Bagan New Year

After Christmas, we took a long journey up north to Bagan. We got some cheaper tickets on a cargo bus full of rice bags, and was honestly one of the most comfortable bus rides I've taken in Asia so far.

Making friends with my brother. Everyone in Myanmar calls each other brother or sister. I love that.

Bagan, Myanmar is the first area we visited that is already developed for tourists, as it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.There are thousands of temples strewn across the plains that make for amazing views and fun exploration amongst the ruined temples. We biked around the sandy; dusty roads past chunks of petrified wood, crops, grazing cows, and caravans. Our favorite part was finding quiet temples away from the tour groups and locating secret stairwells to the upper levels for a view.

We woke up early to see the last sunrise, and later to see the last sunset of 2014 with these clowns:

Pre-dawn temples:

Hot air balloons:

Rainbow, temple, birds, and sunrise?! Too good.

Happy New Year everyone! 2014 has been an incredible and fortunate year for us. We wish you all health, happiness, and harmony in 2015. Xox Matt & The Riz

P.S. Here's a video we found & uploaded from Christmas of us playin ball with some local kids!

http://youtu.be/Rt6WjBTXFEs

Christmas @ Chaung Tha Beach

For Christmas we took an extremely crowded, winding, 2 hour bus ride to a local beach spot in Western Myanmar. We were missing our families but other than a couple decorations, and the occasional local in a Santa hat, we weren't often reminded that it was a holiday. We met up with Kristen and Sean again to spend the holiday together, so we exchanged some little gifts we had collected and that was fun.

Christmas Eve we hung on the beach and played ball with some local kids. They stand in a circle and juggle a small bamboo ball. Afterwards they had us play them 5v4 in a soccer game and they kicked our butts! 

Christmas morning we woke early to skype our families on Christmas eve on the East Coast

Clockwise from left: Me, Kristen & some drying fish, daily life at the bus station- monks, vendors, bikes, etc., Matty & Sean crammed on to the bus (Kristen hidden behind them)- we were late so they had little stools in the aisle to sit on. I was lucky and got put up front with the driver and a monk. Bottom right: local beach scene at Chaung Tha.

This was truly a local spot so we were the strange ones. This collage is all people taking photos of us, stopping to stare at us, or asking to take photos with us. Especially Matt & Sean, both 6ft.

Selling things off an end table on her head, little boys trying to sell us shells, guy offering rides on his painted horse...

The restaurant we stopped at was owned by a family with a little girl. they spoke zero English but she stayed with us the whole time we were here. I brought my Thanakha and she helped us all put it on. She thought this was hysterical. 

Best part of the day: Matt gets called over to play guitar with some locals (somehow they always know he can play guitar...), Sean playing catch with a boy in the water, and me teaching some kids how to play tic tac toe. Kristen was buddied up with our friend at the table. If we couldn't be with family, this was the best possible alternative!

Walking back we found a rock to play on, of course the top is a painted golden stupa. Myanmar doesn't have any climbers that we could find..

Our Christmas lunch was veggies and a fried fish..

Ordering food is always interesting - it's hard to know what you will end up with. Day after Christmas, Matt took on this beautifully served fried fish soup dish.

Click below to watch the first ever recording of Matt and his friend playing an original Myanmar Christmas song (as far as we know). He taught it to Matt and came back later for an encore. It goes 'Merry Christmas Merry Christmas, to you, to you all! Repeat.

Updated version of video: http://youtu.be/90gt71mKOeI

After Christmas we headed North to Bagan, so that's coming up.

xxx ELM

Southern Myanmar

After a stop in Mawlamyine, where we took almost no pics (except the garbage eating goats below), we traveled with Sean and Kristen to the town of Ye. It was only recently opened up to tourists and so it was a really interesting place to visit, with the friendliest people we have ever met.

Unfortunately, giant piles of garbage dumped by the river is a reality in some places. 

An awesome crank-start tractor/truck

Us with comrades, Kristen and Sean, making local friends in Ye who are against burning coal

On our first day in Ye, we were stopped by a kid on a motorbike who invited us to come to the English center which was run by an American guy living there. Matt and I had fun helping them with the language, it reminded us of work back at home! We went back the second night to help again and one of the young girls brought Liz a gift of Thanakha. It's a cream made from a tree bark that they believe has some health benefits, and people wear it everyday to protect them from the sun and also as a kind of make up. Who wouldn't love a country that wears face paint everyday?! 

A gracious gift of Thanakha cream and bark:

Young nuns in Ye

Us with some of the students we helped, A man sorting his betel nuts, and Matt playing volleyball with some locals in Ye before getting on a long train ride.

Leaving the lovely little town of Ye, we took an overnight train back north to Yangon. Slowly chugging along, we got to see a lot of beautiful country side before the sun set. At times the train was extremely bumpy. There were a couple of moments when the train was rocking and bouncing so hard, our butts left our seats and I thought I might bounce out the window. Fortunately, that did not happen. One thing that did go through the window though was dinner coming in from a woman selling meals skillfully balanced on her head. Chicken curry, fermented tea leaf salad, and steamed rice! Yum!

Rural Myanmar from the train:

  

Back in the big city of Yangon:

Noteworthy: In most of the cars (you might notice in some of the photos) the steering column is on the right although people drive on the right side of the road here. In the 70s the government of Myanmar (formerly Burma) changed from driving on the left, to driving on the right OVERNIGHT, just to stick it to the British! I love that! Except it's pretty dangerous and bus drivers need a helper in the passenger seat for passing.

Next post: Christmas in Chaung Tha Beach featuring- our amigos from Seattle, cheeky little Chaung Tha boys, some of the cutest kids ever, and tons of friendly and welcoming people of Myanmar.

Xoxo - Happy 2015! - Matt & Liz