H: I woke up this morning very confused. It was quiet (no aircon, even the ones that didn’t work still made a noise) and it was dark (no lights from air con). I swung my feet round and they landed on carpet. Carpet? It took me a few minutes to work out we were home. It’s always so strange readjusting to home life after we’ve been away for a while.

On the flights home I kept trying to say je zu ba instead of thank you. I heard the kids keep getting it wrong too. I keep looking round for a bin to put toilet paper in instead of the toilet and well – don’t roll your eyes but I kinda miss being warm. Today was lovely and warm – but only between 9 and 3. Other than that I’ve needed a jumper and socks which is going to take some adjusting to!

It has been a tiring, hot, sometimes gruelling but really amazing four weeks. We are so lucky to have been able to see this country now and I’m so pleased we finally made it. And sharing this time with the children, and as a family with time off work for G has completed it. A very special trip.

There are big changes coming for us now as Leo starts school on Monday. Ben can’t wait to have his brother at school with him, I am going to miss him and Jamie will lose his playmate. G will just enjoy a quieter house while he’s working.

I’ll leave you with a few things that we will and won’t miss. See you next time!

H will miss:
Never feeling cold
Family time
The super friendly Burmese people
Tuk Tuks
Seeing beautiful buildings every few minutes

H will not miss:
Feeling too hot
The amount of fried carbs I’m eating
Being unsure whether my tummy feels too full or too hungry or sicky or too hot etc etc
Never ending thirst
Second degree burns on my feet
Seeing the immense amount of plastic that is used in every part of Burmese life

G will miss:
Tuk tuks
All you can eat breakfast buffets!
Random giant buddha statues and pagodas
Being “isolated” as a family in a country where we can’t speak the language and see very few foreigners

G will not miss:
Lack of decent cup of tea – anywhere!
Feeling thirsty all the time

Boys will miss:
Being celebrities
Street food
Mum and Dad with us all the time
Tuk Tuks
Seeing the crazy things on the back of trucks and motorbikes

Boys will not miss:
Being celebrities
Rice
The heat

H: Seemingly clear of any health issues following the not-too-clean water at the water park and the street food last night we safely fly from Yangon to Bangkok. The flight to Bangkok is only a bit over an hour but the difference between the cities is staggering. Just on the flight itself, the Air Asia crew uniform is an above the knee skirt and a nude top that zips pretty low. This is just slightly different from the beautiful conservative uniforms of the Burmese airlines.

Bangkok is so cosmopolitan in comparison to anything we’ve seen in Myanmar. From the airport transfer bus (which we found first time – go us) you could think we were driving through a city in Europe, not Asia.

The most striking difference we noticed once we were inside the airport. In Myanmar the dress is very conservative. I would say a good 80% of the women wear traditional dress and probably 70% of the men wear longyis. Burmese women’s knees and shoulders are still often covered, although I do think this is changing very gradually. Mostly I’ve tried to do the same – I’ve looked for what locals are wearing and mostly followed their lead. I’ve found it very hard to have to wear ¾ trousers or a longyi when it’s been so hot!

But at Bangkok airport it is so different. Virtually no traditional dress of any kind, some very short shorts and some very low tops. Myanmar is already a whole world away.

We have another six hours now before our flight to Sydney. We missed our hotel breakfast this morning, paid for cheap seats on our Air Asia flight (and so no food) and save for a banana each and some really rank soft crackers we’ve not eaten and it’s now gone lunchtime Myanmar time. We were beyond starving and made a really bad decision. There was a Burger King. We’ve had very little Western food since we’ve been away so we thought it would taste great.

Sometimes we eat at places like BK or McDonalds when we’re on a long journey but normally we don’t even get a full meal to share. Today, based on our starvingness and this hopefully being the only bit of food we’d need to buy before our flight tonight, G ordered three meals. The kids thought all their Christmases had come at once.

It has pretty much bankrupt us – we had no idea it cost that much money and G didn’t work out the Thai conversion quick enough. And it did not taste good after a few bites, or at least not on our Myanmar tummies.

We can’t check in yet and there’s never anywhere comfy to sit this side of security so we spend an uncomfortable three hours on the floor playing card games. We’re starting to feel pretty tired. However, there is a Dairy Queen the other side of security and this is getting me through.

We first found these in America ten years ago and the only place we’ve found them since is in Bangkok airport. I’m not sure if they taste that special or they just remind me of an awesome trip but either way we used to try and get one on the way back from the UK. Until Emirates stopped stopping at Bangkok. So having to fly home via Bangkok suited me just fine!

Finally we can check in, we’re through security and heading straight for DQ. Only to find the ice cream machine broken. Noooooooooo! Six hours at Bangkok airport and this was going to make it all worth it! I had even been dreaming up ways of ditching G and the kids and sneaking back for a second with my book. Serves me right for being so greedy.

All a bit heartbroken we buy five apples for a whopping $3 each and a measly bottle of water for an obscene $6. We’ve been paying less than a fifth of that while we’ve been away. We’re starting to realise we can’t afford six hours at Bangkok airport. But unfortunately the water at the refill stations at Bangkok airport is grim – we’ve learnt that from previous trips.

We headed back to our gate and somehow, the amazingly unobservant G spies another DQ logo! I think I may have to not be rude about his unobservantness for a good few years now because I would have missed it. We very naughtily (given the expensive day we’ve just had) treated ourselves to an ice cream each. Hungry, tired and thirsty – it tasted pretty good. Plus Jamie didn’t want all of his so I kindly helped him out.

Finally we’re on the Bangkok Sydney flight – six hours has gone pretty fast. Sleep evades G and I but the kids do ok. Leo wakes up and vomits, fortunately into a sick bag. We get off the plane at Sydney and Ben is sick (fortunately we had another sick bag). We get on our last flight. I am feeling pretty rough. Street food and/or water park water catching up with us??

H: Despite what I said in my last posts the kids have been awesome over the last four weeks. If we had told them we were taking them on holiday, and asked what they’d want to do while we were away, there is no way they would said they’d want to see fifteen pagodas a day, trudge up some hills, pose for photographs and eat rice at least twice a day. We went to the water park in Mandalay, found one park with a small swing and slide in Hpa-An, stayed somewhere with a swimming pool a couple of times and that’s been about it for ‘kid’ things.

