Thai - Lao border crossing and slow boat to Luang Prabang

After a very educative week at the ENP, we were back in Chiang Mai for some days before crossing the border to Laos. The first thing we did was finding a washing machine on the street to wash all our things. That evening we met some of the others volunteers at the night market. We had dinner there and bought some souvenirs to send home. The next night we met again with friends from the ENP to watch a Ladyboys show at a Cabaret, which was really funny and amazing! They are very good dancers! 

The ladyboys with nothing to hide

David was actually lucky that he had Tachi by his side, otherwise those ladies would jump on him! They were really "aggressive" against the men!

It got hot on stage

One of the performances

We decided to cross the border to Laos with 3 other friends from the ENP, Roberto from Puerto Rico and a couple, Fabrice (France) & Franzi (Germany). We bought bus tickets to Chiang Khong for the next morning. At the border we got our stamps out of Thailand and had to take a bus to cross the bridge to Laos. On the other side we had to get our visa on arrival. As we arrived 30 minutes after their regular office time, we had to pay 1 dollar extra as an "overtime fee". Good start. 
We had to take a tuk tuk to the city, Huay Xai, where we would spend the night before our journey on the slow boat would begin. David, Fabrice and Roberto went hunting for a room, while Tatiana and Franzi waited with the backpacks. We got a big room with aircon for all five of us that night. As we were very hungry we decided to try the first place we were suggested, by a guy in the street. He was handing out fliers for a home kitchen where all the profits went to the Hmong tribe in the area. Later on we had some beers and played cards until it was bed time. Early the next morning we went to the dock to buy our tickets for the slow boat to Pakbeng, our first stop. Arriving early to the dock was a good idea so we got some good seats. As for a group of tourist who arrived late, were pushed onto the boat by an angry and impatient crew even though the boat seemed to be full. While we drifted slowly down the Mekong we past time playing cards, reading, making bracelets, eating and enjoying the views. 

All the slow boats waiting in line

We literally filled up the boat before leaving 

Ready to drift down the Mekong

The first day on the boat ended after about 7 hours downstream. We barely got off the boat before the locals were offering us weed and room for the night. And yes, there were many people buying. After 7 hours sitting still on a boat we decided to explore the small village of Pakbeng. We saw more or less the whole village on our 20 minute walk along the only road. 

Exploring Pakbeng

The next morning the boat left around 11 AM and was supposed to be a 5 hours trip to Luang Prabang. This time the boat stopped many times picking up local people. At one of the stops 2 women and a sick baby got on the boat. David gave his seat to the woman with the baby. When some people stood up to go to the toilet the other woman just laid down on their seats, using 4 seats only for her. When the others got back they didn't say anything and ended up having to sit on the floor or stand.

Enjoying the views

The slow boat used to arrive in Luang Prabang, but as the locals have learned how to exploit the tourist, they moved the landing pier for the slow boat about 20 km away from the city. As we found our tuk tuk we saw another group having problems with a driver who was cheating them for money. They had paid the driver and were expecting change, but the driver walked away and when he came back he was demanding more money. When we were driving away we saw the driver unloading all the backpacks and shouting "F*** you!" as he walked away in anger. We made it to the city with no problems. Tachi and Franzi sat down at the night market while the boys, again, walked around trying to find a cheap place to stay. Unfortunately they didn't find a good deal, so we all brought our luggage and headed in the direction of some guesthouses we had gotten fliers for. On our way we found the place that ended up to be our home for the next few nights. Again we had found a nice big family room with aircon, fridge, balcony, and a hot shower. 

Dinner at the night market

After dinner at the night market we bought some beers and sat outside the shop to play cards. It's obviously a big weed business in Laos; as we were playing cards, a man on a scooter approached us asking: Hello! What are you doing? We just looked at each other and answered him: Playing cards! What are you doing? He answered us honestly: I'm selling weed! 

Luang Prabang is a lovely city, specially the old town that reminds us of the French colonization with its restored mansions, mostly guesthouses and boutique hotels today. We could also spot many bakeries and find some good breads around there! Almost everyday we had a baguette sandwich from the street market. Tachi was actually craving for some bakery goods and western food. She was happy that she could finally have a delicious spaghetti carbonara in Luang Prabang.

