Mexico City...What A Surprise!

Thanks to a tip from my friend Ray, I tacked on a couple of days in Mexico City with my Cuba adventure. It would also give me a chance to see Mexico City Frank, a friend I met during my 2011 Africa travels in Tanzania. 

Arrived at MEX at 7:45am, got through immigration and baggage check. Baggage machine guy asked me how many cigars and sent me to the bag inspection lady. She couldn't figure out my backpack and I wasn't about to help her so she let me through without hardly checking it. Hopped in a taxi, came upon mad traffic and one hour later arrived at the Zocalo Central Hotel and met up with Frank shortly after at the Cathedral doors across the way!

In 2011, while in Tanzania, Frank showed me how to let unwanted bugs outside vs killing them. Now, in 2015, he's convinced me to eat bugs at Restaurante Chon! We had some type of worm, grasshoppers and some nutty tasting tiny bugs. It was definitely different and I'm not sure anyone else would have been able to convince me to some bugs for a full on meal! After our filling bug lunch, we went to the History Museum where Frank went full on historian on me- it was pretty cool! The day day ended with bacon and cheese tacos in a thunder and rain storm and I was never so ready for bed as I've been up since 1:30am!

 Day two started with a wake up from the Pride Parade crew. Yours truly did a stroll around the main square to take some photos then ventured out to a place called Castillo de Chapultepec. It was easily the most stunning castle I had ever seen and I've seen my share while traveling through Europe. The crown moldings, the architecture, stained glass windows, gardens and decor just oozed romance. After that taking that in, I walked into the Four Seasons hotel which was right outside the park to ask for information and directions. It's a travel habit of mine: any hotels is a resource for taxi and info along the way! Information and directions led me to a scrumptious meal at Contramar, a place my friend Ray had highly recommended and it did not disappoint. The hotel, which I'm not even staying at, even called in to make sure they would have a seat for me by the time I got there. Cerveche, octopus and shrimp tacos, limonada and a guava cheesecake to it off!  The pride parade brought out thousands of people out on the streets and cars were a bit bonkers! It made getting through 11+ miles of walking today a bit tricky to navigate but a success as only one car almost ran me over. Almost being two inches ... phew!

Apparently, I chose some weekend to be in Mexico City. Between various protests and the Pride Parade, never have I seen so many police officers in full armour with shields and all. We are talking hundreds and hundreds! Speaking of Pride, I will forever remember that while I was on this adventure, back home, history was made. The Surpreme Court Of The United States said yes to gay marriage in all 50 states! Obamacare is not going anywhere as well! As much critism as our President gets from the public, I have nothing but admiration for the man. Let's be honest, he had the toughest of messes to clean up from the prior eight years! I am beyond proud that we have a leader who can not only command a stage when he speaks and speaks intelligently but whose humility and passion for the people shines through each and every time.

I must admit, I was a bit nervous about making a visit to Mexico City because of the wrap they get in the eyes of the U.S. media but I figured if I can take on Medillin (Colombia), I can take on Mexico City and I'm glad I did. What a surprise this city turned out to be! Culture, food, endless history and the most romantic of castles. I'm sold! I've bottled up so much positive energy from Cuba and Mexico City that I'm hoping it'll last me awhile! Until next time friends! 

Cuba Wrap Up: Interrogation In, Interrogation Out!

I hopped on the noon bus from Varadero to Havana. The 2+ hour bus ride dropped me off at Havana Vieja vs. the Viazul (bus station) office which meant I wouldn't have to spent CUC10 getting myself back to Vieja..sweet! Karolina's Casa Nena was full for the night so she arranged for me to stay at her neighbor Alain's spot, Casa D'Rocha a few doors down. I walked in the building and walked back out because I didn't know which apartment it was and as I walked out, timing would have it that Nuides was walking to Casa Nena's. "Hola Yi! Aqui!" So I followed her to Casa Nena while she calls Alain to let him know I'm here. Karolina did not tell me that Alain's casa required a out 40 flights of steps!

My last evening in Havana and Cuba for that matter, I met Caroline, Levi and Mike at Jardin de Orient for a locals priced meal. Don't let the name fool you, there's nothing orient about the spot. Turns out Mike and Levi both grew up in San Francisco as well! After dinner, I talked them into walking the malecón with me. Hanging out with them was so nice..I wasn't getting hassled as much but as soon as I step about 10 feet away, it starts up! We all turned in pretty early driven by the heat exhaustion and early cab wake up call. The timing had nothing to do with the sorta strange guy who was chatting us up..an American from Saudi Arabia.

It's 2:39am and I hear a knock on the door..it's Pepe..Karolina's taxi guy.. these taxi folks are always early! He was on the phone then gives me the phone and it's Alain explaining he wasn't going to be here to check me out but make sure to lock everything and leave the keys. Apparently, everyone knows everyone in this side of town! I explained to Pepe with some key broken Spanish words that we needed to drop by 611 Calle Cuba to pick up my friends. In his ritzy old school car we rolled. 

We arrived at the airport, checked in, exchanged my leftover money back to euros (I brought $700 euros with me and exchanged $640 of it but used only $600 of it.) and made our way to immigration. The immigration guy looked like he was about to stamp me but nope..I was denied along with Levi and Carolina and was sent back to the red line to wait. Here we go again..we knew the drill. 

