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We take a day trip from Macedonia to the historical town of Prizren, in Kosovo which is Europe’s newest country declaring its independence in 2008. It’s a three hour journey by bus to the second biggest city, in this tiny country. The border crossing is easy but this time we’re hoping NOT to get a passport stamp as that would create problems if traveling to Serbia in the future. The Serbians still see Kosovo as officially part of Serbia so they would see entry to Kosovo as an illegal entry into their country and might not let us in! Anyway we’re not really worried about that now and we arrive at the small, pretty town of Prizren, where we can spend euros!

Of course there’s always a monastery or church of some sort to visit so we check this one out which is a UNESCO listed building.

The most fascinating thing for me is this bombed out church that sits on the hill overlooking the town. It looks almost perfect looking at it from below but as we climb upwards we can see that it is just a shell and the whole inside has been destroyed. It was a Serbian Orthodox Church and in the late 90’s to 2004 many Serbian cultural sites were destroyed.

The views back over the town are pretty good from up here…

In between a few rain showers we visit the mosque, walk through the old streets and cross the old stone bridge.

Time for some lunch and we have grilled meat similar to that in Macedonia and just as tasty.

We also find a craft brewery for a quick one to warm us up during a shower!

Before we leave, we go to a cafe where our guide has told us there’s a delicious dessert that we must try. It’s called “Trileqe” or tri leche i.e. 3 milks…. it’s surprisingly tasty, kind of custardy with a sweet glaze on the top. Not a bad way to finish our brief encounter with Kosovo.

We take a bus from Sofia for the five hour journey to Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, or to be more accurate The Republic of North Macedonia. The name change was just recently agreed with Greece who also have a region called Macedonia.

The bus is a comfy coach and not full so we’ve lots of space. About two hours into the journey we reach the border. A border police official comes onto the bus and takes our passports from us individually. He goes off with them, presumably to stamp them and delivers them back about ten minutes later… then we realize that was the Bulgarian border control so now we have the same process a few feet up the road at the Macedonian border control! Another ten minutes there and we’re good to go. No passport stamp for me mind you.

We reach Skopje around 12 noon and drop our bags to the hotel so we can do some exploring before our welcome meeting later this evening. We’re on an Intrepid tour and we’ll get to meet our fellow travelers later today. We start by visiting the memorial home of Mother Teresa. She was born here in Skopje and although her house is no longer standing there’s a plaque, close to the main square, marking where it once stood. A short walk from the square is the memorial building which houses lots information, photos and artifacts from Mother Teresa’s life. I find out that she was born on the same day as me (August 26th) and there’s a photo of Loretto college in Dublin where she attended.

Happy to have ticked off the main thing I wanted to see in Skopje, we go for our first Macedonian lunch. We choose traditional chevapi (not how it’s actually written as they use the Cyrillic alphabet) and it’s really tasty…. throw in some salad, the giant bread and a local beer and we’re happy out!

Time to explore the rest of the city. Everything is centered around the main square Plostad Makedonija with a giant statue of “man on horse” in the middle:

In fact there are giant statues everywhere and you can’t go too far without seeing one or a set of two or three! Apparently there was a major renovation of the city (called Skopje 2014) with a view to creating a unique revitalized city. Many old communist buildings were given a facelift with new–classical facades and Greek style statues placed on them and massive statues of former glorious leaders were placed throughout the city. It certainly does give the city a unique feel.

More massive statues by the river with the picturesque Stone Bridge and a huge Greek classic style building behind.

The other thing I notice as we walk around is there are small plaques with quotes from mother Teresa (or Momma T as we now call her) in random places all over the city:

The pope is visiting in a couple of days so there’s lots of preparations going on around the town including barriers going up and streets getting closed off. We’ll be leaving just as he arrives.

We wander across the river and walk around the old town where there are lots of bars and cafes. Weirdly there are a huge amount of shops for very fancy evening wear…. over the top dresses are everywhere I look – I’d love to know where people are going dressed in these!!

After an afternoon of exploring we head back to the hotel for our welcome meeting and meet our tour group for the next 12 days. It’s a mixture of Americans and Australians and we’re a group of thirteen in total, including our guide Bashkim who seems cool. Here’s hoping we’re in for a good time.

Next day we take a thirty minute drive outside of Skopje to Matka Canyon, a deep ravine cut into the Suva mountains.

We hike along the edge of the lake, through the gorge

We take a boat ride and get some great views all along the canyon

We stop at Vrelo cavern, a water-filled cave with incredible stalagmites and unchartered depths – it’s speculated to be the deepest underwater cave in the world.

We head back into the city for lunch with the group and we have another delicious traditional meal with a glass of local red wine…. some pour for €1.10!

We spend the day walking around around the town again and visit the fortress where we walk the ramparts and get some great views of the city.

A quick stop at the Museum of the City of Skopje, housed in the old Railway Station. The buildings’ part-ruined exterior is a result of the 1963 earthquake. The large clock on the outside of the building is frozen at 5:17, the moment the earthquake shook the city.

Next morning we board our private bus to Lake Ohrid. This is Europe’s oldest lake, and allegedly one of the oldest human settlements in the world. The town is said to have once been home to 365 churches, one for each day of the year, earning it the nickname “the Macedonian Jerusalem”. After checking into the hotel and having a spot of lunch we set out to explore the small town. The view from the hotel:

We start with a short hike up to the beautiful tiny Orthodox Church (Sveti Jovana Kaneo) perched on the edge of the lake:

A medieval church next – St Clement and Panteleimon which is surround by ancient ruins and inside has amazing old mosaics and frescoes

We continue to the fortress sitting above the city:

The nations of the Balkans love their flags and you’ll always find one flying close by…

Continuing on the tourist trail we visit the ruins of the old Roman amphitheater but we stumble upon a really cool church with the most vibrant coloured frescoes we’ve seen. As we approach the church there appears to be no one around and then out of nowhere a man runs towards us and opens the door, turning on lights and ushering us in, we weren’t able to take photos but the frescoes truly were amazing and the guy talked us through many of them… it was quite a find, the church was called Mother of God Peribleptos.

