Bloody brilliant Burma.

When we last updated you all we had just arrived in Burma and were unsure of what to expect. Yangon was slightly daunting and had a sort of India like feel about the place. It was busy but not so much you couldn't move and it was dirtier than the rest of South East Asia. The city itself was very interesting with British style buildings, pagodas dotted across the city's skyline and areas home to mainly Indian families and also to Chinese families. We set off in the morning with our ponchos on as the rain was falling continuously and it was that really wet rain. We managed to see the independence monument, the city hall, a local market (surely not another market!) and headed down to the port on the advice on the hotel receptionist. We were told that we could catch a local ferry across the Ayerwaddy river to a local village, we didn't end up doing this because of the amount of people offering you a tour, some goods and promising to take you to their house. We did however catch a very interesting sight on the way out of the port, 10 or so prisoners all shackled together by the wrist and the ankles being marched through flanked by policemen in what seemed like the ultimate public humiliation.

In the afternoon in Yangon we visited the Shwedagon Paya, I got to wear a traditional Burmese garment the Longyi as I wasn't allowed in with shorts and we were both really impressed which is quite a feat considering we've seen a lot of temples in the last 2 months. From the Paya we headed back to the tho hotel ready for our night bus to the Inle Lake. The lake itself is in the Shan State which, if you watched Top Gear's Burma special you'll know is largely closed off to tourists bar this one area. The bus was expensive compared to the rest that we've taken in SE Asia and the hotels followed suit. The bus was good though with airline style seats a blanket some complimentary coffee and a Danish pastry. It also makes it a lot easier to part with your money when the people are so nice!

We were dropped off just outside the village of Nyaungshwe at 7am and took a taxi for the 7mile journey to the small town. We found a good hostel had some breakfast a quick (hot!) shower and commandeered a boat for our day trip to the lake. Obviously we didn't actually take the boat we had a captain/local man/pirate who knew where to go. The Inle Lake isn't just a lake. It's 22km by 10km and is home to thousands of people, fishermen and crops. It's set in the most beautiful place surrounded by mountains and nothing but blue sky above it was easily one of the best places we've visited, like nowhere else we've been. We were shown lotus weavers, ironmongery, silver smiths, long neck Karens, monasteries and temples on the lake which was quite geared up for tourists but it couldn't really detract from the ultimate spectacle. We spent 7 hours on the lake chugging around in this diesel powered small boat and witnessed one of the strangest rowing techniques used by the local fishermen where they row with their feet as they cast their nets out.

We returned to the hotel slightly sunburnt and jaded sat out on the balcony and chilled out for an hour or so before we were a part of a huge storm for 2 hours or so with the loudest thunder known to man. When the rain had stopped we went out for some food but with no drains around the roads & pavements were completely underwater and we had very soggy feet. Upon the Lonely Planet's recommendation we headed to a Burmese restaurant promised great curry and good service. The latter was the very true the former not so much. We were really disappointed with Burmese food overall, it was very oily and didn't sit well. Of all the meals we had over the 8 days about 80% weren't very good. Which is a real shame because everything else about the place was incredible.

We woke up early on Friday morning to catch a bus to Bagan, the home of 3000 plus temples. The bus was great and the views driving through the mountains was incredible. Green for as far as the eye could see. We arrived in Bagan late afternoon hopped on a pick up and found ourselves a humble abode to call home for 2 nights. We didn't really do much that evening after a walk around the small town of Nyaung U we headed to bed ready for a big day of temples the next day. The temples didn't disappoint, we rented an E Bike for the day which I rode and Ellie rode on the back of. E Bikes are all the rage in Bagan with a top speed of about 10mph but all the laziness of a motorbike it seemed like a steal! It was great fun and we both rode it with Ellie building up her confidence over the day before becoming a pro! The temples were different, it was nice as we just pulled in at whichever one we pleased it was so quiet and the weather was great. The day was made even better when we finally found some good Burmese food, eggplant curry and Inle Lake Tomato Salad gave us enough energy to power through until sunset.

We headed to the 'sunset temple' where Ellie overcame her fear of heights and climbed the 40ft to the top up the biggest steepest steps we'd seen to take in the most incredible sunset. The sun went down behind the mountains the sky was dotted with black silhouettes of temples and after a while the whole sky shone pink as we headed down and back to the hotel. We set off the next day for Mandalay, our last stop before flying back to Bangkok. Mandalay was busy and a lot like Yangon not really much charm about the city, we climbed Mandalay hill whilst we were there a 45 minute climb both ways and took in a good view but nothing compared to our previous stops. We left on a good note, finished our trip with some top street food and a few Myanamar Beers (which tips BeerLao to the best beer in SE Asia) and headed back to the hotel before our flight the next day to Thailand.

Burma was incredible, the people waved and smiled at every opportunity, the price generally tended to be the price and although the hotels and transport was slightly more expensive than the rest of our trip we would go back in an instant. Maybe explore some more outside of the big cities as we're sure it's got a lot more to offer. We landed in Bangkok yesterday and are heading to the Thai Islands tonight for 10 days before going the Malaysian Island of Langkawi and then to Kuala Lumpur. We've also bagged ourselves a bargain flight from Langkawi to KL with Malaysia Airlines! £9.28 each including taxes and checked baggage lets just hope they don't lose our plane.

Peace!