Have been with my Aussie Action Abroad/Architects Without Frontiers group for the last few days in Kathmandu - in a much fancier hotel than I'm used to whilst backpacking.

Have been doing inductions, language lessons and some sight seeing. Last night we had dinner at Nepali Chulo (where I went last week with Barga and Candy) with the entire group of 70+ of us plus 20+ Nepali students. I was sitting with the Australian Ambassador and his wife as well as getting to meet Anuradha Koirala, the founder of Maiti Nepal, which was so amazing to actually meet such an inspirational woman.

I can't remember if I've already written about what we're doing for the next few weeks but I'll do it again now anyway. Tomorrow we travel 12ish hours to Maiti Nepal's Itahari facility. Maiti rescues trafficked children and women from brothels in India and provides healthcare, shelter, training, support... Whatever they need. Last year they rescued 3600 women and children. Unfortunately around 30% have been infected with HIV, not to mention the torture (burns, acid burns, beating, starvation, cuts, forced abortions), and the usual 5-50 clients per day that are forced upon them. Anuradha started Maiti Nepal over 20 years ago and I'm yet to think of a more worthy cause to support. I've said it before but, watch the documentary "The Day My God Died" if you can handle it. It's all about Maiti and Anuradha.

The Itahari facility where we'll be stationed is a training centre for girls that have been rescued at the border before they're sold into a brothel. Maiti has staff at the border trained to recognise girls that may be getting trafficked (usually the staff members are women who were once trafficked themselves) and intervene and rescue the girls before they cross the border to India. We'll get to go and observe this as well.

We're gutting and rebuilding the amenities block at Maiti Itahari and painting (possibly a mural) the girls dormitories. That will be for just under 2 weeks, then we'll do a 4 day trek and then head back to Bhaktapur and Kathmandu just in time for me to fly home. Complete technological blackout until the 20th.

Today we visited the Maiti Kathmandu headquarters and I was completely overwhelmed. We ate lunch and had a lecture on the work they do and what they're fighting against followed by a tour of the facility. There are about 200 children there and they were just so precious and adorable and so excited to see us. As the guests of honour there were some dance performances by some of the children. When the younger girls got up to do a very groovy dance called "dance for life" which had music set to it about beating HIV/aids etc, all 200 children ended up standing and joining in the dance. They were all so happy and dancing all around us and I was just blown away.

Afterwards we visited the Pashupatinath Hindu temple where they hold their cremation ceremonies on the ghats. It's a bit like a mini version of Varanasi. There's also the oldest hospice in Kathmandu there (about 100yr old) where people can go and live the end of their days right next to where they'll be cremated. I saw a woman being carried into the building on a stretcher and just found it really morbid and wrong in some way... Like it's great that they have such a facility but watching it, it kind of felt like "there you go, we'll just stick you in here til you die and then there's not far to take you to be burnt". One of the other groups here will be doing construction/repair work on the roof of the hospice over the next couple weeks as the whole thing is leaking onto everyone dying there.


There were a couple of people being cremated when we arrived and we saw another two bodies being prepared while we were there. The first part of the cremation requires the head and the feet to be washed with the river water. At one point a body was brought over to the ghats on a stretcher. It was wrapped in a floral bed sheet and wearing a khaki green beanie. They were waiting there for a while and I was wondering what the hold up was; it seemed so strange for the body to just be there and everyone casually standing around and people going about their business nearby. Then another body was brought over on a stretcher, except this one was wrapped in saffron fabric and covered in flower petals. Turns out the first body had to wait for the more well dressed body to be washed first. It just seemed so wrong to me that there was still a hierarchy in death; that somehow even some dead bodies are more important than others.








Our group went out to dinner at a woodfired pizza place tonight. Last western food/food not prepared on a camp stove for 3 weeks. So full. Will I ever get sick of goats cheese salad? Doubtful. We went and did a stock up of snacks for the trek/general snacking.. You really can get anything here. I managed to find a big bag of Cadbury's chocolate eclairs (my childhood favourite because grandad would have them in the glovebox of his car when they came to visit) which made me very happy and there may or may not be a bottle of 75 proof Nepalese spiced rum in my bag for probably the coldest New Years celebrations of my life thus far.


We'll be in tents for the next 3 weeks so I'll come back to an Australia with a renewed appreciation for walls and a bed. I just took the longest and hottest shower I could manage.. "The Last Shower". Won't be that many happening over the next couple weeks considering we're gutting the bathroom there, so it's just a camping shower (that we'll have to boil water for first). Anyway.. Have to be up at 4:30am to pack, eat breakfast and get on the bus. We've got to try and beat traffic out of Kathmandu otherwise it'll add on 2-4h to our trip.

So.. This will be the last blog until probably at least the 20th! Happy New Year everyone. Lots of love xx

P.S kiss my ass 2013!!!

Location:Expedition beginnings

Paragliding and back to Kathmandu

The weather was finally alright enough to paraglide on Boxing Day! They picked us up and took us to the launch site at Sarangkot, near where I'd watched the sunrise the previous morning. People were taking off as we climbed up the slope, and it was really surreal seeing people running off the side of the mountain and just continuing to float onwards.

