Yangon

Although Yangon is no longer capital of Myanmar, it remains the commercial centre. Our first impressions were of a large, busy, dirty (think a family of rats living in the drain outside our hotel), run down city with significant poverty. It is all of those things, but we discovered that it is also friendly and interesting with good parks, great food options and people working in various ways to improve the lives of those in need.

When giving us a city map, the man on reception at Beautyland II, our well-located budget hotel, recommended the BBQ restaurants on 19th Street for dinner. That sounded like us, so off we went. It was also a great opportunity to see just a little of our new location. The blocks between the numbered streets are short, probably only 300 metres or so, but occasionally a named street pops up between the numbered ones so it was  about 16 blocks between our hotel on 33rd Street and the restaurants. Street lighting was a bit hit-and-miss, the pavements are rough and have various obstacles (stalls, people, stones, broken sections with raised concrete etc.), and the huge gutters mean big drops to the street, so it was fairly slow going. 

Once we arrived on 19th Street, which is like a miniature Jalan Alor in Kuala Lumpur, we quickly picked a restaurant and sat down to eat. There was a lots of meat in the fridge that we didn't recognise and we were fairly conservative in our choices this time. For the first time on this trip we had local children come up to the table and ask for food. 

We had a couple of brief power cuts at the hotel that evening, our first since arriving. We'd expected there to be more disrupted power supplies than we actually experienced after reading about government imposed outages and issues with supply. Aome of our hotels proudly advertised 24-hour power, so any fixed improvement must be fairly recent. 

At breakfast the following day we met a couple from Hastings/Napier who have been working in Yangon as missionaries on and off for the past three or so years. As the conversion aspect of their work is a little sensitive, they refer to themselves as the 'M's'. Their work also involves setting up schools and supporting other social initiatives. We talked a bit about some of the current big issues for Myanmar, including Aung San Suu Kyi (who they confirmed is hugely popular amongst the people), education and child trafficking. They think a gang has started up as a few children from poorer families have disappeared recently. It ensured we kept a close eye on ours. 

We caught a taxi (no tuk tuks here) to Yangon Bakehouse, a cafe which provides disadvantaged women with training in food preparation, cooking and service, then assists with finding employment. The cafe is in a non-descript mall, but offers great coffee and very good food. 

From there we walked to Shwedagon Temple, one of the most important active Buddhist temples in Myanmar. In part at least because the golden stupa is believed to be constructed around eight strands of hair from Buddha. It is certainly impressive, but we must have been spoilt by all the other amazing temples we've seen in the past few weeks as it didn't seem to us to be the one thing not to be missed in Myanmar as described in the Lonely Planet. 

We grabbed a quick lunch at a restaurant just outside the temple grounds. We were given a mystery soup, which seemed to be onion broth with garlic, coriander and mushroom. Yum!! The whole meal was tasty and incredibly cheap (about $4 NZ for the four of us).

The nearby People's Park is a pleasant big green leafy space where local couples go to canoodle. We found the playground and played there for a while before Eleanor and Leo decided they preferred the exercise machines. We also tried out the two swing bridges strung between wooden towers high in the trees which was fun for us all. 

Our final visit for the day was the  Bogyoke market for a spot of shopping. It is a covered tourist market with a rabbit warren of stalls selling all sorts of things from brightly coloured fabric to gems and jade to clothing to lackerware and other wooden products. We arrived a little late in the day as everything was starting to close at 5pm. 

Our last day in Yangon really felt like the end of our trip, even though we still had a few hours in Kuala Lumpur and a night with my brother Richard on the way home. It was hot and sunny, probably around 32-33 degrees, the warmest day we'd had in a while. 

We spent the morning visiting Botataung Paya, a considerably quieter temple than Shwedagon. The kids loved walking through the zig-zag maze with golden walls inside the stupa (we did it twice at their request), Which houses a shrine to a sacred relic, a strand of Buddha's hair. 

We walked past the British Embassy, which has current notices outside referring to the city as Rangoon, the British name for it during the colonial period. It would be interesting to know why. After a quick stop at the attractive brick colonial post office to post a few cards, it was time for lunch.

We had lunch at Be Le, a huge Chinese restaurant on the banks of the Yangon River. The menu was extensive, including a dish of pigs intestines, heart and throat, shark fin soup and an entire section of eel options. We went with chicken stirfry. 

In the afternoon we stopped at the playground at Mahabandoola Gardens from where we could admire colonial buildings like the High Court and City Hall. The entire city has an air of faded glory (in some cases, very faint indeed!), which prompted various conversations with the kids about how it must have been great once. 

We popped into the ornate Sule Paya, where Eleanor and Leo befriended a group of monks and sat chatting with them until it was time to leave. This was our last and easily the shortest temple visit of the trip. It is definitely possible to become a little templed-out!

That night we popped to a roof-top restaurant for a quick drink while looking out over the city. We could see where we'd walked the previous day. A long way! 

We chose LinkAge for dinner that night, a training restaurant for street children. Some are shockingly young, one waiter looked no more than nine or 10, but they seem very happy and are obviously learning skills that will enable their future employment. It must be better than being on the streets. The service was good and the food excellent. Even attempting to imagine how difficult life on the streets of Yangon must be for a child reminded us of how lucky we are. 