It’s been a long day so we find a local “eatery” (as the guide calls them) and have some local food and wine before calling it a night.

Next dat we embark on a scenic cruise on the turquoise waters of Lake Ohrid, which is surrounded by mountains, villages and beaches. It is 34 kilometres long, 14 kilometres wide, and over 300 meters deep and is shared between Albania and Macedonia, although right now we are staying on the Macedonia side.

It’s sunny and the water is calm but the weather has been hit and miss and it’s a bit cool. It’s a beautiful two hour jaunt on the water though…

In the afternoon we take a short bus drive to St Neum, a monastery complex on the south side of lake Orhid near the Albanian border.

We explore the area, have some lunch and enjoy some glorious sunshine

Tonight we have our final meal in this wonderful country and after probably a little too much local red wine (so delicious and so cheap compared to home) we say goodbye and get ready to head west to Albania.

I’m off on my travels again, this time visiting some countries in the Balkans, mostly former Yugoslavian countries. Seven new countries in total which is exciting and I’ll get a little taste of each…

We start in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. It’s an easy three and a half hour flight direct from Dublin on Ryanair and twenty minutes on the train into the city. We’ve booked an Airbnb and it’s a really nice ground floor of a house within walking distance to everything. Our host Angelina has excellent English and gives us lots of good information. Her family are winemakers and they’ve left some red and white in the house that we can buy for 8 lev (that’s just 4 euros) a bottle. We shall definitely be trying that. We pick up a few supplies from the local BILLA, get settled into our new abode and then head out to explore the city.

As we walk toward the centre of town, Mount Vitosha is visible in the distance and it’s a nice backdrop to the city.

We don’t intentionally head for any of the main sites, but while rambling around we pass Banya Bashi mosque:

On the other side of the street is Central Market Hall – we do love a good food market so I’m guessing we might be back here:

Further down the Main Street there’s a large intersection with a monument erected in 2000 representing St. Sofia:

Next we come across the “Party House” which was built in 1954 to house the Bulgarian communist party:

And just around the corner, at the Presidency building, we catch the changing of the guard:

Continuing our ramble, we come upon the “Russian church”. Considered by some to be the most striking building in Sofia, it is beautiful on the outside and small and dark on the inside.

A few minutes walk from here is the Aleksandur Nevski Memorial church. This is the key landmark in Sofia. It was built to commemorate the Russian prince Nevski and his success in the War of Liberation. It’s impressive on the outside but not so much on the inside.

En route to Vistosha street, where the main bars and restaurants are located, we pass the Opera house which is beautiful:

Angelina recommended a restaurant called “Shtastlivetca” which means happiness and we’re delighted to get a table as it’s very busy. We have a really good first meal of Bulgarian food and local wine from Melnik.

Day 2: Today we plan to cover all of what we’d like to see in Sofia so we can do some day trips before we leave Bulgaria. We set out for the National Palace of Culture which isn’t so much of a palace rather a large 70’s style concrete and glass block. It does have a beautiful backdrop of green hills and snowy topped mountains behind it but it’s not so easy to get a good shot… I tried….

We walk through one of the city parks on the edge of town. It’s sunny and there’s not a lot of people around so it’s really nice walking around. We have noticed that it’s common for people to drink alcohol in the park… not just drunks on park benches, it seems going to the park, or any common area and having a few cans is an acceptable social outing. Everywhere feels very safe though and although people aren’t overly friendly, everyone we encounter is pleasant.

There are so many pastry shops with all sorts of delicious savory pastries – they are unavoidable. Around lunchtime we try a couple that have meat and cheese and they don’t disappoint.

There are Roman ruins all over the city which is very cool. Although there’s plenty of graffiti on buildings, in alleys etc, none of the ancient remains seem to be vandalized in any way. I find this quite amazing as a lot of them are just on the side of the road and not protected in any way. We continue to The Monument of the Soviet Army built in the 50’s. A reminder of the communist days, it’s not very popular with the locals.

We visit the Church of Sveta (saint) Sofia next. This is the oldest surviving church in the city and has a museum underground with the remains of over fifty tombs and mosaics, some in very good condition, dating back to Byzantine and Roman times.

There are so many churches in Sofia. The Orthodox churches differ from the Catholic churches in a few ways – firstly you stand for any services so they tend to seem big and empty, secondly they have few windows and tend to be dark giving an air of mystic and thirdly the alter is hidden behind a huge screen covered in icons, called the iconostasis and only the priest is allowed to go behind it. Generally you’re not allowed to take photos but when we call into the next church on our list – Sveta Nadelya there’s a wedding so I take a sneaky snap!

On our way home we stop to fill our water bottles at the mineral baths. There are lots of people filling bottles as this is mineral water to drink. Strangely enough it was hot water though….. not for me!

Tonight we dine at a restaurant called Moma, where we’ve made a reservation ahead of time. It’s in a really cool building and again we have traditional Bulgarian wine and dishes. I have rooster cooked in a clay pot which is delicious. Another successful day in Sofia and might I add, over 20,000 steps walked. 😀

Day 3: Today we take a bus tour to the Rila monastery. On the way, about twenty minutes outside of Sofia is Boyana church. Inside the tiny church that allows only ten people for ten minutes at a time are some amazing 13th century frescoes (no photos allowed).

The main attraction is a further hour and a half away and it’s well worth the journey. Nestled among beautiful mountains and feeling very remote is the Rila Monastery:

The monastery was founded in the 10th century by St. Ivan of Rila. The guide talks us through the history of the monastery and the story behind some of the intricate murals covering the walls and ceilings of the church. A lot of them depict sinners going to hell while others are scenes from the Bible.

Inside the main church there is a large iconostasis and elaborate light fixture

Also inside the church is the grave of Tsar Boris III. He was the leader during WWII and although aligned with Hitler, he refused to deliver the Jewish population to the same fate. Jews were forced into labor camps but apparently none were killed and their population remained the same pre and post the war.

After some free time to explore, it’s back on the bus for the two hour journey home.