Two young monks trying to get some shade on a hot day

French colonial buildings

30 km away from Luang Prabang, are the stunning Kuang Si Waterfalls. We got a tuk tuk to a village called Ban Lo Lao, from where we hiked to the waterfalls. When the tuk tuk driver left, a man wanted us to pay 2 dollars each just to walk through the village, and that was about 3 minutes walk. We didn't want to pay so we just walked and he followed us for sometime until he understood we would not be paying. It was a 13 km trek, crossing some private lands where we got chased by protective cow moms, trails through corn fields, and some muddy paths in the forest. In the forest we heard many loud shooting sounds. We had no idea what was going on, or if we were being hunted or something, but we were quite frightened as some of the sounds were very close. Franzi and David saw a guy carrying what looked like a rifle who ran just as they saw him. That makes us believe the sounds we heard were poachers who didn't want to be spotted.

Finding our way to Kuang Si Waterfalls

The cows were very protective when we passed

Arriving to the falls was a relief! We could finally enjoy our baguettes for lunch and refresh ourselves in the pristine water. We walked from the top of the waterfall down to its pools. The color of the water is just stunning!

Happy to arrive at the waterfalls

This amazing color is from limestone minerals

When we were nice and refreshed the same tuk tuk driver that drove us to the village was waiting for us to bring us back to the city. The next day we went to the Vietnamese Consulate to get our visas. As a Norwegian, David could enter Vietnam without visa for 14 days and we knew we were going to spend more than 2 weeks in Vietnam, so we asked them if he could get his visa in Vietnam, but they couldn't answer us. Communication was really difficult there. It would take 3 days to get our passports back, so we decided to go to Vang Vieng in the meantime.

A beautiful sunset over Luang Prabang

Volunteering at Elephant Nature Park :)

We were so excited about finally going to start our week of volunteering at the Elephant Nature Park! In the morning we got picked up to go to the office, where we payed for our stay and got a T-shirt and a water bottle, before we headed for the park.

When we arrived the park it was already time for lunch. We were happy with the buffet style food, but unfortunately quite a few of the dishes were a bit spicy for Tachi. After lunch all the volunteers gathered to have a talk about safety and how to treat the elephants. Most of the elephants in the park are old and disabled females that have been abused and injured by their last owner. When they get older and do not serve good for the owner any more, and they want to sell them, the Elephant Nature Park buys them. Due to their past they may have a very unpredictable behavior. It is important not to stay in their blind spots as they may feel threatened and try to defend themselves. After hearing about some of their stories, and what to do and not, we got some time to check in to our rooms and relax before our welcome ceremony.

The welcome ceremony was a traditional Buddhist ceremony for good luck. They would sprinkle water over us and give us white bracelets.

After dinner we felt tired and wanted to get to sleep early to be ready for our first day of work. We had gotten our own room that obviously was meant for the couples. It was very hot, but we managed to get some sleep.

Waking up to the elephants blowing their trunks was an amazing experience, and made us ready to work to help them. We were divided into different groups that would circulate on the jobs for the week. Our group was scheduled to cut corn the first day, so we loaded up the truck and drove off for the corn fields.

Ready to go cut some corn

It was actually the remaining corn stalks we cut to feed the elephants. We managed to collect corn stalks from 3 fields to fill the truck. Our lunch was served out in the fields, so when we got back to the park we had the rest of the day off.

Cutting corn for the elephants

At 3pm every afternoon we could join the elephants down to the river and give them a shower. This is a daily activity that the elephants need to cool down. Actually the elephants have so thick skin they cannot sweat. Their ears have numerous blood vessels, so to cool off they flap their ears so that the warm blood can help release excess body heat. It was interesting learning all these facts about the elephants, and we also enjoyed cooling down a bit at the river. 

Cooling off  with the elephants

Every night we would have free time to get to know the other volunteers, play games, get massage from the local ladies, or just relax and observe the everyday life of the elephants. The second night, after dinner, we all gathered for a crash course in Thai culture and language by the Volunteer Coordinators. They were so funny, and really did their best for us to enjoy our days in the park. The next day our morning job was cleaning the park, meaning to fill up the truck with elephant poo and rotten leftover food and move it to a compost dump. While we were dumping off the last compost the truck was surrounded by a herd of elephants with their curious little baby. We had been told to keep our distance from the elephants, but some of the volunteers wanted their pictures with the baby. One of the volunteers got to close and the baby waved his trunk and pushed her over. The rest of the herd rushed over to protect the baby, and we had to back off, as the herd would not hesitate with anything to protect their youngest. After some time the herd moved on and we could finish off our job. We got some time to shower and clean up before lunch.

