In Myanmar we tried our best to take as many different forms of transport as possible. I think we got up to about 12. Plane, bus, car, cyclo, scooter, truck, thoun bein, horse and cart, train, bicycle, trishaw, but my favourite was always a boat. 

We decided that the best way for us to travel from Bagan to Mandalay was via a 9 hour boat trip up the famous Irrawaddy River.

This was definitely the right decision. After a jam-packed few days in Bagan, it was unexpectedly nice being stuck in a boat with nowhere to go.  

We talked to a tour operator in Bagan, and decided that the MGRG Express was our best option. Don't pay any attention to the word 'express' - it's still 9 hours long.

I think we paid about $35 US each. This includes breakfast, lunch (fried rice or noodles) and water. And you can buy beers on board!

We were picked up by the company at 5.30am, and were taken to the boat. Don't freak out when you have about 15 men surround your van in the darkness...I think they are just boat helpers.  You then descend down the sand bank to the skinny, wooden planks you walk across to get onto the boat - don't fall! Get on, grab your seats - sit up on top deck - and relax. You'll get your breakfast right away. Also, there is unlimited tea and coffee in the morning. 

The pay off of having to get up so early was that you get to watch the sunrise over the river (as long as you don't sleep through it....). It was incredible, and pretty captivating watching life on the river wake up. 

It can get quite hot up on top, so bring sunscreen and seek out lower deck if you need to cool off slightly. Also take some extra food, you don't get served that much for lunch and breakfast, and there is nothing extra to buy. 

We spent the day napping the sun, reading, playing cards, and drinking beer. It was a much-needed break. 

We arrived in Mandalay around 4pm. The last hour is probably the best part of the trip, after sunrise, as the hills around Mandalay are dotted with pagodas and Buddha statues. Make sure you're awake for this!

To get off the boat we had to walk across 3 other boats so be careful as you have to carry your luggage. You'll get swamped by taxis when you get off, barter a good price, or walk up to the street and along a bit to find a cheaper one.

​Then get ready for a crazy stay in frenetic Mandalay!

If you decide to go to Myanmar, the Inle lake trek is one activity you will see mentioned time and time again. You're biggest decision won't be whether or not to do it, it'll be whether to do the 2 or 3 day trek.

We were short on time, so decided on the 2 day trek. There were 6 of us, a group of friends, and that seemed like the ideal number. 

We contacted Ko Min, a trekking guide with great reviews on Trip Advisor, but he was already booked, so sent us his friend Puta. Puta was lovely and about our age (27). He picked us up at about 8am and we headed out ready for a day of trekking.

Since we had decided to do the 2 day trek, we got driven the first part that people usually walk on the 3 day trek. I don't think we missed out on too much by driving this part...it was about a 45 minute drive.

The driver dropped us off on a gravel road in a small village, and the walking began. Thankfully Kalaw is a lot cooler than the rest of Myanmar...I would've died if we had been walking in Yangon temperatures. 

The trekking company you choose will organise to take your bags to your hotel at Inle Lake, so you only need to take a day bag with a change of clothes.

The first half of the day was pretty easy. I think you would only need an average fitness level...I'm definitely  not fit! Exercise would cut into my drinking time. We meandered through fields of sesame and rice. It was quite relaxing really, and definitely a different change of pace to Yangon.

We watched the farmers work the land manually, no fancy machines here! Puta even asked some local boys if our boys could join in and help with the rice harvesting. They were tired after five minutes...the locals do it all day long! I think they were grateful for the help though.

 We stopped in a little village for morning tea and watched an old lady making bags. She was in her late 80s I think, and she sits there all day sewing bags and hats and scarves. We were treated to some delicious tea and treats - the jaggery was my favourite! Brown sugar deliciousness.

We walked for a few more hours and then it was time for lunch. This was about a two hour break and it was so good! There was so much food. We were stuffed. This was some of the best food we had eaten in the whole of Myanmar. I think Puta cooked it. He sourced it all from the Kalaw market when we got picked up in the morning, so it was fresh! Though we were a bit worried when he told us it was chicken...because we saw loads of flies on the chickens at the markets. But we didn't die! We ate and then played cards, before heading off for another few hours of walking.

The afternoon was a bit harder. It had rained recently and we had to be careful not to slip on the mud. Definitely wear good walking shoes! 

The last bit was probably the hardest, but also the most interesting! It was the final part through the mountain, and we had to help a farmer get his buffalo and cart up the hill through the sticky mud. We gave him a push. Ok the boys did....I stood there and watched.