We were up early the next day for our flight to KL. The first leg of our homeward journey. Yangon airport isn't currently particularly exciting or well-furnished with food or shopping options, but a big extension is taking place, so they are obviously increasing their capacity for visitors. Another small sign of Myanmar is developing and opening up maybe. 

Shwedagon

Family work out

Inside Botataung Paya

Posting cards

LinkAge

A stopover in Nay Pyi Taw and the train to Yangon

This distances in Myanmar are huge, it was around 700km from Bagan to our next destination, Yangon. We were keen to try the local trains, but decided against the 16 hour journey from Nyaung U (only 15km from Bagan) to Yangon due to the time and reports that the tracks in the early part make for a very bumpy ride. 

Instead we took a taxi to Nay Pyi Taw where we spent the night before catching the train to Yangon the following morning. The drive was interesting for the first couple of hours as we drove through the countryside and saw people going about their daily lives, but once we turned onto the long, straight four-lane Mandalay to Yangon highway it was just driving. The trip took five hours, in part because our very careful driver did not exceed 80km an hour, even when the speed limit was clearly 100km.  

Nay Pyi Taw is in the centre of the country and 12 years ago would have been a small village. But in 2005 the Government suddenly decided to move the capital there from Yangon, so created a new city. From the moment you arrive, it is truly surreal. Not at all like any other part of Myanmar we've seen. There are wide streets (including an eight-lane road through on part), well-tended roadsides and traffic islands, no rubbish, huge mansions and government offices as well as a gems museum, national museum, national library and national archives. What a fascinating place the latter must be! There are also lots of large grand-looking hotels, which seems odd given the lack of people around. All a bit eery really. 

After checking into the Apex hotel (so large we got delivered to our room by golfcart, and we never saw another guest...) we decided to go to the train station to try and get tickets for our train the following day, and to pick up supplies for the journey. We'd asked the hotel a few days earlier to make the booking for us, but deciphered their reply to mean that trains cannot be pre-booked. Further research on The Man in Seat 61 had confirmed this. Apparently there are almost always seats available for tourists bookable the day before or day of the journey. 

Arriving at the huge station that looks modern from the outside was a welcome dose of normalcy... there were people everywhere and it was a bit grubby. There was little signage in English, but we managed to find the ticket counters, which weren't staffed. We looked around the corner and found people in a little office to ask. It turned out they were the right people to talk to; they welcomed us into the office and gave us a seat while they wrote out our ticket by hand. There wasn't a computer in sight, so we puzzled over how they manage capacity and seat allocation. They wanted our passports but the hotel had taken them, so we just guessed at the numbers, which wasn't an issue even when the police checked our passports on the train the next morning. 

The hypermarket is in a new mall that felt hastily constructed, like many things in Nay Pyi Taw. It didn't have a huge amount of food for its size, but you could buy all sorts of other things... clothing, homewares, furniture etc. Still, we managed to find sufficient fruit and snacks for the train ride. Clearly jobs are created in Nay Pyi Taw, as there was an attendant at the end of each aisle, just on case you need help. They looked bored.

We had dinner at Santino, a restaurant at the top of the only hill in Nay Pyi Taw (really just a little rise). I shamelessly ordered pizza. Maybe noodles are starting to loose their shine a little!

At exactly 8am the next day the train left for the nine-hour journey to Yangon. The train itself was old and in need of a good clean/new paint job. There were some very old fans on the ceiling, but they didn't appear to work. Ventilation was provided by having the sash windows open. Great for the view and airflow, we just needed to keep ourselves and our belongings inside. The train's entry/exit doors were also often left open which was a little alarming when you walked to the end of the carriage to visit the toilet. 

We'd booked 'upper class' ($21 NZ for the whole family), so had large comfortable chairs rather than the wooden benches in standard class (definitely worth it given the length of the trip). We were spread over two rows, but the man who seated us quickly swivelled one around so we were facing each other. Upper class did not apply to the toilet by any definition. Easily the worst we've come across in Myanmar, where the standard is generally quite high (clean, Western with toilet paper available). Basically it was a hole in the floor with a seat. 

We bounced (literally at times!) through villages and the countryside. The tracks were laid by the British during their period of governance between the 1850s and late 1940s and it appears maintenance has been on the light side in the intervening years. Who knew a train could bounce you up and down (which felt like a horse trotting; you were lifted a little off your seat sometimes), forwards and backwards and sideways? Certainly not us! At one point the side-to-side movement was so strong that our bags almost fell off the rack above. Adrian moved them to floor level after that. 

There were a few foreigners in the carriage, but it was mostly local people. Occasionally someone would help translate when we wanted to buy food from someone through a window, and two policewomen had wanted their photos taken with the kids. Somehow that seemed even stranger than when monks have asked for a photo. As everywhere, most adults have betelnut-red stained teeth. At least one woman completely ignored the no spitting sign and regularly spat down the window side of her seat, which wasn't so nice. 

We'd brought plenty of food with us so didn't need much, but we enjoyed watching people wander up and down the train calling out the names of the food and drink they were selling. Some of it was completely unknown to us. The sellers seemed to get on the train, stay on for a couple of stops then disembark, presumably to take the next train in the opposite direction home again. It meant different food was on offer from time to time, there was rice and curry, various local snacks, fruit, something wrapped in banana leaf and so on. 