My paraglider was Krishna, the brother of Sano Babu who did the Everest paraglide I've mentioned previously.
"Look up. Run. Don't stop running."
Those were my instructions.
So in no time I was in a harness and then clipped to Krishna.
"Ok. Go!"
"Run?!"
"Yes. Run. Run run run run run. STOP STOP STOP STOP."
We hadn't managed to get enough lift with the parachute to take off due to the average conditions and had to stop running and plant ourselves in the ground before we tumbled off the edge. Wasn't graceful.

Second attempt at take off I found myself with a lot of adrenalin considering I'd become very aware of gravity and felt like actually flying just wasn't possible. It's also very hard and awkward to run with a Nepalese man strapped to your back. It kind of felt like those dreams where you're trying to run but you start floating of the ground so it's impossible to actually get anywhere. Does anyone else get those dreams?!

So the second launch was successful and it was super surreal to just run off a mountain and float away. The flight was really fun. I felt like an eagle.

Waiting for the flight and then doing it took up most of the day so I had a very late lunch and then lemon meringue pie for dinner. Happy Boxing Day.

I could have stayed another night and hung about Pokhara alone but I decided I was done and booked a bus back to Kathmandu. Zak was flying in this morning before we start the group Architects without Frontiers/Aussie Action Abroad expedition tomorrow evening so I figured I'd hang with him for the afternoon.

Turns out there were quite a few of us already arrived so we all headed out to dinner tonight. I went back to Northfield and the barista boys greet me with big smiles and the Nepali hands together greeting, whatever that's called. They've been perfecting their coffee/milk frothing skills since my instruction and have improved greatly. Everyone here is just super lovely. Candy is even putting me up in her spare bedroom tonight before I move into the flash hotel the expedition group is staying at tomorrow!

I will miss my independence/ being able to decide what I'm doing and when.. But I'm really looking forward to getting started on the project! If you haven't already watched the documentary, "the day my God died" then watch it (warning: it's full on).. We're going to Maiti's Kathmandu facility the day after tomorrow and it's bound to be an intense experience.

Alright I'm tired - off to sleep (in my own room, by myself.. Going to miss this)! Goodnight!

Christmas in Pokhara

The 7h bus trip was actually not bad at all. They stopped quite a few times so didn't even get close to a "will I have to attempt to wee in a water bottle?" moment and the bus ticket included a free lunch. Bonus.

I met Shaun and his 17yr old step daughter Mithra who live in Bali but are Aussie on zee bus, so I've been hanging with them here and they're good company.

Pokhara is beautiful and relaxed. We're staying at Hotel Nirvana, which was recommended by Candy. I'd booked a cheaper room on the ground floor but they upgraded me because the ground floor rooms were actually booked. What a shame. I have a gorgeous corner room with windows on two sides, big bed and the first legitimately hot shower I've had in Nepal (rather than the room temperature "hot" water in Kathmandu). The place is very airy and chill and there's verandas and terrace where you can eat on every level.

Lake Pokhara is very scenic and surrounded by mountains, which look amazing at night when they disappear except for the dots of light from the scattered homes.








Women from the Tibetan refugee camps here set up stalls on the side of the lake selling jewellery and ornaments to make a living. They kill me. I bought some overpriced stuff off one woman just because I know she could use the money more than me. Then I felt awful not buying something from the rest of them. I'm soft.








Christmas today and we were all supposed to go to Sarangkot in the mountains before dawn to watch the Himalayas at sunrise but poor Mithra ended up with gastro (classic Nepal). Shaun and I went up anyway and it was really amazingly beautiful and completely surreal.

















Have really just been chilling the rest of today. Had a massive breakfast (it's not Christmas if you can walk away from the table straight away) at Boomerang cafe, the German bakery (makes total sense). I then spent all my money on buying gifts from an amazing and lovely Tibetan woman (got a little carried away with all the Christmas spirit) and then went back to my room for a food coma.









Tonight I'm booked into Moondance Restaurant for their Christmas roast dinner, which includes an apple crumble and ice cream dessert! It's no pavlova... But it's still apple crumble!!

My first ever cold Christmas. The goose down jacket Barga lent me has come in handy. Does it count as a 'White Christmas' if I saw snow on the mountains?

Merry Christmas everyone. Lots of love from Nepal xxxx

Update:
This was dinner



Met a couple Californian guys and went out for Christmas drinks:



Ended up dancing with a bunch of locals to Jack Johnson covers.

Tired today. Paragliding should wake me up ;)

My 3 nights in Thamel

I've had such a fantastic time in Kathmandu - I really love it! I've been staying in the tourist area of Thamel which everyone told me I'd hate because of the noise and chaos but similarly to Delhi, I love it.

I booked a night in a guesthouse online before I left Yangon so I could skip the hassle and have someone waiting for me at the airport:







The queue to get through immigration was sooooo long. Took about an hour. My brain may have been a bit distorted by the time in transit and lack of sleep, however.

