Cycling around Ayutthaya & Chang Mai

Our first stop on our Stray Bus to north Thailand was Ayutthaya - the historic capital of Thailand before Bangkok.

Ayutthaya reminds me of Myanmar - there was a lot of overlap between the two nations with several wars being fought & won or lost by both sides.

To best see the town in the few hours we had, the girls and I decided a cycle tour was in order. Some of the sights we saw included the temples and pagodas including the famous one with the Buddha's head cradled by the tree.

There were elephants too

The phallic monument - not sure which stupa this was...

Pretty white stupa we found whilst getting lost on bikes!

After our brief sightseeing tour we joined the VIP overnight bus to Chang Mai. Arriving the next morning we went for the most enormous breakfast before Cat and I hired some bikes for a tour of Chang Mai.

Chang Mai has an old square city centre surrounded by pieces of the old wall and a moat - so fairly easy to navigate. We headed straight for the Women's prison to book in for a Thai massage to revitalise us, then to kill an hour we cycled around town, finding some of the famous landmarks and the local park with what looked like a Chinese New Years float sitting in the fish pond!

Cycling back for our massages we passed the cultural museum with its statues of the 3 kings of Chang Mai.

Our traditional Thai massage at the women's prison involved changing into seem cotton pyjamas and being alternatively stretched and pummelled - this might not sound too relaxing but you get into it! The women's prison trains those inmates with 6 months left to serve in various vocational activities to support them when they are released. Massage is just one of these activities and probably the most famous.

That evening was the infamous Sunday night market where almost the whole of the old town is transformed into a pedestrian market and you can pretty much buy anything you want. We grabbed some street food including omelettes cooked in banana leaves, noodles and lots of Thai sweets and pastries (we didn't try the insects though!)

The following day we did an all day cooking course - our leader Miw wrote our names on our hands in Thai so she knew who we were. Miw was great fun, a bundle of energy and so enuthiasic! She was even laughing during 'chilli gate' when one of the other participants got chilli in her eye - not sure if that is appropriate but still she said it wouldn't be a normal cooking class if no one got hurt (!)

She then showed us around the market - explaining the different types of rice (normal and sticky, aged and new etc) and the more unusual fruits such as stinky durian, longun, rambutan and dragon fruit.

Back at the house we had a traditional snack - sticky rice steamed around pieces of banana or taro root with a coffee before choosing which of the 6 options we were going to cook.

I choose a Penang curry (sweeter with coconut) which is based on a red curry paste, spicy egg salad, chicken with cashew nuts, a Tom Khao (coconut based soup) and mango with sticky coconut rice for dessert - yum! We all tried each others food and by the end of the day we were stuffed!

That evening our group went out to sample the nightlife of Chang Mai - first up the lady boy cabaret and then out for dancing...

Impressive get up - I grabbed this pic as he/she was getting a pre show snack!

Bangkok redux & Thai-islands

Given our bus outta town was cancelled Cat and I decided to head to some sun, sand and scuba diving on the lovely island of Koh Tao.

After a hectic Saturday night out in Bangkok where we hit up the VW bars of Soi 11, Soi Cowboy for go go bars and then Insanity night club, we had a day to recover before heading out on the overnight bus.

The first bar we tried - under water!

Dinner at the infamous Cabbages & Condoms

Soi 11 - drinking in the street Thai style!

Soi cowboy!

Having done about half an hours research we turn up at the bus with just an unconfirmed email booking at a dive centre. Luckily we met Scot who was also heading to the island on the overnight bus and ferry and also happened to be heading to Buddha View Dive centre. Grabbing a pick up taxi to the other side of the island from the boat pier we headed to a lovely little bay with a beach and gorgeous views.

Our room set us back about £4 a night each - bargain! It left more for the diving (me) and massages (Cat).

The diving was fun - 2 dives in the afternoon in 30 degree water! And then that evening we hit up the acoustic night at Buddha bar, followed by Bar Next Door, and then off to the Castle Party - a night club that throws Ibiza style parties a couple of time a month - luckily while we were on the island!

Out local bar

The next afternoon when we woke up (yep!) it was brunch before I headed for my first night dive in fairly large swells.

The dive was great - the rough water not so much though - I christened the boat with my brunch :s

The next day I met up with Charlie & Stephen from my Myanmar tour and we had a night out - drinks at sunset on Sairee beach, followed by Indian, the lady boy cabaret show and then dancing and cartwheeling at lotus bar whilst watching the fire performers.

Sunset on Sairee beach

Fire rope skipping over a bucket of gin & tonic....

It seemed a it of a let down to have to head back to Bangkok the following day :(

Inle lake

From Kalaw we moved out of the hills back to the lowlands - another few changes of scenery! At one stage I could have sworn the countryside looked like England with patchwork fields and hedges - an illusion spoilt by some of the hedges being bamboo at closer sight, but you could see why the British Colonials felt at home!

There was also a lot of cabbage - it was harvest time so every pick up truck was filled to the gills of cabbage - it must be the entire countries supply grown here as there wasn't a huge cabbage theme in any restaurant we went to...

We managed to chase the 5 day market from Kalaw to Pindaya so I got to see a lot of the wares (surprisingly few cabbages!). Here we stopped for lunch as well as a visit to the Shwe Oo Min natural cave pagoda. 

At last count there were 1098 Buddhas (not including 'Buddha images') in the cave... This calls for another montage...

Meditation cave

The legend of Pindaya is that seven princesses were bathing in the lake and took shelter in the cave during a storm - only to be imprisoned by the evil spider. Luckily a passing prince managed to kill the spider and rescue the princesses.

View from the caves

Cutest little boy!