Adrian bought some little chrispy fried things about the size of a piklet. We weren't sure what they were, but on closer inspection discovered they contained tiny little sheimp-like creatures and tasted fishy. Not my favourite! Drinking sweet milky coffee as we hit some decent track-turbulence was a challenge that had us in fits of laughter. The food people barely flinched at the bumps and bounces as they walked the aisles; the women carrying laiden trays on their heads without losing a thing were amazing! 

We soon discovered where all the Nay Pyi Taw rubbish went; over the side of the road along the tracks. Yuck! From the train we saw rice paddies, fields, villages, some of which had rough volleyball courts and football pitches, more rubbish, animals (lots of pigs and goats), and people. The level crossing gates are manually opened and closed by a man at each village. One even did it with his baby on one arm. 

The poverty in some areas is extreme, with families living in small bamboo shacks which appeared to have next-to-nothing inside. Apparently the majority of people here earn around $US2 per day, so life is hard. Some of the worst poverty we saw was on the outskirts of Yangon where in addition to shacks there are dilapidated apartment blocks. Eleanor and Leo noticed the housing and we talked about it, but I don't think they could comprehend what it really means for the people. 

The train journey was a fantastic experience and the kids were great the whole way, but by the end we were pleased to arrive in Yangon and be back on solid ground. 

Apex Hotel dining room. Eleanor loved the colour scheme and table settings. I was less convinced. It felt like showing up for a wedding reception 2 hours early.

Fun and games in the Nay Pyi Taw ticket office

On the train

Posing with police officers

Temple-ing in Bagan

When Adrian first read about Bagan several years ago we immediately put it on our 'must visit one day' list, so it was incredibly exciting to finally arrive. It is the place around which we built our itinerary for this trip, and one of the stops we'd most looked forward to. 

We stayed in two rooms at the Arthawka, an immaculately presented and very friendly hotel; family rooms are few and far between here. It is likely that the hotel's owners have some links to the government given its size and quality. Smaller, family-run guesthouses do exist, but don't seem to list online and and we made all our bookings from home months ago. 

Bagan covers 26 sq miles, so is a huge site. Originally over 4000 Buddhist temples were constructed there by Bagan's kings between the 11th and 13th centuries and around 3000 sites remain (the numbers differ depending on the source). 

In 1989/90, the Government created New Bagan a few minutes from the old city walls and moved the people who were living in the old city at that time. The idea was apparently to preserve the temples and protect them from looting. There are still crops grown and stock (oxen and goats) grazed in Old Bagan, and there's a street with a number of restaurants primarily aimed at tourists too. 

On our first morning, Adrian was up at 5am to go hot air ballooning over the temples at sunrise. As children under eight aren't able to fly, I went the following day. What an incredible experience! A first for us both. We were collected from our hotel at 5.30am and taken to the launch site for a light breakfast, coffee and to watch the balloons inflate. 

Once we'd taken off with 20 other balloons we drifted along looking at the temples, villages and countryside in the early morning light. To properly appreciate the scale of Bagan from the air was wonderful. There was some cloud cover for Adrian's trip, but mine was clearer, so we had a lovely sunrise and saw the mist hanging around the temples that appears in many photos. After a slightly bumpy, but not uncomfortable landing we enjoyed fresh orange juice, bubbles (a ballooning tradition it seems), watermelon and papaya before returning to the hotel by about 8.30am. 

The pilots from our company, Oriental Ballooning, were mostly English, but also Australian and Irish, and were highly professional and knowledgable about the area. They come for the season, which is about six months over the summer. I don't think the balloons fly at all the rest of the year as the weather is too unreliable. Apparently they are normally given clearance to ascend to 2000ft, but over the past week or so, the airport has restricted them to 500-1000ft, which impacts on their flight path. My pilot speculated that it maybe because an aeroplane reported a balloon flying off-course last week, which she said was innaccurate. There are obviously struggles between the ballooning companies and local organisations from time to time. 

It was well-worth having booked ahead as all 21 balloons (the maximum permitted) were full both days. We'd both highly recommend ballooning if you're in Bagan. If you're reading this planning your own trip to Bagan, here's a tip: book your ballooning through a local travel agent ahead of time. We used Peace Travel. They get much better prices than what the ballooning company websites offer customers directly, you can pay via Paypal using a credit card, rather than having to carry a large amount of cash, and the tickets are couriered to your first hotel for your collection when you arrive. This saved us about USD 150, as well as ensuring we both got a place and on the dates we wanted.

Some of the roads around the temple area are sealed, but most are sand or dirt, which makes for a dusty place. You can get around on foot, by bike, motor bike, electric scooter, horse and cart or car. We'd have loved to have cycled, but didn't see any child-sized bikes and felt the kids weren't quite ready for the crazy roads nor the distances involved given the heat. We decided to hire a horse and cart (or chariot according to Eleanor and Leo) for our first day so set off with Ko Shan and Lucky the horse mid-morning. On our second day we hired a car to visit some more distant temples, and on the third Ko Shan took us again for the afternoon, this time with a horse named Diamond. 

We discovered that essentials for temple-ing are water, snacks, light-weight clothing that covers shoulders and knees, and shoes that are easily slipped on and off as you come and go from the temples. This may go some way to explaining why the footwear of choice here is jandals. They are worn for pretty much everything: construction work, waiting tables, retail, working on the roads, farming etc.) riding motorbikes etc. We didn't see any snakes but we didn't venture too far from the path. We did see plenty of temple dogs and even some squirrels, and in one temple we even saw bats. Even though the dogs are obviously fed by locals, we think Bagan would benefit from a Soi Dog!