They have several other animals in the park, dogs, cats, water buffaloes and cows. After lunch we had to load the truck with very heavy bags of cow poo. It had been a long day of poo, so that night we just relaxed and played cards with other volunteers.

The next morning started once again with cleaning poo from the elephant shelters. By the size and texture of the poo you could you could tell about their diet and their age. We were happy that after lunch we didn't have to do work involving poo. Our VCs got us in the back of two trucks and we headed off to gather banana trees to feed the elephants. On the way it seemed like our front truck shifted gears wrong so it stopped and started rolling back into the second truck. Luckily there were no injuries in the crash, and we continued to the banana plantation. As the cars were filled up with the banana trees, we had to walk back to the park. It was a nice walk through the local village.

A really nice thing about staying at the ENP for on week was that David had the chance to play soccer almost every afternoon. He was really missing that :) Every afternoon the VCs and the mahouts meet up to play, but this week they got lots of new teammates from the volunteers. The mahouts are the ones who follow the elephants every day, and takes care of them. Most of them come from Myanmar to work with the elephants.

Playing soccer with the VCs and the mahouts

One of our favorite jobs this week was washing and preparing the food for the elephants. We had to wash loads of watermelon and cucumbers, but at the same time it was a quite refreshing job. Our VC set up a speaker so we got to listen to music as well.

The elephants have different diets depending on their age and condition. Some of them have difficulties chewing their food, so we had to cut away the watermelon peel. We also made some snack balls from tamarind, sticky rice and salt, they love them and it helps their digestion. 

Washing watermelons to feed the elephants

After preparing the food all of the volunteers were gathered to go to visit the local school. This school receives students from a few different villages, some nearby, but some from very far away. Every week the kids prepare local cookies, drinks, post cards, bracelets and other things that volunteers can buy to support the local school and the kids education. We got to visit their classrooms where they were practicing traditional dance and music, making handicrafts, and we could also play with them in the playground.

A little sweet girl came over and wanted Tachi to join her

The girls wanted to play

When we got back from the school visit our afternoon plan was a walk in the park, hearing about the elephants' stories. We got to hear some heartbreaking stories about how some of them were abused in the illegal logging industry, beaten in the most horrible ways to move the enormous trees. Some of the elephants have stepped on landmines and are still under treatment. Many of the elephants were stabbed in one or both eyes so they would not be a threat. It is believed that female elephants attack by swinging their trunk to their left, and the males to their right, hence the females would be blinded on their left eye and males on their right. In the park there are few males and they are separated from the females as they tend to be more aggressive. There were so many sad stories to hear, but walking in the park and seeing how happy they are now we could see how their lives have changed to the better. It was indescribable walking among them, in their own habitat. So many beautiful moments where we could see how they love and care for each other.

Jungle-boy flirting

Two elephants showing love for each other

The more elephants there are in the park, the more food trucks come in and need to be unloaded. As the park has now more than 40 elephants the food trucks arrive 3 times or more a week, as in comparison to earlier when it only arrived once a week. Saturday morning two food trucks arrived with watermelons and pumpkins, so we were two groups who had to change our jobs to unload them. It was a lot of fruits, but after the job we were lucky and got to bring some watermelons out to feed the elephants in the park.

Unloading watermelons

After lunch the only scheduled program was to take group pictures. When these were taken we chose to join the volunteers on their second week with their job. If you decide to do a second week as a volunteer you work more close to the elephants. We got to help make some challenges for the elephants, where we hid some fruits inside a tire that we hung up in their shelter.

Challenging the elephants to find a way to get their fruits

Unfortunately we didn't get to see how the elephant solved their challenges, but finally we would get to meet Lek, the founder of the park. She had been very busy this week preparing to receive 5 new elephants in the following weeks. Lek has an incredible passion to help the elephants, and that showed very much in her presentation. She has been doing a lot of research in how the elephants get abused, and showed us some of the facts and footage she has collected through years of traveling around and visiting the owners. It was a very emotional presentation where we saw things we never could have believed was happening.
Every domesticated elephant has had a long and horrible period of torture to break their spirits, with the goal that they would obey their owner. We saw that in any business using elephants they have to go through this cruel abuse. Even as ignorant tourists we are also a big part of supporting this torture as any elephant in a circus, in the streets as amusement for tourists and in trekking camps for tourists to ride on their backs, have all been through this kind of torture. It was unbelievable to learn how little we know about the treatment of animals used in human business and to amuse humans.