Mr. Immigration Interrogation guy made his way towards us and took us into the office one by one for questioning. I was second to go, Levi was up first. The office left little to desire...two desks..some fake flowers and a dozing coworker in the background. He started his questioning by asking me where I've been and the addresses of where I stayed. Good thing I kept all that with me! Taxi drivers I used and then it was during the background questioning portion that I noticed he is writing on the bottom portion of the same piece of paper the lady who interrogated me entering Havana was writing on! He was cross checking. The best might have been..what is The Gap? I took my hoodie out and showed him the label. Actually, maybe it was when he asked if I came with Levi and Caroline and I said "No, we met in Havana" and he said, "Aqui? Beautiful!" I thought.. beautiful is letting us through and on the flight! Anyway, he led us back to the immigration counter, stamped, scanned and we made it! 

I followed Levi in buying a last minute trinket, a baseball bat keychain with Cuba colors on it. The lady only wanted American dollars. How backwards was that?! In a country where the U.S. dollar isn't king and she wants dollars. 

Coming to Cuba, the only expectation I had was to see throngs of classic old school cars. There were plenty of them but not as many as I had thought. Because of their relations with the Chinese, there are actually a lot more modern cars than I thought there would be and I've even spotted two Audi's. Point being.. if you want a piece of old Cuba before it's too late and old classic cars become a tourist thing vs a local means, get here soon! You can spend thousands of dollars and go with education tour groups or you can spend $1500 ($900 total air and $600 food, casa, transport, trinkets) and do it yourself. Cuba is special in the sense that it's still somewhat time locked and a bunch of stuff is backwards. However, take the intrigue away of it being a "regulated" country to visit for those holding a U.S. Passport and it's kinda like any other country in this region, except for the cars, cigars and rum, in my opinion anyway. It doesn't take away the cool factor though of a Cuba stamp in the passport! Except, I don't think he was supposed to stamp my passport.

The most common question I've had asked, outside of pick up ones have been, how did I arrive here? Folks seem disappointed when I respond with Mexico City. They're eager for the abundance of folks from the U.S. to fund the tourism here! Maybe a Starbucks? Maybe a Hard Rock Cafe? Maybe an Ironman race? Maybe wifi and internet?!

Next up: 48 hours in Mexico City before back to SFO!

Varadero...Cuba's Beach Paradise

No early morning bus ride is ever complete without the obligatory 80's love songs! That was the genre of choice for the two bus drivers taking turns for the six hour drive from Trinidad to Varadero. Peter Cetera, Richard Marx mixed in with some James Blunt and "Imagine" by John Lennon which is always a nostalgic song for me while I'm traveling. It brings me back to 2004, I'm sitting in St Mark's Square in Venice, Italy writing in my journal as the sun was setting when the orchestra started playing "Imagine." It was my first trip solo abroad and that was the first reminder of home.

In Varadero, I'm staying at Beny's House, which is exactly what it sounds like. His daughters, Natalia and Giselle, manage all the cooking for guests. Food is pricey in this town so I've had most of my meals at the house. At CUC40/night, this is the priciest place during my Cuba circuit. This town is the beach spot to be among folks from Canada and Europe..it's nice..certainly warm waters. I'm writing this at 8pm at a still crowded beach. It's a shame how much trash folks leave here though. Cubans must  be huge fans of the Beatles because this is the second town now that houses a huge bar dedicated to the Beatles..Trinidad had one as well... equipped with life size Beatles statues, album covers and lyrics on the walls. The Beatles Bar in Varadero. The Yesterday Bar in Trinidad.

This is the only town that will accept euros as a form of payment which was handy for me because I'm starting to run low on my CUC bills. Banks here aren't equipped for American cards of any type...yet? It seems like each time you get in a cab, regardless of type or distance, the go carts, old school classic, yellow can or horse carts, it's CUC5. Cigars here cost twice as much as they did in Trinidad. Score on my Trinidad purchase for requesters back home!

The cat calling and hissing continues in Varadero. I was looking to buy an obligatory bag (it's my vice while traveling)..he wanted CUC10 and I said CUC6 and he said how about CUC6 with a kiss? What?! Then he offered a kiss and it's free. What?! Gross. Twenty blocks later, I bought one for CUC7 and didn't have to kiss anyone!

My second full day on this beach strip, I spent at the beach taking in the Caribbean blue waters and then hopped on a double decker tour bus because I was curious to see what the east side looked like. At the beach, an older gentleman from Cologne, Germany chatted me up while on his walk. I was meditating to the sounds of the ocean. After the general casual conversations one has with other travelers, we bid each other well. As he walked away, I thought to myself, did I just miss a sugar daddy opportunity?! I joke! I must say, he was an upgrade to the teen that was trying to chat me up shortly prior and the guy that invited himself to sit next to me while I was watching the sunset last night. Speaking of which, ladies (and gents), there's a hilarious article Aziz Ansari wrote about dating in June's Glamour magazine. Hilarious!!

East side of this town is full of huge all inclusive resorts. The boring stuff. There are a bunch of developments going up with huge banners that read "construction is revolution"! During the 90 minute bus tour of the east, I couldn't help but think, once Cuba is able to really do business with the U.S., how long it'd take before Ironman offers up "Ironman Cuba"! This strip of land would almost be perfect for it and the location, Cuba, would draw entries like bonkers, except this beach strip is no representation of authentic Cuba. 

Next stop: on the 12pm bus back to Havana!

Stage Five Clinger In Trinidad!

I arrived in Trinidad greeted my a throng of aggressive locals with places to stay and taxi services for hire. I was looking for Carlos, owner of the casa I had reserved, who said he would greet me at the station with a sign but no sign and no Carlos. One of the taxi hustlers said Casa Carlos is very far..needs taxi..seven blocks. I started walking as Carlos found me. It was actually two blocks, shady taxi guy!