UNESCO were involved in a restoration programme that took place in the 1990's following a devastating earthquake, 6.8 on the Richter scale, in 1975 which left many temples as piles of rubble (not for the first time due to earthquakes, raids and other events). They are somewhat critical of the locally funded restorations during that period. Apparently the quality of the work was dubious and there was little adherence to traditional building methods. Regardless of the building standards, it is a marvellous place to explore. It certainly doesn't feel as though you are visiting ruins. 

Given the number of sites, and that we only had three days, we picked a short list of temples that we particularly wanted to see and focused on them. The temples are in little clusters as different Kings ordered their construction. Some you can climb to the top for a view, others you can wander about inside looking at the many Buddhas or centuries-old painted walls, and others you view from the exterior only. Some, such as Ananda, are active sites of worship, so draw visitors from all over Myanmar and further afield. 

In total we visited about 20 different temples over the three days. Our collective favourite was Sulamani, a large, beautiful peaceful temple containing lots of wall art and plenty of spots for Eleanor and Leo to continue their game of 'marshmallows and toothpicks' (which they played pretty well everywhere!). We spent well over an hour there exploring inside and out. 

We saw a stunning sunset from Shwesandaw Paya and loved clambering up Pyathada Paya and Thatbyinnyu as well as exterior steps on an unnamed temple nearby. Many temples are only identified by an archeological site number, it was explained to us they have yet to rediscover the names from the texts they uncover. The steps are often uneven and dusty, so a bit treacherous in places but generally very manageable. We were thrilled to escape unscathed as, judging from the odd limping tourist and the number of bandages/band aids, not everyone does!

The kids posed for many, many photos with local people along the way. To our surprise, they rarely said 'no', but occasionally they'd had enough so we stepped in when required. They really enjoyed the temples and have asked to visit more. Easily done!

Ananda was probably the most striking site people-wise during our visit. There is an annual festival that is held at a different temple each year, which happened to coincide with our visit. This year it was Ananda's turn. The festival involves a large market selling food, souvenirs and household goods which we enjoyed walking through. There are also free concerts and other events. We'd have liked to see Iron Cross, Myanmar's best-known band, which was playing on the Saturday night, but decided it would be a bit much for the kids after a day's temple-ing. It got rave reviews from Ko Shan the next day.

Ko Shan speaks some English (considerably better than our Burmese!), so we chatted a little as we trotted along. From him we learned that the preferred sport locally was volleyball, but is now shifting to football, that the population of New Bagan is about 5000 and that no one lived inside the temples, just around them. Adrian asked his opinion of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won the 2015 election and officially takes power in early February. He is hopeful that she will be able to bring change, but recognises the challenges, so isn't holding his breath. He said "we have heard her talking, but now we shall see what she does". 

Bouncing along in the cart obviously gave Leo some time to think about life too. At one point we had a conversation that went like this:

Leo: 'Mummy do you know what is very special magic?'

Me: 'I don't know'

Leo: 'Love. Love is the only magic in the world'. 

The festival attracts large numbers of people from all over Myanmar, so it was a busy time in Old Bagan. The roads were congested with motorbikes, cars, local buses (little trucks with seats in the back that are entirely happy to carry extra people on the roof rack), coaches etc. It was the Burmese equivalent of our time in Melaka! It was more difficult for Ko Shan to navigate the streets with Diamond on the Sunday afternoon due to the traffic, so we didn't go too far into the madness. 

At most temples you'll find at least one or two people selling souveniers: art, lacquer-ware, gongs, puppets, books featuring Myanmar in various languages or postcards. The sales approach is generally engaging and not overly pushy, but there was a noticeable change in the intensity during the festival. We try to remind ourselves that many people here have very little, so the income is incredibly important, but we did need to be quite firm in our 'no' on a couple of occasions. 

We spent Sunday morning relaxing by the hotel pool writing a few postcards while Eleanor and Leo swam. They stayed in for ages given the freezing temperature and had loads of fun. They were the only people we saw in the pool in the four days we stayed, Adrian and I didn't venture in. While the days were warm at around 29 degrees, it wasn't enough to tempt us! I was still chilly at the memory of the Swan Hotel pool in Mandalay. 

That evening we watched a beautiful sun set over the Irrewaddy from a quiet (although they were setting up for a tour group of 150 that night) river bank restaurant. We all enjoyed a bit of time out of the crowds playing cards as the sun went down.

One thing unrelated to temples that we enjoyed sampling in Bagan was some Myanmar wine. Not bad at all, and a welcome change from Myanmar, the local beer. We also sampled a few Myanmar curries, which are served with rice and a couple of vegetable side dishes. The curry isn't particularly spicy, but it is very tasty. My favourite dish so far though is the red tomato salad with garlic and chilli. Yum! It turns out that you can eat noodles three meals in a row and still be happy enough to see them at breakfast the following day. I am wondering if I'll start to tire of them soon though!

The next morning we left Bagan in a taxi for Nay Pyi Taw. We were sad to be leaving but hope we'll be back one day to explore some more. 