With Lek and her husband Darrick

We would like to thank ENP for a week we will never forget, and giving us the chance to learn so much about the elephants.
With this being said, we hope that anyone who reads this will give a second thought to anything they see or do that involves animals. You might not know just what lies behind!

To find out more you can visit elephantnaturepark.org and saveelephant.org.

Ayutthaya & Sukhothai - Ancient Ruins in Thailand

When we got back from Myanmar, we spent 2 nights in Bangkok, washing clothes, updating our blog, and we even went to the movies. We had about ten days free before starting our week of volunteering in Chiang Mai, so we decided to visit two old capitals of the Siam Kingdom. A two hours train ride took us to Ayutthaya, where we found a nice and cozy guesthouse to spend one night. Because of the extreme heat, we decided to rent a scooter to visit some of the ruins of the old city.

Ayutthaya was the second capital of the Siam Kingdom, after Sukkhotai. In 1767 it was destroyed by the Burmese army, and the ruins are now preserved in the Ayutthaya Historical Park, an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

One of the maintained Buddhas in Ayutthaya

The reclining Buddha used in a scene of the old game Street Fighters

The famous head of Buddha in a tree

When the sun set we didn't feel to comfortable about riding around in the dark, so we made our last stop to the local street market where we had some yummy chicken wings and refreshing fruit shakes. 

The next day we took a bus to Sukhothai, the capital of the first Kingdom of Siam about 800 years ago. One of its rulers, King Ramkhamhaeng the Great, created the Thai alphabet. The city is divided into Old Sukhothai and New Sukhothai. We stayed in New Sukhothai because there was supposed to be a street market there, but comparing to others cities the market didn't have so many culinary options. We had dinner there the first night and for the next 3 days Tachi didn't feel well, so we didn't do much those days. When she felt better, we took a local bus to visit the Sukhothai Historical Park, also an UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Old Sukhothai. We biked around the park, which was really beautiful and well mantained, surrounded by lotus flowers ponds. It was a cloudy day, and perfect to bike around. 

Lotus flowers in Sukhothai Historical Park

A great day for biking around, visiting the ruins

Buddhas placed at the roots of a tree

 The next day we took a bus to Chiang Mai, it was a 6 hours drive. We decided to stay at the same place we stayed the last time where we had good internet :) We also spent the weekend there so we could visit the regular night market and the Sunday night market, where we always had good food, including Tachi's so wanted fresh popcorn. 

Tachi enjoying her fresh popcorn

Trekking and Mandalay

After a tough bus ride up the mountain, with several of the passengers getting road sick, we finally arrived Kalaw. Kalaw is a very small town where we only stayed for one night. The next morning we started a 3 day trekking with Corinna, Lara, an American guy we met on the bus, David, and another German couple at our hotel, Justus and Lina. We started walking out of the city towards the jungle, with Johnnie Walker as our guide.

Team Johnnie Walker

We walked in some beautiful mountain landscapes, past by green tea plantations and saw the local people working in the fields. At the end of the first day's trekking we got to a monastery in a tiny village where we would be spending the night. While Johnnie was preparing dinner for us we got to spend some time with the very shy local kids. David also got to play some "bamboo ball foot-volley" with the teenagers. 

One of the local monk kids

Tachi showing off some photos to the curious kids

David in action playing foot-volley with a ball made out of bamboo

We experienced a new type of shower at the monastery. It was like a concrete reserve of water where we used a bucket to pour water over ourselves. The water was freezing cold! Girls had to use specified toilets and showers, while men could choose between all. Johnnie Walker cooked us some good food and we had dinner with candlelight and the company of a giant spider on the wall. We played cards until the praying time was finished so we could go into the main hall of the monastery where we would be sleeping. 

Spider joining us for dinner

Nice table of good Burmese food

The next day we had a 24 km route passing cabbage fields, rice paddies, young peanut plants and some fields with yellow flowers that we think were canola. In the evening we arrived to a little village where we would be sleeping in a bamboo hut. While dinner was getting prepared the guys went out for a walk around the village for some great views and playing with some kids.
We got a great meal, and afterwards we shared a bottle of Myanmar Rum (less than 2 dollars!) while playing cards. During the walk the guys had found a place that would be nice for sunrise, but unfortunately it was too cloudy so we decided to keep sleeping.