After a long day of walking, we arrived at our little village for the night. We went and organised our hut, and got ready for dinner. It was going to be an early night because there is no electricity, so as soon as its dark its time for bed. That suited us fine though, we were tired after walking 18 kilometres!

​The room was pretty basic, with mattresses laid out on the floor. That was all we needed though. And there were lots of blankets around if we got cold. It did feel a bit damp, but hey, you're in a thatched hut, what do you expect?

We got changed and 'showered'. There are two local 'showers' in the villages that everyone uses. Each 'shower' is a giant bucket of water in a little wooden room with a curtain. A door would have been nice...Bridget gave a village kid a nice surprise when he jerked open the curtain while she was showering! 

My advice - take loads of wet wipes. I used these repeatedly during the trek to mop up my sweat or wipe mud off my legs. And it was nice to be able to freshen up before lunch too. I also used these for a shower.

The worst part of this whole trek for me was the toilet. I'm okay at peeing in squat toilets now...but pooping...pooping is another story. I tried to hold it in, but my stomach was really sore. So I put on my headlamp and headed to the village toilet to give it a go. If only there was a shewee for pooping. A shepoo? I wish I had gone to the gym before we left and had worked on my squats. My legs just couldn't hold me....and having only one hand was a bit of a struggle when it came to holding on. I gave up. I'd try again in the morning (also unsuccessful).

Time for beers! And dinner! And holy moly, I got a 175ml bottle of Mandalay Rum and it was only 80c or something ridiculous. The beers were cheap too. It was heaven.

We sat outside and watched the villagers bring all their buffalos home from farming, before heading inside for dinner.

The food was just ridiculous. There was so much of it. It was traditional Myanmar food, and it was delicious. Thankfully it looked like this was not a village that was short in food, or else I would have felt really guilty.  So many veges! And there were fries...that was odd. 

We headed off to bed after playing some more cards. Puta joined us for a wee while and it was nice to talk to him about his life in Myanmar. He was passionate about Myanmar politics, and it was interesting to hear his views on such a controversial topic, especially given the election had just been. 

The next day we woke early and packed up, and began day two. It was a peaceful start to the day, with a low fog hanging around.

Honestly, the two days kind of merge into one. They were quite similar - walking through mostly farm land. It was great, but I think two days is plenty. Day two is a lot shorter. We finished the walking part by about lunch time. We got to stop at a local school on the way, that was cool to see the kids running around in their crisp white blouses and greek skirts and shorts. I don't know how they keep those shirts so white. I'm constantly puzzled by that in Asia.

Also, be prepared to pay when you enter the Inle Lake area. There is a tourist tax of 12500 Kyat. Make sure you have some cash!

The last hour was the hardest. It was basically a whole lot of climbing down slippery, wet rocks. It was fun...but I was close to falling a couple of times. It would be really easy to roll an ankle so take it slow. I have no pictures of this because I was too busy trying to not seriously injure myself. 

We finally reached the end, and sat down at a roadside restaurant for lunch. This was the most rewarding lunch ever!

​Also, cats.

​After lunch we bid farewell to Puta, who did the whole trek in jeans by the way, and were taken to a small boat in the canal which was our ride to our hotel.

Here we got to chill out in the boat for half an hour or so and enjoy the beauty of Inle Lake, before arriving in the lake side town of Nyaung Shwe (which I loved).

Don't miss the Kalaw to Inle Lake trek. It was great to see the countryside. Something like 90% of the Burmese live rurally, so you do get to see the real Myanmar. Unfortunately it is quite touristy, so you don't get that much interaction with the locals. But hey, it's not so touristy that you are constantly hassled to buy things. The boat ride across Inle Lake was the perfect way to end it. 

We only had a day all up in Inle Lake. Nyaung Shwe is the name of the township. It's a pretty relaxed little village, and I could've easily spent a few more days chilling out and eating the delicious fresh food. Even though we oly had a short stay, we managed to do 3 cool things. 

We stumbled across this one evening on our way to a restaurant. We had no idea what to expect but bought tickets anyway, they are only 5000 Kyat. We came back after dinner all ready for the 8pm show.

The 6 of us were the only attendees, except for two others, who just happened to be Kiwis too! On arrival we were given a lollie and a cup of green tea. We took some time to look at all the marionettes for sale while they prepped for the show. I ended up buying two puppets, and I'm glad I bought them from here rather than elsewhere. They are apparently hand made by the owner. 

