Day 208- We arrived at a town a taxi ride away from Nyuangshwe which was annoying. There was 5 of us going in that direction so we all jumped in a taxi. The taxi stopped just before the town and told us we had to pay 5$, we were aware this would happen but still just as frustrating. The taxi took us round a few guesthouse's and we found a decent one and checked in. We were shattered and it was 6am so we decided to get a few hours sleep. We didn't end up waking till 10am. Lloyd wasn't feeling too good and couldn't really face rice and noodles AGAIN so we headed to 'Pancake Kingdom'. Funnily enough we didn't order pancakes as the toasted sandwiches attracted us more and we ordered some coffee, lovely change. The place was still very small and village like but it had its tourist touches.We had a big walk round the whole town and a look around the locals market, Lloyd was still feeling unwell so we headed back to the hotel, we did some research and caught up with the diary and blog as we were starting to fall behind. We relaxed in our room till Lloyd was feeling a bit better then we decided to go for a traditional Burmese massage. The massage was amazing it wasn't as aggressive as a Thai massage but still pulled in all the right places. She walked across our back and thighs and at one point cut off the circulation to our legs and arm, really weird feeling. I think the strangest part though was when she started slapping my head then put her fingers in my ears - ouch! She finished off by rubbing our whole bodies with a menthol rub and told us not to shower till the morning to allow the toxin's to leave our bodies. We walked along to a restaurant and ordered some Potato curry and rice. We got talking to the couple on the table opposite us who were from Hexham, was nice to talk to someone close to home. We walked back round to our hotel where we saw holly, she told us she had been on a bike ride with two lads and they wanted to go on a boat trip the next day and we could join them. We agreed as we wanted to go on the lake and it would bring the cost down the more of us there was. We headed up to bed still feeling tired after our sleepless bus journey the night before.

Day 209- We were up very early and headed up the the roof terrace for breakfast, which was lovely!! Up there we met Holly and Charlie and Fabrisco the two lads we were doing the boat trip with. We all headed to the tourist office 'Sunny' along the road and booked our boat trip. Fabrisco had to be back at 3:30pm for a bus which was a bit annoying but it didn't make too much difference as we were there so early. Once on the boat it took us 30 minutes to get down the channel and on to the lake. It was magnificent, absolutely massive and full of reeds towering over us. Our first stop was the 5 day market, this market rotates to different places around the lake every 5 days, luckily for us it wasn't too far today. The market mainly consisted of local goods, food and clothes but it had quite a few antique and souvenir stalls which were interesting to browse. Back on the lake we watched the abundance of activity, it was lovely to see the locals getting around, the unique ways of fishing and the families living around the lake. We were then taken to a silversmith workshop. It was totally family ran and we got a tour around the small workshop to see how they extract the silver all the way to the detailed finish of their jewellery. Next on the boat we were taken to a few souvenir shops, one which had a Kayan woman with the rings around her neck, pretty upsetting to see. They put the rings around the neck to 'elongate' it so men from rival tribes will not find the women attractive therefore should not be targeted or raped in an attack on the tribe. However nowadays it is done purely for photo opportunities for tourists. The worst part is that it doesn't actually elongate the neck but suppress the collar bones down and can heavily affect breathing and cause bad pain. We were horrified to hear of it. Next we stopped at a weaving factory and got to see the traditional weaving by the women, there was so many complex steps they had to follow it was mind blowing to watch them, they even used Lotus string from the stem of a Lotus flower. We stopped for a lovely lunch over looking the river where we ordered smashed fish on saffron rice. We wandered to the temple Phaung Daw which was very grand and had a look around. We then floated through the floating gardens which grew tomatoes and other vegetables. Before long we had to head back, we had really enjoyed our day on the lake - so beautiful. We walked back round to 'Sunny' and asked about their treks, they seemed to offer a really good one so we signed up along with Holly and Charlie to leave on a two day trek the next day. We walked back to the hostel and picked up some pineapple shakes - new favourite drink. We walked just two doors down and stopped for tea, we were served the most delicious Pork curry but Lloyd's sweet tooth was out in force. So we wandered down to an ice-cream shop we seen earlier, we settled for 2 chocolate ice-creams which came with an array of sprinkles and gummy sweets on top. We went back to get ready for out trek the next day.

