Who's t-shirt is this?

​One of the greatest things about Mawlamyine was a delicious BBQ joint down the street from our accommodation. We almost never went knowing how bad a joint can become after it gets written up in Lonely Plant aka "Losers Plan it". Going against our instinct, it was one of the best decisions we made. The food was delicious and the beer was ice cold and cheap. It was so good we ate there two nights in a row. The second night we took some friends there that we met just a few days earlier. We spent the night drinking beer with them, and some locals, which was great. However, what wasn't so great was how hungover I was the next morning when we had to set off on a six hour boat ride north to Hpa-An. I woke up in the morning with a new t-shirt to travel in though. Cassie had to remind me how I traded shirts with a local kid in the middle of the night. I'll just have to take her word on that. 

While the boat trip was beautiful I could hardly enjoy any of it with my pounding headache and a scorching hot sun depleting my already dehydrated body. ​The saving grace was smiling kids waving as we cruised by in our rickety old boat with old bus seats to keep us westerners comfortable.  

Day trippin' to Bilugyun

Every once in a while we would sign up for a tour, this usually ends up being a very bad idea, which we regret hours later. Then again, sometimes we would be pleasantly surprised. This trip I would say ended up in the latter category. We set out by boat to the large Bilugyun Island just off of Mawlamyine. The boat ride over was pretty standard traveling, packed to brim with locals and their goods. All of it being carried on and off the boat on top of their heads. 

​This tour initially took us on a quick truck ride around the island stopping off for scenic views and flower necklaces, which were made by our driver. We had three major stops, a rubber factory, a cane carver and something else I don't quite remember. The first stop was actually pretty interesting. I've never actually seen rubber being made before, and the final product was colorful rubber bands. Our second stop was to a guys house where he carved intricate walking canes. They were quite lovely but over our price range so we left rather quickly. 

​While we waited for our boat back, we snacked on some local grub and drank some sugar cane from the lovely lady photographed below. The tall white dude was our buddy Sam from England, a fun bloke that we hung out with off and on for a few days while traveling through southern Burma. (Not actually southern Burma, but close enough; farther south was off limits to tourists due to fighting). I can't say my post actually makes this tour sound like fun, and to be honest, it was nothing special, but the Burmese people are always smiling and so welcoming it is hard not to love anything you do in this country. 

Home Sweet Home

With not much more then what could be found in their backyards, the homes around Kinpin Village, Golden Rock were ​built by their owners. We saw one young family carrying large bamboo stalks on top of their heads down a challenging mountain path barefoot for their home. A few homes surprisingly had televisions flickering throughout the day.

We were greeted by many happy kids and curious adults as we wondered down the dirt path through their village. While these homes are not much in respect to what we have back in the developed world, we still saw ladies sweeping the dirt around their homes keeping them clean and tidy. The one sad thing that caught my attention, was a few shops had toy guns they were selling, burnt into the side was the letters... USA. It was a sad reminder of how a lot of the world sees America.   ​

Rocking Gold

When one thinks about traveling to visit a rock, you might not be very inspired to go, but when that rock is defying gravity by one strand of the Buddha's hair underneath you might be a bit more intrigued. Then when you find out it's covered in gold leaves and a tiny pagoda sits on top of it all you might just book a ticket. Well that's exactly what we did. 

Being one of the top buddhist pilgrimage sites in Burma you get to meet many wonderful and talkative monks while placing your own slice of gold leaf on the rock. (Ladies not allowed). When Cassie and I finally walked away from this site we were actually pretty impressed. That rock really is sitting there pretty precariously. It really shines like no rock I've ever seen before and I understand why Monks make the long journey to see this lovely site. 

Neon Buddha

Just outside downtown Yangon is the heart of Burma, the Shwedagon Pagoda is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in the country. It's believed to hold four relics of the buddha enshrined within, including eight strands of his hair. Standing a whopping 99 meters above the city this gilded pagoda shines like the smile of the 14th Dalai Lama. According to legend, The Shwedagon Pagoda was first built 2,600 years ago. Making it the oldest pagoda not only in Burma, but the world.

The most fascinating thing to us was the surprising Vegas-style lights behind all the Buddha statues glowing in heavenly enlightment. Defenitly makes for some of the most entertaining buddha statues we've ever seen. Although I wouldn't think it would be very conducive to meditation.