Trinidad is a pretty charming and well reserved colonial town. Night and day compared to Havana with its slow pace and mountain breezes. When I say slow, shop workers are often found napping with their head down during open hours. I can't tell you how many times I've walked in and out of a shop without them knowing.. it's pretty amusing! I've spent my days wondering the cobbled streets and wondering some more. There is a nice strip of beach you can get to and back for CUC2, Playa Ancon.  

One early evening, passing the Restaurante Marin Villefuerte, the owner ushered me over and offered me the locals price of CUC6 for a 3 course lobster dinner vs tourist price of CUC15. We communicated this via writing of numbers on the hand. The lobster tail was the size of my plate! 

Trinidad is also where I would run into Levi and Caroline again, along with their friend Mike. The funny thing about meeting people in my travels is that regardless of how long the first encounter lasted, the next time you randomly cross paths again, it's like old friends with hugs all around! I guess it's a comfort sort of thing to see familiar faces again while anonymously in foreign lands. Mike, "how did you guys meet?" Levi, "during interrogation! We were trying to make it out the exit door!" We laughed about our interrogation incident at the airport and coordinated to meet for dinner in Havana and hopefully for the taxi ride to the airport for our 6am flight to Mexico City. Coincidentally, our travel timing from the U.S. to Cuba was the same and on the same flight. I'll have to ask if Ernesto from Toronto helped them with the ticket.

Local life in Trinidad includes folks making from what they have. Families

go around in the late afternoons, walking down the local streets offering what they have to sell. The casa I am staying at buys bread daily from the bread lady..there's a banana guy that comes around on a donkey cart..a floral lady..etc. My favorite has got to be the half pig/dog that roams the streets of this town. It was the older Cuban man dressed daily in his suit, fedora and often found smoking a cigar but that was before he started to make kissing lips at me. Back to pup...the cute yet creepy pup that's been tracing (stalking) my footsteps the past couple of days might be a close second. True story-stalker pup! I said hello to this little mutt by the Plaza Mayor on my first afternoon here and since then, stage five clinger! I turn around and it's there. I speed walk to the other side of town and I turn around, it's there. I'm sitting at an ice cream cafe reading for about three hours and I see it across the corner four times. I'm going to miss the little guy.

One thing I'm not a fan of is the cat calling. It wasn't this bad in Havana but perhaps folks in Havana are hustling more and folks in Trinidad are just bored? I've received multiple marriage proposals on a daily basis. Cubans would put the cat callers in Spain to shame! 

 My last evening in Trinidad, I found a spot that had tacos on the menu!! Albeit, a mosquito in the restaurant seem to have had me for dinner. This serves as a testament to how well those Ben's 30% Deet Wipes works as I've always brought them with me but forgot on this trip. Talk about craving.. tacos and chips but I had yet to find chips in Cuba other than the imported Pringles for CUC6. I had three tacos and gave one to this poor dog I see everyday that looks beyond malnourished.

I left Carlo's Casa early morning as my bus to Varadero left at 730. Did I ever talk about what a zoo Casa Carlos is?! The common place is palatial with super high ceilings and antique wood furnishings with a bunch of antique radios on display. He is an art critic or something like that. A walk through the commons at 630am darkness was an adventure. There was a dog, a cat, a butterfly and two parrots..oh and not to mention the huge cockroach that greeted in the bathroom in the morning! 

Anyway..if you're ever in Trinidad..I recommend Casa de Carlos Sotalongo across Plaza Mayor. At CUC25 ($25)/ a night including breakfast, it's a steal! Just don't expect any water pressure from the showers.....at all!

Havana...Do You Need A Taxi? Can I Be Your Boyfriend?

The most common questions here in Havana...cracks me up!

First things first: congrats to the Golden State Warriors for winning the NBA Finals against LeBron and the Cavs in 6 games...glued to Sports Center at SFO watching the post game interviews!

Let's back track...Scored a round trip direct flight from SFO to MEX for $370..called Cubana Airlines which told me they didn't accept American credit cards but gave me a phone number of a guy who did. Ernesto from Toronto quoted me a price of $460 U.S. which included a $45 up charge. After having him checked out by my friend, Jacquie from Holland who works in tourism and whom I met on the night train in Vietnam, I faxed Ernesto my credit number and crossed my fingers.

Arrival at the airport in Habana was all sorts of unwelcomed fun. The immigration lady kept my passport had me step aside after checking it out. After being guided to an empty chair and waiting for about 20 minutes, I was interrogated by one of the women that worked at the airport. She started with "stay calm" ...I thought "thank goodness this will be in English!" Otherwise, it would have been a guessing game of should I answer "si" or "no"? After asking me a wide range of questions about my background multiple times, she ushered me back to the immigration lady and let me through. After having my luggage scanned, which weighed all of 7kgs including three magazines, I thought I was free to go except now this man in uniform comes over and grabs my passport and instructs me to wait. Now, I'm just annoyed as I mentally scrolled through plan B-D with my passport...I have an extra copy in my bag...a photo of it in my phone..pretty sure a scanned copy is in my email... etc. As I'm waiting for another endless eternity, I was joined by two other backpackers, I asked, "where are you two from?" "Oakland," Caroline and Levi responded. I excitedly responded with San Francisco. Levi sounding equally annoyed said this is the third time he has been interrogated since getting off the same flight. Finally, we were free to go after giving the same answers to the same questions I was asked earlier. The distance between the baggage claim and the exit door to freedom...so close yet so far!