Back in Sofia we visit one last church that we missed yesterday. It’s the Rotunda of St. Georgi and it’s oddly placed in a courtyard between a large hotel and the Presidency building.

Another fantastic meal tonight at a restaurant that is just around the corner from the house. It’s one that was recommended by our host and also rates high on TripAdivser so it’s a little touristy but the food is amazing and we get a little bit of local music. We order Bulgarian salad, lamb delicacy (which includes lambs brains and tongue) and pork in a clay pot. More local red wine and some rakia (not for me, I can’t handle the local fire water) ensures a great night all round.

Day 4: Another bus journey today, this time to the second biggest city in Bulgaria – Plovdiv. We board the local bus and after some confusion with the assigned seating we are on our way – in separate seats! It’s a two hour drive and having left at 9am we have most of the day to explore this ancient city full of Roman ruins, National Revival mansions and historical charm.

One of the main sites is the Roman amphitheater where they’re setting up for a concert:

Today is the hottest day so far and we get out of the sun for a little break to visit the Icon museum. This is St. Cyril and Methodius – I think they look like twins – I must find out about them!

I’m pretty sure today will be a 20,000 steps day as we’ve pretty much covered the whole town, which is built on three hills and is essentially a maze of narrow cobbled streets! We’ve visited the Church of Konstantin and Elena:

And the impressive Kuyumdzhiogh house, currently the Ethnographic museum:

At this stage my feet are sore and I think we need a little rest. Shane has found that Plovdiv has some craft beer bars so we’ll check that out before heading back to Sofia.

For our final meal we spotted a very popular grilled meat establishment so we load up on that along with some interesting salads and have a quiet evening before setting off for country number two tomorrow.

We are back in Yangon and en route to the hotel we get the chance to stop at the home of the president, Aung San Suu Ky. This is the house where she spent her time under house arrest (approximately twenty years). You can’t actually see the house as it’s guarded and surrounded by large gates.

We have a free afternoon in Yangon so we decide to take a train to experience how the locals live. Apparently it’s the thing to do!! It costs 200ks (pronounced jets) which is 10 cents!! It’s a three hour journey on a circular train so we decide to do half of the journey and then take a taxi back to the city. But first we need lunch so we go to a famous restaurant called Monsoon. It looks like we won’t make the train on time so in our wisdom we decide we’ll taxi to the half way point which is a a market at a stop called Danyingon and take the train back. Delighted with our plan, Suzanne and I along with our Austrian friends head off in a taxi ……. cut to an hour and a half later sitting in a taxi, sweating with the heat and crazy traffic we are realizing this wasn’t a great idea… it’s tough to communicate with the taxi driver and he keeps saying what sounds like Buddha and I’m worried he’s bringing us to a Buddha statue not a train station. We are all laughing but it’s starting to feel a bit uncomfortable! Well eventually we get there and it’s a relief to get out of the car…

The bad news is that the next train is not for nearly an hour and the market is very “local”… in reality manky… we barely walk through one row and have had enough. Smelly fish alongside fruits and veg, in the heat with a load of flies.. it’s not pleasant. We hang around waiting for the train and it is interesting to watch the people, in particular those who have set up shop on the railway tracks. This is platform 3 (no joke) where our train will arrive:

When the train finally arrives the people eventually move but they leave all their goods and the train drives over them but they’re perfectly in tact underneath …. it’s quite incredible. As there’s no platform it’s a huge step up onto the train. I try to go first but can’t get up too easy so Martina who’s tall jumps up ahead (with a bit of a hoosh) and helps the rest of us up. It’s comical as we’re doing this at high speed in case the train pulls off. It’s quite empty and a reasonably pleasant ride with the doors and windows wide open

No joke this woman jumped from the train as it slowed down but before it stopped. It was an impressive move while balancing all that on her head!

Unfortunately we have to change at a station in order to get to Yangon and we’re told there’s no train til 8pm… it’s not even 6pm right now… yikes!! Guess we have to get back in a taxi – what a bad choice of things to do for an afternoon, we essentially spent the whole time in traffic. Ah well, it was somewhat of an interesting experience and we can get the taxi to drop us at Sakura Tower for a drink at the sky bar which has some great views of the city.

Next morning we are picked up by a guide and driver and we are driving south to the Golden rock. First I try mohinga for breakfast – it’s catfish soup with noodles and very tasty:

It’s a four to five hour drive depending on traffic. The guide Oma, is fantastic and tells us lots of things about the country including taking us through a map and showing each of the states and divisions and where different tribes live and what different resources are where.. it’s super interesting and informative. We see some nice scenery on the way and not far from golden rock there is a giant Buddha being built. From a distance it looked like part of the mountains. It should be finished by 2020.

The golden rock is situated up a mountain and in order to get there we have to leave our car and get into a truck. The trucks are the only transport allowed up. They have six rows with six people in each row and room for a few more in the front cabin or standing in the back with the bags. Every one of them is packed.

It’s a bit of a roller coaster journey up the mountain and the truck tears around the corners. We arrive to the top and there is a full-on little town up here. It’s busy with pilgrims and if you can’t manage the journey you can take one of these deck chair /stretcher thingys!!

We check into the Mountain Top hotel which is gorgeous and we have a great view out over the mountains.

After a little rest it’s time to see the rock. We’ve been told that unfortunately the rock is being cleaned – it only happens every five years so we are a bit unlucky but I’m hopeful we can still get a good view through the bamboo scaffolding. When we arrive to the first viewing point my heart sinks… it’s completely covered 😪😪😪

We continue up to the platform and experience the pilgrims praying and eating. There are a lot of people around and many will sleep out on the platform tonight.

There’s a whole other town up here.

Lots and lots of food stalls….

From another viewpoint we get a little better look where it’s not so covered up.. can you tell I’m sad behind that half smile…

We buy some gold leaf and a lovely guy offers to place it onto the rock for us as women are not allowed to touch it.

It’s a bit of an anti-climax after traveling all the way to see it but what can you do. We soak up the atmosphere and then head back to the hotel for drinks and a really good meal.