That night I decided that after 29h in transit, I could eat whatever the hell I wanted to make myself feel better, so I went to a place called Northfield cafe because the guidebook said they had Mexican food.






It was outdoor with a corrugated iron roof, trees in the middle, a bunch of prayer flags and a couple of fire pits (it's really cold). My burrito was delicious and I was particularly excited to have cheese and a side salad for the first time in ages. While I was eating I met the owner of the cafe, Barga, and Candy who is a 63 year-old American woman (looks about 50) who retired to Nepal to help run the cafe and jewellery business that Barga also runs, and she lives in the hotel next door (that also belongs to Barga).

Barga is Nepalese but lives in California where he buys gems to bring over to Nepal to had manufactured into jewellery which he then exports back to the states and buyers all over the world. And he owns several restaurants and hotels. He's very well connected.

They invited me to come for breakfast the next morning and I did. Oh god how I'd been yearning for some muesli. And of course they wouldn't let me pay. I spent that day walking around the streets of Thamel and window shopping. So many cool things. I needed to buy a pashmina and a beanie so I didn't freeze so Barga took me to his friend's shop and said he'd get me the Nepali price. They told me 3275r which is about $36... Barga was there so I just assumed that was the correct (discounted) price.. So I started pulling out my money and he says "Actually. Since you are a friend. You can have the pashmina for 2000r and the beanie is a gift." Connections.

I went to a Tibetan restaurant for dinner and had chicken momos (just like dumplings). The ones I had in Northern India made with curry mashed potato were way better. Afterwards I went back to Northfield for some Nepalese tea and met Barga's brother who is actually a paraglider. When I was walking home there were still a couple bars open and one of them had a cover band playing Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name of, which I found hilarious.

Back for breakfast the next morning and Barga's paragliding brother was there again, and brought his buddy Narayan who set up the first paragliding company in Nepal, Blue Sky, which I'd read about in the guidebook and was planning on going with that company to do paragliding in Pokhara! He gave me his card so I can get a discount (connections). Also, he taught Sano Babu, one of the guys who climbed Everest, paraglided off and then kayaked to the Indian Ocean! I'd seen the documentary about it a couple of years ago and I was so amazed to meet the guy who trained him!

Spent an hour or so teaching the staff how to make espresso coffee at Barga's request. The cappuccinos they were producing looked like a frothy bubble bath. Barga's brother was there translating everything I was saying to the boys and they were all so eager to learn bless them. They actually picked it up really quickly and apparently the coffees have greatly improved now!

I went up to the Monkey Temple (has a Nepali name too but monkey temple is easier to remember). Lots of stairs. Great view overlooking the Kathmandu valley though and it had ALL the prayer flags.












The eyes on the temple are the Nepali idea of what Buddha's eyes look like. If that's the case Buddha seems to be giving the "I'm onto you..." look.

People on the street keep asking me if I want my shoes repaired. Not sure what they're trying to say. 7yrs and going strong! Not really. They're on their last legs, I just need them to last one more trek. Will buy some duct tape. In an effort to try and extend their life, Candy took me to the street where you buy shoes and I bought a sweet pair of Chucks to wear at all times when not hiking. For $20. I think they're actually real too, otherwise they're an immaculate copy!

We also walked to Durbar square and managed to stealth mode past the guards and avoid the 1000r ($10) entrance fee. Some fabulous Newari architecture. Kumari, the living Goddess also lives in a little mansion in the square. I find this Kumari thing so strange. So they somehow select a child and dress her up, and she's their living Goddess. Her feet aren't allowed to touch the ground so she's carried everywhere. Occasionally at a designated time she comes to her window for people to see her, but you're not allowed to take photos of her. Sometimes they carry her around the streets on her chariot and she throws marigolds. This is all well and good until she reaches puberty, then she's a normal human again and they find the next Kumari.





We went to dinner at Barga's other restaurant, Nepali Chulo, which is in an old Rana palace. We ate traditional daal bhat and there were amusing dance performances. At one point they dressed up a person in a peacock costume and the peacock would go around pecking people until you fed it money. Quite hilarious.

Had an early night as the bus Pokhara left early the next morning. I was rushing around to leave thinking I was late (I wasn't) and managed to kill my back. What you don't want to do is lift your 14kg bag quickly and in a jerking, twisting fashion.

In Pokhara now. Merry Christmas! Will do a Pokhara post soon! X

On the road to Kathmandu

Fun times.

Yangon airport kept experiencing power cuts while I was there and all the computers and servers had to keep resetting, which I found hilarious.

Ordered a beef burger. Yes I'm a classic white tourist but man it was gooooood. It's been so long since I've had beef.

Got held up at security since I'd forgotten to take my pocket knife out of my carry on luggage. Good one Amiee. First I'm deported, then I'm caught trying to carry a knife onto a plane. Burma <3 Amiee. So cya later Swiss Army knife, hope you enjoy your Burmese retirement.

Thought I had 2 stopovers this leg of the trip. Actually had 3. We stopped at Gaya in India for half an hour en route to Kolkata but weren't allowed off the plane.

