A tale of two cities - Hong Kong & Kuala Lumpur

Some cities really speak to me, they emanate a heightened sense of living - they have energy, a rhythm and real soul. London is one of those cities, I get a rush from the intensity, and the diversity round every corner. Buenos Aires is another. Its Latino flavour, tango in the streets and beautiful boulevards made it my favourite South American city hands down. Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong unfortunately aren’t in the same league. It’s not them, it’s me. The connection just wasn’t there.  

Nevertheless we had a brilliant time shopping and, well, more shopping in KL and catching up with an old friend and enjoying the amazing skyline of HK. Here’s a short blog about what do to with a few days in each city.

Kuala Lumper

                              

Indeed the only stressful thing about Kuala Lumper was getting there. I've put it in a timeline to really bring it home..

13:00 Check out of Big Blue and have a day hanging round Koh Tao.

19:00 Arrive at tourist agent to get free shuttle to night boat. Chatty young English girl is waiting also.

20:00 Free shuttle is the open back of a pickup truck that screams through Koh Tao’s hilly roads at alarming speed. Arrive to boat alive. Phew.

20:30 Boat departs. Steerage consists of rows of mattresses on the ground that might as well be made of concrete. They are about 30cm wide. Gap year British girl is getting bit annoying “The aboriginals have ruined Australia” is probably her winning remark. Put in earphones. 

04:30 Arrive in Surat Thani port after zero sleep. Left to wait on the side of the road for 1.5hours for a shuttle bus. Toast that is as dry as the plains of hell is available for a bargain 20 baht.

06:00 Shuttle finally arrives and we drive off towards the border in the usual zero legroom discomfort that is key to vehicle design in South East Asia.

10:45 Abandoned again at the side of the road in a shitty little town that I can’t remember the name of. Food is available - it’s unlikely it could taste as bad as it smells but I still give it a miss.

12:00 Thrown onto another shuttle bus.

13:00 Cross the border into Malaysia with relatively little hassle. The two English girls have both been bitten by dogs in the Thai islands. I am mystified as to how they are not more freaked out about having rabies. (I suppose if they had it they’d know, but still???)

17:30 Arrive in Georgetown. It looks pretty cool actually and the other travellers are getting off here. But no such luck for us! It’s another uncomfortable side of the road wait, watching the traffic.

18:45 Nearing on 24hours travelling now! The bus finally shows and amazingly it’s a coach that is pretty comfortable. The traffic is pretty rubbish though.

20:00 This bus is freezing! We are still hundreds of kilometres away, and feel hungry and miserable.

22:45 Finally we arrive in downtown KL where we engage a taxi driver who negotiates a hugely over inflated rate. We are just too tired to argue, but once we get to his cab there is a sign that says “Metered taxi, do not bargain”. ARGH!!

23:00 This driver is a lying motherf*cker because he clearly does not know where our hostel is. He stops to take a piss and then just drives around slowly jabbering in Malay. Thankfully I spot the road and we get to the hostel.

The sleepy man who opens the door says he does not have our booking. OH MOTHER OF GOD WHEN WILL THIS END?! He recommends a place down the road. Thankfully it is clean, comfortable and has great AC. At nearly €30 it’s way out of budget, but at this stage I’d sleep in under a bridge somewhere!

23:10 ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ….

Kuala Lumpur is an interesting melting pot of ethnic Malay people (usually Muslim) and Indian and Chinese settlers. It’s a city that reaches into the sky and has a fantastic and easy to use transport system. I’d say it’s a great place to live.

Waiting for the monorail

It also has malls. Lots of them.

The flashiest one we visited was in the base of the Petronas towers, the iconic twin peaks of KL. Built by the state owened oil giant, they are stunning and the bridge between the two is a tourist hotspot, but we didn’t manage to make it there early enough to enter.

KL tower is another place to get a bird’s eye view of the city and enjoy the skyline and some hidden wonders via some super powerful telescopes.

The final interesting and much grittier part of town that we visited was Chinatown, where the market offered the opportunity for some energetic haggling and cheap eats.

Hong Kong

Flying into HK was pretty special. Puffs of clouds parted to reveal the shimmery bay and all the islands and their massive skyscrapers looking like a super city in miniature.

We stayed with Avril, an old friend of mine who very kindly gave up her bedroom for us and treated us to the best meal we’d had in a long time!

