After a little under a month in Burma Vicky and I gather our thoughts and write our Burma Wrap Up!
Four months ago we posted 43 Things You Didn’t Know About China. Now we’re following that up with some observations from an equally mysterious culture.
Our last leg of our Burma journey landed us in Hpa-an, a remote village about 8 hours south of Yangon. We took a boat from Mawlamyine for about 3 hours, on which we met an older Canadian couple who ran an NGO in Cambodia. We had a nice chat and it helped the time pass smoothly.
Burma and customer service generally don’t go hand and hand. I don’t think Vicky and I are particularly picky – we did sleep on bean bag chairs for three nights in Tokyo. Still, to me there are a few things I think of as a “no brainer” when it comes to running a hotel or hostel.
We’re not exactly the travelers that jump at the opportunity to wake up before it’s light out, but we decided to make an exception – it’s about time we saw a sunrise.
It amazes me what people are willing to pay to do. This time, Vicky and I decided to go on a three day trek from Kalaw to Lake Inle with the trekking group Eversmile. This was a three day, 60 km hike primarily spent in…
Expectations are a funny thing. They can completely shape the experience that you have in a country. Generally speaking, the higher your expectations are, the more inclined you are to be disappointed. We had extremely high expectations for Burma and in many ways it didn’t rise to the occasion.
Why is that?
The first time we did a temple post was when we did our tour in Kyoto. That time we split it up into two posts with a ton of info. This time we’re just going to showcase some photos and cut to the chase.
Let’s face it, neither you nor I will remember the names of all these Burmese temples in the long run.
But maybe we will secure a spot in your memory with these snapshots.
The train to Pyin oo Lwin from Hsipaw was pretty extraordinary. But the highlight was a simple park visit in Pyin Oo Lwin
After reading on wikitravel that the train ride between Hsipaw and Pyin OO Lwin is one of the ‘must do’ railway journeys in the world I knew we had to make it work. I mean our trip doesn’t even take us all over the world, so if we only need to slightly go out of our way for one of the best things in the world, I say it’s worth it.