Arrived in Kolkata. Taken by bus to the terminal. Sign to "transfer" pointed to no where so I asked the security guard where the Air India transfer desk is.
"You have India visa?"
Oh god. Here we go again. Good luck deporting me back to Burma guys.

So apparently the concept of "transit" is quite an unknown concept here at Kolkata airport. I was "detained" and had to explain to at least 5 separate people that yes, we're in India but no, I'm not going to India, I'm in TRANSIT to Nepal. Kathmandu. Just give me my damn boarding pass for my flight to Delhi and take me to the gate!
"You don't have visa for India?"
"No. I fly to Nepal"
"But you fly to Delhi"
"Yes. And then to Kathmandu 8 hours later. Look *points to luggage ticket* bags are checked all the way to Kathmandu. TRANSIT!"
"But you don't have a boarding pass"
"No. They told me in Yangon that you would give me the boarding pass here."

The airline staff were so disapproving. I don't understand what the problem was but they were all treating me like a child that needed chastising. They took all my stuff again (passport, flight itinerary, boarding pass, luggage tag)... Love it when they do that. Doesn't induce anxiety at all. And then eventually returned with my boarding passes. And told me to Sit. Stay.

This country's "no smile" policy is all coming back to me now. I remember it being something that really unnerved me when I traveled here. People don't smile back when you smile at them, they just continue their cold states. Very hard when you're someone who generally smiles her way through tense situations.

Eventually I was summoned to be taken to the departure area. I was like a pet dog. "Come."
"Put bag here."
"You keep this boarding pass and passport in your hand"
(Duh lady, chill the F out)
Then there was miss military who did the bag scanning and called me into the frisking room for my rub down.
"Come."
"Go now"
Yes ma'am.
"Take your bag."
"Take your boarding pass. Go to gate 16. Straight then left."
Super friendly peeps.

Will continue to update through the night in a last ditch effort to keep my sanity.

UPDATE (1:30am Delhi time, Delhi airport):

Have reached point of delirious hilarity. You get a mandatory frisking in Indian security checks. Women get a private little curtained booth to get frisked in so no one gets to watch. I think the woman who was conducting the frisking enjoyed her job. She opened the curtain, looked me up and down, gestured to go inside, before then cracking her knuckles...
It was certainly an experience. I mean I've been frisked plenty of times.. But man she was thorough. Like proper through.
Probably didn't help the awkwardness that I was laughing the entire time after the initial look she gave me.

Promptly got gastro upon entering Delhi. It's like my stomach remembers this location.

It's now about 5h til my flight to Kathmandu but I think I'll just go all in and stay awake. Ironically there's actual napping pods here. I like airports though. And I'm delirious. And there's so many pretty things to look at. And ice cream.

6:11am Delhi airport.

Ok so I had some sleep. So whaaaat. I was just strolling around trying to be awake and then a lounge appeared like a divine apparition.
"Come Amiee, sleep on me," it said in a gentle, Morgan Freeman voice.
Ok lounge you win.
Now I'm exploring the transit hotel for funsies (I've also tried out almost every bathroom - they have attendants that have to stand there listening to everyone's bowel movements and then pass you paper towel once you've washed your hands. What a job) and there's wifi here yay! Also they're pumping some beats which is keeping awake since I can't afford the exorbitant price of their coffee (after paying their exorbitant price for their fancy wifi). Flight boards in about half an hour.

Laterz.

Update:
Flight was delayed half an hour. Then they boarded us. We sat on the plane for half an hour. Then they made us get off. We had to do the whole transit security check all over again! Only this time it was a different woman. She creeped me out because while she was waiting for her next female victim she was sitting in a chair rubbing her hands together and rocking slightly and she looked a little possessed. I'm not even making this stuff up. But guess what?! She just did the metal detector wand thing and didn't even touch me with her hands!! So clearly the other woman just reeeeeally liked her job.

They estimated a new departure time of 09:30. Just went down and it's now 10:30. Luckily the transit hotel people are being nice to me and letting me use their wifi so I can email the guesthouse in Kathmandu who are picking me up at the airport!

One day I'll leave this place.

**update**
I ended up literally running for the plane. In my delirious state when the boarding time was changed to 10:30 to me it was more like "probably never". Lesson: don't get distracted skyping handsome men. When I left the hotel at 10:30 an air India staff member saw me.
"Kathmandu?"
"YES"
"Miss Groundwater?"
"YES"
"Run!"
So I did. Various staff members saw me along the way and were all radioing each other that I was coming and to hold the plane. Luckily the staff at the gate were much more amused than pissed. (Probably at my attempt at running in thongs on glossy tiles). I was the very last person on the plane. Yep, I'm that guy.

Day trip to Ngwe Saung

So yesterday I went for a little day trip to another beach town south of here called Ngwe Saung which is fussed over because of its "crystal clear water" and "wide white sand beach" but basically it's a town of expensive resorts and not much else.

I decided to take dad's advice of not being "gung ho" and pay the $13 for a guy to drive me there and back on his motorbike rather than the $10 for me to ride there myself and no doubt stack it and do lots of bleeding on the sandy/rocky rough tracks.

