Our second to last day in Bagan, we went on a different type of tour. We visited a village that is only accessible by boat, and interacted with the locals there. We were given laminated pictures that the last group took, to find and give to the local who was in the picture. It was pretty fun. You would show them the picture and they would point down the road towards where the person lives. When I showed mine, everyone laughed and indicated that the person was far away. We were also given mandarin oranges to give out as they don't have access to vitamin C here. This was a nice gesture but it led to kids following you around, asking for oranges which doesn't seem sustainable. People were very kind and invited you into their houses, shared fresh boiled corn or biscuits or tea, and you could give the oranges in return for their kindness. Here are some shots of the villagers that we got.
Clockwise from top left: Three generations, a loom demonstration we were given, and at the bottom, a tiny tour guide.
Matt got a tour guide too at one point. And on the right, I gave my new friends some necklaces I made.
This couple was adorable. They gave us biscuits and we sat and stared at each other a while, in the sort of way you do when you can't converse. I tried to give this woman a pair of earrings I made (all women have pierced ears here and all kids, even little boys), but she gave them back, very sweetly, but I can't be sure why.
This little one of the right has her pockets filled to the brim with mandarins.
On our last day, we went back into the temples for a little while before hopping a night bus to Yangon.
The tiniest monk!?
Monkettes playing soccer.
Young nuns..
We took the night bus to Yangon (Rangoon) and the 4th was Myanmar Independence Day. The local neighborhoods around the city celebrate by putting on races and games all day.
This guy selling some kind of veggie on a stick..
Badminton too. 
Pint-sized soccer match..
This game ended in a shoot out, with everyone gathered round.
When you sit down at one of the many tea houses, they bring plates and plates of goodies and you pay for what you eat. Some are indian influenced and you get naan, and some are chinese influenced and you get these meat filled buns that you see here. Others are Burmese, or a combination.
The tea houses typically have teeny tiny chairs, and full sized men, which we loved.
We really enjoyed Myanmar (Burma) and were sad to leave. I know we've said it, but the people were the nicest I've ever met in my life and Matt felt the same.
After 3 more days in Yangon we flew to Bangkok, and next we head north into Laos.
xx ELM
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