Here's the full list of temples we visited, for posterity: unnamed; Nagayon; Ananda; Shwegugwi; Thatbyinnyu; unnamed; Gawdawpalin; Shwezigon; Upali Thein; Bupaya; Tharaba Gate; Sulamani; Pyathada; Dhammayangi; Shwesandaw; Soemingyi; Abeyadana; Manuha; Nanpaya. 

Ballooning

Sulamani

Modern temple statues mid-game of 'marshmallows and toothpicks'

Sunset over the Irrawaddy

One day in Mandalay, and the journey to Bagan

The first thing we noticed about Myanmar, from the moment we stepped off the plane and the ground staff greeted us, was how friendly and welcoming the people are. As we drove the hour to our Mandalay hotel in darkness (we'd arrived at about 6pm), the city seemed more developed than we had expected. There appeared to be some money around, but also significant poverty.

The hotel rooms (we had two, Eleanor and I shared one, and Leo and Adrian the other) were a sight for sore eyes: modern bathrooms, chrisp white sheets, duvets and air con. In my early travelling days I developed a preference for independent hostels/guesthouses for three reasons: they are cheaper, you can often cook for yourself so eating is cheaper, and you have a far greater chance of meeting people and having interesting conversations. These things hold true, but we were very happy to see a clean and comfortable hotel nonetheless. 

After a good night's sleep we were ready to explore the city. Our boat to Bagan left early the following morning, so we wanted to make the most of the day. We arranged a driver to take us to a few central sights. Unfortunately, immediately after breakfast Leo was sick, the last one of the four of us to suffer some form of bug (and hopefully the final one!). He looked okay immediately afterwards, but as we didn't know how it would progress we decided that he and I would stay at the hotel for the morning, and that Adrian and Eleanor would return to the hotel to reassess at lunchtime. Leo and I slept and played cards; relaxing for both of us!

[Adrian] Eleanor and I headed to Mandalay Hill, which you can ascend by stairs but the driver took us almost to the top by car. There we explored the temple complex at the top which was nice if unremarkable but also quickly discovered something about Myanmar different to Malaysia and Thailand: here, small white children are still a rare enough sight that the locals cross crowded temples to get a selfie with them. And so they did... by Eleanor's count she had her photo taken at least 20 times. It felt like a lot more to her Daddy!

After that we visited U-Bein bridge, a long teak bridge over a lake where we were rowed across in a dinghy kind of craft then walked back over the bridge itself, only pausing for another dozen photos of locals with Eleanor. Then it was time to head back to the hotel for lunch and to check in with Leo.

As Leo was eating and very bright by the afternoon (bouncing up and down and racing about) we decided we'd all visit Mandalay Palace and a couple of temples. The Palace complex sits well inside the huge moat and city walls and was reconstructed in the 1990s following WWII damage. We enjoyed exploring some of the large number of buildings (around 40). They are mostly wooden with fairly elaborate roofs and basic interiors, apart from the more glittering throne room. It is a bit ramshackle already, but that adds to the charm. Eleanor and Leo had a great time running, dancing and playing games through the buildings. We climbed the creaky watchtower for a view and bit of perspective on the Palace area. 

Eleanor and Leo were asked for their photos regularly, or we were on their behalf. We've told the kids that if they are happy to have their photos taken, that is fine, but if they don't, we'll say no and ensure it doesn't happen. It is generally okay when there is only a couple of people, but a group seems to want individual photos which gets a little much. And sometimes when one person stops so do others passing by. 

For the moment they are loving their celebrity status and continue to keep a running total of photos taken. From our perspective it is a little on the intrusive-side, but people are generally very polite and they are all respectful.  

After the Palace we visited the beautifully intricate carved teak Shwenandae Kyaung, which was moved from within the Palace walls and turned into a monastery, apparently because King Thibaw could not cope with the ghost of his father, King Mindon, who had died in his sleeping chamber there in 1878. It is the only one of the Palace buildings to have survived bombings during WW2. Just as well for us it did!

We popped into the huge Atumashi Kyaungdawgyi next door. It is fairly plain, but houses a large Buddha and the kids enjoyed chasing each other around the huge interior supporting columns. 

We had planned to visit another teak temple, but our driver suggested Kuthodaw Paya instead. Wow, what an excellent recommendation that turned out to be... we spent over an hour wandering through just some of the 700-odd small white stupas, each of which houses a marble slab. The slabs present 15 books of the Tripitaka. They are striking individually, but row after row is amazing. Eleanor and Leo ran between them hiding from us in a game they called 'marshmellows and toothpicks', which is code for spies. We stopped briefly at the large modern stupa towards the end of the complex and Buddha complete with flashing lights, both of which seem a little out of place with the calming white stupas. 

Interestingly, amongst international visitors here we are probably at the middle to lower end of the age scale. There are lots of older people from the US, Canada and Europe (English, French, German, Swiss especially) and couples/friends in their 20s/30s. It is a travelling crowd rather than holiday-makers. We are yet to see any other families with young children, but have seen a few parents with children in their teens/early 20s. You come here for the  sights rather than a party!

As we didn't want to risk being templed-out too early, we retreated to the freezing cold pool at the Swan Hotel for half an hour (I managed less than a minute!), before heading back to the Royal Pearl for dinner and to pack. Thankfully there were no further signs of whatever had made Leo unwell. 

