Well I have to say Manadalay is not my favourite place. For me it was just a big city on a grid system, lacking character. On our scout for accommodation Cormac and I came across probably the worst 'hotel' I've seen so far on the trip- essentially each floor divided into small cells, with the 'walls' made of plywood that didn't quite reach to the ceiling. The sheets and mosquito nets were that horrible yellowed colour. At this point we'd stumbled around quite a few places in the dark and they had all been full, but even still I decided to continue the search and then luckily found an oasis of cleanliness in Hotel Nylon.

I hired a bike and driver and went exploring some of the surrounding smaller towns, which were pretty cool, however it did involve more temples which I could have done without after Bagan. The highlight was probably U Bein bridge; the world's longest teak bridge which was beautiful at sunset.

I was keen to support the Moustache Brothers, who are two brothers and a cousin who do a 'comedy' show. In the past they did quite political jokes and one brother - Par Lay Lay has served two prison sentences for speaking negatively of the authorities. The show is still banned but they (pretty bravely) continue the show from their living room. Its only tourists that can come without repercussions, so it has morphed into a tourist show with traditional dancing performed by their wives, clips of international celebrities speaking about civil rights issues in Burma and mentioning their show, and some pretty basic jokes with placards in English to help the audience understand what they are saying. Overall the show is pretty poor but it is now more of a tourist attraction and a way of generating funds through beer and t-shirt sales to help other political prisoners. Whether or not these funds go there who knows, but it's a good cause, if not a good show.

Serhat & Carlos were in town for a day, so haven given up on Mandalays sights we just chilled out. Whilst sitting outside an ice cream parlor we saw how the ice was made. They took a huge block of ice put it directly on the pavement (the streets here are filthy) took a sledgehammer and started smashing. They then gathered all the ice with a garden shovel and put it in a huge black bin. I made a mental note to start requesting no ice!

So after three nights in Mandalay I said goodbye to the boys again and headed for Kalaw, arriving at the standard ridiculous o' clock (4am). So landlady woken up and accommodation secured I passed out. Kalaw really is a one horse town, with maybe 5 streets so it was pretty easy to get my trek organized leaving the rest of the day to chill in a tea house with a Swedish guy I'd met before embarking on my three day trek to Inle Lake.