Day 210- After an early breakfast we tried to check out but the hotel wouldn't accept our dollars telling us they weren't pristine enough! Mad! Luckily Holly came to the rescue and exchanged some for us so we could leave. We started our trek and got talking to our guide he was 23 and spoke perfect English, turned out he was the son of the man we were talking to the day before in 'Sunny' tours. He told us his British name was 'Ross', apparently at uni his teacher had asked him to pick his favourite letter and then gave him the name from there. We soon came to a cave which was massive and very dark, it was used for praying by the locals. We carried on and it was A LOT steeper than we anticipated but nothing we couldn't handle. We walked through lots of small traditional hill tribes and villages and the guide was really informative. We carried on climbing up and up until we had a great view of the lake and towns below, the lake looked massive. We stopped for lunch at the home of one of the villagers. We were given tea, vegetable noodle soup, rice crackers, fruit and home-made crisps. We were stuffed so lay down and chatted a while. Afterwards we all realised it was a lot cooler as we were now higher up which was nice and we carried on to the monastery. We eventually made it and we all chilled out on the grass. The monastery was full of Novice monks (young monks) and they were all playing football and running about, They aren't allowed to touch women so I stood back as Lloyd went over to play with them. They were so fun, and were jumping all over the place, they were obsessed with the camera. A few of them had a go of the camera taking pictures of each other but mainly of the ground or the sky. It was nearing sunset so we walked up the hill to the pagoda to watch it although it wasn't too good due to the cloud cover. It was starting to get cold so I wrapped myself up in a blanket just in time for tea to be served. We were served potato curry, chicken curry, green mango with cashew nut, carrot with cashew nut, french beans, zucchini leaf salad and green tea - absolutely gorgeous. The guide and cook who was also about 23 got a camp fire going and were blasting one direction song from there phone while doing an array of gymnastics. We decided to sit round the fire and watch and ask a few questions. Even though it wasn't that late it was pitch black and we were all tired so headed to bed.

Day 211 - We woke at 5:45am by the sound of the Novice Monks, the sun was up but we decided to sleep in and we got up about 6:45am. They had made a real effort with the western breakfast and we were given a feast of coffee, eggs, toast, french toast and fruit. Once we were all finished we were on our way. The cook came with us, him and the guide seemed like good friends. We were given the option of 3 routes, obviously we picked the longest wanting to get the best out of the experience. We started the decent passing through different villages on the way. After trekking a few hours we stopped for lunch at another villagers house. Here we were served lovely noodle soup with crackers, fruit, biscuits, cake and green tea. My favourite park of the treks is getting the opportunity to eat and stay with the locals. Charlie had pockets full of sweets and balloons and he was handing them out to the kids on the way, it was lovely to see there smiling faces and gave us great photo opportunities We passed a kindergarten so stopped to see what was going on. The kids were so cute and smiley, Lloyd walked inside the door and one just started screaming and crying. The guide explained she thought we were ghosts as she had never seen white people before, she was terrified of us. We asked a few questions about the establishment and the guide translated for us. We carried on, our tour guide was so good but he walked so fast, he was so fit. We came across a swimming lake which there was a few locals swimming, Charlie, the cook and guide jumped in but me and Lloyd just dipped our feet which was lovely. After about another 45 minutes we were at the jetty. Here we got a boat back to the town. We had loved our trek, such a great experience. On the way back to the hotel we picked up some fruit shakes and after a long shower relaxed. That evening as we were leaving to go out for food we bumped in to Charlie and Holly so the 4 of us went together. We found a tiny place in some ones front room with just two tables. We all ordered a curry each and it was beautiful, we headed back for an early night after our long day.

Day 212 - We were woken at 5am by the loudest music ever, it sounded like it was in our room but it was coming from outside. Lloyd got up and closed the windows but it was still so loud and it was so early. We some how managed to get back to sleep but when we woke again at 8am the music and singing was still blaring. We got up and ate our breakfast on the roof terrace, Holly was already up there so we sat together. We saw Charlie on the way back down and the 4 of us decided to cycle to the hot springs. We met and reception and were on our way. The cycle was beautiful and we got to see lots of rural life outside of the town. When we got to the springs we were shocked at the price. We asked to look inside and found 2 jacuzzi size pools and that was it. They also had a male pool and female pool but we weren't interested in them. We all came to the decision we weren't that bothered so cycled back. We parked up at the market and got a fish curry to share. I came back out to the bike and couldn't find my key anywhere, I couldn't believe it, it had just disappeared. I re-traced my steps but nothing, luckily we weren't far from where we had hired the bike so the owner came and gave me a new bike, he didn't ask for a penny for the trouble - I felt awful. We rode back to our hotel and chilled out there while the sun was at its hottest. Charlie had a bus to catch so we said goodbye then we rode to Red Mountain Estate with Holly. This was a vineyard we had heard great things about. We all ordered the taster session which consisted of 4 wines; Sauvignon Blanc (my favourite) , Rose D'Inle, Shiraz-Tempranillo and Late Harvest (dessert wine). The sun was just starting to set and the view over the vineyards was stunning. They were all exceptionally good wines and we gave in to a serving of cheddar cheese to go along side. We watched the sunset and cycled back to the town. After a quick shower we headed back out for food and found a bar to watch Sunderland play Chelsea. Again it was packed full of locals who supported Chelsea and it was a great atmosphere.

Day 213 - We lay in till 8am and went for breakfast, we took our time as we had seen the whole town and had some time to waste. We caught up with our blog and diary until it was check out time. We went for lunch at an Indian restaurant we had noticed, the food was OK but not the best but the owner was so friendly. We walked back along with ice-lolly's and picked up some snacks for our bus ahead. Back at the hotel Lloyd managed to Skype home and we chatted to Holly until our pick-up arrived at 4pm. We were taken to the bus stop where we had to wait another hour and a half for our bus. We said goodbyes to Holly and started our long journey. The night bus was so bumpy, we stopped off for food in the middle of the night and on 2 occasions the bus pulled over to change tires and mess about - nightmare.