On our first night, we met a mildly crazy German guy and went to a few bars with him, getting to grips with beer prices that rival Dublin. It was a Monday night and the streets were hopping, it’s definitely a party city!

We strolled around the downtown area, wandering among Chinese medicine shops and trendy coffee joints. This was my first introduction into the weird shit that Chinese people will pay a lot of money for. Namely, birds nests, countless species of dried mushroom, grubs (or worms?) and the controversial shark fins and other shark bits and bobs.

Downtown is a curious jumble of old Chinese, modern Chinese, colonial British and highflying corporate. Trams rumble down Des Voeux Road flanked by Range Rovers and Audis and lauded over by the offices of banking giants. At the same time, people are lighting incense coils and leaving offerings in smoky and ancient temples. It’s a pretty cool mix!

We hopped on a funicular up to the peak, a mountain on Hong Kong island with a lookout area, and blessed with a clear day we were afforded a brilliant panoramic of the city. The skyscrapers are somewhat mind boggling. Because there’s so many of them it’s easy to forget the engineering and architectural mastery that goes into each and every one.

The rather unaffectionate pet name for Kowloon Bay (opposite the channel from HK island) is "the dark side", but I don’t know how anywhere could compete with its dazzling neighbour! We hopped on the star ferry and wandered around Kowloon for a morning. It holds some of the most densely populated areas on earth and the traffic and pedestrian volumes were a little stressful to deal with. 

Afterwards we took in the "Symphony of Lights" on the boardwalk in Kowloon. It's as naff as it sounds, we had been warned by Avril! And she was right, the voice over in best cheesy American accompanied a somewhat uninspiring flash of lasers coming from the buildings across the bay. No denying the amazing skyline lit up at night though!

And in a flash we were ready for mainland China. Bring it on!!

Thai Islands & Scuba Diving!

We were disappointed that we didn’t get to spend a full day sightseeing in Mandalay, but having gotten the day of the flight wrong and luckily realising over breakfast we were quick as a flash back in Thailand. We connected through Bangkok once more and caught a flight down to Phuket, a large tourist hotspot in the south. It was a long day of travelling again, but at this stage they don’t seem to faze us like they used to.

I had been adamant that after Myanmar we could both do with a bit of R&R, so I got online a couple of days before and secured a deal which at the time I thought too good to be true. The price was less than we had been paying for absolute bare budget places in Myanmar, we’re talking 20 quid a night! So with much trepidation we were led up the elevator and as the bellhop swiped open the door I held my breath, would there be a chalk outline of a body on the floor? a pungent odour coming from the toilet? I couldn’t believe my eyes! It was the biggest hotel room I’d ever seen, and easily the plushest place we had stayed thus far. Any remnants of disappointment that either of us were harbouring about our quick exit from Myanmar were quickly forgotten about!

Happy Cora?

We spent the next few days in Kata Beach Tropical Resort soaking up the comforts that we missed so much in Myanmar. I worked on my swimming technique, while Cora worked on her tan! Kata Beach was nice enough, but very touristy and a little bit sleazy and not very interesting, but the pool made up for all its other shortcomings!

After 4 days we set sail for the nearby Island of Phi Phi, a place that was left devastated by the Tsunami of 2008, where nearly 2000 people died when a 5 metre high wave washed over the downtown area. Now rebuilt, tourists are back in their droves and we wanted to spend a few days taking in the famous natural beauty of the island. Whatever natural beauty there is was not immediately evident upon disembarking the boat. There were touts everywhere, promising us that all the island would soon book up if we didn’t act quickly. Knowing that it was low season we set off to find a place of our own, and within fifteen minutes we were settled into our little sweat box with nice ocean views and set off to explore.

The main part of the island is easily covered by foot, which is good as there is no transport to talk about. During the day it’s all about the beaches, so we hopped into a longtail boat and made for Long beach in a nearby bay. The beach was practically empty, and the water, cool and clear for some snorkeling.

All to ourselves

At night time there’s little to do but hit the bars. One that really played up for the tourists was the Reggae Reggae bar. Not sure where the name comes from, as they never played any reggae! But what they do have is a full size boxing ring right in the middle of the bar. Each night, tourists are enticed into fighting each other for 3 rounds, with the promise of a world famous thai bucket at the end. Some tourists did it just for the bucket and merely went through the motions, but for others it looked as though there was national pride at stake!