We have a great view of the sun rising next morning and then it’s time to take the crazy truck back down. It’s harder going down as you keep falling forward. I found it hard to stay on the seat and my wrists were sore from trying to hold my body back. We pull in a couple of times to let trucks go past us and as it’s the weekend it’s very busy with pilgrims and lots of monks…

Reunited with our driver, we get back on the road to Bago. On the way we stop at a pomelo farm and taste some fresh pomelo just picked from the trees. It’s delicious.

We have a few stops in Bago (which was a former Myanmar capital) which I’m excited about – first The Shwemawdaw pagoda, a huge golden temple that can be seen for 10km around the city. As we approach we’re told that it’s closed as they are getting ready for a huge festival with 2,700 monks in attendance. Not to be deterred by that our guide gets the driver to drive around to a back entrance and blags her way in so that we can get a quick walk around the huge stupa…

Places are laid out for the monks:

Next a huge (55 metre) reclining Buddha built in the tenth century

Some monks having a lecture by the reclining Buddha:

A quick stop at another, even bigger reclining Buddha, more recently built but based on an ancient one that once stood here:

I love this statue of the Buddha being followed by his apostles:

The four seated Buddha’s at Kyaikpun is our nest stop and it doesn’t disappoint. Four gigantic statues back to back….

It’s quiet here with no tourists and we get accosted by a group of teenage boys who want a photo. What’s even funnier is that a group of girls come around the corner and when they see this they literally make a run at us and grab us sending the boys away so they can get a photo too.. such a giggle…

We also say hello to these young novice monks

We visit the Palace of Kambozathadi which has been rebuilt to show how it looked in its splendor. They excavated some of the original teak pillars that held it up which was very cool to see…. they’re huge!

There’s a lot of traffic as we arrive in Yangon but we make time to stop at a monastery where we see lots of novice monks praying:

And we get to meet this master as our guide knows him well. It’s an odd experience as we are ushered into a room where he’s sitting on a huge armchair (throne like) with about five monks sitting on the floor around him and a hospital bed in the room beside him (with beautiful pink floral sheets), apparently he hasn’t been well. One of the monks lifts a bowl to him to spit into after he coughs and then makes sure he has a towel to wipe his mouth. 😲 He does have a lovely relaxed and calm aura about him and he talks to us through our guide as he doesn’t have English. He says he’s been to Ireland and he’s also been to California a few times. By way of a blessing he places a yellow band around our wrists, being careful not to touch us as monks don’t touch women. It’s very pleasant if not a little peculiar but it does feel like an honor to have met him.

We eat at our hotel tonight and debrief on the day (in particular the monk visit) and have a lovely night view of the shwedagon pagoda form the restaurant:

Next day it’s time to leave Burma but we have a few hours with our driver and we’re going to make the most of it and see as much as we can. We start with a trip to the resting place of Aung San Suu Kyi’s mother which is next to the mausoleum of the last king and queen of Burma:

Next to those is U Thant’s mausoleum

Next it’s onward to the martyrs monument which is dedicated to General Aung San who is considered the father of democratic Burma. He was shot dead at the age of just 31 along with 6 cabinet ministers and is buried here.

There’s no English on the information provided but it’s interesting to see the photos and it’s a very atmospheric monument to walk around.

A short drive away is the house of U Thant (who’s mausoleum we saw earlier). He was the third UN Secretary General from 1966 to 1971. He was clearly a brilliant man who was famous for helping to resolve the Cuban Missile crises and many other international

Next a giant seated Buddha famous for having lifelike eyes (called Kobe Htat Gyi). He’s lovely but we don’t really see anything different about his eyes.

To finish off our site seeing we visit another Buddha, this time carved from a single giant piece of marble.

More requests for photos from the locals which we’d never refuse….

One final selfie and it’s off to the airport. Burma/Myanmar you have been wonderful and I really do intend to come back. But for now, ta ta!

Day 9 : We set off from Pindaya after our amazing cave visit and start our 57km ride to Inle lake. The first half is tough going with lots of hills but the second half we’re downhill (arghhhh) or flat so it’s not too bad. We stop at a small family run business to see how they make umbrellas which is really impressive and hard to believe they still do this by hand. there’s got to be some machinery in the back!

We are staying in a town called Nyaungshwe and on arrival we stop for lunch before abandoning our bikes to an afternoon of leisure. We are all excited about staying at the Paradise hotel for three nights.

This evening we have all decided to go wine tasting at Red Mountain estate which just happens to be the wine we had last night. We try four different wines and then sit and watch sunset with another glass and a bite to eat.

Day 10 : It’s another 8am start and our final day of cycling. 50km to do… let’s get on with it…… my shoulders and bum are killing me!!! We start by cycling to a scripture monastery called Shweyanpyay and see young monks studying scripture or being distracted by foreigners and looking out the window!

Then we go “next door” to a really interesting temple filled with tiny Buddha statues in the walls all with the names of those who donated them.

There are some cool scenes created on the walls, the one below is a tree with women hanging from it and men trying to climb up and catch a girlfriend!!!!

We cycle all 50k in more or less one go and then say farewell to our bikes before doing some siteseeing. The support team and mechanic have been amazing and we say goodbye to two of them. I grab an opportunity for a photo with our amazing guide Naing.

Delighted to have complete over 450km since we started last week…

We visit Shwe Inthein which is a real treat and holds over a thousand slender Shan style stupas with spires.

It’s so impressive walking around and Ni takes us the back way out “Indiana Jones” style, in his words!

There’s a temple in the middle with these golden ones… hundreds of them…

There’s not much security and you can walk freely around and even jump into some of them!

On our way through the local village we meet this lady who happily stands around saying hello and getting her photo taken with the likes of us foreigners!! I’m curious to find out how old she is and Ni tells us she’s 74!!!! That’s what sun and cigars will do to you! [I hope I look as good as my own mother when I’m her age!]

We take a boat on the lake and head back home. The cool breeze is nice as it’s still in the high twenties (roasting for me)….

