Upon arrival in Myanmar the differences were striking, with so much more noise and bustle than ever seen in Thailand. The men in their longyis would spit on the ground in a way not seen since China. However, we also saw a religious diversity with even this small town having Buddhist, Christian, Islamic and Hindi buildings. This would hold true in all the places we visited in Myanmar.

We had planned to stay in the border town of Myawaddy and followed our map until we got to a residential area with no hotel in sight. We then saw a billboard for a place with the same name, but when we got there, they didn't have a reservation in our name. Instead we decided to travel onwards to Hpa-An, (pronounced Pa-Anne) getting a lift with locals headed the same way.

While there we took some time to explore the local surroundings, seeing a few caves outside the town centre and heading to a local village. The scenery is a stunning geographical combination of places we've been before, with the karsts of Yangshuo, the plains of Hailer and the jungle of Khao Sok.

We also met a few fellow travellers from Europe and had a lovely evening together. Myanmar seems to have far fewer tourists than other South Asian countries, even though this is the high season. This has resulted in other travellers who are glad to stop and chat, more open to sharing their experiences with us. Although the backpackers we met in Thailand were lovely, no connection or conversation has been as deep or meaningful as the ones we made here.