We exit the airport and went for the money exchange (bring euro dollars--no resources for money once you're on the island) but not before we were greeted by a man named Carlos. Carlos is a jolly Cuban man trying to make a buck, common in Cuba. Carlos insisted he be our taxi driver to town so we agreed. We were denied at the airport money exchange but not to worry because Carlos knows another place so in his little blue old school car with a playboy bunny sticker on it we went. We would be denied at two more money exchange kiosks before arriving at a third one "this one is good..have police officer," said Carlos. "Carlos knows" became the theme of our adventure between the airport and town.

At last, arrival at the Casa Nena, the 3 bedroom apartment in Havana Vieja I scored last minute for $30/night! Nuides (apartment caretaker and breakfast cooker) greeted me at the door and showed me around.. beautiful with high ceilings and decorated with all sorts of oldies but goodies... Encyclopedia collection... National Geographics from the 1950s. Karolina, the owner of Polish descent, lives across the narrow street. I almost feel like a local whenever I'm communicating with her...me yelling up the balcony from the street and her yelling back down from the balcony.

I spent three days in Havana walking the streets, taking in the atmosphere and chatting it up with the locals. I didn't know this before but it's Habana in Spanish and Havana otherwise. Back to locals...Papa Noi was a standout of the bunch..he became my unofficial taxi driver to the bus station for tickets, to the National Hotel for 15 minutes of Internet service. After all, he has to find a way to feed his four kids from different baby mama's, glad I could contribute though after awhile, I had to tell him no more cash whenever I'd bump into him and he'd want to drive me somewhere. Havana is divided into three main parts: Vieja (old town), Central (not recommended as a place to stay) and Verdado (modern). It has two Chinatown gates, a Chinese cemetery and a Chinatown but when I asked Fernando (works at the hostel around the corner but offered to drive me somewhere to make an extra CUC10 ($10) during his work hours) where the Chinese folks were, he said there aren't any but they have very good relations with the Chinese government. Makes total sense to me! There is no shortage of medical clinics in this town and pharmacies are a bit of works of art..houses in beautiful buildings with hundreds of jars marked with the type of treatment it is. Internet is extremely scarce...Nuides giggled at me when I asked if there was wifi. There are a handful of luxury hotels and hostels (small hotels) in Havana but if you're going to stay here, the casa particulars (renting an apartment or room from a local) are the way to go! 

Next up: a seven hour bus ride to Trinidad. 

FOGRO In Yangon Plus Laos and Myanmar Wrap Up!

FOGRO... Fear of getting run over... but more on that later!

Prior to coming to Yangon, we thought $25 for a hotel arranged taxi airport pick up wasn't a big deal. Having been in this country for two plus weeks and knowing how far $25 can get you, we cancelled our hotel arranged transportation and figured it out ourselves. $10 for taxi at the airport!

Nothing like being in an SE Asia big city to start bringing my senses back to reality! Yangon is known for their street food scene, tea houses and of course the Sule Pagoda though the city is not aesthetically inspiring. It's actually one of the dirtiest cities I've traveled to. Trash on the streets among other things is abundant. If you've got the shopping bug, Bogyoke Market is the place to be. It's also where we met an 11 year old well spoken boy named Minh who said, "Obama country!" when we told him we were from America (Folks in Myanmar love Obama. When we tell folks where we are from, they respond with "America! Obama!" or "America! Michelle Obama!"). He was selling postcards..I bought postcards. What can I say.. apparently I have a soft spot for charming boys selling postcards.

The people here aren't nearly as warm as in the smaller towns in this country. Young monks beg for money which is a whole new concept for me. People on the streets for the most part are very nice and polite. They still say "you look Asian" when I tell them I'm from America. Special shout out to the UN security guard who told us to go left and when we figured out after walking for a bit that "left" was wrong, we back tracked and walked right only to pass him again directing "right"...yup got it! People behind the wheel of a car..not so much. Unlike Vietnam where crossing the street is a strategic art (you don't stop..you just keep walking once you start and motorists will calculate your steps and avoid you), crossing the streets of Yangon is like a game of chicken each and every time! Cars come inches from you and they're not stopping...hence FOGRO! Yangon is a lot larger than I thought it would be. Certainly too big to walk all over the city. The saving grace is the affordability of taxi fairs..on average $2 will get you from point A to point B. This is my last stop in Myanmar and it's been a remarkable 3 weeks as I reflect on Luang Prabang, Bagan, Kalaw, Inle, Ngapali and Yangon.

 I will remember Luang Prabang for the last morning we were there and witnessing the spirituality of 100s of monks in their call to alms ceremony. I will treasure the beauty of my favorite temple, the Sulamani and the private sunsets atop the Thien Mazi in time locked Bagan. Of course, we can't forget about the adventures with the e-bikes! My day with the gentle giants at the elephant retirement camp in Kalaw will always hold a special place. The bike riding along Inle Lake saying "hello" to the delighted faces of locals was pretty darn special. I am so thankful that I was able to experience the beauty and authenticity of Ngapali Beach with the Lintha village folks alongside, though the dog procreating situation may need to be controlled a bit. Of all my years traveling, Myanmar may rank as my favorite country. There is an authenticity to the beauty here and these people are so hopeful about their future... it's inspiring. After all, at the end of the day, materials are immaterial. It's hope that inspires.
I hope Myanmar stays time locked in their traditions with their yellow sunscreen pasted faces and their longis but as Sue from Ngapali Beach has said..it's all changing already. The folks here love their Korean soaps and the fashion influence seen there. I hope locals continue to simply greet you vs trying to sell you and kids continue to wave hello with their hands vs having their hand out asking for money but with all the construction going on here, sadly, it might just be a matter of time. Myanmar is ready and welcomes travelers with open arms. "Take care of tourists" signs are abundant. I hope travelers, in return, stay responsible, respectable and informed when they visit.

