The End!!

So......back home and the trip is all finished!It's amazing to think how far we have come and how much we have experienced.I can't say I appreciated everything along the way but looking back now I realise how it has enriched my life and me to have completed this journey.

I have visited and experience

1. Estonia
2. Russia
3. Mongolia
4. China
5. Laos
6. Cambodia
7. Vietnam
8. Thailand
9. Malaysia
10. Singapore
11. Indonesia
12. Myanmar
13. Sri Lanka
14. Oman

I've travelled using

1. Car
2. Bus
3. Minibus
4. Train
5. Plane
6. Tuk Tuk
7. Beemo
8. Metro
9. Tractor Tyre
10. Ox Cart
11. Boat
12. Ferry
13. Bike

I've used the following curriencies

1. Euro
2. Ruble
3. Togrog
4. Yuan
5. Kip
6. Dollar US
7. Riel
8. Dong
9. Baht
10. Ringgit
11. Singapore Dollar
12. Rupiah
13. Kyat
14. Rupee
15. Rial

I've learnt what I can do when I put my mind to it....and what I can get throught too!
I've met some amazing people and I've rediscovered just how amazing people I already knew are...in particular  Mr Moonface....Thank you for sharing this with me and helping me to see how amazing the world is. I wouldnt have wanted to experience that with anyone else!!!

Negombo-Sri Lanka

 When we arrived in Colombo airport we were picked up by our hotel owner for free and taken to our villa. We had decided to treat ourselves for the last few days but a mix up with the bookings meant that we ended up in even bigger accomodation than we expected...basically a whole house!!The owner of the property we were renting was really nice- he introduced us to his family and we had a very enjoyable night getting to know him and discussing Sri Lanka.
We only had two days here...our families though we would be spending a week and a bit here but as a suprise we were actually flying home on an earlier date.So we decided to get out and explore the beach on the first day of arriving.

 It wasnt the best beach we had ever seen but definately most populated by locals. A group of locals were making their own music right by our restuarant it was really funny to watch!

It seemed like no time at all and the two days were over and it was time to go home!

Sri Lanka seemed a really cool place to be....definately would like to go back there and explore properly.

Back to Yangon-Myanmar

Our journey back to Yangon wasn't the most comfortable experience of my life!Seems to be a recurring theme in Myanmar. Especially when at a toilet stop Charlie decides to fall down a sewage hole and hurt his leg.

We finally get to our hotel after a little walk and discover that once again we are paying way to much money for the quality of our room.We are both so exhausted we couldn't really care at that point though.

Next day we decided to go on a little walk around the local area.This is much more local Yangon than the last place we stayed. We walk down to the port and what we see pretty much sums up Myanmar for us. The local boats in the port have seen better days (to be polite) and the government yacht was brand spanking new and shiny....typical!

The next day we did a city walk around the town.Taking in Little India and Chinatown.We went to the top floor of a posh office block to see the views over Yangon (and paid £2 each for a bottle of water for the privalige) but it was worth it!The views were amazing!

Myanmar is a really interesting place!Especially as at the moment there is a big shake up in the government. Myanmar is opening up to the rest of the world...we even saw a cash point.Really glad we came here before things change....the change will be for the better of the Myanmar people but to experience the old country is far more interesting!

Inlay Lake-Myanmar

The bus to Inlay Lake was a long,bumpy slightly uncomfortable journey....but we got there eventually. We had been recommended a hotel by one of the receptionists at our previous hotel in Bagan. We were picked up from the bus station (otherwise known as a junction) and taken to the hotel. We had to pay to enter the Inlay lake area which we were not too impressed about (as it goes directly to the government). The hotel was ok- it seems that in Myanmar you never get what you pay for.Rooms are very expensive and where as in other countries you would get extra things like air con or a t.v you dont in Myanmar.

We went out for some lunch and on the walk back to the hotel we stumbled upon some sort of celebration-although no one in the hotel could really explain exactly what it was for. Was interesting to see anyway.

Charlie went off to see the lake-I wasnt feeling the love. But ended up getting really lost thanks to a lying Tuk-Tuk driver. We decided to go out and have a drink (drown our sorrows for travelling all this way to see a lake we couldnt even find properly!) So a few small bottles of whiskey later (each costing something rediculous like £2) we had had a very good night.

However a bet gone horribly wrong resulted in me eating a whole chilli. I still dont understand how people enjoy the feeling of you whole mouth feeling like its on fire,then the numbness and your dribbling because you cant feel half your mouth.How is that enjoyable....

Time to go back to Yangon!

Bagan-Myanmar!

Bagan was born when King Anawrahta took the thrown in 1044.The Bagan archaeological zone stretches 42 square km.During the kingdom's height between the 11th and 13th centuries, over 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains alone, of which the remains of over 2200 temples and pagodas still survive to the present day. Bagan is not yet a UNESCO World Heritage Site (which is a travesty in my opinion) it is easily one of the most spectacular sights in SE Asia!!