It took around 2ish hours each way due to the 3 river crossings where we had to wait for the little wooden motorboat to come and then load in our bikes and everyone else's stuff etc. Actually I think the trip there was the best part. A lot of the way we rode on almost deserted beaches or through dense palm tree jungle or little fisherman villages. Very scenic.




















The beach itself at Ngwe Saung was nice but as I said, it's just a resort town. I'm glad I wasn't staying there, after the 3h my moto guy allocated me on the beach I was pretty bored. It seems to be a place you go as a white couple to stay in a bungalow and ignore each other whilst lying in the sun all day. I went for a bit of a stroll down the beach and did some swimming and lying in the sun, but was well and truly done by the time we had to head back.

Journey back was the same apart from the fact we had a punctured tyre which we had to stop and get pumped up in every village.

I moved from my little bungalow today to a place in town. It was almost a little sad to leave but it wasn't quite as fun with Basti, Jake and Saioa gone. It's a really nice place to stay if you have people to hang (and go skinny dipping on the beach) with but otherwise it's a bit ronery.





The staff had been so lovely. After Saioa left they gave me a special rate so I could stay there longer. My favourite staff member was a girl called "Pyew Pyew" who called me "Miss Lychee" at first because she didn't know my name and I was staying in the Lychee bungalow. "Excuse me, Miss Lychee, your motorbike is here". She also exclaimed that I'm so beautiful I could be a movie star (which clearly won her points but really she just loved my super pale skin). One of the male staff would pick me flowers whenever I saw him and bring me tea and bananas. Celebrity treatment. The night everyone left I felt a bit lonely so I went and watched an episode of "Prison Break" with all the staff, who were all very engrossed and were trying to explain the storyline to me but in Burmese and with actions, which was hilarious because I actually knew the storyline but they didn't understand me telling them that. The only single bad experience I had was last night when I was half asleep and woke up to someone shining a torch in on my face through the awning window. Naturally I woke up and freaked out that someone was either trying to perv on me or steal my stuff so of course in my half asleep stupor I turned that bungalow into Fort Knox, locking down all the windows, turning on the porch light, putting the bin in front of the door so if someone opened it, it'd fall and wake me, before going to sleep with my Swiss Army knife under my pillow. Don't mess with half asleep and freaked out Amiee.

So clearly this paranoia wasn't very conducive to sleep and I woke up intermittently to make sure no one had broken into my bungalow. I told Pyew Pyew about my bad night this morning and she explained that the security guard had thought he'd heard someone crying, and knowing I was alone, wanted to check nothing bad had happened to me so it was him shining the torch in my window. Oh. Okay then.

Had a bit of a lazy nap day today. I took the crappiest room in the new hotel to save money, but then got bumped up to one of the nicer rooms because the crappy room was actually booked. Real shame.

I've got another full day and night here in this amazing place before heading back to Yangon to fly out to Nepal!

Chaung Tha madness

15/12/13

Yesterday was epic.

It was Saioa's last day here in Chaung Tha before she had to head back to Yangon for her flight to Bali, so we were determined to have an amazing time.

The day started out fairly slowly. We took a moto down the road to the main beach for a swim. It's not as nice as the deserted beach just a couple of minutes from our bungalow but we had to check it out all the same. We managed to meet these three really giggly and funny Burmese women who were around our age and there on company holiday from Mandalay. They shortened their names to cute little nicknames for us so that we could remember/pronounce them: Zuzu, Tenten and Ayay. They were floating around in tube rings because they couldn't swim, despite the water being about thigh deep. They practised their English with us (they were very good) and asked about our lives etc. Tenten in particular really cracked me up because every now and then she'd announce how happy she was and start giggling in a really high pitch whilst jumping up in down in the water. All the Burmese people swim in full clothing, which made Saioa and I stand out quite a bit in our bikinis. Zuzu stayed around longer than the others for some swimming lessons, which were somewhat inhibited by the fact she was wearing jeans. She was so afraid of getting out of the tube ring, telling us she'd sink, despite the water being really shallow. We persevered for a while and she was very thankful.

We ate fresh whole fish and prawns on skewers on the beach for lunch and washed it down with some fresh coconut.

Saioa is a horse riding enthusiast so when we found out we could ride horses along the northern beaches there was no question as to whether or not we'd do it. They brought us our horses at 4pm... I'd specially requested the pony I'd seen earlier at the beach that they had (for some awesome reason) decided to paint like a zebra. I think it was generally meant for children because the stirrups they had on it were basically big enough to fit my big toe only, so that made for a bit of an uncomfortable/unstable ride. Usually the guides lead the horses but Saioa preferred to just ride by ourselves, so the two horse riding lessons as an 11-year-old stood me in good stead. Thanks Mum and Dad.

I was pretty certain I'd fall off at least once, I just hoped my landing would be cushioned by sand and devoid of big rocks. We rode down three beaches and then back while the sun set. Naturally they gave us two horses that hated each other, so zebra pony (I named her Sasha) was pretty well behaved as long as I kept her away from Saioa's horse. At one point Sasha and I were on a small rocky path around a headland and she started yelling in horse language. At the time I was very much hoping she was saying "I LOVE MY LIFE AS A ZEBRA PONY!!!" rather than "I'M GOING TO THROW THIS WHITE GIRL ONTO THOSE JAGGED ROCKS DOWN THERE!!!". Must have been the former.