We have seen a few water parks while we’ve been away and read somewhere about one in Yangon. We thought the kids would love it if we finished our trip with a treat like that – they had so much fun at the one in Mandalay.

Looking forward to seeing their excited wee faces, we asked them yesterday what they’d enjoyed most on this trip and what they’d want to do if they could do one of them again. We waited for them all to shout out the water park, which at the start of our trip is all they talked about. We could tell them we were going to try and get to one and they would be happy as.

But no. Ben wanted more Burmese breakfasts. Leo to find another tuk tuk and Jamie wanted to ride again in the hotel van that did a free shuttle to the Golden Rock truck stop.

You’re kidding right?

G took a deep breath and re-asked the question, telling them to think of things they really loved towards the start of the trip. Eventually one of them got there and they were full of beans about it. But the moment was gone.

The water park was brilliant and the kids were happy as. We just had to work pretty hard at looking past the painful temperatures of the ground once out of the water and the large amount of ‘things’ floating in the water. Most we think were bits of trees or plants but there was also some rubbish floating about. But we’ve paid to be here now, the kids are happy. And did I say we wanted our last day to be a good one?

The kids weren’t big enough to go on a lot of it (although that did make the entrance cheaper) but there was one particularly big tunnel slide they could go on. Ben was nervous, Leo was quite keen and Jamie was chomping at the bit to get on it. G went on it first to check it out. He thought it was probably ok, but was dark in some places and fast. I then tried it while they were all waiting at the top. I also thought it was a bit dark and fast and especially Jamie could get pretty scared half way down. I put my thumb down to tell G not to send the kids.

However G replied to my thumbs down with a thumbs up. Jamie was climbing onto it waiting to go. He was in no danger so I wasn’t worried about that, but did think I would be picking up a distraught boy when he got the bottom. He wooshed into the water at the end and came up with a big smile on his face. Brave ole kid! Leo came next – he hesitated at the top apparently but came out wanting to go again. Ben walked back down the stairs in floods of tears because he wasn’t brave enough to do it.

We felt so sorry for him. Both G and I had had a moment of nervousness before setting off and we’re way bigger than the kids. And it can’t have been nice to see his 3 year old brother not think twice about it. However with Leo and Jamie keen to do it again, he followed them up and got on it – just like that. Good for him!

So we thought we were rescuing the last few days.

However. Jamie fell asleep as soon as we got in the taxi home. Which is totally fine, but proof he was shattered. Leo got very cross which is his default when he’s tired. He’s seemed a bit confused the last few days – he has gotten really upset saying he doesn’t want to go home. But is also talking about the good things about being home again - so I think he’s in a bit of a muddle. Ben’s now a bit feisty now we’re finally back in our hotel room after eight hours out. And yes as I write this I am fully aware that the blame should land squarely at G and my door!

All good – we need to get some tea so a quick turn around and we’re heading back out. We’re going to the night market to get some street food which the kids had loved in Hpa-An. We have experienced half an hour of rain during our whole four weeks, but that looks set to turn. The skies are dark and the wind comes up so we’re hoping to get there before the rain comes. We flag down a taxi and he tells us the night market isn’t open yet.

It might be our last night but we can’t have the kids in bed too late yet again, plus we’re all hungry now so we’ve got to get some food soon. We set off walking to see what else we can find but there doesn’t seem to be many options close by. We are also a bit stuck for money. We’ve not got a lot of Burmese Kyat left and we don’t want to have to take more out of the bank - the ATMs have a transaction fee and we’re not likely to be able to get as little as we need.

We had had a curry the night before but it hadn’t been that cheap. We know we can get there easily now but it’s more than we wanted to pay plus we’d have to get some more cash out

We walk a bit more but it’s slow going and it’s not easy along the roadside.

We think about getting a taxi to the night market anyway and hoping that some are open. But if we do this and get it wrong, we’ve wasted a precious $2.50 on a taxi that we need for food if we end up having to eat at a restaurant.

We walk a bit more.

Can I just remind you that the boys are tired and very hungry?

They’re also struggling to stand still while we look at Google Maps and try and google restaurants. So even if we find a restaurant now, I can’t see the wait for food being that much fun.

We plump for risking the night market, flag a taxi and risk the $2.50. Success! There are some food stalls already open. Not many mind, but enough to do us a meal.

$4 later and we have a feast of potato samosas, chapati, bananas, watermelon and rambutan. Not that nutritious but it will do us. The night market is along the edge of a crazy busy road and there’s nowhere to stop to eat. And it’s too crammed to eat and walk as we need to hold onto the kids. We see some people cutting through a gap - not sure where they’re going but it looks quieter so we follow them. It opens out and we find ourselves looking down on the Yangon river and it is teaming with local life. There are tens after tens of small boats pulling up to pick up passengers and take them across the wide river. The sky is changing colours as it turns to night and the local life continues in the darkness. We sit watching it all, eating our street food tea.

It didn’t look like it was shaping up to be, but it was a perfect end.

H: It’s our last day today of an awesome four week trip. We’re going to a water park today and the kids are very excited. But before we go there they have to get through another pagoda visit. We are in Myanmar after all!

Nearly 15 years ago we went to Sri Lanka following the tsunami to do a little bit towards the relief effort. Digital cameras were a reasonably new thing then, and we did have one but I didn’t feel at all comfortable taking it – especially into a country that such a terrible thing had happened to and where money was really needed.

Ten years ago we bought our first SLR and this was an even bigger thing to be embarrassed/ashamed to own in some of the places we were travelling. In the last few years that has changed so much. We used to carry an SLR and a compact camera. But our compact broke and our phone cameras were getting so good we didn’t replace it. So now we mainly use our phones, and the SLR. Which makes us much more even with the local people as a huge proportion of the people we’ve seen here have their own cell phones. It feels a lot more comfortable.

Shwedagon Pagoda is huge and it is surrounded by a large complex of shrines, payas and smaller temples containing Buddha’s hairs/teeth/insert body part here. It’s also very busy and under renovation. Which is a shame as it was impressive as it was – it would have been stunning to see the sun on all the gold that was covered by the bamboo scaffolding. The kids were not too impressed. Ben was mildly interested but Leo and Jamie not so much. They were hot and tired and are totally done with pagodas.

