Inle, Myanmar – Part 1 – Lake and life
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 its colourful shores and inlets. Its people, crafts,...
A Royal Klang in Selangor
You’re unlikely to make a beeline for this Malaysian misfit but its shabby rundown appearance hides echoes of a well-maintained heritage and royal history. At the northern end of the Straits of Malacca on the west coast of the Malaysian Peninsula, Port Klang is sheltered by surrounding islands and acts as the gateway to Malaysia’s most developed region, where the capital Kuala Lumpur lies 40 miles to the east. Since the 17th...
Exploring the mysterious Mekong
The mighty arterial Mekong River in Vietnam provides a fascinating vein through which the lifeblood of Vietnam flows. As we motor along the Mekong, through small villages, between trading barges and floating markets it can only give us a brief insight into the resources concealed within that influence the daily lives and culture of over 60 million people—people who depend on its water for transportation, fishing, trade, manufacture,...
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...
Wat – no Croft or Jones?
The temples of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat complex are a fascinating insight into ancient kingdoms that now appear to owe as much to Indiana Jones and Lara Croft for their fame as any factual history. If we were under any illusion that Angkor Wat would be a quiet exploration through tumbling vine-clad stones in an impenetrable jungle, we were much mistaken. Our visit to Siem Reap, site of the Angkor Wat complex, coincides with a major...