We see the local homes on the side of the lake

and fishermen fishing with a very distinct style and method

We get back to the hotel not long before sunset and I realize this is my chance for a massage. I book a 90 minute full body massage at a “spa” called Jasmine (recommended by the hotel) and they pick me up in a lovely car to take me for my appointment. The premises are very basic, as expected, in fact I’m not even in a proper room – I’m in the hallway with a sheer, but dark colored cloth around the massage table!! That said, the massage was magnificent. The first part was a lengthy foot massage that included everywhere up to my knees and the second part, the young girl stretched and twisted me til I thought she might break me!!! Her knuckles in my neck totally sorted out the pain I had there and I got the best sleep of the whole trip afterward! Fabulous 😀

Day 11: A change of pace today on Inle lake. We travel by boat and visit the local cottage industries. We start off with a temple though, because it’s hard not to visit a temple around here! The main centerpiece of this one is these five Buddha statues that have been adorned with so much gold leaf that they are now unrecognizable as Buddha statues… quite bizarre! There’s a story of how they were lost in the lake when they were being transported to the temple many years ago, also a bit bizarre but with a happy ending as here they are!

We see more fishermen on the lake but these ones are posing and although once catches a fish they’re really just there for photo opps!

We see women taking thread from the lotus plant which will ultimately be used to weave beautiful patterns onto silk and make lotus scarves, cushions etc..

We see blacksmiths bashing metal..

And we see women making cigars… I took this photo but I didn’t sit through the demo or “tasting”- yuuuuuuck!!!

Lastly we see the boats being made out of teak wood.. that was really interesting to see:

Theres all sorts going on on this lake adventure and it’s nice to see it all as we float by..

On Arrival back to town we decide to end the day with a cocktail at a rooftop bar to watch the sun go down… two mojitos in quick succession put a lovely hazy lazy feel to the sunset!

Day 12 : We say goodbye to Inle lake today and head for Heho airport back to Yangon

Day 8: We leave Mandalay and board yellow bus for a three hour ride, crossing the border into Shan state. The journey brings us higher and higher into the mountains on very windy roads but our guide tells us it’s very safe as where we are going is deemed one of the safe towns by the military government.. what!!!! I’m having flashbacks of that movie Babel (you know the one with Brad Pitt where they’re in Morocco on these remote roads and his wife gets hit by a stray bullet out of nowhere)… yikes!!! The scenery is lovely though…

After lunch our bikes are waiting and we cycle fifty miles to a town called Pindaya.

It’s a really tough day cycling with many hills and some terrifying downhill. We stop to get a quick photo of this cool spot called Brave Womans Mountain:

At the end of our bike ride we arrive at our very cool accommodation for the night – The Conquerer Resort hotel.

After a quick shower it’s time to head out for dinner and we go to a really nice restaurant called “Green Tea”. It’s gorgeous and, per the guide (and lonely planet) the best in the town, but we are the only people there! The good news on arrival is that they have wine… we haven’t really been anywhere that has wine so we check it out and settle on a bottle of Myanmar rosé from Inle lake. It’s actually really nice and goes with our peanut curry, mine with butter fish and Suzanne’s with butternut squash. We have great fun chatting with our group over dinner and then we walk home chatting about all sorts. So apparently the majority of Austrians and Germans haven’t seen the Sound of Music – I’m totally horrified and insist everyone watch it immediately upon their return home! 😀

Day 9: We have an early wake up call (whats new!) to go to the Pindaya caves. Wow is this worth it though. Pindaya is named from the story of a prince who killed a giant spider to save seven sisters. You can’t miss the spider at the entrance!

I thought I’d seen the most Buddha’s in one place I was ever going to see at Shwedagon pagoda but here there are row upon row, shelf upon shelf reaching the length and breath of the cave. Apparently 8,004 in total and they just stopped accepting more in 2015.

Among the Buddha’s are some stalagmites and stalactites but this cave is all about the statues.

We return to the resort, have some breakfast and it’s time to get back on the bikes. Today we are cycling 57km to Inle lake…..

Day 6: Another long day of cycling today – 83km. We are literally “on the road to Mandalay” which was a song, a book, a movie and a poem! Apparently Rudyard Kipling, who’s poem called Mandalay was inspired on a visit to Burma was deeply impressed by all he saw and a particular girl he encountered. I read the poem with high hopes but it did nothing for me! Ah well, back to the cycling…

We pass this guy blocking the road which is fun – he’s collecting money for the local monks and he does a little dance for us!

Lunch is at a beautiful open air restaurant and then it’s back on the bikes….

After a brief rest from the long day cycling we jump on the bus to go for a traditional meal. They call Mandalay one of Burma’s motorcycle towns and I can see why… it’s very busy and there are lots of motorcycles. You can see monks, nuns, babies and sometimes whole families on the back of a motorcycle here.

There are lots of Buddhist nuns around. They wear pink robes and have shaved heads, they look cool especially when on motorbikes!

We get a brief view of Mandalay palace which is huge. The walls around it measure two kilometers on each of the four sides and it has a moat all the way round too. The palace buildings were home to the last independent rulers of Burma and were restored in the 1990s. We don’t get to go inside, it’s not on the Intrepid tour for cultural and possibly political reasons (from what I can gather).

Our dinner is in a very basic looking restaurant but the food is fantastic. It’s buffet style so we can try whatever we like….

Day 7: We set out from the hotel and cycle away from Mandalay toward Amarapura and the U-Bein bridge which was, at one point, the longest teak bridge in the world. The Chinese may have recently built a bigger one but it certainly holds the record for being oldest at approximately three hundred years.

It’s 1.2km in length and we have time to walk the full length and back. It’s not crowded but there are a mixture of tourists, locals and monks..

We see workers in the fields on either side.

Although we don’t get to stop there, we get a view of Sagaing hill which is spectacularly covered in magnificent golden spires and white temples. Although it’s a bit misty it’s really impressive as we cycle by.

We stop on the bridge for a quick photo

Continuing on our bikes we reach Mingun, a river village famous for having an unfinished pagoda which would have been the largest in the world. The story goes that the king was told in a premonition (or maybe by a holy monk or Buddha I can’t quite remember!) that if the pagoda was finished it would signify the end of the kingdom so they stopped working on it! In reality it seems he ran out of funds and labor… and then he died!

