Photos from 4 week trip to Myanmar Feb '12 (if anyone's interested!)
 

Hi Everyone,

Many thanks to everyone who offered advice when I was planning my first trip to Myanmar. We spent a wonderful 4 weeks there in February this year. I'm afraid I never got round to writing a trip report, but I have (at last) got my photos uploaded onto Flickr if anyone's interested.

We're going back to Myanmar in March - with a very different intinerary, so will endeavour to post a trip report afterwards!

With best wishes,

Sarah

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87697758@N07/sets/

Thanks for sharing your photos. I'd love to hear more abut your trip, especially your time in Kengtung.

Where are you going for your next trip to Burma?

Great looking temples, nice at night as well with the lights. What do I see on the faces of some of the people?

Thanka, protection from the sun and supposed to be good for the skin. It is derived from wood. You see pieces of the wood for sale everywhere, ready to be ground into a paste to apply to the face.

Thanks for your interest, Kathie.

Along with the trek to Inle, Kengtung was a highlight of our trip. We wanted to go somewhere less frequented. You have to make an effort to get there (you can only fly in and out), and trekking is by permit only with a guide. We stayed 5 nights in Kengtung at the Private Hotel and were the only guests the whole time. We rarely saw another traveller - even in the market - and never on any of our treks.

Our guide met us each morning at our hotel and we went to the market to buy provisions to take to the villages, and lunch for us (there was nowhere to buy lunch in any of the villages we visited.)

We visited Akha, En (Ann) and Akhu villages, but also saw Palaung people in the market. We were unable to visit some villages due to fighting. However, we were incredibly fortunate to happen upon a feast in one of the Akhu villages to celebrate the completion of a new house in the village. We were welcomed into the house and treated likes guests of honour. I was ushered into a room with the older women and spent the next 2 hours eating, drinking and laughing with them. A truely amazing experience. My husband and John, our guide, remained in the main room of the house with the men and everyone else. John said he had never come across such an occasion, so we were so lucky to be there to witness it. Apparently, many of the guests had travelled from other villages to share the celebrations. I shall never forget it.

I'm just trying to pull together our itinerary for March. I very much wanted to take the slow ferry from Myitkyina south, but that area is now off limits, so we thought we would try to sail up the Chindwin, but it seems water levels will be too low!
So, the plan's looking like this so far:

Fly to Lashio as a gateway to Hsipaw and Kyaukme and, hopefully, so do some overnight treks. Take the train to Pyin OO Lwin for a night, then onto Mandalay before flying back to Yangon.
We then want to make our way to Mawlamyine and Hpa-An.
Finally, we'll have to get back to Yangon to take the overnight ferry to Pathein en route to Ngwe Saung for some well-earned R&R!

Anyway, that's the plan, but who knows how it will pan out!

Sarah

Thanks for the summary. I loved the Kengtung photos and it's great to hear the story.

It is unfortunate that so many areas are closed to foreigners now. We went to Mrauk U last year and it was an amazing place.

I'll look forward to hearing about next year's trip.

I see a ripe matket for coppertone/nuetragena there. Women being basically the same everywhere I'm sure they would prefer to use something that would protect their skin and enhanced their beauty instead of that paste!

Bill, you forget about the cultural issues. Yes, they can get sunscreen, but they prefer the thanka. In their eyes, the thanka enhances beauty. The paste is often carefully applied with a leaf or bamboo which gives a subtle pattern.

Great pictures - thanks for sharing. So many beautiful faces!

Just a wild guess but most people in Burma probably couldn't afford Neutrogena products.

Not exactly a ripe market for upscale skin products. I think they're probably more concerned with putting food on the table and surviving a somewhat brutal regime.