In fact I’d say generally that we are all getting tired. We fly home tomorrow and I think it is timed perfectly. We’ve seen and experienced so much but if we were to stay any longer we need a few decent rest days – somehow without the 40+ temperatures!

But there’s no time for rest and despite everyone’s tiredness, and dare I say the masculine grumpiness, we’re going to enjoy our last day. Especially after an average last couple of days!

H: I think I must have fallen asleep just after 11 with the music still blaring. I was definitely awake at least once in the night and noticed the peace.

Somewhere between 4 and 4:30 in the morning the music behind us started up again. At just the same volume, I kid you not. Is this a way to rouse the Golden Rock pilgrims from their beds? Maybe it is some mental warm up for the truck drivers who need to prepare to zoom up the mountain?

Jamie woke and amazingly managed to get back to sleep. G also woke and went to investigate. He said it was from a house next door and there were a group of people sat outside eating breakfast. He wimped out of asking them to turn it down. Leo and Ben managed to stay asleep which was some work. G and I are going to be tired today!

Interestingly/annoyingly/frustratingly/bafflingly, the music stopped at 6.

We took a taxi to the train station in the next town ready for a five hour train ride back to Yangon. The last few days have been planned round the hope that we could experience the train in the daylight – there’s so much to see from those big open windows. G was confident we’d get some tickets – we were happy on hard seats, or maybe even sat in the aisles if we’re allowed.

However it was not to be. No hard seats, no standing room, no nothing. Which was really disappointing – we’d all been looking forward to it. But maybe we should have known that train tickets could be a bit of an enigma after our fail in Bagan! So no train, an awful hotel, a terrible night’s sleep, an expensive trip up to see a cool but not amazing rock. The last coupe of days have not gone our way!

We fly from Yangon on Wednesday so can’t afford another night here in the hope we could get the train tomorrow. However, we could get on a bus leaving for Yangon in half an hour which meant we at least weren’t faced with paying a huge taxi bill.

The bus was an express bus so we were all set for it to fly. However it turns out express actually has nothing to do with its speed - it just means it’s air conditioned. Which we are not prepared for – we were expecting to sweat it out on the train so I have no long sleeves with me. Ah, no panic. At least I have those emergency socks (which have come surprisingly clean since the hot walk back on the red dirt the other day). Plus, we’ve saved ourselves a whole $5 and only paid for four seats so I’ve got at least one, if not two kids to snuggle up with.

We got off the bus at the bus station in Yangon to be met with a group of taxi drivers. This is very normal in a place like this. But the first guy we spoke to told us the fare into the city was 50,000 (NZ$50).

This is pretty rubbish and I think the first time in four weeks I’ve felt disappointed by the behaviour of someone here. We were here a week ago and got a taxi from the airport into the city. The airport is very close to the bus station and we paid 10,000 (NZ$10). So this guy is trying to charge us five times what is fair, because we are tourists. Which is what happens all over the world once tourism is there, and I do get why, but it is sad to see.

In Vietnam it’s not possible to even buy a banana without haggling. In Sri Lanka they tried to tell us there were no cheap train tickets left, or would try and ask for money for telling us where the toilets were. The fact that it doesn’t happen here yet is a big reason why we wanted to come here now, and why it has felt so lovely to be here. I guess it’s inevitable.

He dropped his price to 10,000 but we said no thank you, that we’d find someone else. We asked another taxi driver who said 10,000 straight away and off we went.

After a couple of days of travel (and a pagoda) the kids could really use some run around time. We read of a grassy park in the city that had a wee playground and an old airplane that they could climb on. We took a taxi there and saw the park as we drove past. It wasn’t massive but given we’ve seen basically none in the time we’ve been here it looked amazing! We pointed it out but the driver said something in Burmese and pointed ahead. We eventually pull up at a big entrance, pay a $1 entrance fee and are now inside a fairground. Which is not where we wanted to be at all.

We set off walking back in the direction we’d seen the park but a girl who had seen us at the entrance and had very good English ran to catch us up and tell us we were going the wrong way. Wondering if there was a different playground we set off back with her.

She took us back to the fairground.

We showed her a photo of a swing and she looked a bit confused. She went to ask someone and came back and said it had closed half an hour ago. Which we thought was strange – since when do playgrounds close? But here things are different so who knows.

By now the kids are getting a bit agitated. They’ve been promised a play but there’s nowhere to play. The fairground rides are expensive (Myanmar is not a very cheap country!) and we have big plans to go to a water park with them tomorrow so we go on one extremely lame ride and call it quits.

However the kids are all pretty sad that we can’t go on more than one ride which left G and I feeling very frustrated. I know that this is a normal kid thing to feel. But we both can’t help feeling that despite them knowing where we are going tomorrow, and even going on one unplanned ride just now, that they don’t feel that it’s enough.

We then go out for tea and ended up somewhere that was a bit more expensive than normal. So we were careful with what we ordered, and then they were disappointed that we couldn’t order anything more.

I do understand it is human nature, and how hard it is not to want for more, especially for kids. But it’s still disheartening to hear them asking for it, especially after four weeks seeing how people live here. We’ve got some work to do.

Not the most successful day! But we did at least make it to Yangon and are set for a fun last day tomorrow.

H: Fitting Mt Kyaiktyio (the/another Golden Rock) in before we fly home was a bit of a juggle but we didn’t want to miss it, so leaving us just one day in Yangon we juggled it in. It’s one of the most important pilgrimage sites for Buddhists so is will be a special place to visit. Plus – apparently the rock is held up by one of Buddha’s hairs. Or something.

G had said the accommodation in the town at the bottom of the mountain were pretty poor and well overpriced so it is fair to say as we arrived at the hotel I was forewarned. I was left in very little doubt when I fell through the floorboards in the reception.

Our room lived up to all expectations that I then had – and I can promise you they were not good ones. It’s easily the worst place we’ve stayed in this trip and I am only just managing to keep my hotel-room OCD issue in check. Mostly by refusing to touch anything or watch the kids touch anything.

And that works well for me because although it has aircon, apart from one square metre directly under the aircon the rest of the room is boiling. So I am sat in that one square metre trying not to look at the dirt, the holes in the walls stuffed with newspaper, the dead bugs and stained bedsheets.