Considering what you see is only the first third, it certainly would have been huge. It also suffered damage in a number of earthquakes and you can see the cracks.

Across the road lie two huge brick ruins. These are the remains of what would have been giant protectors of the pagoda. They are called chinthe, which are half lion, half dragon guardian deities.

There are plenty of sellers around the area and I decide to buy a bracelet from this lovely lady who chatted to us for ages and had great English.

Next on the list is the Mingun bell. Continuing the “biggest in the world” theme the Mingun bell, when commissioned in 1808 was the largest of its kind. (It’s now surpassed by a bell in China!). It’s 13 ft high and 16ft wide at the lip and the biggest bell that’s actually ringable. I give it a thump with some wood and get a good sound out of it.

Next is a beautiful white temple called Hsinbyume pagoda:

Suzanne and I are like celebrities here as many locals want to take photos with us.. it’s great fun!

After a beautiful outdoor lunch by the river, it’s time for a cruise on the Ayeyarwady river to get us back to Mandalay. It’s a relaxing boat ride and we even get to do some shopping with the crew!

We continue to move at a fast pace and meet up with our yellow bus to continue our tour of Mandalay. Onwards to another temple….. Mahamuni temple is second only to Shwedagon in it’s importance to the Burmese people. It’s odd in that you can’t get too close to the Buddha, in particular ladies are not allowed into the inner section and lots of people pray in front of the large television screens that show the Buddha statue. The statue is thirteen feet high and some believe it to be two thousand years old and one of the few statues made in the correct likeness to Buddha himself!! It has been covered so much with gold leaf that large pieces of solid gold have formed.

The next stop is truly a drive by as we are pushed for time. We stop at the gold leaf factory to see how they make gold leaf. We stay all of about ten minutes but it’s just enough time to see the stuff!

We are running out of time to make it up Mandalay hill for sunset but the tuk tuk driver takes it serious and tears up the hill at top speed to get us there. It’s like being on a rollercoaster the way he takes the corners and I honestly have a moment where I think we’re going over. He gets us there in one piece, if a little shook though and I even get a photo with the lunatic!!!

At the top of the hill is Su Taung Pyan pagoda. It is said that Buddha visited Mandalay hill and again a beautiful temple is built in his honor.

We watch a very nice sunset from the hill along with lots of other tourists (it’s the first time we’ve seen a lot of tourists).

It’s been a long day out so we have an easy meal back at the hotel and call it a day.

Day 4 : Post balloon ride we cycle approximately 50km to Mount Popa which is over fifteen hundred meters above sea level and is actually a volcano.

On the way we cycle through many palm trees and we stop at a palm tree oil “factory” and see a man climb a tree to collect the palm oil in pots that he put there earlier this morning.

We also see a man grinding peanuts for oil in a very traditional way:

There are lots of workers making sweets with the palm oil and adding different flavors. We get to try a lot of them and all are really good. In particular I like the coconut ones and Suzanne likes the tamarind. They also use the oil to distill liquor but we don’t get to try that.. no doubt it’s rocket fuel!

We continue to Mt Popa which is considered holy as it is believed to be home to Burma’s thirty-seven spirits or nats as the Burmese call them. We stop at a view point that has an impressive Buddha statue – I really can’t resist a good Buddha:

On arrival at the base, we get ready to climb a covered stairway with over 700 steps, some very steep at the top. We must climb the steps in bare feet and as the place is overrun by monkeys (macaques) there is monkey poo all over the place… it’s not pleasant. Not only is it hard to avoid walking in but it’s on the railing!! Not loving this!

We’ve been told by the guide to be careful of our belongings as the monkeys are quick to steal glasses from your head, cameras out of your hands etc.. [flashback to the monkeys in Gibraltar Angela O’Doherty!] so we are all on red alert. But low and behold while our Austrian friend sits for a moment to take off his shoes a monkey pounces and swipes his prescription glasses right off his face… Gannot (not the correct spelling but I think he’ll let me away with it!) swiped at the monkey to try to retrieve them and the monkey tumbled into a summersault and ran off. After quite a bit of investigating our guide found the monkey and the glasses were retrieved – cheeky monkey indeed!

It’s quite stressful on the ascent to the top as the monkeys are very threatening looking and they keep fighting with each other. At one point they’re completely blocking the stairwell and no one is sure if we can get through. A worker who cleans the steps for donations shoos them away and we make a run for it… it’s proper Planet of The Apes stuff…… well ok, not quite, but a bit scary all the same! I’m afraid to get my camera out in case I get pounced on so I don’t have hard evidence of the scale of these scary monkeys!

Finally we manage to reach the summit and honestly I’m not all that sure it was worth it. There’s a statue of a monk known as the Burmese Superman who was apparently a great man, although he looks like was never in a good mood:

The views are nice from up here but it’s hard to relax and look around in case a monkey strikes… this guy was definitely checking me out:

Around the temple there are lists of names of people who have made donations. Big and bold we see one Donald Trump who made a donation in 2015 of 25,000 ks which is not even twenty US dollars… the miserable swine!

Happy to get away from the monkeys, we make our way to Popa Mountain Resort, which is built into the side of a mountain and overlooking the temple and monastery. We watch the sun set over it with a little sundowner beverage! It’s way better looking at it from afar than being up there!

It’s hard to believe how cold it is after the heat of the day but it is really chilly and windy up here. After an amazing and well earned shower, we have another drink and spend a pleasant evening with our group before calling it a night.

Day 5 : After a fantastic buffet breakfast and one last look back at Mt Popa we start an 85km day of cycling.

We head downhill from the resort so there’s a lot of freewheeling and speed. Now anyone who has cycled with me before knows this is my least favorite thing to do on a bike. I break and scream (if not out loud then on the inside) my way down a bumpy and a little bit windy (not as bad as the downhill day in Sri Lanka) road. I’m so glad when we get down and actually prefer the undulating terrain ahead.

We have plenty of stops along the way and the Intrepid crew are brilliant. They are always waiting ahead with snacks for us and they guide us to our stopping point and make sure we’re safe.