We got along really well once I gave up any idea of steering her. At one point I tried to steer her between two big rocks. Just to assert her independence, Sasha decided to walk OVER the rocks. Twice. Alright, cool.

The whole ride was so beautiful and fun and now I can check zebra riding off my bucket list. Win.


("Onwards Sasha!")

Afterwards, we met up with a couple of guys staying in the same bungalow complex and went for dinner and beers to celebrate Saioa's last night.

Well, it was probably one of the crazier nights of my life. We bought a bunch of fireworks from children on the beach and then went back to our better and more exclusive beach with some beers, built a campfire, set off all the fireworks and went skinny dipping. Pretty standard night really. Haha.



(Feeling bad-ass with our giant fireworks)

I think we ended up getting in at around 3am and got up at a normal hour due to Saioa's leaving on a bus, so I'm just a wee bit tired. The others felt a bit worse for wear also.


(The guys at breakfast)

Everyone's left now. Sadface. It's alright, I still have my bungalow, the beach and my book. 5 days til Nepal!!

Mawlamyine and the escape to Paradise

13/12/13
After saying goodbye to Simon in Yangon, Saioa and I decided to go visit Mawlamyine, which is the third largest city in Myanmar (but still only home to 300,000) and served as the capital of British Burma in the 19th Century. George Orwell lived there for years and Rudyard Kipling came to visit for a few days and fell in love with a Burmese babe.
He wrote: "I should better remember what the pagoda was like had I not fallen deeply and irrevocably in love with a Burmese girl at the foot of the first flight of steps. Only the fact of the steamer starting next noon prevented me from staying at Moulmein forever."

Well. We checked out that pagoda. Didn't fall in love with any Burmese girls (bummer). Pagoda was a pagoda (have seen so many) but the view over the town at sunset was lovely.

We spent a couple of days exploring the town. Plenty of really lovely curious locals that were really excited to engage us in conversation with whatever limited English vocabulary they had at their disposal. Anyway, it really wasn't much to write home about, and unlike Kipling, we really didn't feel any desire to stay forever - so we decided to bail to the beach with the limited days Saioa has left in the country.

We took the night bus at 9pm to Yangon with our fingers crossed we'd be able to just change directly to a bus to Chaung Tha Beach without having to catch the pricey taxi into town and back out to the bus station again.



(Got a little stir crazy on the bus)

Well we arrived at around 4ish in the morning.. I think. Turns out the bus doesn't terminate back at the bus station like we'd hoped, but in the middle of nowhere.. But with plenty of taxi drivers to fight over us. They wanted some ridiculous prices to take us to the bus station.. 'Negotiations' started at $10 each with a bid from Old Guy... Young Emo Kid insisted the same price.. Then Old Guy and Emo Kid would just keep yelling over the top of us about how it's a good price because it's a long drive, while we tried to ask around for a better price (that price was ridiculous, btw.. we had no idea where we were but generally it costs $6-$7 total for the 1hr taxi ride to the bus station from the centre of town).. Fat Nice Guy offered us the more reasonable price of $7 total.. Old Guy and Emo Kid berated him for that one.. they usually all try and band together to keep the price ridiculous so we have no option other than to take it. So we went to get in the taxi with Fat Nicd Guy but Old Guy insisted that we would go with Emo Kid for that price. We tried to insist we go with Fat Nice Guy but they bullied him into staying put and made us go with Emo.

So we piled in his taxi with a small family, which was not part of the deal (not that we minded, but if you're sharing a taxi, you don't pay the same price). Also, it wasn't even his taxi because there was a photo of some other guy on the dashboard. We went and dropped off the small family first, and then he asked me where we're going! The whole time he had no idea. I'm trying to communicate to him we need the bus station for Chaung Tha beach (there's actually 2 bus stations - we were just assuming it was the main one).
"Where you go?"
"Bus to Chaung Tha beach"
"Direct?"
"Yes, direct bus"
*Emo kid dials someone on the phone, talks to them and then passes it to me*
"Hello?"
"Where you go?"
"Bus station to Chaung Tha"
"Ah Chaung Tha. $150"
"What?!? No. Bus."
"Chaung Tha Beach. $150"
"NO. BUS STATION"
*silence*
At this point I'm flipping crazily through my guidebook trying to work out which bus station it actually is (may have been good to work that out before half asleep at 4am) and manage to find the name of the bus station (wasn't the main one - thank god I checked!). From there Emo Kid and I understood each other and it was about 20min of driving (while he also combed his luscious Emo Kid hairstyle) til we were there. Sai decided that $7 was steep considering a) he made that price with zero idea where we were going b) we shared with a family who also paid him and c) it only took 20min so we passed him a $5 and were done with him.