This hotel boasts a swimming pool. Now neither of us expected to be able to use it – given this was about the cheapest accommodation we could find AND had a swimming pool, it was unlikely to be good. The water is green. No brown – no maybe a mix between the two. If anyone has stepped in there in the last two years and come out without needing to go to hospital I would be astonished.

Eager not to spend a minute longer in the hotel room (or the square metre of it I am willing to set foot in) we set off on our adventure up another mountain.

Now this is when two sayings come to mind. The first is ‘Once bitten, twice shy’. The other is ‘Once is a mistake, twice is just plain stupid’.

We knew that like the Golden Rock we saw in Mawlamyine, there were trucks that take pilgrims and tourists up the mountain. You’d think the bells would start ringing then.

We load up like before. We get the back row so we get a good view and some air. We squash up to let some more people on. And then squish up some more. There are easily 50 of us on this truck. It sets off and immediately we’re pushed to the back of our seats. By seat sorry I mean wooden bench. So I’m yet to understand why, but it seems that part of the pilgrimage is to survive the journey up and back down the mountain at break-neck speeds. The only plus side I can see is that the drivers must have driven this a million times and so will know the exact speed that they can take the corners at. Our truck stops and someone rattles off something in Burmese. We have no idea what, this is mostly a Burmese thing to do and so nothing is translated. I assume it was asking about life insurance policies or something.

Once we got part way up the mountain got steeper and so thankfully the truck got slower. And now we can breathe we can look around at the scenery – we’ve found all Myanmar’s trees! For as far as we can see there are trees. And we’re up high and it’s definitely cooler. This could be a good place to go walking. Could be – apart from unless you’re rich there’s nowhere passable to stay. We get to the top safely. Pay the huge entrance fee (I actually mean it – it was a whole $10 each to see a rock). Saw the rock – which is pretty cool. No sign of Buddha’s hair. I watched G and the boys go through the ‘men only’ gate to touch the rock and then we set off back down again.

50 of us and someone hanging off the back, a thirty minute wait to let trucks coming up the hill past (we easily waited for ten or more trucks to come up – that’s 500+ people just in the hour on our way down) and we were off back down safely.

To our dreaded hotel room. I know how awful it is for the environment but we left our air conditioning running. We’d not expected to be as long as we had been and I had hoped it might take the temperature of our room down a few degrees. I estimate it took it down 1.5 degrees and I took up my seat in the one square metre where you can feel the cool air. Fortunately it was dark so I couldn’t see so much dirt or mould.

But. There is live music right next door to the room. Well I say live but I am guessing the singer must have been in agony or something. In fact to call him a singer would be too kind. The shouter. It’s so loud I cannot concentrate on anything. The ‘music’ sounds to be hitting tin cans that are very amplified. At one point there was a dog barking in time to it and we are still left wondering whether that was a coincidence or if it is part of the ‘song’. I am interested what genre this music would be. Other than painful. How the kids fell asleep is a miracle.

So you can imagine our utter delight when our hotel decides to set its own rival music going – right next door to our room but on the other side. This at least is tuneful clubby music. But really is very loud. Maybe they’re trying to drown out the sound coming from the other side of our room – that’s the one positive thing about all this. May I just point out that this is a ‘family’ room. Joke. Maybe this is my teenage karma being paid back?

H: I have never felt so unfit before. Really, I’m not sure I ever have. I cannot climb even a couple of flights of pagoda steps without feeling the same as after a 30km fast bike. I am hoping that’s the heat, rather than three weeks of no exercise and eating rice at least twice a day. I’ll have to worry about that when we get home. I’ve got two exercise tests within about 10 days of landing so they could be a bit painful.

We climbed a mountain today. Lined with pagodas as always so we took our jandals off. And were stunned to be told by a wee boy monk to put them back on the other side of the pagoda to continue the mountain path. What – no steps all the way up? No need to go barefoot? This is pretty exciting – maybe it’s going to be a ‘wild’ climb?

It was wild – wildly amazingly dripping-with-sweat sweaty. We get up pretty high and the kids actually aren’t grumbling today which is amazing. I have just explained the logic of ‘the quicker we get up, the quicker we get back down again’ to them. Am sure this is going to mean no more moaning on any walk again ever.

But then the track looks like it’s narrowing significantly and the sides either side of us are now sheer. G goes on to investigate if we can do the final climb to the top. He climbs two rungs of a bamboo ladder taking him up a vertical cliff face, declares it unfit for use and turns back. Ah well – we tried!

Jamie has taken to sitting in the back of the motorbike taxi and waving at everybody who is behind us. Mostly he gets waved back to. Occasionally he just looked a bit demented. He has lost all fear of anybody and is playing and joking with anyone who pays him a second’s attention – which is still quite a lot of people.

I saw him remembering to cross his body with his spare hand when someone gave him something the other day – I felt so proud of him and it really brought it home to me how amazing this trip is for the boys. I appreciate that it is hard, and hot and there’s not many kiddy things to do. But I feel so strongly that learning things like this about someone else’s culture is extremely important and I can only hope that it will set them up to be tolerant of other people’s beliefs.

We went to the night market tonight which seems to be an awesome place to visit in any country. Endless street food - some yum (corn), some looking downright disgusting (fried bugs which we didn’t try), and ice cream (which was meant to be a treat but was awful). And it was so cheap – the kids aren’t used to asking for things and us saying yes so they were in their element. But for 50c/$1 an item we could afford to do it. They’re asking to go back another night, shame we’re leaving!

H: Today we went to see a huge cave. Or a few huge caves joined together. I am not great in confined spaces, and especially after the Thai cave rescue last year I am probably a bit more cautious but this one was plenty big enough.

Obviously when we got there there were pagodas everywhere. We slipped our jandals off and followed a big stream of Burmese tourists inside. We walked through the caves which were pretty cool and all lined with Buddhist monuments. Cave aside it really was just quite nice being out of the heat for a bit.

We come out the other side and there are boats. We’d half read that maybe you can get a boat back round to where we’d entered the cave but didn’t know anything more than that.

Not much English spoken but a few people were getting in them so we did too. Five minutes and a neat paddle through a wee cave later and we come to a jetty and get out.