We are a bit of an attraction for the locals and lots of people want to talk to us and find out what we’re up to. In particular we make friends with lots of kids

Hello in Burmese is “mingalarbar” and I just love saying it to people as I whizz by (yes I’m whizzing my way around here). Everyone is really smiley and friendly and shouts mingalarbar back and sometimes I even get a hello or a “what country you from?”. It’s great fun.

You’re never too far from a stupa or temple and I stop to take a photo of this new one getting built:

Towards the end of the 85km there is one kilometer of a very steep winding hill so the challenge is on… most of the group make it but it’s not easy and it’s gear one for most of the way which means it’s hard to stay on the bike. I’m sure I’d walk it faster but I won’t be defeated. We are all delighted to get to the top in one piece and it’s been a great day of cycling.

The shower at the hotel after that long hot day is glorious and feels like a treat for us. In this small town called Myingyan there’s not a whole lot but there is a famous monk who lived and died here and guess what… he is incorrupt.. gasp!!!!! Yes, an incorrupt Buddhist monk – I have to see him.

So his name is Sun Lun Sayadaw U Kavi and he lived til he was 75. The dates are different to our calendar so it gets a bit confusing but I think he died in the 50’s and he decided that he wanted his body to be put on display. He is on display in this gold carriage type thing:

And close up looks like this:

Strange!

There are nice grounds around the temple of the dead monk..

Happy to have seen it we retire to a small restaurant beside our hotel ready for an early night and another early start tomorrow.

Day 3 : We have a 5am departure from our hotel to catch a flight to Bagan. This getting up in the middle of the night doesn’t make me happy but I soldier on and we take a small plane for the one hour journey.

We arrive by 8am and take a look around the local market at Nyaung Oo until we can check into our hotel and get our cycling gear on. We meet our second guide who is also the bike mechanic, get our bikes sorted and we’re off to explore the archeological zone of Bagan.

To give you a little context, Bagan was an imperial capital ruled by kings who gradually promoted Theravada Buddhism. They built many temples, monasteries, shrines and stupas and many of these are still standing today. This area is truly amazing. There are more than three thousand temples and cycling is a great way to get around and see them.

We visit Shwezigon pagoda which was built in the 11th century by the king who was the founder of the Bagan empire. It is 160ft high and 160ft wide, with four smaller stupas on each corner. Covered in gold, it is dazzlingly impressive:

While walking around the grounds we come across some Buddhist nuns:

Next is a smaller pagoda built in the 13th century called Gubyaukghi. It has many murals inside, all original.

Ananda temple is considered the most magnificent in the area and we visit that next. Commissioned in 1105, it remains the most revered temple by Burmese Buddhists. Its golden spire differentiates it from the many other temples.

It has four giant standing Buddha statues, each one facing north, south, east and west. They are carved from wood and are gold gilded. They are all different with varying mudra hand positions. A couple of the statues are remodels as they were destroyed by fires but the one pictured below is the original dating to approximately 12th century.

We do a quick “drive by” Thatbyinnyu temple, the tallest in the archeological site and a group of monks are also visiting. They seem happy enough to get a photo with us.

Next is our lunch stop and it’s a feast of small plates of traditional Burmese food – there’s fried pork, goat curry, chicken curry, fried fish and a host of vegetables and spices. It’s an interesting buffet of sorts!

Not quite ready to go back to the hotel, some of us opt for another temple visit. This one is called Patho-Htat-mya Hpaya and is really dark with very few visitors. It has a beautiful Buddha that is lit by the sun coming in through the arched temple door:

On the ride back to the hotel there are multiple stops to view more pagodas and take some photos.. we only have one day here but I think I’d easily manage two or three.

Later in the evening we visit a lacquer factory to see how they make bowls and all sorts and then we drive to a spot for sunset. Watching the sun set takes second place to chatting to some of the girls trying to sell us clothes.. in fact I kind of missEd it all together making friends with this lovely lady!

We get to relax over another delicious Thai/Burmese meal then get to bed early. Next morning we have another 5am start as we’re going in a hot air ballon… Baloons over Bagan – woo hoo, we’re very excited. It’s surprisingly chilly and we start with a cup of tea and a safety briefing before watching the ballon inflate:

Once it’s up we climb into the basket, where there’s room for sixteen people in total – eight on each side of the pilots middle “cockpit” and four in each half of the basket. we see the whole area and so many pagodas and it’s cool to see other balloons in the air too

We get dropped back to the hotel by 8:30am to officially start day 4 of our trip………

So I’m off on my travels again, back to cover another country in Asia, this time Burma or as it’s currently and officially known – Myanmar. I’m going to call it Burma though. I’m flying direct to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, who just recently started flying out of Dublin and from there it’s just over three hours to Yangon which used to be the capital but is now called the second capital (the official being Naypyidaw).

By way of introduction and general orientation…. Burma is in Southeast Asia and borders India and Bangladesh in the West, China in the North and Thailand and Laos in the East. Since 1989 It’s official name is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar but it is still called Burma by many people around the world and in the country itself and even by some other countries. It has had, and continues to have a lot of political instability. Currently there is a democratic government in place (hooray!).

So I arrive in Hong Kong and Suzanne has arrived from California and is waiting at the gate. We have a long layover and try to stay busy, and warm (although it’s about 25 degrees outside the airport is freezing!) by walking around the airport, finding a place to nap and of course eating. My two weeks of Asian cuisine gets off to a good start with a nice bowl of Ramen. Finally it’s time for the 3+ hour flight to Burma.

After the cold of the airport in HK the heat hits as soon as the plane lands in Yangon. We get through immigration which is easy and manned by very pleasant females. It’s about a thirty minute journey to the hotel and we arrive just in time for our welcome meeting. But there seems to be a problem… the lady at the reception desk has no booking for me. She has a list of nine people on the Intrepid “Cycle Myanmar” trip including Suzanne but not me! The guide appears to sort it out but even he has no record of me being on this trip… oh dear, this doesn’t bode well. Anyway we get on with meeting the rest of the group and our guide – Naing (pronounced like nigh) puts a call in to the Intrepid office to figure out what’s happened and hopefully book me into all the hotels and flights for the coming days, oh yeah and get me a bike!!!