Our boat left Mandalay for Bagan at 7am, the following day, so we were in a taxi at 6am. Once the driver found our ferry company (not easy in the dark!) we walked down some steep steps onto the river bank and across some narrow planks onto the boat. We had allocated interior seats, but sat up the back outside on and off for the whole trip. If we'd been on board slightly earlier, we would have had cushioned wicker chairs on the top deck, but were fine on the plastic chairs/metal benches. 

The journey takes almost 10 hours, so we settled in for the day. Eleanor and Leo played on the iPad and read stories for most of it. The Irrawaddy is a huge river, even at this time of year, but must be shallow because the boat criss-crossed from side to side, which must have added considerably to the time it took! 

We enjoyed watching the world go by... cargo barges, fishing boats and people tending their crops and stock. There are some beautiful little wooden ships that you can spend a day or two on; they have cabins, swimming pools, exercise areas etc., but the cost was $US1000 per person, so we'd chosen to stick with the budget (and less time-consuming) option. Having said that, we were all pleased to arrive at Nyaung-U and jump into a taxi to our hotel in New Bagan. 

Disembarking was the same as boarding; across narrow boards onto the river bank and up steps. Only this time there was a crowd of people on the bank offering accommodation, taxis and books written by European authors about Myanmar in various languages, like George Orwell's Burmese Days. The madness only added to our excitement at being in Bagan. 

Throne room, Mandalay Palace

Kuthodaw Paya

Sunrise on the Irrawaddy

Chiang Mai

The flight from Phuket to Chiang Mai is about an hour, so it was an easy trip. Our first flight since arriving in Kuala Lumpur, which feels a long time ago. By mid-afternoon we were checked into our guesthouse and ready to explore a little. 

Accommodation in Chiang Mai is cheaper than everywhere else we've visited on this trip. And we decided to go very very cheap (think $23 NZ a night for a family room). 

The Green Zone Guesthouse is a very basic three-story guesthouse inside the old city (a great location just off Moon Muang soi 9) run by a friendly woman called Goong. The room we'd booked was not available when we arrived, so we spent our first night in a windowless room before moving upstairs to one with a balcony; a vast improvement! The bathroom is shared, which would have been fine as there were only one or two others staying, except that they weren't cleaned until the final morning of our stay. Several of the facilities listed on AirBNB didn't exist (washing machine, breakfast, homemade food) or were not available (WIFI, kitchen) and we didn't see much of Goon to ask her. Oh, and I had an itchy hair line each morning, so suspect there was something in the pillow. Ick! Lesson learned for us I think... next time we'll set our minimum at the third or fourth cheapest option. 

As we didn't feel like hanging around the guesthouse that afternoon, we decided to go for a wander and check out a local cafe. Chiang Mai is known for its coffee - whoo hoo! - and cafe culture. Apparently when opium was "removed" as a crop, coffee was one of the alternatives. (Adrian: judging by the number of people looking like career smack junkies we saw around the town, my money is on you can still score pretty easy if you want to). 

We headed to Liberand, where the banana pancakes were rated the best in Thailand in 2000 by the Lonely Planet. We didn't sample the pancakes this time, but the coffee and passion fruit juice were excellent. From there we walked to see a Chinese arch and through some nearby markets Talal Warorot where we found the biggest avocados I've ever seen and cherry tomatoes, much to Leo's delight! He munched half a 500g bag (costing about 60c NZ) in next to no time.

That evening, once the kids were asleep, Adrian and I sat in the reception area chatting to two guys, one Australian and the other Canadian about their experiences of living in Chiang Mai as expats and our travels. It has 11 universities and is the base for a number of NGOs, so is a vibrant student city with a large number of expats. There are loads of fantastic cafes (apparently milk-froth designs on coffee are a bit of an art form here), bars, restaurants etc. It is cooler here - peaking at 27-30 degrees - so a comfortable temperature, particularly at night and seems an easy city to live in, especially compared with Bangkok. Our initial impression of Chiang Mai was really good.

Adrian went on a day-long Thai cooking course the next day, so the kids and I went to the zoo. There are a huge number of animals: hippos, giraffes, zebras, big cats, elephants, bears, pandas etc. Plenty to keep us occupied. 

For a small payment (40-80c a bowl/bunch), we were able to buy animal feed. My favourites were the hippos, which swim to the edge of their enclosure and open their mouths so you can throw in carrots. The giraffes ate green beans with their curly tongues and the kids fed the jaguar meat on a long stick. I know it probably isn't ideal for the animals and is inconsistent with my views on Tiger Kingdom, but once you are there it is hard to refuse and both Eleanor and Leo absolutely loved it! Seeing the seal and animal shows fall into the same category. At least these animals aren't drugged or kept in tiny cages or hit with sticks to discourage bad behaviour.

We also paid a little extra to visit the pandas. When we first went through their enclosure they were sleeping, but on our second visit they were up and about. We watched the female for a while as she walked between the keeper's door and the gate to the male's enclosure. Eleanor was convinced she wanted to see her one true love (The Princess Bride made an impact!). 

Adrian enjoyed his day at the cooking school, and proudly made by far the hottest green curry in the group, and much to the amazement of his fellow students ate every last drop and remarked he'd had hotter. So look forward to dinner parties at our place this year!

That evening we discovered a very funky Chinese BBQ restaurant. You pick your meat and veges out of the fridges and they cook (and spice!) it for you on a coal BBQ out the front of the restaurant. We all enjoyed it, even if we weren't sure exactly what everything was. The BBQ'd lamb cutlet was especially tasty and Leo discovered a new love, crocodile meat. He went back for more twice! We were also treated to Justin Beiber, random Chinese megastars and Madonna karaoke on the TV. 