We booked onto a boat tour of the surrounding beaches nearby. This gave me the opportunity to indulge in one of my favourite holiday pastimes, jumping off boats!

We spent the day, swimming and snorkeling in the crystal clear water surrounded by fish and taking in the beautiful scenery. The big ticket stop off was at Maya bay, made famous as the actual beach in the movie “The Beach” and after splashing around like Leo Di Caprio for a while we made our way back to Phi Phi.

The beach from "The Beach"

After a couple of days on Phi Phi, our next stop was the Island of Koh Tao where we intended to complete our open water diving qualification. Partly because they have over 60 dive schools on the island and some of the worlds best dive sites, but mostly because it was pretty cheap here too. After another long day travelling from Phi Phi including 2 boats and a bus, we arrived late to Koh Tao and decided to wait till the next day to sign up for a course.

Koh Tao Sunset

We signed up with Big Blue diving, the biggest operator on the island, they seemed professional and also threw in some cheap accommodation with the deal, and given our tight budget, every penny counts! They had a great location right on the beach, with a restaurant and a bar. The course consisted of an introductory dvd on day one where we got to meet the rest of our group. That evening we were sent away with homework to do. (Yes! Actual homework!)

Day 2 and we went straight to the pool for our swim test with our lovely instructor Chloe from France, who turned out had an Irish boyfriend! The swim test consisted of swimming a few laps of the pool and also trying to stay afloat in the deep end for 10 minutes, happily we passed with flying colours and moved on to the more interesting skills. These involved removing and cleaning our mask underwater and also what to do if you run out of air. I really enjoyed the feeling of being under water, and already couldn’t wait to be in the open sea.With day 2 complete we had some study to do for our exam the following day! There are worse places to do some homework than on a Thai island at sunset with a cold beer beside you.

Get back to your homework!

Day 3 and finally we were going to be diving for real, but we still had the small issue of our early morning exam. The exam was multiple choice and just a summary of all we had learned in the previous 2 days. Cora was not impressed with her 94% especially when the big swot beside her got full marks! With the formalities out of the way, we boarded a boat in the afternoon and set off for our first 2 dives. We quickly arrived at the dive site and began to set up our gear, I could tell that Cora was already getting a bit nervous as we prepared to enter the water.

Once we were all ready at the surface, we started to descend into the clear waters below. Immediately Cora and another girl were having issues, Cora took a few moments to equalise the pressure in her ears and calm down, and after a while joined me a few metres under the surface. But the other girl could not relax, and was clearly having a panic attack, so unfortunately she had to abort the dive. The rest of us descended slowly to the bottom of the ocean floor, about 12m down. It was like another world, we were weightless and you could literally explore every direction. The ocean was alive with thousands of exotic colourful fish. We followed Chloe as she introduced us to all manner of life form and terrain. Our stay at the bottom passed by too quickly and after no time at all, we started to ascend slowly.

Back on the boat we readied our gear for our next dive, at another location, no less impressive. This time at the bottom of the ocean we practiced some of our skills that we learned in the pool the previous day, and after all passing with flying colours we set off to explore some more. We saw angel fish, large schools of barracuda, moray eels and massive groupers. The area around the coral was a hive of activity and it was so peaceful just taking it all in.

The following day we had 2 more equally impressive dives, and we were all getting more and more confident in the water and with no skills to perform we were free to explore and enjoy the underwater world. As we were more relaxed we could preserve our oxygen more and thus stay down for longer. The 2 dives were over quickly unfortunately though, and with that we were all certified open water divers to a depth of 18 metres!

That evening we went out with the rest of the group and our instructor Chloe to celebrate. I’m not sure if it was the 2 beers and jaegermeister with dinner, but I was having serious thoughts about signing up for the advanced course the following morning. All the others were already doing it, and Chloe was going to be the instructor. So having caught the bug, it was back to the ATM I went to withdraw another fistful of Bhat.

Open water divers!

The next morning I left Cora to relax on the beach, as I started the advanced course. The first dive was a deep dive to 30 metres, where Chloe was watching us closely for any signs of Nitrogen Narcosis, where you literally get high off the nitrogen in your blood and start acting like you’re drunk. It’s totally harmless, and if it happens to you, you just ascend a bit and return to normal. Unfortunately I wasn’t even buzzing a bit! Different from the beginner course we were all fitted with dive computers and compasses and were responsible for logging our dives.

