... Three night busses in ten days?

I haven't written in awhile since so much has been going on - lots of new people and places! I'll do my best to try and sum up Burma even though I'm in Pai, Thailand right now freezing my butt off in a little cafe. Didn't pack properly - it's SO cold here at night and in the shade but then strangely hot in the sun. 

Burma was so different than the rest of the trip so far but I really enjoyed it. After a few days in Yangon trying street food and wandering the city, we headed to Bagan and were blown away by the beauty of the landscape sprinkled with temples in varying shapes and sizes. Rachel, Shasta and I rented bikes to explore and climbed to the top of a few of the higher ones to get the full effect. We saw sunset from one of the highest temples after climbing some seriously steep steps but it was completely worth it. Apparently the king back in the 13th century had around 4,000 temples commissioned to be built - the result being a landscape of rolling green hills and temple after temple after temple. 

We were taking a quick nap under a tree when we met these Aussie guys Ben and Rory. Pretty much the first tourists around our age we'd seen in Burma. We all instantly hit it off and hung out the next few days in Bagan and then Inle Lake having family-style meals together (we're all big on sharing food) and taking a freezing cold boat trip around Inle Lake to see the local markets and of course... More temples. Really fun group to spend time with them and we had a lot of laughs over sangria and hot chocolate - especially about Rory's foot which he broke by accidentally rolling out of the top bunk of a bunk bed. Poor kid. 

Shasta and I did a pretty tough 6 hour trek in the rain around Inle Lake and struggled a bit to keep up with our tiny Burmese guide who was practically running up the steep hills in the mountains. I was feeling pretty beat after the first 3 hours but they fed us an awesome meal at a locals' house in the hills and we attempted to warm up with some tea and hit the trail again. I love being active outside but the cold, rain, and fast pace were pretty tough. The views were hazy but still beautiful and while my legs were pretty dead the next few days, it felt good to complete something so challenging. 

Our last stop on the Burma trail (after our third and final night bus) was Mandalay. Rachel, Shasta and I were pretty excited to come across the first European style restaurant we'd seen so we immediately sat down and ordered all kinds of burgers, pizza and fries... Fast forward 7 hours and somehow we're still there so we went ahead and got dinner too. Needless to say we weren't the best tourists in Mandalay and saw more of that one restaurant than the rest of the city but we did get up at sunrise the next morning to see monks cross this really long bridge but that was a bit of a fail too. Instead of monks, there were just a bunch of Burmese people in vinyl track suits doing weird warm up exercises like squats and jumping jacks. None of them actually worked out though... They seemed to just be preparing to work out. It was all pretty odd and after snapping some photos of the sunrise we zoomed backed to our hotel as the cab driver blasted his Bruno Mars CD and fist pumped. Gotta love it. I'll write more about Chiang Mai and Pai soon but for now... A few Burma photos!

Temples in Bagan

Trek around Inle Lake

 

Boat ride!

Our crew minus Rory!

... Nothing was more genuine than a smile?

Smiles on smiles on smiles. Burma is so incredible that my face hurts from too many friendly interactions (and I'm not complaining at all). I'm currently sipping the best $0.30 chai tea in a chaotic yet adorable Indian spot called New Delhi with Rachel and Shasta. We spent the day wandering Yangon and stopping to try every bizarre street food we could get our hands on. I don't think we were disappointed by a single thing - the fried quail egg was probably the favorite. The people here are incredibly nice and open, and extremely curious about these white people wandering around. We've seen about two other tourists the entire time we've been here and have been greeted countless times on the street by friendly Burmese people wanting to practice their English or help show us around. Even coming out of the crazy busy Bogyoke Aung San Market, a nice man named Haman offered to show us to this restaurant since it was on his way home. 

Our first day in Yangon (yesterday) was pretty packed but fun. We went to the zoo and got super close to some interesting animals as well as some not so interesting ones (lots of deer, rabbits and guinea pigs... Which I was obviously into). While we were snapping photos of all the animals, we quickly realized all the other people at the zoo were snapping pictures of us. I guess we were more exotic to them which was pretty amusing. We had a fantastic $2 lunch of Burmese food (think Indian and Chinese combined) which was spicy and delicious, then headed to the famous Shwadagon Temple which was by far the coolest temple I've ever seen. We went close to sunset and were completely overcome by the size, intricacy, and brilliance of how the light bounced off the gold buildings. We spent a few hours walking around and taking in the smell of incense and the massive beauty of the place. 

I had a pretty interesting chat with a monk who had a book of English phrases and wanted help with pronunciation so we stood and went through Christmas phrases (wreath, Santa Claus, sleigh), then American Football phrases (tight end, referee, goal post), then careers (hair dresser, waitress, doctor). He asked me what my career was but unfortunately none of the options were even close. It was pretty amusing though and we ended the night by lighting candles and all listening to the chanting prayers taking place in front of Buddha. It was peaceful, beautiful and moving.

We're hopping on a night bus tonight to head to Bagan - can't wait to see even more of this beautiful country and meet more Burmese people! If everyone is as kind as they have been in Yangon I think we'll be set for a pretty amazing trip. 

Our ride to the zoo

These elephants were dancing!

My monk friend

His book of English phrases

Shwedagon Temple

Yangon street food - so good

Making sugar cane

Such a neat city

Cool antiques 

Cutie!