We had the fantastic luck of getting 2 of the last actual seats (not the fold-down aisle seats) on the bus that left an hour later. We sat in a local tea shop and drank a type of Burmese tea (which I'm addicted to - it's a bit like Indian chai but without the spices and it's made on condensed milk rather than milk and sugar) and ate this local bread stuff which I can only describe as being some sort of croissant-churro hybrid.

The bus was a bit of a dump and had a large population of mosquitos, but on the upside, the exterior was painted with rainbows. About 3h in without a stop Saioa and I were painfully regretting those cups of tea, but were at the very back of the bus and there were 20 people sitting in the aisle between us and communicating with the driver that we'd very much like to stop. Luckily a girl next to us in the back seat was getting off so we took the opportunity to pee behind a bush on the side of the road (in a very classy fashion, of course). This lovely old woman held her jacket up for us for extra privacy.

The rest of the bus ride was less eventful. The 27 miles after the turnoff for Chaung Tha was only one lane wide and incredibly winding so it took almost 2h!

Chaung Tha is incredible. We're staying in our own little bamboo bungalow. I'm writing this now from our front deck (will have to go to the main hotel down the road to actually upload) where we can have breakfast and tea served to us if we so choose. We spent the afternoon swimming in the beautifully warm ocean, watching the sunset and drinking coconuts.

Also, there are children selling fireworks on the beach and they are being set off almost constantly at the moment. I'm going to buy SO MANY fireworks tomorrow night!! SO MANY.

Also, I may never leave. You all know where to find me.



To be continued.

Bagan baby!

Well we eventually stopped throwing up enough to catch a 11h bus to Bagan.

Most amazing couple of days!

The first morning I got up at 5am to go hot air ballooning over Bagan. Used up all my Christmas dollars (thanks dad, Merry Christmas!) to go, but it was seriously magic. I've always wanted to go hot air ballooning and they say that Bagan is one of the most spectacular places in the world to go because it's plain dotted with hundreds of temples.

We were picked up at 530am in a cushy little vintage bus and taken to the launch site, where they had the balloons laid out on the ground and were testing the flames. They had little safari stools out and a coffee/tea and biscuit station!
"Coffee or tea Madame?"
We sipped tea under the stars.

They inflated all the balloons and the European pilots read out names of people in their basket. 16 in each. We were with a Belgian called Christophe who had his own hot air balloon company in Belgium but the Bagan balloon season coincided with the Belgium off-season so was here piloting for a few months.

I was really amazed at how low we were able to fly. We scraped quite a few tree tops and at one stage we were almost at ground level just floating over a lake next to one of the biggest temples. You could really appreciate the massive sprawl of all the temples from the air and they were lit beautifully with the sunrise.

Apparently the winds were actually very high for our flight and it went quicker than normal. Christophe told us to brace ourselves for what he predicted would be a "sporty" landing. There was a team of Burmese guys running after us through a field, waiting to anchor us once we dropped the line.
"It's going to be a fast one!"
He dropped the line and they managed to get us to stop just before we hit a tree. Apparently it was the fastest landing of the season so far (and apparently he doesn't just say that every time).

The buses arrived and they set up a table of croissants, banana bread, fresh fruits and rosé. Damn that was amazing.

The next 2 days we rented these amazing things called e-bikes which are electric powered bicycles that go about 20km/h. Ridiculous amounts of fun. I laughed like a maniac for about the first 10min I zoomed around beeping people. Oh and I made sure I got the pink one of course, just to add to the level of ridiculousness. Pink one ended up to be pretty crap though because every time you went over a decent bump the power cord would jiggle out of place. So then I got a baby blue one the second day, and I managed to get a puncture tyre on the way to sunrise and had to ride in the baby seat of Saioa's til I could go and get a new one. My gold e-bike was the winner because it could somehow outspeed Simon's and Saioa's. We definitely were not racing around without helmets. E-bike: Full Throttle.

So yes that's how we spent some amazing days, riding from temple to temple.
"Wanna check that one out??"
I have so many photos of temples and sunrises and sunsets. All on my camera though so you guys will just have to wait with baited breath until I can get to a computer with a decent Internet connection. You might be waiting a while.

Yesterday we went real Indiana Jones and were following ox cart tracks around to all the temples that weren't on the main roads. Some of the paths were so sandy that we were riding with our legs out, paddling through the sand with our feet. Saioa managed to stack it twice in a minute which was a record. Great thing about e-bikes is that they're so light and there's no exhaust to burn up your legs on, so you really don't get hurt.

We were working from 3 maps of the area that were all different, so at one point a road I lead us down ended up not going to the temple that I thought it would. I could see the temple just to the left so rather than back track, I decided to fearlessly lead us all across a ploughed field. E-bike: Off-road Challenge. It was bumpy to say the least. I'm so glad we didn't end up blowing our tyres. I really don't think it was very good for the bikes. Or our asses. I actually had bleeding thumb knuckles because they somehow bashed on the sharp plastic corners of part of the handlebars an started bleeding. I just wanted to add that part in because it makes me sound even tougher.

Eventually we had a choice of corn crop or forest. Forest was the right choice because we managed to find a trail to the right path! Winner. There was a bus load of tourist monks at that temple, an we spent several minutes posing for photos with each of the monks.. Which was kind of an odd experience. You just don't imagine monks with camera phones.