The show began and it is perhaps one of the strangest shows I've ever seen. (This was until I saw the Moustache Brothers in Mandalay...that was weirder).

I had no idea what the stories were about...but it was entertaining and you could tell they love performing it. The puppet master has been doing this for over 30 years! There were about 8 different stories, and the show lasted about 25 minutes all up. There are puppets for sale all over Myanmar, so it was cool seeing some in action with a real puppet master. 

Oh em gee this place was delicious. The food was some of the best we had in Myanmar, and we got to try local Inle Lake fish. It was reasonably priced and we ordered way more than our fair share. It's the perfect place to try out lots of different varieties of Myanmar salads too - order the tea leaf salad! Or the avocado salad! Cheap beer too, and cheap cocktails. Oh I'm sad now, this place was so good.

But maybe best of all...they have a flush toilet. We got to a point in Myanmar where we'd all be very excited if a sit down toilet was discovered. In some instances, we ended up staying another twenty minutes or so while everyone gave it a go. The first person who goes to the toilet has to come back with a toilet report. This place received a very positive toilet report. A+++++

This was one of my best days in Myanmar. Myo Myo greeted us at our hotel about 9am. Our first stop was the Nyaung Shwe market where we would get all the produce we need for our cooking class. It was just the 6 of us, and it was nice to not be in a giant group of strangers.

Going through the market with Myo Myo was a highlight of my time in Myanmar. Just having a local person show you all the different foods they have and explaining things about the culture makes for a unique experience. It was interesting learning the different names they have for things, for example, they call 'snow peas', 'golden peas', and 'spring onions' and 'skinny leeks' which I guess makes sense. From now on I'm always going to do food tours or cooking classes whenever I can. Wherever you travel, life seems to resolve around food, so learning about that food means you really get an insight into the local culture. 

Myo Myo knew lots of the stall owners, so we got to stop by various stalls and try different foods. The rice pancakes pictured below were especially tasty. She had earlier asked us what we wanted to cook, and we decided on a soup, three salads and two curries. Once we had procured all of the ingredients we needed for those dishes, we headed off to the class, in the back of a thoun bein. 

Myo Myo's cooking class is located a wee way from town, down a gravel road. It's a pretty big house! And a lovely outdoor kitchen. Also, side note, flush, sit down toilet! Well...kind of a flush....

Myo Myo did most of the cooking while we watched, and helped out occasionally. I know some people would prefer that it's 100% hands on, but I was more than happy to watch and take notes while watching. Also, there's less likelihood it's going to get screwed up if she does it!

We cooked avocado salad, green tomato salad, tea leaf salad, fish curry, chicken curry, fried vegetables and a soup. It was a feast! We probably spent about 3 hours at Myo Myo's, and an hour at the market, so be prepared to give up most of your day. Check out the delicious dishes below.

Myanmar cuisine is a mixture of salty, sour, and sweet. It really deserves more recognition, especially the salads. And they put avocado in everything, what's not to love?! Hopefully as Myanmar becomes a more popular holiday destination we'll see the cuisine pop up in more places around the world.

Bagan was a struggle for me.

Everybody loves Bagan, and it is arguably Myanmar's most famous tourist attraction with its thousands of temples scattered throughout the countryside. And don't get me wrong, it's like nowhere else and you should definitely go there.

It just felt different to the rest of Myanmar.

It is a lot more touristy, and those familiar feelings of bracing yourself for a scam like in other parts of South East Asia start coming back. The people are still lovely, but they are used to tourists and their money, so be prepared to be hassled a bit.

There are also a lot of kids hanging around the temples who will be your best friend, and then convince you to go to a certain temple, with the goal of you buying whatever it is that their family is selling there that. This kid just jumped on Simon's bike and directed us to a temple, and then yes, we did end up buying sand paintings from his family, but to be fair the seller was charming and funny! I know it encourages them...but those sand paintings are cool!

Another common one is people, mostly kids, asking where you are from, and then saying they are collecting coins. They will then proceed to show you what they already have and will ask whether you have any NZ dollars. It's cute the first time when it's a little kid, but it gets tiring after that...it's funny just how many people collect coins as a hobby in Bagan....

A lot of the temples also have souvenirs sprawled out everywhere when you walk in, which takes away from the authenticity of them, and distracts you from actually enjoying the temple.

There are also a lot of people. Sunset and sunrise is amazing, and the view from the temples is truly unique. However, be prepared to share your area with a hundred other tourists. I personally hate crowds, so if I could go again I would do a lot more research on the temples to find which ones people don't know about. A lot of tours come to Bagan, which means the most well-known temples are often really crowded.