Now for the hard part. It’s mid-morning and the ground has been baked for a good few hours. We have no jandals as they are round at the cave entrance. And we somehow have to walk back.

We started well, running from shady spot to shady spot. But then we rounded the mountain and there was no shade anymore. Apart from 30cm of slightly damp mud which was totally blissful on our feet, the rest was hot sun baked cracked ground. Ow ow ow.

G and Ben have feet of steel. Leo starts off well but starts to struggle. Jamie has already given up and is on G’s shoulders. I eventually remember that I keep a pair of socks in our backpack - have done for years, they’re emergency socks in case I go to someone’s house in jandals and get cold. Seriously.

Anyway, they are now completely trashed but I stopped to put them on which instantly took some of the burn away. Which meant I could carry Jamie, G could carry Leo and poor Ben hobbled back all by himself. You’d think our poor feet would be getting used to it by now!

Pleased to reach our tuk tuk and more importantly our jandals, we set off home. Ten minutes later one of the tyres blows and we’re stuck for getting on an hour waiting for someone to bring him a spare tyre out. The only shade was to stay sat in the tuk tuk and explain repeatedly to the boys that the best way to stay cool would be to sit still. They didn’t seem to get it.

We were going to one more pagoda on a big rock on the way home but whoever it was that rescued us from the flat tyre has taken us back in his air conditioned car. There was no way I was giving up that air conditioning to see another pagoda, however awesome the rock it was sat on was. Ben, Leo and G ventured into the heat again, Jamie sensibly stayed with me...

H: The distances we’re trying to do are so much more manageable here than earlier in the trip. We are heading to Hpa-An today, which by car is an hour or so away. We made it to the right bus station and the right bus. We must have looked suitably disappointed to be told the next bus was full. Disappointed enough for a phone call to be made and four seats to magically appear on the next bus. We breathed a sigh of relief - the thought of waiting 90 minutes in a busy hot bus station had not appealed!

Someone shouted out something in Burmese and everyone stood up and got on. So we did too. We then sat on a baking hot bus for at least 30 minutes before we set off. And Leo and I were on the sunny side. I spent that time wondering why people pay for saunas. If it’s good for the skin then I’ve not seen the benefits yet – although maybe the sun cream and grime that goes with the heat doesn’t help. And it sure is not relaxing. I must look into it a bit more.

Lots more people have climbed on the bus while we’ve been sat here and I now have Leo on my knee so that someone else could sit next to us. My temperature has risen further. I am trying to hold him away from my body but he’s noticing the lack of love.

Finally we set off. The breeze is amazing. Maybe I’m not going to pass out after all. The breeze was amazing for a full five minutes before the bus stops. Yet again we are sitting on the sunny side so a hot bus gets even hotter. We stay here for another ten minutes or so. I think things are getting loaded on but I am not sure as I really can’t see very much. People are certainly getting loaded on – the bus is pretty full now and the aisles are rammed. Our first proper chicken bus of the trip!

We eventually get going again and despite numerous stops it only took a couple of hours to Hpa-An. Twice our bus stopped and everyone standing in the aisles got off and climbed into a pick up. We drove across a bridge, the bus and pick up stop again and everyone climbs back on the bus and off we go again! I tried not to think about how rickety the bridges must be for twenty people to make the bus too heavy.

After another meal of rice and veges (and some fried chicken that Ben is very distressed we’ve said he can’t eat because it got to our table within minutes of ordering it and was cold - as cold as anything can be in 40 degree heat) in an awesome Burmese restaurant we climbed up to yet another pagoda above Bat Cave. Which G told me he’d read that lots of bats come out of at sunset. I think he underplayed it when he said ‘lots’ – there were hundreds of thousands. They were literally flying out of that cave in droves for a good 20 minutes – I would love to have seen inside, it must have been huge. Although the stench outside may have made me reconsider…

Boys: Sweet start to the day, mum and dad let us have toast with butter AND jam on for breakfast. It went pretty rapidly down hill from there though … straight after breakfast we were bundled into a car, it didn’t have any seat belts for us kids, boy do I miss my nice comfy car seat from home.

20 minutes driving later, dad having pointed out about 20 million pagodas, we arrive at guess what … yep, another temple. Ok, there’s a pretty neat giant buddha, but that’s it, I mean, why did we have to walk up all the steps and look at it from every angle. We saw it, we photo’d it, can we just get over this Buddha guy now please? Reckon he was a pretty lazy man btw, he’s always sitting or kneeling, this giant one took it one step further and was laying down. Can’t say I blame him in this heat though.

After that, back in the car, awesome – we’re heading back to the hotel for a swim – or so we thought. How wrong we were. 5 minutes later we’re out the car again. There’s some crumbling statues of monks that mum likes the look of. There’s a lot of them, all the same. And apparently we have to follow them to look at each and every single one. Mum and dad seem to think they’re awesome. To me they all look the same, why we couldn’t just take some selfies with the first one and then get back on the road is beyond me. But no … instead, we have to walk, and walk and walk … there’s barely even a path. Do they realise its 500 million degrees here?! And this is a hill. A big hill. Ok, maybe if you’re 6ft this is fine. We’re just kids. In flip flops – we weren’t allowed to bring trainers – because of the heat – did I mention how hot it is. After a few minutes we kids all agreed it wasn’t funny anymore. Lots of crying, falling and general grumbling – surely they will take pity on us and give up. Nope … instead we get placated with a measly handful of nuts each and then every single last monk has to be seen and photographed. Whatever.

Finally … back in the car … we’re heading home and that swimming pool is going to be sweet.

You have to be kidding me, seriously, no, not again … but we did, we stopped for another walk. I think mum and dad need a dog. Dogs like to be walked. We’re kids, we’re meant to play video games and watch TV or something else fun. Someone get these guys a parent hand book … please!

Another handful of nuts each and we’re off. Great, at least there’s a path here. But we’re not allowed any shoes this time. What is it with these Buddhists and shoes? I mean, its not like the place is clean. I don’t think my shoes will mark the steps.

So we’re climbing the steps … it’s still a million degrees and the steps are going on and on and getting hotter and hotter as the day goes on. Our feet are actually burning – just go quickly mum and dad say – easy for them, they can climb up two foot high steps quickly, we pretty much need a rope to get up each step!