The best tip I can give about visiting Myanmar is bring cash and two converter plugs (the two circle prongs and the three prong one)! I came with $1200 in crisp bills for the three weeks (including Luang Prabang, all lodging, shopping and food) and went to the ATM once for $100. Clean, unmarked, new dollar bills ($100s get the best exchange rate) and putting them between pages of your guide book to keep them crisp and crease free. US banks and financial institutions will not allow you to sign onto their sites or apps from this country (sanctioned) so take care of that stuff prior to leaving home.

This was my first time being abroad for my birthday..thanks to my family and friends for the abundant virtual wishes via facebook, texts and emails! Lastly, thank you Noreen (she's a New Yorker and we met in Hoi An, Vietnam last March) for sharing this adventure with me! I've traveled solo for the last ten years and your company definitely added to the laughter and sharing of memories! I still think your $2 knock off Chanel pants are flammable! It might take me a little longer this time to transition from my harem pants wanderlust cameo back to skinny jeans reality. I'm often walking a fine line balancing between living in the moment and thinking about what's next...?

Where's The Town In Ngapali Beach?

I've been looking out at the warm waters of the Bay of Bengal for almost three days now and this beach paradise portion of the trip couldn't have come at a better time. Let's back track to pre-arrival..As I had mentioned before, airports in Myanmar are a bit confusing, even for this experienced traveler. Upon check in, they give you a color coded sticker (each airline has their specific ones), you don't exactly know what it means and you're ushered into a waiting room of chaos. Airport workers are yelling words that you don't understand and often they're scanning the room looking for someone yet can't find the one they're looking for. Flying to Thandwe from Heho, I had a gut feeling that I should get up and start looking for my flight boarding section. Noreen and I are on different flights and I told her if I don't come back, it means I'm on a plane. I see an Aussie woman that had the same sticker as me and I asked, "flight 243?" She responded, "the beach?" I nodded. Us yellow Air KBZ stickers have to stick together!

Paradise at last and it did not disappoint! If you don't arrive to this yet to be fully developed strip of soft sand and warm waters with cash and sunscreen, you're kind of SOL. I've only seen one cash exchange place and that's at the airport. ATMs have yet to be found and there isn't much of a town (which seems to be a popular question around here.."where's the town?" This is it. We walked an hour our first day here for confirmation.)...just a large strip of sand, a sprinkle of resorts, a guesthouse or two, some restaurants, two small local villages (comprised of a compound of huts), a fish market, an abundant amount of palm trees and a handful of shopping boutiques selling the same type of stuff. No harem pants -- I can usually gauge how touristy a SE Asia place is by the amount of harem pants offered.

 Checked in at the Yoma Cherry Lodge on the quieter north end... beach front rooms on a private beach for $105/night with furnishings that would rival the St Regis Princeville. I scored us a room about twelve steps to the beach and equally the amount of steps to breakfast. The masseuse here gives a mighty traditional massage for $15/hour. Seafood dinners for under $5.00.. just an organic simple fisherman town. We're here during it's high season yet feels practically empty.

There isn't much to do here but a whole lot to take in. Next to the lodge is one of the villages, Lintha Village, locals come out and play their beach soccer (if they're not out fishing), often with a token westerner traveler and kids in their cliques run wild along the beach with a bunch of dogs thrown in the mix. In the morning, they run out screaming for excitement. If you've watched "Beasts Of The Southern Wild", imagine scene where Hush People and her little peoples scream and charge the waters to find her mother. This is what makes this Myanmar slice of paradise ...it's authentic.

Construction is booming here! Ngapali Beach will inevitably grow and this place won't be the same a few years from now. These villages, that are shacks living on land that isn't theirs will have to move once that strip of beachfront land is sold. How nice the government will be about it? Who knows. I found all this out from Sue, the manager of the Lodge, at breakfast one morning. I was so curious/concern about what will happen to the villages. Hopefully, this place can keep it's charm, authenticity and keep out the seediness that can come with a place like this (reference Thai beaches).

My second full day on the beach, a girl, Johima (4yrs) from the village came over to me with her younger brother. I was reading Noreen's Maxim magazine (don't ask) at the time, an article on Mark Cuban, when the little brother pointed at the cover. Awesome, I AM the one that's corrupting the young here! Minutes later, I thought it'd be more appropriate to build sand castles. Yoma Cherry Lodge, if you end up losing a few glasses, sorry! When Johima had enough of the sand, she took my hand and led me to a religious statue on the side of the lodge and showed me how she prayed. Her brother followed suit. Johima's dad was going to his boat and must have urged them to leave me alone. She left but came back later with a posse of 4 others and her 1yr old sister. Imagine a 4 yr old shuffling down the beach with a 1 yr old in her arms. I was reading my People Stylewatch at the time. They flipped through the pages pointing things out if they thought it was beautiful. After awhile, the oldest of the girls said something in Burmese and they all waved bye. That's the life of these kids. They have no technology, haven't seen any toys but they have the village and a pecking order so it seems.

It's 6:18am now and as I'm writing this, I'm waiting to see when the village fishermen that went out yesterday around 5:00pm will come back..maybe they already have? Watching the village men march out in organized posses wearing their longyis (think sarong) was an interesting sight to see. Those who arrive early get in a quick game of soccer... penalty kicks and all. Meanwhile, the women get the fish drying field ready. Ngapali Beach, I will miss you dearly!