We even did a night dive that evening. It was like being on a different planet, with nothing but a little flash light each to guide our way. After 3 dives I was completely shattered and had no trouble sleeping in our little sweatbox that evening. We had 2 early morning dives the next day, including a navigation dive, where we had to find our way back to the boat using our map and compass and also a wreck dive, where we explored a sunken WWII battleship.

Underwater skills

Unfortunately after overstaying a bit in Koh Tao, we left ourselves with little time to get to Kuala Lumpur for our flight to Hong Kong. That meant that we wouldn’t get to see northern Malaysia at all. We’ve quickly realise that it’s impossible to fit everything! So that night after I finished the course, we started what would be an utterly gruelling journey from Koh Tao in Thailand to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

Our last Thai sunset

            

Temples and trains!

From the banks of expansive Inle lake, we made our way southwest to Bagan, an ancient city full of temples and probably Myanmar’s most famous tourist destination. The bus ride was relatively comfortable, except for the people puking in front of us, the people puking behind us and the people puking out the window. In Bagan the rain had started, turning the streets into rivers of gushing brown swells.

The next day dawned clear and the heat replaced the cool rain with intensity. So we engaged the services of a horse cart and driver (for €18) to see the temples as they’ve been seen for centuries. What followed was a really enjoyable day of slowly meandering around the sights to the melodic clip clop of our horse Ruby’s hooves. 

Each and every one of the temples we visited (there are around 2000 in total!) seemed to have a Buddha statue inside and was maintained beautifully. The building of the temples started in the 9^th century when Bagan was the capital of the Pagan Empire and continued for a couple of hundred years. Originally there were over 10,000 monuments!

The number and pristine condition of the buildings was amazing, and what really makes the sight impressive is that the land is flat as a pancake, so climbing up affords a view of the plain just heaving with red temples, like a giant chessboard mid-game.

It was a public holiday so there were a lot of Burmese tourists, many of whom liked posing for pictures with us and trying out their little bit of English. In one temple a woman offered to paint my face with thanaka, the paint made from tree sap that all Burmese ladies spread on their face and arms every morning. It protects against the sun, deters mosquitoes and is anti-aging. Beat that Loreal!

It felt a bit strange to have tree sap smeared on my face but I noticed a lot of local women appreciatively smiling at me afterwards. It felt nice to be one of the gang!

One of the more modern temples we stopped at was also playing host to about a hundred schoolkids who tumbled out of little trucks and sat down to chant their prayers at great speed. It was very cute!

Day two of temple spotting we decided to DIY and set off in the afternoon on bikes to explore some more. First of all I wanted to go to the market to buy a long skirt in the traditional elegant wrap-around style. After being attacked by saleswomen who must not have had a customer in days, I bagged a colourful one for €5. Cycling back through the back streets, there were communal water pumps and women crouched on the side of the road selling hand rolled cigars. All very removed from the Western hotels and restaurants a few blocks away.

As evening came down we followed the crowd and climbed to the top of the highest temple in the plain to watch the sunset over the temples. It was just stunning.

I really enjoyed spending time in temples of Bagan, wandering barefoot through the cool corridors was a therapeutic respite from the heat outside. In ways I preferred it to Angkor Wat, there seemed to be more life and allure in the variety and architecture of the temples. We often stumbled upon monks delicately gold plating the Buddhas inside. 

Unfortunately the peaceful site belies a somewhat terrible secret. When the military government decided to renovate the site in the 1990’s they basically shat all over the original style of the temples, using modern materials to renovate them and earning condemnation from conservationists and archaeologists worldwide. To the untrained eye this isn’t obvious, but the temples do look rather “perfect”, which could be an indicator. Bagan surprisingly is not a UNESCO world heritage site, and it’s likely this is the reason.

Damien loves this last photograph.

After Bagan, we connected through Mandalay by bus to another town in Shan state called Hsipaw. It was a full day of travelling and utterly exhausting.

Hsipaw was a lovely stop for a few days rest. The town is small and friendly and we rented bikes again and explored the market and the cluttered streets. One day we attempted to hike to a waterfall. Passing by noodles drying in the sun and an interesting Chinese and Burmese cemetery, we got totally lost and abandoned hope of finding the waterfall. Ah well.