Young boy working alone in the fields

The third day would be the day we arrived to Inle Lake, our final destination. We made an early stop passing by an old, wooden monastery. When we saw the lake from the mountains we had to pay 11 dollars to enter the Inle Lake area, and the last few hours of the trekking our guide was really in a hurry to get down the mountain. The track was tricky and not so easy to walk. We had lunch in a village close to the lake before we took a boat with no seats or roof to cross the lake to Nyaung Shwe. In the middle of the trip our boat broke down and we had to wait until someone came to fix it. The heat was extreme, but they gave us some umbrellas to make some shade.

Waiting for help in the middle of the lake

We even started to paddle with our flip-flops

The locals of the Inle Lake are famous for their way of paddling with their legs

When we finally arrived Nyaung Shwe it started to rain. Johnnie Walker brought us to a very cute guesthouse where our big backpacks were waiting for us. We decided to stay there for some days to relax and wash some clothes.

Our 3 day trek to Inle Lake

Nyaung Shwe is a small town where the electricity is off every day for some time, but at least we had a power generator at our guesthouse, so we could use the fan in our room. We didn't do too much there, just reading, writing postcards, playing cards and going out to eat. 

The view from our guesthouse in Nyaung Shwe

Sunset behind a beer poster

One evening we had dinner David ordered a mango lassi, and a few hours later he started to feel sick. That night he couldn't sleep due to his visits to the toilet. The next day he had fever and started shaking, so the nice guesthouse owner brought us to a doctor. He prescribed antibiotics and said we had to cancel our bus to Mandalay that evening.

The next day David was feeling a bit better and started to eat again, but the only thing the guesthouse could offer us was the Shan noodle soup that wasn't good for David's stomach quite yet, so they said Tachi could use the kitchen if she wanted. She boiled some vegetables and they had new steamed rice for David's lunch. Tachi was tired of having Shan noodle soup and decided to go out for lunch. In the evening David was feeling stronger and we could take the bus to Mandalay. We arrived there at 3:40am and, as always, there were many taxi drivers waiting for the people to get off. We decided to walk but it took us a while to find the hotel as Tachi had the wrong address :(

After 1 hour of walking and sweating like hell, we checked in and got some sleep. We woke up for lunch and walked to a restaurant just one block from our place. In the afternoon we went for a walk to find the night market with Corinna, Lara and David 2. The market was nothing more than some stands with fake western clothes. We were looking for somewhere clean to eat and found a restaurant that seemed nice. It was on the second floor and there was a creepy elevator to get up. When we found the restaurant we were welcomed by 4 or 5 waiters, but the place was too fancy and expensive for what we were looking for. They even offered us a private dinner room. We apologized and left the place.

View from the fancy restaurant

We decided to go to the same place where we had lunch before. The place was crowded with people drinking beer and watching television. It seems like in Myanmar is not normal having a TV at home, so it's very common that at some times the restaurants with TV get crowded. 

The next morning Guillermo, an Argentinian we had met in Koh Tao, joined us for breakfast and we headed to the AirAsia shuttle bus to go to the airport. The airport was pretty basic, with no air-con, and the check-in was practically manual. 

Myanmar was a very interesting place, people are so nice and welcoming, especially in little villages. Here are some interesting facts we saw and learned during our stay:

* It's very difficult to find a good wi-fi connection. In some places you could only access the wi-fi between 7 to 10am. In our guesthouse in Nyaung Shwe they shared their mobile data for the guests, and only for 1h.
* The men wear longyi, a wraparound skirt.

* Men and women use a yellow paste called Thanaka. It is made by grinding the bark, wood or roots of a thanaka tree with a small amount of water. Apart from cosmetic beauty, it also gives a cooling sensation and protects the skin from sunburn.

* When you want the waiter's attention, you have to make a kissing sound, almost like calling a cat. :P
* You might see many people with red teeth. Everywhere you find street stalls selling betel nut and green leaves. The betel nut, spices and a pinch of tobacco are folded into the leaves and popped into the mouth and chewed. 
*  People who chew the betel nut spit out all the time. So it's common to find red stains on the ground.

KYEIZU TIN BA DE, MYANMAR!

Mingalarbar, Myanmar!

Our trip to Myanmar started in Mae Sot, the Thai city on the border. When we got off of the bus we met two German girls, Corinna and Lara, who were also going to the border so we shared a songthaew to the immigration. We crossed the Friendship Bridge by foot and entered Myanmar easily, hoping to catch a bus to Yangon. Unfortunately we were to late for the last bus and the next one would be in two days. The girls had no plans either so we decided to share a taxi to Hpa An where we would get a bus the next morning to Yangon. We had to withdraw some money not knowing exactly the prices of anything so we took 200.000 kyats (aprox. 200 USD). The ATM spat out so many notes that we could not fit them in the wallet! The thing is that the biggest note was the 5.000 kyats note! 