Still in search for a Myanmar patch for my backpack- my quintessential souvenir from countries I've traveled to.

Boated Out In Inle Lake

First off, thanks to Aljazeera TV, I got my Super Bowl fix and am very happy with the New England win!

Back to Myanmar...since we skipped the trek, we decided to get into Inle Lake a day ealier. The same taxi guy that took us to the elephant camp in Kalaw drove us to Nyaung Shwe (1.5 hours), the main town accessing Inle Lake. We really didn't know what to expect for this area so we didn't have too much of an agenda, if any at all. Noreen has been really good about pre-reading the places on our list. I have the habit of not reading about places until I've arrived. As I sit here at the French Touch Cafe on a quiet side street in Nyaung Shwe, I'm reflecting back on the last four days here in this area.

Many travelers that come to this area hop on boats to see the lake. We decided to hop on bikes first for a morning ride out to the hot springs. The ride out was one of the most enjoying time I've had on a bike - so much to take in! My night riding in Paris still holds the #1 spot. While trying to find the hot springs, I stopped at a snack stall to wait for Noreen and had an interesting encounter with a local wearing a Chicago Bulls #45 jacket. We had overshot the hot springs location so was back tracking, I asked the jacket guy, "Hot springs?" He gestures to go straight. I said, "Nice jacket! You like basketball?" He responded with, "I like volleyball!" while tugging on his Chicago Bulls jacket. I said, "Your jacket...NBA basketball... Chicago Bulls #45 Michael Jordan!" (MJ was #23 then retired after his dad was murdered in his Lexus from a carjacking incident then came out of retirement as #45 before becoming #23 again.) "I like volleyball!" He says tugging on his jacket. Ok fine...I've got a hot springs to find! We found the hot springs which had a special section for foreigners (co-ed)..played for about an hour and then moved on.

Moving on from the hot springs, our next adventure was trying to get across the lake to a winery Noreen had wanted to go to. We rode to the boat dock and this guy who looked very much like the Chicago Bulls guy but with a leather jacket asked, "you need a boat?" I answered, "yes, how much?" He responded with, "two people, two bikes, today is festival, no boats, so k6000 each." I offered k5000 and he said no reverting back to the festival reasoning so we said fine. We asked him to confirm where he was taking us and after his description, Noreen was convinced he would bring us back to Nyaung Shwe. I was a bit skeptical thinking we are on our own once we get to the other side. He led us to "his" boat, loaded our bikes, then us, filled the boat tank with gasoline then said he would be right back. He was gone long enough for me to ask out loud..is he coming back? I was a bit skeptical that this was "his" boat and that he was a boat operator because we haven't see anyone operate a boat with skinny jeans and a leather jacket. He eventually comes back and navigates us to the other side of the lake...with the most concerned look of facial expressions. He docked our bikes, helped us out the boat, took our money then peaced out. I guess we're finding our own way back to Nyaung Shwe!

After our bike adventure for the day, we had a legit boat fellow waiting to take us out on the lake for the sunset. The day before, we negotiated with a fellow named Minzawoo for a sunset boat trip for k8000 vs previous quoted rates of k12000 from others. We ended up paying k10000 for the boat as we were joined by a French couple who asked if we would share the boat and cost. I wasn't thrilled with Minzawoo at first because he was late but he delivered for the sunset making it one of the most spectacular sunset visions I had ever witnessed with legit fishermen finishing their evening on the lake (fake fishermen hang out in the AM for throngs of camera happy tourists). Inle Lake is probably the only place where I've seen the sun setting on the west and the moon rising from the east at the same time.

Our third day here, we finally did what others come here to do. A full day boat cruise on the lake guided by a local man who I will refer to as a Myanmar gentle giant (MGG). He is an average man by my standards but larger by Myanmar standards. MGG's first stop for us was the Nam Pan market an hour away. Getting off the boat, I was overwhelmed by the amount of vendors trying to sell us and the amount of boats. Noreen asked, "how will we find our boat?" I responded with, "I think our boat finds us." The market did not disappoint in tourist price gauging or visual stimulation. A huge pig walking through crowds was probably the most random. An example of price gauging: I wanted a  particular necklace and was given starting price quotes of k26000. At that starting price, I wouldn't even entertain them with a counter. I ended up buying that particular necklace and two bracelets for k21000 from a lady that Noreen said I should buy from cause she was holding a religious book. Her first quote was a respectable k16000. While exiting the market, our MGG did indeed find us as he did the remainder of the day as he brought us to boat makers, iron makers, silk workshops, you name it, we've seen it on Inle Lake. Once our boat docks at a destination, we are greeted by the shop owners telling us about their product and trying to sell us in the process. I tend to tune out pretty quickly, most apparent at the boat making hut. I had meandered to another stall other than the one we are being told about, Noreen prompts, "you're visiting another person's stall." "I'm an equal opportunity deal maker!" I responded. By mid trip, we made it to the iron workshop. MGG sat us down and gave us each a rice cracker twice the size of my head. He then opened up a jar of maple sugar bars and ushered us to have some. "That's how my teeth was so screwed up as a kid!" I said to Noreen. One of my youngest memories as a child is my dad sitting down with me in the kitchen with a jar of sugar cubes.