At the top – guess what – yep, pagoda no 1,635,294 of the trip. Dad loves it, he’s taking photos. Mum loves it, she’s taking photos. Can we go now please? Finally … we’re back in the car and maybe actually really heading back for a swim? Yes! Morning from hell over the day turns around … the oldies give us some food, take us to the pool, play card games with us and then take us out for more food … now this I can handle – let’s do it all again tomorrow – but without the walking please!

H: This country never ceases to amaze me. Apart from there being I don’t know how many million pagodas scattered around the country, today we saw the world’s largest reclining Buddha at Win Sein Taw Ya. It’s 30m tall, 150m long and 15 years since construction started, it is still unfinished. They’ve started construction of another even bigger one opposite, so I guess we’ll need to come back in a decade or two to see that one!

In the same area are 500 monk statues lining the road to Win Sein Taw Ya. We’d seen an awesome picture of them in the Lonely Planet and when our taxi driver tried to drive by a few and then move on we asked him to stop so that we could walk up the hill by them. If he knew he didn’t tell us, but there wasn’t much of a track. It was steep and there were things to trip us all up every few metres – I’ve no idea when the last person did what we were attempting but it must have been a wee while ago! The icing on the cake was when Leo boshed his head real good on the bottom of one of the monks robes. Safe to say the boys didn’t enjoy it so much. Or at all really… Kids aside, they were such a sight to see with big views behind them so I’m pleased we made the effort.

So as a treat to them we next took them to a big rock and made them climb that. They couldn’t complain because there were steps with nothing at all to trip them up. But it was pretty steep. And hot – I mean they had sweat rolling down their faces and their t-shirts were wet through. They were pretty grumpy. Only the kind offer of one of us stopping half way with them and waiting for the others to come back down did their pride kick in and on they climbed. I think they maybe just might be a bit pagoda-d out?

I have always wondered why steps up to these places are covered walkways. I thought it was a shame as it spoils the view of the pagoda up above you. Today I learnt why. Because if the walkway isn’t covered the ground gets hot. Too hot to walk on. For someone who is happy to walk barefoot a lot of the time, I have pitifully wimpy feet when it comes to hot ground. So by the time we were climbing down I was running from one bit of shade to the next. It probably serves me right for making the kids climb up…

There places we’ve been to up to now are probably all on the Myanmar tourist trail. Luckily for us, it isn’t a busy tourist trail. The fact that it’s nearly impossible to buy postcards anywhere is a good sign of that! But it has at least meant there is some English spoken and some English signs. We are now most definitely not in tourist country. We went to a local place for tea and their entire menu was in Burmese – as it should be. With a lot of pointing and the very helpful google translate we managed a very delicious tea. Missing the beach was a good plan…

Another big success for me was that I managed to leave the hotel and walk a few blocks to find somewhere to eat without getting hot and sweaty. I might have been walking slower than the kids in order to achieve that but I still count it as a big personal achievement.

H: Our hotel here let us have an early check in and when I say early – I mean 5am early. We put Paw Patrol on (our Netflix subscription paying off for the third time this trip) and G and I fell fast asleep. Great parenting.

We’ve read of a pagoda on some balancing golden rocks that is a local pilgrimage site near here. So an hours sleep and some breakfast later, we set off to find the bus station. We walked for about half an hour in the heat along the side of yet another busy road. We were all tired from the overnight journey, hot and sweaty. There was no sign of the bus station. We gave up. Flagged down a pick up truck taxi and off we went. All three boys were asleep on our knees in minutes – they slept pretty well on the train but not for long enough!

We got dropped off at the edge of the road near an archway which made us think we were probably in the right place. There’s not one single English word written anywhere but someone told us they’d be a truck up the mountain in about an hour. Or something like that – we weren’t quite sure.

An hour later and about 50 locals turned up, we all climbed in the back of a big lorry on wooden benches, shuffled up so everyone could get on and were all set to go. I’ve never sat in the back of a lorry like that before – I was looking forward to a nice scenic drive up the mountain.

Within about half a minute of setting off, I realised we were actually going to be rally driving up the mountain. We rounded bends at high speeds and I began to see headlines of being injured or worse in a truck rolling down the hillside. I’ve been on slower rollercoasters than this – although rollercoasters at least have safety features.

Briefly at the top we considered the risk to our lives of going back down in the truck versus the risk of heatstroke walking back down in the midday heat and not enough water. We chose the truck. This time however someone sat on the roof, so we figured he’d go a bit slower.

He did, but only marginally.

We walked back to the main road, flagged down a pick up bus and climbed on the back with a monk and some locals. At least we’d managed the bus one way! Once again, all three kids fell asleep…

H: For G and I, a very big part of the travelling experience is the journeying. It’s a time where you get to see local life – life that you are passing by but also life that is on the transport with you. So many of my fond memories are from times like this – the box of chickens Ben sat next to on a bus in Oman, the minibus G and I spent two hours thinking was going to take us to the bus station before we realised it was actually just our extremely uncomfy overnight bus, and the five-hour journey across a remote border into Laos that actually took more than double that.

We woke up today thinking we’d spend a night or two in Yangon before we headed south. We’d booked a hotel last night for tonight so that we had somewhere to head to when we landed. There is no way we are going back to the old days just yet of traipsing round towns and cities with our rucsacs finding the best deal we can – Booking.com is Gs new friend!

However we landed in Yangon and changed our mind about staying. We rang the hotel who said they’d move our booking until next week. We went straight to the station with all our fingers crossed that we’d be able to get on an overnight train that night. This time our ticket-buying luck was in and G came out of the station with five prized tickets in his hand. It’s a ten-hour train journey leaving at 6:30 this evening. There are no sleeper carriages (I am beginning to think maybe there are no sleeper carriages on any trains in Myanmar) but we did splash out and pay $4 instead of $2 each for soft seats.

Having gone to the hotel we’d booked to cheekily ask them if we could leave our bags with them for a few hours, we went to the mall to stock up on supplies (we try and carry snacks and bits for lunch so we’re not paying to eat out every time) and enjoy some a/c. We had a few hours to kill though and G and I were feeling shattered. So we were over the moon to see a sign for a kids’ indoor play area. Dreaming of a couple of hours sit down while the kids burnt off some of that endless steam we hunted it out. And found that we had to pay and it was not Myanmar cheap!