We returned to Liberand for breakfast the following day and Leo declared the banana pancakes to be the best in the galaxy. They're pretty good then. Unfortunately, Eleanor tripped over carrying the owner's daughter's guitar and chipped it. She felt terrible! It will never be the same again and the daughter looked distraught, but they didn't make any fuss we all apologised and gave her mother some money  towards its repair. 

We'd intended to visit three temples that afternoon, we did, but not exactly the ones we'd planned; there was a case of mistaken identity. We saw Wat Tao, which is very ornate and which we'd mistaken for Wat Chedi Luang next door. Wat Chedi Luang has a 14th century stupor which they are currently restoring,  although as they don't know what it looked like originally, it will be a best guess restoration. We bought and signed a roof tile, which will be used in the restoration; Eleanor hopes it will be put at the very top, but I guess we'll never know. The final temple we visited was Wat Phra Singh, which the kids particularly loved as there is a building with eight very life-like monks meditating (I admit to having thought they were real! Adrian is certain they are wax works). They now want to learn to meditate. 

That was enough for one day so we grabbed a tuk tuk back to the guesthouse for a rest. I popped out for a foot and hand scrub and pedicure (much needed!). The woman who did it was lovely and spoke good English. It cost about $25 NZ and took over 1.5 hours. She would have kept going, but I wanted to get back so we could get on with our evening. 

We walked to the Sunday Walking Street night market (there's one on Saturday too at another location) and wandered through a small portion of it. There were some excellent crafts, art and yummy-looking food. Unfortunately, we were a little later than planned so it was very crowded. I could have browsed for hours, but it was hard work in amongst hordes, especially keeping track of two small children, so after half an hour or so we headed back to near our place for dinner. Apparently there is a smaller version on Monday nights near some of the universities where everything is half price, but we didn't make it. 

Radost is a little restaurant open to the street on one of soi 9's corners, about two minutes from our guesthouse. It is owned by a German man who spent many years living in the Czech Republic. The moment we arrived we were greeted with a big smile by the staff and presented with menus. The environment was comfortable, the food was good and the table-football was free. Something for everyone!

We returned to Radost for breakfast the next day as it opens early and we were off to see the elephants! Our animal-ethics had returned and we'd decided on the shorter of two trip options (still 9am to 3.30pm) at the Elephant Nature Park, which has rescue elephants, primarily from the now illegal logging industry. Some had been injured by land mines along the borders with Cambodia and Myanmar, or had broken legs, backs or shoulders from logging work. Six of the 66 elephants are completely blind due to mistreatment by their mahouts. 

At this park you can feed and interact with the elephants (they also have cats, water buffalo and 400 dogs), but can't ride them. Some elephants have had a lot of contact with humans and are very comfortable with us, while others haven't or are damaged psychologically by their experiences. Each elephant has a dedicated mahout who does not carry a bamboo stick or hook for discipline, they work on the basis of reward for good behaviour rather than punishment for bad. 

We met at their office in the city and drove an hour north into the hills in a minivan to get to the park. There are lots of tour groups, but they are fairly small, we had nine in total, which was great. We had a lovely group and spoke to most people at some point. There was a six-year-old Australian girl called Martha, whose family are moving to Chiang Mai soon. Her step-father is a citrus fruit specialist so will be a professor at one of the universities studying the ability of various varieties to grow at different temperatures. Martha is every bit as strong and confident as Eleanor and the three of them had a very fun time together. 

After a briefing at the platform, your guide takes the group for a walk to meet the elephants. As they are encouraged to live in as natural a way as possible, the elephants form herds (not family groups as it would be in the wild, but groups of friends), or in some cases pairs. Our group walked around the park meeting elephants and hearing their stories from our guide. Some are awful. 

We watched the elephants, fed them watermelon, cucumber and pumpkin and could pat them. The guides are careful to introduce you to elephants that are comfortable with human contact, but still manage the contact carefully.

One story we were all touched by was that of Jokia and Mae Perm, who are about 50 and 75 respectively. Jokia came to the park from the logging industry. She had been pregnant and gave birth at work, but the baby slid away down the hill and she couldn't get to it to get it out of its birth sack, so she lost it. After that she didn't want to work and her behaviour deteoriated resulting in her mahout sticking something sharp in her eyes which blinded her. As soon as she arrived, Mae Perm adopted her and they became best friends. Mae Perm protects and cares for her, which is amazing to see. While we were watching them, Mae Perm went to the river for a drink and mud bath. She called to Jokia regularly to try and get her to come along, but Jokia was too busy eating. The moment Jokia responded, Mae Perm came running. She walked up next to Jokia and gently touched her with her trunk and they had a bit of a chat. You imagined Mae Perm saying something along the lines of 'I'm here now, it's all okay, but you should have come in, the mud was fine!'. It brought tears to your eye, it was such a touching moment.

Visiting the park was a truly wonderful experience. A real highlight of the trip so far for all of us. That night we went back to Radost for dinner as the kids wanted another game of table football. 

