I wouldn't have minded to stay a little more in my paradise, but anyway, all good times have come to an end and my Intrepid tour was waiting for me to commence soon.
So I took the plane back to Yangon where I have met up with my fellow travelers who were coming from all sorts of countries, Down Under, England, Germany & Switzerland. It was the first time for me to do an organized tour like this and the group I joined was quite cool, and loud too, lots of them with a great bunch of stories & jokes to tell. And what surprised me a little was the fact, that a lot of these guys really have already seen so much of the world that I felt myself to a bit boring with my world around and the few number of countries that I will be seeing. Never mind, it's not a competition anyway :-). And hey guess what, I found that I was not the only one who quit his job and everything to discover the world, there are other lunatics on their way too ;-)
Together with our guide we set off to discover the most popular places in Myanmar during the upcoming 14 days. Like Bagan, the first (of many) capital of Myanmar that boast with its numerous temples built around 11th to 13th century. These temples emanate some kind of magic atmosphere, especially when you feel that some centuries ago among these temples kings have ruled, monks have prayed, peasants and other people have lived their lifes, and wars have been fought... even more so, when you watch the sun set or rise on one of the temples, overlooking the Bagan area and the Irrawady river.
After three nights in Bagan and little sleep (since I was sharing my room with a tank, at least the guy sounded like one) we took the boat on a two day trip to Mandalay. First I wasn't too sure if our barge would make it there, but it turned out to be a very pleasant trip, just very easy going sitting on deck, watching the scenery passing by, enjoying a beer or two and excellent food, and sleeping on deck with the huge full moon above, and having a laugh with my fellow travelers. And being on a little barge it was also given, that every one else of the group could enjoy the run-over-by-a-tank feeling after a not very quiet night.
Mandalay then wasn't really worth the stop, but moving on to Kalaw, we found an other very nice place up in the mountains, all of us enjoying a one day walk on the countryside, passing by some villages where people grow their rice & veggies and take care of their cattle. Our local guide we had on that day even made the trip more interesting, giving us some background to what we see, hear & taste. After dinner back in Kalaw I then was very happy to visit a local bar, where the local people drank whisky & rum and sang their folk songs from the very deep of their hearts (the guy just beside me nearly gave me a tinitus) - and then they would pass the guitar over to me so I could play the coversongs that I knew... this all was big fun :-)
Our last stop then was in Inle Lake, another wonderful place where the people called Intha live in small villages along the lake's shores, and on the lake itself. Driving around the lake on a small boat, visiting the various craftsman shops, then also doing a small bike tour and visiting the winery up on the hill, we have spent a great time over there.
I've experienced Myanmar to be a country definitely still worth a visit, although some years ago it all must have been even lots more untouched, whereas nowadays tourism is spreading with lightspeed. I very much liked the local people, being friendly & helpful, and every now and then someone would approach you just for a chat in order to get some info on your person and your coming from, and to get some practical experience in using their English. Some fellow travelers were even invited to a Burmese lady's home, where they would be cooked for, get a taxi organized, and invited again to come back soon... and she would not want anything for it in exchange, like all the other people mentioned above. A phenomenon which is not common everywhere in South East Asia. Myanmar is also called the Golden Land, in which you will find thousands of temples and Buddhas, some of them covered over with gold leafs people had put on while practicing their faith. And then the country is also covered with advertisements for beer and whisky, which I just found somehow funny to see, even though I reckon you don't have to believe that everybody would be a drinker, I only guess the beer companies hand out this ads to the people for free which would use it as kind of building material. Somehow unfortunate was the fact, that our guide was not enough skilled when it came to English and to background know how about country and people (which actually happened already for the second time on my trip). Even though this time my guide was a great chap as a person, being very helpful and one who offered a good services in terms of organizing things, he did not manage to convey the history and the fascination about his country and his people, which once more was just too bad. Because that's exactly why you would go on such a tour, otherwise you could just do it on your own, which definitely is no problem at all in Myanmar. Anyway, despite this we had a good time all together and celebrated our farewell while having a dinner at some rooftop bar in Yangon. And on our way home to the hotel we really made the best of the taxi fare paid, packing our taxi with 7 people :-)
Since four days I'm already in Cambodia now, visiting Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. More temples and I guess I have a little temple overdose by now. Anyway, I will report on my short stay here as soon as possible, for now wishing everyone a merry X-mas and a great New Year (even though at temperatures around 30 X-mas and year end seems even further away to me).