We decided to get up and cycle to the sight before sunrise (early start and hard ride but well worth the effort) even if I did nearly get attacked by 5 dogs! Although the architecture of the temples at Bagan are not as intricate as those at Angkor the amount of temples takes your breath away (they are everywhere you look and stretch further than you can see) and for this reason Bagan impressed me far more! I would even go as far to say that Bagan should hold 'Wonder' status.

 

Unfortunately because of the situation in Myanmar and the difficulty in organising a trip here (mainly no ATM's and the need for crisp, new US Dollars) not enough people visit Myanmar and are unaware of Bagan so no one votes it as a 'Wonder'!! All I can say is if you can be bothered to make the effort it's well worth it.The only negative thing about Bagan is that you have to pay 10 US Dollars to enter the Bagan archaeological zone...this goes directly to the government (although it is claimed it is used for preservation and restoration).

 

If you don't know about the situation in Myanmar and the reason why I wouldn't want to give any money to the government let me explain.

Myanmar is ruled by an oppressive military regime by giving money it can be seen to legitimise the government and most definitely contributes to it's piggy bank!

Anyway,thankfully we had left early enough that we managed to get back to our hotel before the full heat of the day had kicked in (100oF) or we would have melted in our bike seats.

Yangon-Myanmar!

The flight from KL was slightly bumpy but as usual Air Asia did us proud! We arrived in Myanmar and the first thing that happened followed the exact dialogue of 'The Inbetweeners'.....

'It's hot'

'It's fu**in hot!'

'Might be too hot!'

We grabbed a taxi (our driver was very smiley!) and drove (very speedily) to our hotel! The hotel was very posh.....maybe a bit too posh for us lol but the inside did remind me of the hotel from 'The Shining'!

After a great nights sleep we got up and headed out to see Shwedagon Paya. The bible otherwise known as the Lonely Planet says....

If you only see one stupa on your whole trip through SE Asia,

 make sure it's the glorious gilded spire of Shwedagon Paya!

It is the defining image of Yangon and a symbol of Burmese

identity for 2500 years.

Every good Buddhist in Myanmar tries to make at least one pilgrimage here in their lifetime and I can see why the place is absolutely breathtaking (not just because it's so hot there that my flip-flops start to melt!). The compound includes the main Zedi and 82 other buildings. The paya ('holy one' a religious monument) is said to be built upon a hill where Buddha relics have been enshrined, including eight hairs of the Buddha.

In the 15th century one of the Queens gilded the paya with her own weight in gold leaf.Then her son-in-law offered four times his own weight and that of his wife's. Since then the zedi has grown to 98m tall and has accumulated more than 53 metric tonnes of gold leaf, more than 5000 diamonds and 2000 other stones. I think you can imagine how amazing that looks!

When you enter the compound you have to remove your shoes...this might seem all lovely and respectful which usually I am all for but when its 40o and your walking barefoot its not fun...it's like slowly cooking your feet. However, this did cause some laughs as  even the locals could be seen running across the compound shouting 'ouchhh...oww...oww' or carefully trying to walk around keeping on the shaded parts of the floor (as was my tactic!).

The whole place is really beautiful definitely worth the effort!

Melaka- Malaysia

Time to save a bit of money!A few days to spare! So we decided to head back to Melaka in Malaysia as we had been there before and really like the place.
Melaka is very multi-cultural and demographics suggests it is made up of the following:

• Malays: 57%;
• Chinese: 32%
• Indians a sizeable minority;
• Kristang, people with partial Portuguese ancestry: a small community;
• Dutch Eurasians, Eurasians with Dutch ancestry: a minority within the Malacca Eurasian community.

The city center has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 7 July 2008 and is very beautiful!
The cuisine is a fusion of Chinese (mostly southern Hokkien or Fujian influence), Portuguese, Dutch, Indian, British and Malay cooking with most dishes being spicy in nature. It includes dishes like Itik Tim (a soup containing duck and salted vegetables), Ayam Pong Teh (chicken casserole with salted brown-bean sauce usually served with potatoes) as well as the famous Chicken Rice Ball.

While we were here we met up with our old friends Candice and Dan (who we met in Vietnam)! It was really great seeing them and we had lots of fun as usual! Dan and Candice treated us to the cinema (Avengers is a very good film)! Thanks guys for an awesome few days see you back in Essex xxx

 THE DEMONSTRATIONS

While we were in Melaka there were peaceful demonstrations regarding the right to fair voting in Malaysia. It appears the demonstrations in KL were not so peaceful. The video (appears to) show a high ranking police officer deliberately hitting protestors. He is then beaten up by unhurt people nearby.The media in Malaysia failed to mention that 1 of the people hit was killed and 5 others injured but did report on the police officers injuries...hmmmm!