It’s been a while, so I thought maybe I should say something about our trip. Just checked, WOW, I think the last time I blogged was Dec. 2nd. I had promised some photos of my cooking class then, unfortunately hanging around HK, I never got around to it. Maybe when we visit Ram in Mumbai… In general I am still enjoying travelling and seeing new places and meeting people, fellow travellers and locals alike.

Our time in Vietnam I really enjoyed even with all the US bashing we have to hear on the tours we have joined. Phu Quoc with it’s beach front bungalows that only range from USD 20 to 80 was just amazing. Really missing the sunsets on our private beach front porch.

Laotian food was just yummie! In the North mainly, though. Luang Prabang has the best selection of yummie Laotian restaurants. The Boat Landing (they have recipes posted on their website) and another Laotian restaurant in the northern part of Luang Namtha were the best in that area.

Thailand has got to be my favorite Southeast Asian country to date. It’s hard to beat the variety, the cost and the people. A country I would definitely like to come back to. I am not a huge fan of the hot humid weather, but one forgets that very easily once on a nice sandy beach with cool ocean breezes.

Myanmar, has seen the last of me though. Unfortunately, I think we went under such circumstances that made it hard for us to enjoy the place. A lack of USD and a constant demand for clean crisp USD bills from two people who have been travelling for over 8 months was a little wearing on the nerves. We were lucky to have enough to make it out without too much sacrifice to our comfort and seeing the places we wanted to see. Though the constant reminder that we just have only so much and once used that would be it, was a bit too much to bear for three weeks. So we are glad we went to Bagan. Spent two great days biking around enjoying the peace of this amazing place, but I see very little reason to go back. Everything good about the country is better at the countries that influenced that portion of their culture, be it food, architecture, whatever… I will personally not miss the betelnut spitting and the barefoot tourism. By the last, I mean, the need to take off shoes and socks at all religious sites, even if it is a half hour hike to the top of a religious hill. This would be fine if it was kept somewhat clean, but spitting isn’t banned in these sacred sites. Sure glad for them they don’t have the hoof and mouth disease. By the way the food in general was unimpressive. One more strike against it.

Now we are in Kolkata, India. It’s amazing the pollution. I have not had the feeling of my throat constricting since Beijing. Been here only two days, both days found me waking up having slight asthmatic symptoms. Crazy busy streets, loads of people, huge English buildings all over the place, hot (not by their standards), everyone speaks English (almost), food has been good (we’ve turned vegetarian, temporarily), mishti (yogurt curd) yummie, more to follow… Took a day tour of the city today, had to do more barefoot tourism, and we have no way to wash our feet tonight because we are on a sleeper train to Gaya, to check out Bodhgaya, the place of Buddha’s enlightenment. Oh well, wet wipes will have to do.

Ciao for now!

We’ll we finished our Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) journey, what a stressful and hectic 3 weeks! We had a terrible time, lets just say communism really brings out the bad in people - especially me. Anyway, here’s a brief lowdown of our Burma trip …observations, experiences etc…

- NEVER exchange money at the Yangon airport you’ll get screwed big time. The airport rate is 450 Myanmar Kyat to 1 U.S. dollar. Turns out the entire country relies on the blackmarket rate of approx. 1,100 Kyat to 1 U.S. dollar, you can freely exchange money on the streets. We made the mistake of changing 100 bucks at the airport, I’m still very bitter about being blatantly ripped off. Not a good start and first impression of Myanmar. It’s Myanmar’s way of saying “Welcome now bend over.”
- Heavy military presense all over Myanmar. Large military convoys of trucks and jeeps are quite a common site. High ranking government or military personnel have quite the cushy life, you should see their cars and houses.
- Pagodas and temples everywhere! There’s not a town that does not have a spectacular gold pagoda. The pagodas and temples in Bagan are worth a visit.
- Infrastructure in Myanmar is terrible. Blackouts are quite common, especially in the smaller towns. The phones barely work. The roads are poorly maintained or never maintained at all - not good for the many long and bumpy bus rides. Internet access virtually impossible. The Myanmar gov’t rather spend it’s money on pagodas and the military, forget about infrastructure.
- All the Burmese men wear sarongs, or Longyi’s as they’re called, which is quite cool looking. The Burmese women apply gold makeup all over their faces, which is quite hideous looking. Both men and women love to chew the betel nut and spit out it’s red juices- yuck.
- Myanmar food is similar to Indian food i.e. curries, rice, chapatis, lassi’s etc…but lacking in flavor. Food sanitation is sketchy - the food rarely gets served piping hot, I’m surprised I didn’t get sick - Yvonne wasn’t so fortunate.
- People in Myanmar drive on the right side of the road, but have right side steering cars. Makes for some interesting lane changes on a two lane highway. The drivers have to trust the vehicle they’re passing to let them know when it’s clear.
- Horse and carriage is a cheap transportation alternative out here.
- Lots of English Tudor style homes in the Myanmar hill towns (from the days of British colonization).

Anyway, enough about Burma. So now we’re in Kolkata, India - we just arrived today. What a chaotic place! I feel like a worker ant in a busy colony. It’s unbelievably crowded out here! The constant movement of traffic and people, the smells, noises, dust, litter and pollution - it’s what I imagined our arrival in India would be like. So far nothing dramatic to report, at least we’re off to a normal start out here. We’ll only be in India for 3 weeks - I blame it on Thailand we stayed longer than we expected. Stayed tuned.