quick shot of some of the books)

The following days we just people watched. There are tons of cafes with cheap dishes and free Chinese tea. The fantastic food won over Megan’s heart from the very first day in the country. However, the few times we got dishes that weren’t fantastic, they were pretty bad. Some of the best and worst food of the trip so far. While having dinner at a street stall one day, a taxi driver was really chatting us up and told us a good joke.

“We call a person that can speak two languages bilingual, we call a person that can speak many languages multilingual, and someone that can speak only one language, they’re French” -taxi driver

Finally getting tired of my long hair, I attempted a haircut. After the entire salon staff got over the excitement that Americans were in their shop and the stylist painstakingly made me look like a white, old Asian, Megan had to correct it back at the hotel with tiny mustache scissors. I did get 2 scalp massages with the cut though, which were worth the three dollars I paid!

Eventually we were back on a bus heading to Inle Lake. Like many of our other bus rides we arrived at 4 a.m. We stayed that day at a new, clean hotel which was good since Megan started to feel a little under the weather and barely left the room. The town next to Inle Lake is quite small with not much to do. It was interesting to see the immense boat loads of vegetables coming into the docks for export from the floating gardens.

(Some of the unloaded egg plants)

We found a boat guide and arranged a full day tour. We headed out to the lake early the next morning through a canal. As we reached the lake it was a sight to behold. The smooth, glassy water reflected the blue layers of mountains that surrounded the lake on both sides. White cranes swooped down over the water and tended to their nests in small puffs of grass while enormous, brightly colored dragon flies zoomed all around us. Traditional fishermen in wooden canoes dotted the lake and larger boats of vegetables passed on their way to town.

The fishermen have a unique way of working. They balance on one leg on the end of the canoes and leverage a paddle between the other leg and their side to row the boat. While they row their hands are free to tend to the fishing nets.

(fisherman)

As we progressed we saw the floating gardens. They literally piled dirt on lake vegetation and then planted crops on top, using long bamboo poles as pins to hold the floating mass in place. These gardens look like fields you would see on dry land except you see locals in small canoes paddling through the rows tending to the crops. Amazing!

(floating garden)

On the lake tour we stopped at a textile shop where fabrics were woven from cotton and silk, but most notably were scarves woven out of fibers they extract from lotus flowers. Very soft and nicely scented! Next stop was one of the better markets we have seen in Myanmar since it was well stocked with souvenirs and locals running around buying food, getting haircuts, and possibly stocking up on betel nut. To date this might be the most we have seen of the addictive betel nut. People walk around with mouths stained blood red, spitting everywhere, sometimes narrowly missing our feet. This used to be common throughout SE Asia but it is very slowly fading away.

(Selling some green beans and tomatoes)

Next we visited a cigar “factory” with two ladies making cigars faster than ever, and another lady smoking a cigar telling us what they were doing. Sounds like most jobs back home, but I won’t go there! We saw the making of long boats like the one we were riding in. They had a nearly complete boat and one that was 40 years old and being repaired. Pretty amazing craftsmanship. It takes about a month to make one boat by hand. They use the abundant teak wood for nearly everything there.

(Nearly finished boat)

Next stop was a huge pagoda in the middle of the lake. After seeing so many pagodas this didn’t excite us too much, but as we were walking around it a crowd started forming behind us. Megan felt a bit uncomfortable, but then a monk stepped forward and started talking to us. He was helping all these people learn English and they were super excited to practice with us. As we were talking to the monk, a few of them were circling us like vultures trying to take photos. I asked if everyone wanted to take a group photo, and they all erupted with pure excitement. This must be what superstars feel like. During the photos Megan had a girl cling to the side of her like a magnet. Quite the memorable moment.

We dropped in on a silversmith shop where they made jewelry with silver they themselves extracted from stones. Silver and precious gem stones are mined all over this area. Megan was excited for what was next. I think nearly everyone has seen these tribal women on the cover of National Geographics: the “long neck” women with the numerous gold rings used to stretch their necks. They had a small shop where four of the women were weaving cloth by hand, the most impressive weaving I have seen on this trip. It would have been nice to hike to their village and see them in their home environment instead of jammed into the back of a tourist shop, but the season and our time wouldn’t allow for that.

(Kayan women)

Before leaving for Yangon the next day, an old lady from our family-run guesthouse gave us bags of fresh green tea as a parting gift. The small family run places always outdo the new fancy hotels! Let alone the breakfast at 4 Sisters Guesthouse was by far the best we had in Myanmar.

The bus to Yangon was the cheapest of all the buses we took in Myanmar, and somehow seemed first class compared to the others. We had snacks, water, soda, and a stewardess to top it off. Heck yeah! Still we arrived to Yangon at 5 a.m. Megan and I spent a few days just walking around checking out some more pagodas, parks, food, books, and the people. One day while looking at books a guy walked up to us and warned us of money exchangers that rip off tourists (which we were aware of). Megan and I got suspicious as to what his angle was, but he caught our skepticism and told us that he is an English teacher. He chatted up a storm through the book shop and led us back to his classroom. He was super nice and even bought us a couple of sodas while he asked about current slang and phrases. After his class arrived, which was predominately tourist police with a few monks, he asked us to keep talking so they could learn to listen. Before we knew it we were teaching the class, but not about grammar or phonetics, we taught about credit cards, mortgages, and interest rates! These services are just being introduced into the country and the teacher prodded us with questions. Our lengthy lesson even included figures on a whiteboard. I am sure we confused the hell out of them, but none the less the teacher was appreciative of our visit.

Experiences like these and everything that encompasses Myanmar at this time is what I think most people are looking for when traveling Southeast Asia. The country is astounding, and we feel honored to have been guests there.

Back in Bangkok we have been hanging around the tourist central, Khaosan road. The world renown “backpacker ghetto”. This was quite the shock after being in Myanmar, but we have adjusted.

If you have made it this far I applaud you as this is a long post. Enjoy the pictures and know that we appreciate you sharing in our experiences with us!