Inle, Myanmar – Part 1 – Lake and life
Travels in happier times that we hope will return. Combine Intha, Taungyo, Pa-O (Taungthu), Danu, Kayah, Danaw and Bamar ethnicities and it alludes to the broad diversity of activities, crafts and lifestyles that you’ll encounter around this picturesque lake in central Myanmar. Inle Lake is also one of the most picturesque and varied landscapes you’ll find in Myanmar, providing you with wonderful opportunities for photography around...
A slow train to ‘nowhere’
This sleepy ponderous train ride gives us a sense of overall fulfillment when visiting the old British Burma colonial hill-station of Kalaw. Boarding the train at Shwe Nyaung station, near Inle Lake, we’re struck immediately by the Spartan and somewhat grubby nature of the Upper Class carriages we’re to travel in. The curtains look as if they’ve doubled up as cleaning cloths and the seats as footrests, so we’re under no illusion that...
A taste of old Rangoon
Hidden away in corners of Yangon, Myanmar, are memories of the often unwelcome presence of occupying nations. Nevertheless they offer stylish refuges from the modern bustle and clutter of this busy city. Yangon like so many Asian cities is growing faster than it can accommodate in terms of cleanliness, clutter and noise. It’s not one of the most attractive cities we’ve been to, being an amalgam of pagodas, power-lines and pollution...
Making the most of the Mara – Part 2 – Where to stay?
In this, the second part of our Masai Mara review, we share with you some of the choices of accommodation that can make or mar(a) your stay in this fantastic Kenyan wildlife reserve. Unlike Tanzania (that has high government taxes, which virtually double the cost of accommodation) it’s possible to stay within the Mara at anything from outlandishly opulent to relatively budget conscious throughout the park. The options are too...
Costa Kaleidoscope
Costa Rica offers one of the most diverse, stable, peaceful and colourful destinations that you’ll find anywhere on the planet – thanks in part to having abolished its standing army many years ago. From occupation by the Spanish Conquistadors who named it the ‘Rich Coast’ to the bloodshed and turmoil of civil war throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, its little wonder that by 1947 this little...
