SE Asian Excursion

My last post. After being at the beach for 4 days, I headed down to the middle of the country.  There, there is this rock called Sigiriya, which is a famous site to see.  On the bus down I met a guy who was telling me about how he dislikes all the international...

After Myanmar I had originally been planning on going to Indonesia, but I decided to go to Sri Lanka instead for a couple of reasons. The main reason was I wanted the experience of a real cultural change. While they all have their differences, the countries...

From Hsipaw we took a night bus down to Kalaw, another little mountain town which is known as a good place from which to trek to Inle Lake. 
We spent a full day there, rather than trekking straight after that bus ride. Kalaw itself consists of probably 4 main streets that are lined with trekking tour agencies, little shops and a small market. The weather was beautiful, a bit cooler than Hsipaw...

We arrived in Mandalay mid afternoon and man was it hot. Humidity and the baking sun simultaneously are a deadly combination. We headed to our guest house and rented some bicycles to head to Mandalay Hill to see the sunset. 
After climbing countless steps, we arrived at the top: a Buddhist temple with a great view of the city of Mandalay and the rice paddies and mountains beyond. Aside from the blaring, monotonous praying (?) of a monk over a microphone, it was a nice place...