At 6:30 am we are awakened by a great clashing of symbols and drums.  It goes on for quite a while and eventually I put on my clothes and go… Read more »

Tonight is the robe ceremony at many pagodas throughout Myanmar and specifically at the largest and most imposing temple, Shwedagon, in the center of Yangon.  It has recently been regilded… Read more »

I planned the dates of this tour around the Tazaungdaing full-moon harvest festival celebrating the end of the rainy season during which donations and new robes are given to the… Read more »

We are skimming along the water in the one-person wide long boats powered by rear motors which is the main transportation in the Inle Lake area.  It is magnificent here. … Read more »

Imagine driving up a mountainside on a dirt road in an old Toyota minivan in a torrential downpour turning the roadway into a muddy slippery slope – and if you… Read more »

After the torrential rain of the previous night, the roads were quite muddy as we went shopping with Su, our cooking teacher, to the covered market in Nyaung Ou to… Read more »

What makes traveling in Asia so enjoyable is the surprise encounters that illuminate a different culture and way of daily life.  It makes you think:  What would my lifestyle look like… Read more »

We are now leaving Mandalay and crossing over a new 2008 bridge across which is splayed a scene of green rolling hills, each one crowned by a white stupa with… Read more »

Mandalay – the name with the ring of the exotic.  in reality, it does retain a sense of old Burmese culture but with an overlay of modern development.  The commercial… Read more »

Our tour truly begins today, although we have already been saturated with enough colors and smells to bring home more than a whiff of Myanmar.  Mary and Michael arrive as… Read more »