We broke the kids’ hearts and set off to do laps of the mall instead. It’s the hottest part of the day - 40 degrees with humidity outside and the streets are crazy. Crazier than we’ve ever seen – motorbikes are not allowed (I think the government seriously need to rethink this) so instead there are cars and cars and more cars. And narrow streets. And more cars going at ridiculous speeds given the number of cars. Anyway. We’re not about to go and attempt to find some grass somewhere, if there even is any in Yangon. Or Myanmar.

We tire quickly and I started to look dreamily about anything that sold food which would mean we could sit down for a bit. This made us realise we were making a bad decision for both us and the kids so instead found the play area. The kids spend 90 minutes running around while we read the LP and planned the next bit of our unplanned trip!

The train station is brilliant – such a great place to watch Burmese life. It’s busy but in a very ordered and calm way. With the help of some lovely Burmese people with a few English words and a lot of pointing, we manage to get on the correct train AND in the correct seats.

It’s a bit of a shame the leaving time was so close to dusk as there’s so much to see out of the big open windows. But also on the train itself – hawkers come on at each stop to sell food and drinks. The lady sitting next to one of our seats rolled out a mat and settled to sleep on the floor. We were also sharing our carriage with a mouse.

A friend had warned us of the bumpiness of the trains and he was not wrong – it felt like we were in a washing machine for ten hours. We all managed some sleep though and I even dreamt there was a very long earthquake – that’d be the shaking for you!

However our friend was wrong about the delays – that or we got lucky. Our train rolled into Mawlamyine station at 4am, bang on time!

H: We’ve given up on the beach. I think I probably write this every time we go away - we dream of a peaceful few days on a remote sandy beach and it never happens. We got swine flu in Mexico and had to hurriedly escape. We ended up in a backpackers hell in Cambodia. We had a pretty good go at it in Costa Rica but we’re not going to get there this time. It’s a crazy journey just for a few days at a beach – the journey just to get there is long and we’ve been told the road towards Yangon from the beach isn’t good. So we’re going to call it quits, fly to Yangon and use our time exploring the area south of there instead. We think this area is off the tourist trail which could be challenging but should be very rewarding.

The next flight to Yangon is two days away so we’re going to have two more days here in Bagan. In life in general, and certainly when we travel, we are not very good at down time. Apart from one day at the water park I think we’ve put the boys through their paces pretty good so these two days are going to be lovely!

We were determined to make the most of it. Our hotel room may be a bit grimy but it does have a lovely non-grimy pool so we’re going to have a day of no exploring. Sounds good eh? And the kids will love it.

However Ben, who has felt a bit off for the last couple of days, wakes up and vomits. I stay with him and eat some fruit G brings back from breakfast for me. It hits my tummy. I also vomit. The second time this trip – what has happened to my stomach of steel! R&R day now looking very important but maybe not so enjoyable…

By lunch though we are as right as rain and enjoy another day and a half of chill time (or as chilled as life ever is with kids), another tiki tour on the bikes and some pool time. I’ve even done some lengths which feels pretty amazing – I was doing a decent amount of exercise before we left and have done nothing for two weeks. I brought my trainers with me on the off chance there was somewhere to run, but aside from the lack of easy places to run, it is far far too hot during daylight hours!

H: The distances here are big. It’s a huge country and the rough route we’ve chosen is going to mean some long journeys. Without a hire car like we had in Costa Rica it is much more of a big deal to move around these distances. The Lonely Planet even mentions that hiring a car and driver is a good option which I’ve not read in any other Lonely Planet’s we’ve used!

Another option is the train which we are keen to take at some point. But a friend who’s been here has warned us that the trains are very rickety and bumpy and often take at least 50% longer than they’re meant to so we are going to be a bit selective about what journeys we do on a train!

We are wanting to get over to the coast for a few days at the beach, a mere 10 hours drive from here. Which is 12+ hours on a bus which we’re going to take another pass on and we can’t afford a driver for that distance. So our next option is a 12 hour train journey to Pyay followed by a 6 hour bus or taxi - we don’t have much of an idea what our options are for that second half of the journey but we can worry about that later.

G had gone out to the station yesterday but had been told he couldn’t buy tickets yet and to come back today. We want to leave tomorrow so we’re really hoping we can get some today.

Chuffed he could get to go on my fast bike he went back to the station today to find the ticket office shut, not opening for another half hour and a decent number of people in front of him. No matter, he didn’t have the kids with him so he settled down to wait and enjoy the peace. The ticket desk opened at 2 and by 2:30 he got to the front to be told there were no tickets, and to come back tomorrow. We are not totally sure why, and if we’ll definitely get them if we go tomorrow. It also looks like the train won’t have any sleeper carriages which is a shame, because it leaves at 4pm and takes 12 hours. I can’t think 12 hours on an apparently very bumpy train that is often delayed by hours will be much fun if we can’t get much sleep but we won’t know until we try.

So now we’re left not knowing if we should check out of our hotel tomorrow morning or not, if there’s any hope of ever getting a train ticket and if it’s the right place to be heading next.

Decision time!

H: Another awesome day of exploring the temples (it’s amazing how quickly you adjust to the heat) and another day of being the favoured parent for whoever’s turn it was to choose whose bike to go on! G is suggesting we swap bikes but I am refusing.

The kids are all off today though which is a shame and in turn makes us a bit off. Or maybe we were grumpy first – I’m yet to learn which is the chicken and which is the egg. The heat is tiring though so we’re trying to give them some credit.

Either way – we all need an early night.

We napped them yesterday in an effort to make the most of the cooler ends of the day but it backfired a bit. We had a long morning out and ran a bit late. Ben didn’t fall asleep and Leo and Jamie fell asleep late and so were not at all tired when it came to a late bedtime.

So today we were on it. We had a shorter morning out, no nap, an early tea (where they didn’t really eat anything because it was too hot still), a second attempt to see sunset (which for the second time running was thwarted by the clouds) and we were on target for early bedtimes.

But then we had to decide which way to come home. Back on the main road, or instead on the trails. Obviously we chose the trails – who would go on the main road unless they had to?