After about 7.5 hours, MGG carefully maneuvers and docks his boat at Nyaung Shwe. Noreen still had both her flip flops- it was a successful day! I'm amazed by the amount of life the lake provides for the local people here. They do laundry in the lake, they bathe in the lake, they cook in the lake. Their life is this lake. It was all so interesting to take in. Our experience at Inle has been pretty awesome overall. For a tourist destination, it doesn't feel much like one aside from boat operators. The one thing I need to research more when I get home was why ladies are prohibited from praying at the higher level of the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda where five gold pieces resembling Buddha sat. We did have an incident while on the bike though- a man in a motorcycle ride up to Noreen and brushed her arm before making a hand gesture that I won't describe. Just a little reminder for us to keep our alert guards up! Now if I only had a shirt that said "no more boats" for every local that's tried to approach us offering their boat services today. I'm officially boated out!

We've been at this cafe for 3 hours now and am currently chatting it up with an Aussie and German. The Aussie fellow is telling us about his excitement with the e-bike in Bagan!

Arriving In Kalaw the Local Way

The morning after our love affair with the e-bikes, I took stock of all the bruises it left me. A hefty one on my left thigh, a bunch on the back of my left calve, left ankle, right shin is pretty gnarly and one on my abdomen which fell on the key bending it in the process. I spent some time unbending it to it'll fit in the ignition again. It'll probably be a few more days before I indulge myself with a massage. E-bikes and sand... we laugh every time we think about it..approach with caution!

We arrived in Kalaw two days ago and as I'm writing this, I'm overlooking the mountains in it's early morning light waiting for the sun to ride over the mountains. To get to Kalaw, we flew from Bagan to Heho. Flights in Myanmar are another story. I've learned that in many cases, regardless of what airline your ticket is with, every airline kind of merges which makes boarding and such just a little bit confusing. Other observations we've made in the week we've been in this country is that "fried" on the menu actually means stir fry. WiFi service here is kind of like electricity in sub-Saharan Africa: if it's available, it's available a couple of hours at a time. A majority of travelers that come to Myanmar are with large tourist groups. Noreen and I are in the minority group known as FITs (foreign independent travelers). There are many benefits to traveling as a FIT: more of your money goes to the people of Myanmar, you can choose where to spend your money, you choose your own itinerary and you're not targeted in fee collections. In Bagan, by the time we landed in the afternoon, all the groups must have landed already as there was no one there to collect the $15 archeological fee. Quite frankly, sticking me on a big bus to follow a flag is not my type of travel.

Anyway, back to flights! We landed in Kalaw and put our negotiation hats on for a taxi to get us to Kalaw from Heho which was an hour away. Turns out, it wasn't much of a negotiation at all as the drivers set the price at 30,000k and Maung Po had told us no more than 20,000k. The drivers said we could go for 25,000k but it would be in a pick up truck. Fine by us, let's do this the local way, in the back of a caged pick up truck we went through the windy roads of this region.

We arrived to a town that's very much focused on local life aside from a handful of trek tour agencies. No one has tried to sell us anything. Like everywhere else, we get asked where we are from. I'm known as California. Noreen is known as New York. Our favorite thing to do in this town was hitting the evening street eats. Two samosas, two sweet rice egg rolls and a sweet chapatti will cost you all of 80 cents. We went big one night and hit up a restaurant for clay pot noodles..that set us back $1.20 each. A local habit we've noticed are chewing of tobacco basil leaves. From a vendor stand, locals coat these large basil leaves with a white paste and a couple shakes of tobacco powder that turn their mouths disgustingly blood red. Which now explains all the red  spots that decorate the streets.

I originally put Kalaw on my itinerary as a possible launch point to trek into Inle but after talking to a guide from Lonely Planet's recommendation, Ever Smile, we decided to forego the trek and I personally would not recommend this company between her lack of descriptions and her dog stealing my shoe, I think we might have woken her up from a nap during business hours.

Prior to coming on this trip, I knew I wanted to do something with elephants. I didn't want to do it in Luang Prabang because it seemed like too much of a circus and not enough of an authentic experience. I steer clear away from companies that advertise "elephant riding" as a selling point. It's actually very detrimental to the health of elephants and as we learned, the carts they put on top of elephants for you to ride are so heavy that it takes five adults to carry it. You put that on top of an elephant and a couple of people, well, it just breaks my heart. I googled around and found a company called Green Hill Valley elephant camp here in the hills of Kalaw. Green Valley is a retirement home for elephants. They have seven elephants and with that seven mahouts (elephant caretakers). It was costly at $90US each plus $40US for the driver that accompanies us for the day. Having spent the day there, it was worth every penny knowing it will go to caring for these elephants, up keeping of this amazing camp which also houses the mahouts and their families. Upon arrival, we were greeted by our guide, Pouri who grew up in Kalaw but his origin is Nepalese. We spent the day learning about the Asian elephants, African elephants too for that matter and how the elephants end up here. We fed them, bathed them, we got fed well, planted a teak tree and then we fed and played with the elephants some more after a short post lunch trek. It was a day well spent and will probably end up as one of my favorite days in my years. These gentle giants are a big love of mine. After all, I do have a memory of one!

Barefeet and Bruises In Bagan!

As I am drafting this blog, hot air balloons are flying over me heading for the sunrise in Bagan. Back to my thoughts..we left Luang Prabang with a 6am tuk tuk pick up and on our way to the airport, we spotted hundreds of monks in the midst of their call to alms ceremony. Miles of monks walking down a street, single file in the morning fog. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect way to end our time at this special place. After three back to back flights on three different airlines, we landed in NYU, the airport for Bagan. We walked out expecting throngs of folks vying for our taxi need but nope...crickets... this is different. Finally, a kind local came over and asked where we were going, we gave him the name of our hotel in Nyaung U and asked him how much. About fifteen minutes later and $k5000 (k1000 = $1 US), we arrived at the Zfreeti.