I also found it hard to get to the temples. I have one hand, so riding an e-bike wasn't really a safe option for me. I tried going on the back on the others' e-bikes, but I felt like I was going to die and I could only handle that after a few drinks. Maybe my friends just aren't the best drivers (no offence guys!). The e-bikes are definitely the best way to get around, especially to get to the far away temples, ie the least crowded ones, and I'm sure they are a perfect mode of transport for the majority of people.

Another option is cycling, but it's 35 degrees! And it's also not something I feel particularly safe doing with one hand either.

We did get a horse and cart one morning, but I felt really guilty about the horse having to carry us, so I didn't enjoy that. Also, it just poops into a bag tied to its butt while it's walking. Poor horse, I wouldn't want to crap into a bag while carrying people. That was a good way to see some secret temples though, and the driver was lovely!

I think a lot of the tour groups have their own drivers that go to all the temples, so that's another option, though an expensive one.

Bagan needs tuk-tuks, or thoun beins! That would have been much more enjoyable. Maybe they do have them somewhere, but I didn't see them. You could easily pile in the back with your friends, and see the little-visited temples.

We stayed in Nyuang U, which was a nice area, but I think being in Old Bagan and just being a little bit closer would have been better. New Bagan is far away and we didn't spend much time there, so Old Bagan is a much better choice if you want to be near the temples. Nyuang U has some great little restaurants though, 4th street is where they all are. Don't miss Weather Spoon's for great burgers.

I did leave Bagan with mixed feelings. I still had a great time though, and I'd love to go back! It was still an adventure...like the time we climbed one abandoned temple to first of all have a bat fly at us, and once we recovered from that and started up the dark stairwell again, Simon started screaming about snakes! We made a pretty swift exit after that.

Do go to Bagan, but don't mistake it for the real Myanmar. Make sure you visit the other places like Hpa An and Inle Lake which are deserving destinations on their own. Experience the street food of Yangon. Muddle your way around Mandalay. Don't make Bagan you're only stop, Myanmar deserves so much more.

We decided that the best way to travel to Kalaw, to begin our hike to Inle Lake, was by a 20 hour train trip, obviously.

We boarded the 5pm train from Yangon station, headed for Thazi. Here we get off at 5am, and wait 2 hours for the 7am train to Kalaw. From Thazi it is a 7 hour trip to Kalaw.

It it sounds pretty arduous, but the slow train from Thazi to Kalaw showcases amazing vistas and we didn't want to miss that.

Tip 1  
Get a sleeper cabin. We ended up with reclining chairs because the sleeper was booked up. I would have loved to check out the sleepers. The reclining chairs aren't bad, and are spacious, but it was hard to get in the ideal sleeping position.

​
Tip 2
Take sleeping pills. There is no way I would've got any sleep without these. It is rickety and loud, and there are people around. But hey, I am the worlds lightest sleeper...you might be okay.

Tip 3
Take snacks. Also, buy them before you get to the train station...or at least before you go to your platform and get stuck there. We figured we could get some dinner from locals selling on the train like the Kyaikyto to Yangon train, but all that was sold was boiled eggs. Not my idea of dinner! There are loads of people selling delicious foods on the second train, and you can quickly jump off and get some noodles from the rail-side stalls.

​Tip 4
Shut the windows when it gets dark. It's much quieter.

Tip 5 
Don't drink too much - you only want to go to the toilet once! It's a squat toilet don't forget. A very wet squat toilet. Wear shoes.

Tip 6
Be prepared for the possibility of a rat running over your feet. Maybe wear shoes at all times. Don't scream and wake up the other passengers.

Tip 7 
Get off at Thazi and have a break. Use your bag as a pillow. Hopefully you'll still be in a daze from your sleeping pills. Also, don't look at the dogs out the window if they are sleeping on the tracks. No good will come from that.

Tip 8
Get on the slow train to Kalaw at 7am. Still avoid looking at the dogs. Go to your allocated seats and be prepared for a slow but spectacular journey.

Tip 9 
Jump off at any places where it looks like a whole lot of food stalls and get some traditional Shan food. Also, be prepared for the train to sometimes not move for an hour or so.

Tip 10
Be amused at the weirdest train route you'll ever go on. There is one town called Zigzag because the train goes up, and then zigzags back down the same way. It's odd, and hard to explain.

...Finally
Hang out the windows and wave at all the locals. They'll love it, you'll love it, everyone will be happy.