Barb relaxing by the fruit stall

Next up on arrival at Nyaungshwe (our base for Inle Lake) was wine tasting! This helps to continue my mission to wine taste around the world! We got tuk tuks up to Red Mountain Estate for a sunset wine tasting - and tasty it was too! Our favourite was the Cab Sav.

Alison and Barb getting into the spirit!

The view from the winery at sunset over Inle Lake

The next day we spent on the lake - almost literally when our boat broke down! We were in the long tail boats with the one size fits all motor (they use the same motors for tractors, water pumps and boats - you name it and they can use these motors for it!).

The girls boat

On our way across the lake we were lucky enough to see the fisherman doing the traditional leg rowing. Rowing with their leg wrapped around the oar allows their hands to be free to pay out the nets from the boat - the traditional way of catching fish was to snare them in the basket and then spear them, but now all the fisherman use nets and scare the fish into them using the flat of their oar smacked on the surface of the water.

On the other side of the lake we zoomed up the canals to Inthein - another truly spectacular site of hundreds of pagodas - the old and spooky and new and shiny (another montage....)

Old atmospheric pagodas - little bit tomb raider with trees & plants growing out of them

Shiny shiny - new pagodas

The markets nearby were also interesting - the local tribes wear very colourful longi which were on display for sale:

We visited the local silk & lotus weaving and cigar workshops in huts on stilts on the lake, where I had the opportunity to apply some of the local face paint, made from ground sandal wood. 

Not as good as the local women's make up!

Village houses on stilts.

We then returned back through the floating tomato gardens on the side of the lake - these apparently are made from piles of floating weeds and are anchored with bamboo stilts at either end.

After Inle we returned to Yangon for our final night as a group - another great G Adventure - thanks all!

Hill station Kalaw

,On the way to Kalaw we stopped at a road side stall demonstrating the making of local products. The oxen powered grinder, here demonstrated by Irene, is to make peanut oil - a stable of Myanmar cuisine. The ox gets to eat the leftover peanuts when the oil has all been pressed out!

We also tried the palm juice that they boil into the palm sugar and make the most amazing sweets out of - some with coconut and some flavoured with tamarind - a real sugar rush!

Snack time Myanmar style - fermented tea leaves with various toasted beans, nuts and seeds served with sweet tea. Note the beautiful lacquerware box they are served in - traditionally made near Bagan.

Next it was off up to the hills. We went from the flooded plains of Bagan through drier areas where the local people have to carry their water home, back into lush jungle like foliage up the hills. We were looking forward to enjoying the coolness up there, but first we had to stop and visit the spiritual home of the Nats up Mt Popa.

Yup it's up that hill (well volcanic plug)....the one in the clouds

Only 777 steps stood in our way - oh and some monkeys (we were warned they would try and nick things - especially food!), so off we went - nothing to stop a good sweat!

Some one lost a sprite...

Looking back down from the top!

Nat spirit statues - the Burmese worship these as well as following Buddha - a timely donation to the right spirit will help you with your prayers - however when they are answered you need to go back and say thank you with the right gift, else the spirits will curse you!

We didn't see any yeti on our climb (slow stepping hermit monks) :(

When we arrived at Kalaw - an old hill station back in British colonial times - a few of us decided to try the local $1 rum - it went down well!

The next morning we were up to hike to a local village for lunch. On the way we saw a lot of different crops being farmed - the area is known for its mandarins and fruit as well as different types of rice depending on whether the paddies were hillside or by the river in the valley.

Lots of Myanmar people are farmers - 75% or so - there are lots of different tribes with their own identities and different crops and dishes, that are traditional to grow - some of these dependant on the tribal location (eg rice needs a lot of water, so rice production is concentrated in some parts, other areas like Shan state have noodles as their traditional meal).

We stopped for tea and beans and a dress up session halfway and then continued to a different village to have lunch.

Charlie and me in traditional dress.

How it should be worn?!

Typical village house in the mist - the walls are made of woven leaves.

Kids opposite - they were waving at us.

Local school supported by the Rural Developement Society 

Lunchtime at the school

View of the village in the mist

At lunch we met the charismatic Tommy Aung Ezdani. He is incredibly interesting - he stood as a politician in the 1990 elections alongside Aung San Suu Kyi and they won. However the ruling junta refused to recognise the result and threw the elected politicians into jail - Tommy was there for one year. His background includes a degree in international conflict management from Birmingham university (he won a scholarship to go there) and he is now the executive coordinator of the Rural Development Society which operates around Kalaw to benefit the local tribes.

Aung San - hero of Burmese independence, although he died before he saw it - & Aung San Suu Kyi his daughter, who was under house arrest for 15 years and even missed the death of her husband as she didn't want to risk leaving the country in case the ruling junta didn't allow her back in. She is now out of house arrest and working with the government on their path to democracy.

Tommy is at the back with the orange head gear (turban?! Not sure what the locals call it!)

He is very inspiring - the local villages have better schools, clean water supplies and even libraries because of the work the RDS does. He runs an 'orphanage' in Kalaw town, however not all the kids are orphans - some parents send children to Tommy to ensure they are looked after if anything happens to the parents (there are still some tribes in skirmishes with the government).

When we visited the orphange it looked more like a boarding school. The buildings include school rooms, a computer room and living quarters. The kids were very shy to talk to us, even though they were being taught English, however we saw some traditional costumes from their tribes and they demonstrated traditional dancing and singing (before going into a rendition of One Direction's 'You don't know you're beautiful'! teenagers are the same everywhere!). We reciprocated with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Heads shoulders knees and toes - need to practise my karaoke skills sober!