I'm not sure where to start with this place. I stood at the top of the Shwesandaw Paya Pagoda waiting for the sun to rise thinking how crazy it is that I am a small being surrounded by 4000 sacred stupas, pagodas and temples in Bagan, Myanmar. The best way to see the temples is by bike so Noreen and I shelled out $2 US each to rent a bike for the day. I named my bike Fixie, I figured fitting for not having any gears. We rode out to Old Bagan where we visited the Ananda Pahto temple and then settled down at the Be Kind To Animals The Moon (highly recommend - best guacamole and pappadoms) restaurant for lunch and this is where our Bagan adventure really began. There was a lot going on at the restaurant, notably the yellow nail polished woman with a nasty attitude sitting at the next table with her husband. Apparently, the atmosphere of Bagan did not suit her. We sat there listening to her complain about wanting to go back to Japan (she's not Japanese), rudely commanding the wait staff bring her a new candle as she's getting "eaten by flies" and complain about her pasta dish. Three things: these flies don't bite, her husband must have one heck of a mute button and who orders pasta in Bagan and expects it to be top notch? After ordering our food, we pulled out the map to figure out which temples to tackle. Enter Maung Po who works at the restaurant or so we thought. We don't really know. Anyway, he was very gracious at answering all our questions. As long as he kept answering, I kept asking! It turns out that he works as a guide on the side and after some further conversation, we decided to hire him for the afternoon. I asked him how much and he said being we are backpackers, he will charge us karma. This isn't my first rodeo and while karma as payment is a nice thought, how much would good karma cost? He said his standard rate for tourists is $40 US for the day so Noreen and I had it in our heads to give him $10 each which in hindsight, turned out to be too much. So after lunch, Maung Po led us with his scooter through the little side roads to his favorite temples with story telling to go with it. At one of the temples, he even read my palm. I'm still trying to piece together the details of my palm reading as I'm sure he is still trying to piece together the Asian American concept. "You look Asian." He said. "I am Asian." I responded. "But you sound American." He continued. "I am American." I responded. Our time ended with him leaving us at his secret sunset temple where we were intercepted by two 11 year old ninjas, Koko and Mao Mao. Koko came out ninja style with his flashlight and said, "this way!" He led is up some dark steps and scales up this ledge prompting us to follow. "Give me your bag, put your foot here then here...give me your hand." he prompts. It's a lot of trust we are putting on an 11 year old. We were later joined by a pair from France and a gal from the Netherlands. The funniest moment was when Koko was trying to get Netherlands to buy his postcards and she said she bought a set for k2000 and he gasped, "bad business! It's k5000!" We broke out in laughter. It was a private party of five travelers, a random guide who later helped us down the ledge and the two ninjas. I wouldn't have experienced a sunset any other way.

One evening, we hired a long tail boat out on the jetty to take us out for a sunset viewing on the river. We had some extra time so our boat hire took us across the river to this family farm compound built of stilts and sleeping mats. Actually, to say its built on stilts is an over statement. The little girl and her older sister were eager to show us their house. I've seen a lot of poor living conditions through my years of travel but this one struck me in a different way. It's one of the experiences I am still trying to grasp and process- the poor living conditions. These people really have nothing yet they have everything if it was only judged by the laughter of the little girl that greeted us.

Our last day here was just pure comedy. The morning started with Noreen at the ATM testing if she could withdrawal more than $20US, she pressed the option for $300US, cash started spilling out and she freaked out. She decided to reenact the whole thing for me and accidentally pressed the option again for $300US. She's my black market exchange bank now! For exploring, we decided to rent e-bikes (scooter/bike hybrid) for the day. Folks on the road made it look easy the other day and the lady I negotiated with said we'd be fine so we went for it. Well, if fine met two falls for each of us including a face plant in the side roads dirt for yours truly then we did fine! I had my first initial fall in front of the e- bike renter when I was trying to make a turn in the dirt. She insisted..it's ok! Noreen's falls included pieces of her bike on the road but leave it to the good bystander samaritans to help piece it back together with twigs and twine (no joke!) while I stood on the sidelines cracking up! We made it to our secret sunset pagoda in one piece and made some serious and memorable postcard and painting dealings prior to sunset with Zozo, Maomao and Koko. We met a fellow American by way of New York named Jeff at our sunset spot. This is his third trip to Myanmar, the first being in 2006 and says not too much has changed in Bagan. He told us he fell off a pagoda yesterday so it was fitting I invited him to join us for dinner...table for three... battered and bruised! We were relieved to return the heavy e-bikes. After all, who knew e-biking was a contact sport?! There might have been some lost in translation instructions... language barrier and all...or pure clumsiness. I imagine renters will start including insurance deposits for their bike rentals in the near future. We met a couple from Sweden who told us about another girl that fell off her e- bike twice.. maybe it's an initiation?!

Bagan has been such a beautiful experience. The people here are just so kind and gracious. Zozo thanked us for helping his family when we bought his art (best $13US I've spent), Maung Po's cousin Aye Ye gifted us some lacquer jewelry boxes from her shop, people are eager to talk to practice their English, people learn languages (English, French, etc) from interacting with travelers, people are eager to help, the feeling of just sitting among such beautiful history watching sunrises and sunsets...I just want to bottle this all up! I'm going to miss climbing pagodas and temples in my barefeet in Bagan.