We had until lunchtime the next day before we needed to leave for the airport, so decided to have breakfast at The Blue Diamond Breakfast Club. The tables are in a lovely garden and the food was healthy and tasty, but the service was less friendly. There is a bakery attached, turning out yummy looking goods including muffins, wholegrain croissants and various breads. And little shop selling natural insect repellant, skincare products and herbs and spices. I could have spent a lot of money there if we  had plenty to spare and there was room in our bags!

From there we had a family massage. This time we chose a place run by female former prisoners. They have learnt the trade as a means of turning their lives around and reintegrating into society. A good thing to support we thought. The shop was imacculately clean, the massages good and the people lovely. We all left feeling relaxed and ready for the next leg of our journey. 

We collected the shirts and skirts Adrian and I had made by a local tailor, checked out of the guesthouse and headed to Radost for lunch and a last game of football. The owner said he could arrange us a taxi, which wound up being him kindly driving us to the airport for free. I eavesdropped on his interesting conversation with Adrian about living in Thailand on the way. He was very frank about politics and corruption, both of which are still very much a way of life.

Chiang Mai was an excellent stop. I'm so pleased to have finally made it. It is the first place on this trip that I could see myself living, however unlikely that is!

Family band, Liberand Cafe

Kissed by a seal

Macaw

Banana pancakes

Elephant!

Relaxing on Phuket

The speed boat was an hour late leaving Koh Phi Phi, which meant waiting in a cafe for some relief from the heat. Once we  left it was only a 30 minute journey, so we were in Phuket and at our apartment by about 3.30pm. 

Peadar travelled with us and planned to spend the afternoon with us until his flight to Melbourne later that evening. In the taxi to the apartment he discovered that his Jet Star flight was delayed by 16 hours(!), so he wound up staying the night. 

Our apartment was one of about 50 oriented around a pool at Kamala Beach. We had a two-bedroom apartment on the ground floor with big comfortable beds, aircon, fans, a well-equipped kitchen, a TV with cable showing Premier League football and some English-language movies. The kids even had an ensuite. Absolute luxury! Plenty of room for one extra and the perfect place for us to relax for a couple of days. 

We all went straight into the pool and spent a couple of hours there before wandering down a nearby street to find a very tasty meal courtesy of Jet Star. 

Phuket is a big island, in fact it feels like being on the main land in many ways. While I don't feel like I got to know it much at all in the time we were there, it has the sense of a well-established beach side tourist destination that is confident in its place in the world. Kamala Beach is obviously somewhere expats live and seems to attract older travellers and families. Our apartment complex was on the main road about 500 metres from the beach. Kamala Beach and our apartment complex reminded us of our week or so in Cyprus staying at Tracey and Roy's lovely place. Only more Thai. 

Kamala beach is large, with golden sand and roped off areas for swimming. It really is a lovely beach, but I think we have been spoilt by our recent stops, so we were comfortable spending most of our time by the pool. Eleanor and Leo were very happy with this arrangement. They quickly made friends with a couple of fun Swedish brothers aged 10 and 4, and spent hours playing with them in the pool. 

The first full day we were there, Peadar left for the airport about lunchtime. We had an extremely slow start and barely left the apartment/pool except for lunch. Just what we all needed. Bliss! 

Although, Adrian did pop out after the kids went to bed to see some kick boxing, which he first talked about when we visited Bangkok almost 10 years ago, but never quite got round to doing it. I had a minor stomach upset so was very happy to lie on the couch watching TV. (Adrian says the kickboxing ruled especially the Australian who entered the ring with a huge ego and left it needing stitches). 

We'd considered taking the kids to Tiger Kingdom, where you can interact with tigers of almost any age. We knew that Eleanor and Leo would love it, but weren't sure about it ethically, so did a bit of research. Reviews on Trip Advisor were mixed, some saying it is the most amazing experience and others that they believed the tigers were drugged. In the end we found a post on www.onegreenplanet.org, that made up our minds. The tigers are caged 23 hours a day and beaten with bamboo sticks daily since birth, to encourage good behaviour. So that was a big NO for us.

Instead, we went to Soi Dog, a charity organisation established by a British couple who had moved to Phuket to retire about 12 years ago, but obviously didn't manage it. They take in sick, injured or mistreated dogs and cats, provide veterinary care, and socialise them. The centre is staffed largely by very enthusiastic and committed international volunteers, along with paid Burmese immigrants (who do the worst jobs). 

They seek adoption for the animals once they have recovered, or provide them with a place to live out their days if they are not suitable for rehoming. About 300 dogs annually go to homes in the US, Canada and France, amongst other places. They vaccinate and sterilise every animal that passes through the centre, and offer these services free to local dog owners as it is often prohibitively expensive for the locals through vets. Soi Dog's work has lead to the eradication of rabies on the island and ensured that 80% of dogs on the island are now sterilised, which helps manage the population (80% is the tipping point from which populations should decline).

It was a very rewarding few hours hearing the stories and playing with the puppies and kittens. We met one puppy who had arrived with a horrible skin disease resulting in the loss of virtually all her fur. You'd never know it now. 

The kids loved the experience! Eleanor has now decided that she and her friend Luciana should set up a refuge for cats and dogs. It won't be called Soi Dog apparently; she wants to decide on their own name for it together. 

That afternoon we had our only swim at Kamala Beach, more time in the pool and a delicious meal of grilled meat at Grill Bill. The following day we were up and off to the airport to fly northwards to Chaing Mai. 

'Our' pool

Soi Dog