Eventually we made it to the main road again. Got held up behind an ox cart a couple times. Traffic hey. Saioa then puncture her tyre. I felt sorry for the hotel guys, everything time we walked through the doors basically they'd had another e-bike to go pick up from the side of the road. They'd put it in the boot of their sedan, but it wouldn't fit of course so one of the guys would have to sit in the boot with it and hold it in.

Anyway those are some of the highlights of the best days of my trip in Burma. I'm basically Lara Croft. Oh and I managed to eat a proper meal again so that was a massive victory also.

Took an overnight bus back to Yangon last night so here I am working out my next move. I'm thinking Mawlamyine tomorrow.

Xx

Trekking to Inle Lake

The night bus was fine, managed to get a bit of sleep despite the loud slapstick Burmese comedies being played on the two TVs. Surprisingly I was the only non-Burmese on the bus but luckily one of the drivers/assistants spoke enough English to wake me up when we reached Kalaw at 330am in the morning at which point I was deposited on the side of the road with my bags. Cool, where now? It was actually cold out, luckily I'd worn a light cardigan. A local trekking guide was hanging about and asked me which hotel I wanted to go to, which ended up being about 3min walk away so he walked me there which was super lovely. Clearly he would have been hoping I'd book a trek with him but I just couldn't make those sort of decisions at 330am.

We woke up a hotel worker who took me to a room where I promptly passed out. I woke up at 8, hearing the sounds of breakfast (I didn't get dinner the night before) so I stumbled down to the dining room with the intention of going back to bed afterwards but then the owner lady came up wanting to know if I'd like to start a trek that morning because she already had other people going.
"When do they leave?"
"About 830/9"
"So in less than an hour?! Could I shower at least??"

I kinda thought.. Nup stuff it I need to sleep, but then I met Simon (NZ) and Saioa (Spanish but living in Brissy) at breakfast and they were going that morning.. So fearing being stuck with less cool people/no one the next day, I ran up to pack for the trek and shower.

My trekking group consisted of Simon and Saioa and two Canadian BFFs Paige and Tori (and they were all super awesome). Our guide was Marlin.. That wasn't actually his name but it's what his name sounded like to us so we went with it and he didn't mind. He also had a young "guide in training" with him, who undertook the entire 3 day trek in flip flops.

The first day was definitely the hardest. About 25km and a lot of uphill in the sun before lunch. Breakfast wasn't that substantial so I was well and truly out of energy before lunch. We ate in a monastery, our cook had motorbiked there in the morning and prepared the food for us.



After lunch the walk was a lot more scenic. We walked through fields along a ridge with a great view.


We stayed in a bamboo thatch hut in a village that night and ate by candlelight.


Day 2 we started out walking. Came across a local wedding which we then gate crashed.


The wedding favours were sample sized shampoo sachets. They really wanted us to go eat with them so we did.



Tea, lollies, dried beans and cigarettes.

By that point, Saioa wasn't feeling good and had developed a pretty decent fever, so we got a local to take her to the monastery where we'd be eating lunch on the back of his motorbike. Found the best snacks in a store along the way. Definitely a highlight.






The monastery where we had lunch day 2:



The second half of the day's trekking was really scenic as well:



Unfortunately Tori had by then also started to be really sick and ended up leaving the worst kind of Hansel and Gretel trail to the monastery where we stayed that night.






Tori and Saioa had a bit of a rough time but managed to do the last leg of the trek, which thankfully was only about 15km and a fairly easy path.

In the morning we stopped in at a small school to distribute some notebooks and pencils. The kids were doing their morning meditation when we got there but we definitely disrupted them afterwards, giving high 5s and taking photos of them to show them. They were all so bemused to see their face on the camera screen.












There was a bit of a love triangle happening between Marlin and the chef and me. I found out that Marlin had been telling the other local guides we came across on the way that we were a couple. He also liked to sing "lonely, I am so lonely" before he went to bed in the other room to us. I made him tell the chef (who didn't speak any English) that I loved him (because he made the tastiest fried potatoes, duh) and then he would shyly smile at me the rest of the trip. What can I say? I'm a heartbreaker.

The last leg of the trip was a 1.5h boat ride to the town of Nyaungshawe (or something like that, I could look it up right now but I'm lazy) where we all decided to stay as a group after saying goodbye to Marlin. You do a LOT of talking during 3 days of trekking together, it's almost like a very intense "getting to know you" session. Was such a great bunch.

Yesterday Tori and Paige met up with Tori's mum and spent the day with her, while the rest of us had a lazy day involving massages and a trip to a local winery(!) for wine tasting. Afterwards we all met up for dinner and said goodbye for now as Simon, Saioa and myself were to be catching the morning bus to Bagan but we'll see them later in Yangon.

Well the bus didn't happen. I spent from 1230am until dawn violently throwing my guts up. Followed by Saioa and Simon from about 430am. We're all just lying in our room currently feeling like death. Trying to work out if we're up for taking the night bus or whether to stay here another night to recover. Blargh.