I had read about a stunning train trip from Hsipaw back to Mandalay and although it would take the full day, we couldn’t leave Myanmar without travelling once on the railway. We bought our tickets (first class, $8) and waited for the already delayed train to roll in. Upon taking our seats two things struck me, one, first class was actually pretty crap as the windows were dirty glass, impossible to see out of, and two there were tiny mice EVERYWHERE!

Damien got out to change our tickets to second class where the windows were open and there were no mice. We must be the first people ever to downgrade our tickets (no refund!). Everyone waved to the train as we clanked and creaked our way out of the station. We moved slowly, very slowly, through farmland and small villages, with an endless number of people to wave to. Waving at trains seems to be a national pastime!

Every time the train stopped, women and children came to the windows selling fruit and noodles. As soon as we picked up any speed, branches came snapping in the windows, like the whips of an angry teacher’s cane. It was a constant challenge trying to avoid them!

Mid way through the journey came the eagerly awaited crossing of the Gokteik Viaduct, a monstrous bridge that traverses a deep gorge and was built during the colonial era, in 1901 to be precise. As we approached the valley I could see the bridge appearing on the right and as the train chugged through two dark tunnels and slowed to a snail's pace we gingerly crept out onto the spindly tracks. Leaning out the window and looking down was quite a rush as the valley was hundreds of feet below, dissected by a fast flowing river.

Eventually we arrived in Mandalay, shaken and stirred by our railway jaunt. It was a fun and culturally interesting trip, as the railways are a crucial (albeit decaying) part of Myanmar's infrastructure.

I can't write much about Mandalay as on waking on our first day we realised that we had misjudged our itinerary and had to hightail it straight to the airport. I hear we didn't miss much though. 

And that was the rather low key end to our Burmese adventure! It was a fantastic country to visit, full of smiling faces and a people just trying to rebuild their lives and their country after a brutal regime that stripped them of so many liberties. I'm delighted we went. 

Hiking to Inle lake

Yangon was an intriguing city to spend a few days in. After meandering through its muggy streets admiring decaying colonial mansions and trying to get a grip of Burmese culture and day to day life, I felt we’d had a fitting introduction to this mysterious country. Our next stop was a town north of the city where the heat would abate and we could trek into the surrounding countryside.

But getting to the bus station turned into a hell on earth type journey. The little tuk-tuk overburdened with us and half a dozen Burmese folks broke down twice and then sat in bumper touching traffic for what seemed like days. Motorcycles are banned in Yangon so this exacerbates the traffic problem and the sticky heat exacerbated our discomfort. Finally we got there, got on the comfortable bus and tried to get some sleep, ignoring the blaring karaoke music and the blinding lights, neither of which were turned off until about 1am.

We were turfed out of the bus at 4.15am and staggered into what seemed an eerie and empty town. Thankfully our guesthouse was open and a nice young chap showed us to the basic basic room. Getting used to the sub-par accommodation in Myanmar was getting a little difficult! At the moment there is an undersupply of hotels, and we rarely paid less than $20 a night for rooms that were, in general, pretty shit.

But we slept and the next day managed to organise a trek with two other couples we had met. After some great Nepalese food (alas, not stunned by Burmese cuisine thus far) we packed up and got ready for our three day hike, getting to bed early in the midst of another power cut.

Over breakfast I watched a saffron stream of young monks trickle into the village, carrying their alms bowls for the daily collection from local people. They made a pretty and serene picture. We had already noticed the huge number of young monks in Myanmar; this is because most men spend a year in a monastery when they are around ten. Imagine shipping an Irish ten year old off to a monastery!

But back to our trek. The two guides we met were very fresh faced, like about 18, at most. It was a little disappointing as I hoped they might give us some insight on what living in Myanmar was like, particularly during the dark days of the military rule. But they were a lovely friendly pair so I couldn’t really complain.

We ambled out of town passing by women with baskets on their back heading to the market and bamboo carts pulled by bulky buffalo. After passing through a forest we emerged to see a vista of interlocking valleys speckled with dark green tea trees. Myanmar is a big producer of tea, and they even eat the tea leaves in a pickled salad which is very popular.

Lunch was served in a dark teak house, hosted by quiet little family and then everyone watched the rain clouds roll in and open up into a deluge of fat rain. Luck was with us though and it passed quickly and we carried on in the rain freshened air.

The next few kilometres were walked alongside the railway line (a viable road in most Asian countries) and then we stopped in the ramshackle station for a rest. The train network in Myanmar is a relic from the British days, when the whole country was considered part of British India. Most of the lines are single track and in varying state of decay. While we were resting in the station, an ancient train of four carriages chugged in. And then the most wonderful thing happened.