So we are a group of ten (now that I’m here!) plus the guide. We have a couple from Canada, a couple from Austria, two ladies from Germany, a guy from Germany, and a lady from London. Everyone seems very nice and it doesn’t appear to be a group of hardcore professional cyclists (phew!), although I’m sure there’s a few among us! After the meeting and getting checked into our room (thankfully there was space for me), we head to a restaurant for some dinner. It’s a Thai restaurant and I order a spicy pork dish which is really tasty and really spicey. The Myanmar beer helps wash it down.

I’m absolutely shattered by the time we get back to the hotel and I fall into bed in need of sleep.

Day 2 : Arrival day is considered day one of our thirteen day cycle tour so we wake this morning ready to get started and see the city. We meet at 8am for a walking tour which takes us around the streets not far from our hotel. We see street vendors and stop to see a lady preparing betel nut to sell. This is the horrible red stuff that most local men chew. We saw a lot of people eat it in Bhutan and it seems to be as popular here. Those who chew it spit a lot which leaves red marks all over the ground… yuck! They also sell cigarettes very cheaply at these stalls, even single ones and there’s no legal age to buy (I feel a national campaign coming on!!!). The lady at the stall is lovely and she demonstrates how she makes the betel nut. She’s wearing a powder on her face that’s very popular here – it’s called thanakha and it’s both for beauty and sun protection.

We walk further and see lots of colonial buildings built by the British when they ruled here from 1824 to 1948.

We walk through the street market which is fascinating and see all different types of fruit and vegetables being sold.

Not sure I’d buy my chicken or fish from here… in the heat with flies landing on it.. no thanks!

Walking through the market there are children in monks robes and Ni tells us that sometimes these kids looking for money are fake monks. They don’t hassle us at all and they seem to be looked after by the locals but it seems funny that they might be “fake” monks. We see a lot of dilapidated buildings housing most of the inner city population, this was by no means the worst we saw:

We visit Mahabandula garden which is a memorial square with a monument at its centre:

From here we can see City Hall and the High Court.

We also pass Sule pagoda which is across the street from a mosque and our guide tells us how so many different religions live in peace together in Burma. Not quite the story we’re learning about of late.

We have a quick stop at St Mary’s cathedral which has unusual colors inside and some really stained glass windows.

The tour ends and we are left to our own devices for the middle part of the day. There is so much to see in this city so we don’t hang around… I have a list of pagodas and Buddha’s that I’d like to see – we won’t get to them all so we pick the top two, negotiate a taxi and we’re on our way.

The first pagoda is called Kyauk Htat Gyi and has a huge reclining Buddha. Alas the Buddha is currently being “touched up” so he’s covered in scaffolding but it’s really cool to see:

The huge hall which is actually a giant tin shed has lots of other interesting statues and around the big Buddha there are forty small Buddha statues showing various mudras. [you might remember, although I doubt it, from the Bhutan trip that a mudra is the hand position of the buddha].

There’s a golden carriage (called a conveyor train) that we see glide across a line to an opening in the Buddha which we believe is for large donations made.. very bizarre looking!

There’s a number of other interesting statues around the place, presumably of famous monks but there’s not much English to tell us about them. Around the walls are the story of Guatum Buddha – the first Buddha. They’re beautifully painted and illustrated.

Next we visit Nga Htat Gyi pagoda where there is a large seated Buddha. It’s just up the street but we have to cross a busy road which is no mean feat but we manage it and we’re delighted with ourselves as this Buddha is beautiful.

On our way out a monk greets us and tells us we should take a look at an old monastery at the back of the pagoda. As we start to walk with him another old man joins us who has good English and starts to tell us some history of the place. There’s no one else around and they are guiding us up a back street with derelict looking buildings and I get a little uncomfortable thinking maybe this is where we get kidnapped or murdered, or maybe just robbed. I look to Suzanne, who doesn’t look too concerned, and mention that if things turn ugly I could definitely take the old guy!!! As it turns out, they really do just want to show a couple of foreigners the old monastery and grounds around the pagoda so they can get a small donation from us. There’s very little crime here and I don’t think there’s any risk of us being led up a dark alley to be murdered or robbed, the worst that can happen is to be asked for some money and honestly it feels like good karma to handover a few dollars which is literally all they’re looking for.

After that adventure we get back to the hotel for a short rest before meeting up with the rest of the group for the afternoon part of our tour. We start with a visit to Kandawgyi lake. Here we see the replica of the floating Karaweik palace which was built in the 70’s and resembles royal barges that the kings of Burma used to travel on the Ayayerwady river.

Next is the big draw… the shwedagon pagoda – this is on lots of “must see” lists and is being considered as a UNESCO world heritage site but hasn’t yet made it which I find hard to believe. It is insanely impressive and definitely the best complex of temples and Buddha’s I’ve ever seen. I’m thrilled. We walk around checking the various temples and admiring lots of Buddha statues.

There is a “corner” for each day of the week and a tradition of pouring water on the statue for the day of the week you were born. While pouring the water you are supposed to make a wish.

Unfortunately we happen to be here when the main pagoda is being cleaned. It only happens every five years so we are a little unlucky. It’s gold gilded and studded with diamonds and gems but today it’s covered in bamboo scaffolding. It is said to hold eight hairs of Buddha and that there is a secret entrance that has been blocked up for years.

We stay at the complex until the sun sets and it is even more beautiful in this light.

It’s hard to walk away from this beautiful site and I continue to take photos until the last possible chance. I would love to return here and spend more time walking around as it’s so big you couldn’t possibly see it all in the hour and a half that we spent. But for now it’s goodbye and on to dinner.

Ni takes us to an outdoor local restaurant where we are the only tourists. The food is a mixture of Thai, Chinese and Burmese. I go for another spicey dish called kanchin which is from northern Burma and it’s very tasty. On the way back to the hotel he breaks the news that we have a very early start tomorrow morning which will mean a 4:30 wake up call so it’s straight to bed for us!