Tachi feeling at home on another Friendship Bridge

The driver wanted 40.000 kyats (about 40 dollars) and we thought it was a good deal, until we felt how he was going to drive on those poor roads full of curves and narrow parts with cliffs to one side and rocks to the other. It was like a roller coaster, but worse! The scenery was beautiful, but we couldn't really enjoy or take good pictures because of the crazy driving! It was really scary when we passed the big trucks on those narrow roads! Now we understood why the bus goes only one way one day and the other way the next. 

Taxi ride up in the mountains

We had to stop some times to show our passports to uniformed men. It seemed like they were writing down our information in a big book to keep track of the tourists, we couldn't understand exactly what that was for. When we finally got down from the mountain we had a stop for food. It's a weird way they eat, they just bring out many little plates with side dishes and a bowl of rice to the table and we had no idea what they were. Asking wasn't an option as no one spoke English, not even the taxi driver. 

It got dark very quickly and we were still racing to Hpa An. Suddenly we heard a loud noise, and went out to see our flat tire! Oh, what a nice start in Myanmar! It was in the middle of nowhere, in the darkness, and we had to use the flashlight of our phones so that the driver could change the tire. After 5 horrible hours on the road, we finally got to Hpa An. We bought our bus tickets for the next day and went straight to a guesthouse to rest our super tense bodies and minds.

Flat tire

The next day we had breakfast and took the bus to Yangon. It was a local bus for only 5.000 kyats, with ok space, air-con and TV where they were showing karaoke music videos and very overacted Burmese movies. It was also funny that it stopped in the middle of nowhere to pick up locals that had to sit on small plastic stools. It was about 6,5 hours drive to Yangon. From the bus station we shared a taxi to the Sule Pagoda area where we checked in at a very ugly and dirty guesthouse. We had some late lunch and walked around exploring the nearby area. The next morning we decided moving to a neighbor guesthouse, a bit cleaner than the other one. We took a local bus to the area near the famous Shwedagon Pagoda. It was very hot so we looked for a place with air-con, bought some things and headed to the Pagoda. It is believed that it was built more than 2.600 years ago, making it the oldest Buddhist stupa in the world. 

Shwedagon Pagoda

We were supposed to meet Corinna and Lara there, but it was so crowded that we couldn't find them. We spent a lot of time there and got to talk with some Burmese English students that wanted to practice their English. When it got dark we went to the Vista Rooftop Bar where we could get a nice view of the Shwedagon Pagoda by night.

Shwedagon Pagoda by night

The next day we went to the train station to buy tickets to Bagan. A man that we thought worked at the station recommended us to go by bus because the trip was shorter and almost the same price. He took us to a travel agency that offered us "VIP" bus tickets for 25.000 each. Luckily, Tachi had read about the prices before and she thought that was a bit more expensive and suggested that we went back to the hotel to check it. On our way back we stopped by another agency to ask for prices and they offered it for 5.000 less and that was what Tachi had read, so we just bought the tickets there. We had lunch at the 999 Noodle Shop, which was quite good but nothing special like TripAdvisor said. 

A street near the Sule Pagoda

It started to rain so we headed back to the guesthouse to have a siesta and wait for it to stop. Late afternoon we walked to the river where we had heard about a pagoda that was supposed to be nice for sunset. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy and foreigners had to pay to enter so we decided to just have a walk along the riverside.
At night we met up with the girls and went for some food in Chinatown, but we didn't find Chinatown to be very exciting. The food did not look very tasty or Chinese, so we ended up just having some beers and David got to try deep fried crickets with some locals sitting next to us.

The next day we checked out from the guesthouse and relaxed in the park until we had to head to the bus station, where we met the German girls. We arrived in Bagan around 4am and had to spend 20 USD each just to enter the city. We found a nice guesthouse to rest a little, have breakfast and rent bikes to tour around some of the more than two thousand pagodas.

Some of the pagodas and stupas

Enjoying the sight from atop a pagoda

The next morning we woke up early to try to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately it was cloudy, but it was still a beautiful view. We got some sandwiches from the guesthouse that we had as breakfast on the pagoda before we continued biking to some villages. In the afternoon we tried to watch the sunset, but the weather was not so helpful again. 

Sunset in Bagan


On the next day we took a bus to Kalaw from where we would start a new adventure.