Suddenly there was a flurry of activity and the crowd that was milling around picked up their baskets of fruit and veg and flowers and began conducting some very loud and entertaining business with the passengers on the train - through the open windows. It was such a fun and unexpected spectacle and brilliant to stumble upon.

The last hour towards the final village was a stunning hike. The soft evening light fell on a low valley with fields full of all shades of green vegetables. We foraged for pink flowers which would be made into a salad for dinner. On reaching the summit of a hill with two big old trees on top I just sat and took in the beauty of the place. There was something so tranquil about where we were, the setting sun behind the slowly darkening hills and the shadows thrown on the carefully sculpted terraces took my breath away.

The little village we stopped for the night in was reached over a long wooden bridge and lots of kids shouted hello as we walked in. After a wash at the communal pump (during which the local ladies got a great giggle out of Damien’s slightly white torso!) we sat down to some dinner and relaxed after the 23km we’d marched. The family that hosted us live in a traditional wooden house on stilts, with storage below and simple living quarters above.

Oh I forgot about the pregnant spider we had to evict!

The village, like all the others we visited, houses an ethnic minority who speak their own language and have differing customs and traditions to the ethnic Burmese.  Shan state is the largest state in Myanmar and is a patchwork landscape of many different minority tribes. There are also several armed separatist groups that operate in the highlands and the tension between these and the Burmese military is constant, often erupting in violent skirmishes. Further augmenting the plight of this troubled state is a huge involvement in the narcotics trade and both legal (hydropower) and illegal (logging, wildlife trafficking) activity of Chinese neighbours. None of this was in evidence in the quiet villages we visited and most areas of contention are off limits to tourists.

The next day we set off early and climbed the mountain behind the village for some excellent views into the valleys full of terraces. And here was me thinking the Incas dreamed up terrace farming! The farmers in South East Asia have been at it for centuries too…

The hike continued through the undulating countryside, passing farmers at work with their buffalo and other small villages where the women wore brightly coloured headbands. We were also often accosted by groups of excited children!

As the day went on though, my feet became very painful, each one with their own little collection of blisters. It got tougher and tougher, but a swim and wash in the river helped.. even though we were just downstream from where these water buffalo were having their bath time!

Eventually (and by this stage I was in agony), we came close to the village and fell into step with the groups of farmers returning from the fields where they grow ginger, potatoes and rice. All the farming we saw was by hand, with water buffalo used for the more strenuous ploughing. The peaceful pastoral scenes masked the hard physical labour that goes into levelling the ground, planting and tending to the crops. 

The water supply seemed to be outside of town and there were lots of people gathered to wash and collect water for the night. We followed the little parade of people, water buffalo pulling carts, some motorbikes and other livestock through a gap in the mountains and home to the village. It felt like a daily ritual, the return from the waterpump, that we were lucky enough to join in on for one evening.

Our homestay was another simple wooden affair, but the lovely welcoming Pa’o family made it truly special. After another tasty meal, the husband, wife and their three pretty daughters sat and chatted with us, mainly with our young guides interpreting for both sides. They were curious about us, our relationships and countries, and I wondered how they imagined our lives.

After another night on a hard floor we set off early again, waving goodbye to the lovely family. After about an hour, I couldn’t hack the hiking boots anymore and went from two boots, to one boot-one flipflop and finally (like true local) to only flipflops! It was much better.

The trail descended through stony red earth, and finally after lunch, we came upon the canal that would lead us to our final destination, Inle lake. Boy was I glad to see the boat that would take us out! The journey across the lake was really enjoyable, we flew by water gardens, longtail boats full of shiny vegetables and once we got out onto the lake, gorgeous private resorts. The lake itself was a shimmering grey blue dotted with stand up fisherman perched on their curved boats like elegant birds.  

Finally we reached Nyuangshwe, the final stop, and said goodbye to our sweet little guides giving them each a tip of €5 (this is a lot in Myanmar I promise!) and agreeing to meet our new trekking buddies for dinner later. It had been a hike of around 65km and although my battered feet wouldn’t forgive me, I think it was worth every step and a definite highlight of our Myanmar trip. To see the simplicity and peacefulness of pastoral life in those beautiful valleys was an unforgettable experience.