Seven glorious days catching up with 3 lots of different friends - how we have looked forward to this!Our " friends week" began with Phil and Linda picking us up at Heathrow and whisking us away to their beautiful home in the little village of Badlesmere Lees near Faversham in Kent. We enjoyed exploring Kent with Linda, and Philip's Yorkshire pudding was legendary. Loved dinner table lively conversations, with now adult daughters Inken and Issie and their pa...

So all good things must come to an end. Our G Adventures group flew into Yangon from the closest airport to Inle Lake, the very strangely named Heho Airport. On the way back to our hotel from Yangon airport, we passed the house of Aung San Suu Kyi. In the 1990 elections her NLD party won 81% of the seats in Parliament, but the results were nullified, as the military refused to hand over power, resulting in an international outcry. She had, however, already been d...

The farmers of Inle Lake have a unique way of growing their gardens. Tomatoes, squash and flowers grow ON the lake not next to it. The Intha people build floating mats of vegetation that support the trellised vegetables. Managing the growth and picking for market is done from small flat canoes. The people live in villages on stilts.Fishing has a unique twist too. Fishermen row their boats with one leg leaving their hands free to manage the Burmese cylindrical ne...

Some travel days are just longer and more tiring than others when you are on the road. I was still struggling with my Malaysian Cough and Avan had come down with a head cold in Bagan. 15th May was one such day and it just happened to also be our wedding anniversary! We were travelling from Bagan to Kalaw a journey that saw us leave Bagan at 7.30 am and arrive to Kalaw well after dark.All was forgotten, even the trials of a middle of the day bus breakdown when, at...

There he was waving down traffic. A little darling of a monk hitchhiking in 40+ temperatures all on his own - we couldn't believe our eyes! We were in the middle of nowhere between Mandalay and Bagan and he was just a tiny dot of red with an alms bowl almost as big as himself and outstretched arm flagging us down. A quick plea to our lovely guide A Kay and her immediate response saw our bus and a motorbike pull up to give our little hitchhiking monk a lift, A Kay...