Armed with a pretty basic tourist map we set off. Past temple after temple, on a road, and then a dirt road, and then a track until we were trying to bike through sand. My momentary timidness when we first got on the bikes 18 hours ago is long gone – this is awesome!

However, the thwarted sunset is closing in on an hour ago now and the daylight is all but gone. We hit one particularly hard ditch, unload the kids and push the bikes up the other side. It’s make or break for us now – if we don’t find a sealed road soon we are going to be attempting to backtrack our route in the dark! At least we don’t have the overnight temperatures to worry about – there’s no chance of even me getting too cold when it gets as low as 30 degrees overnight.

With some really very impressive map/direction guessing skills from G, a total apathy in aiding in this from me and an encounter with a herd of goats, we made it back onto a sealed road for the last stretch back into town. By now Jamie is pretty much asleep and I spend the last ten minutes having to yell at him every time I felt his arms loosen around my waist.

So much for an early night, but it was a totally awesome adventure home. Ah well, will try again tomorrow.

H: Today however I feel so much better. I’ve had a good sleep and we got out early to use the ‘cooler’ part of the day. We’ve hired what they call e-bikes here which are electric motorbikes and between the two of us we can get all three kids behind us so we’re about as excited as the kids.

The bikes seemed big and heavy and my first turning circle was pretty massive – I was momentarily a bit nervous about getting out on the roads on it. Ten years ago we hired a motorbike in Indonesia and set off round Samosir Island with no worries at all. Age and the responsibility of three young kids have played havoc with my bravery.

But we quickly got the hang of it. The freedom of getting around on these e-bikes is incredible. The towns are great but often busy and there are very few sidewalks so most of the time I’m just focused on where all three kids are and how close they are to the traffic on the roads.

But now we’re mostly out in the countryside, the roads and tracks are quiet and the breeze in the hot sun is beautiful. We are passing through plains teeming with temples – Mr Wiki says there are over 2,000 temples or remains of temples in Bagan. It’s unreal! We’ve been in a few of the temples but mostly the appeal to me is seeing them scattered around the plains.

It was a LOT of fun – for all five of us! Well actually – for anyone on my bike as it mostly seemed to be out in the front eh G??

There are definitely a few western tourists here but they’re few and far between. The kids are still getting plenty of photo requests and so many of them turn the boys’ faces so they can see in their eyes. Ben’s are brown and so quite like theirs, but Jamie’s are green-y and Leo’s in particular are a vivid blue. Ben is doing great with the photos now. He’d felt ill at a temple yesterday so I took him outside to sit in the shade. 10 photos later and we escape back inside and find a quiet spot there instead!

We are getting asked almost multiple times a day if Ben and Leo are twins. I don’t know in the towns but in the countryside apparently twins are not a blessing – I didn’t quite understand the reason why. But it does seem that boys are special – in the same way as they are in China? I don’t know about other areas of Asia.

H: The journey by bus to Bagan is a 10 hour day bus. So we take a deep breath, get ready for the heat of a busy, probably un-airconditioned bus and set off to the bus station.

Just kidding. We were too chicken again and set off to the airport. Barely a 45 minute flight and a terrible carbon footprint later we are in Bagan – at least with our sanity still as in check as it can be.

The flight was as close to catching a bus as it could have been. Heho airport is barely more than a bus station - the planes land, reverse up to the departure lounge, the passengers board and then they’re off again!

I clearly remember bemoaning the trees in Costa Rica two years ago. Well I am pleased to report Myanmar is much drier and desert-y than I expected! And Bagan is set on a vast plain with endless skies. Which should be lovely, but it’s a million degrees and actually maybe just a few trees would be nice so that we can have some shade? Or a breeze - maybe I like desert-y landscapes as long as there’s a refreshing breeze. Yes, that must be it.

Despite being happy about the scenery, I spent the afternoon feeling pretty miserable.

We are so amazingly lucky that Ben’s school have been so brilliant about him missing school so that we can come on a trip like this. However being the conscientious parents that we are, we have timed it over the school holidays so we have ended up in Myanmar at about the hottest time of the year. Bagan is one of the hottest places in Myanmar and it’s like an oven - 40 degrees plus, with humidity. Which I reckon I can deal with if there’s some escape from it but the aircon in our hotel room hardly seems to work and none of the places to eat are airconditioned either so there’s no relief.

I also have a slight OCD issue with cleanliness when we stay in hotels or holiday houses and this hotel room is not super clean which isn’t helping. I don’t need luxury, a simple room with a bed is good enough for me but I so need it to be clean. I appreciate that may sound a bit rich to anyone that’s been in our house!

Our room in Kalaw was pretty dirty and the shower over the bath tub had all its plumbing missing so the water just ran across the floor, in front of the toilet to a plug in the corner. Our room today has a very mouldy ceiling, windows you can hardly see through (I’m ashamed to admit like our kitchen window at home) and a very grimy bathroom.

As with a lot of Asia the sewerage systems cannot cope with paper and so you put toilet paper in a bin rather than the toilet. I do not mind that at all, but if the bins have a lid on that you have to try and avoid – I see germs everywhere! Which is crazy because I’ll happily camp in the mud and the dirt. I let kids eat most things that have fallen on the floor outside – but squirm if they try to eat anything that’s fallen in a hotel room.

However, to stay in cleaner places would be more expensive and so we couldn’t afford to be away for as long so normally I try to get on and deal with it.

I’m short on sleep and not feeling great. Momentarily I am wondering whether we should be back-tracking to the cooler hills, or moving our flights and getting to Thailand or somewhere else that’s not as hot. Or even just somewhere that has a 7-Eleven where I can buy a cold juice!

Fortunately, I’ve felt like this before and it’s just a normal sign of being on the road. Even though we’ve cheated and taken a flight and some taxis, travelling in a country like this is tiring even without dragging three still pretty young boys with us. The heat can be exhausting and everything is different and often a bit harder – which is also the beauty of these places.

H: We went on a longboat today to see a few stilt villages built over Inle Lake. They’re fascinating – a whole town is built up high - houses, shops, schools and even a post office. There are no paths or roads, just endless canals used as a road system instead.

Even more incredible are the floating gardens. These are floating mats of vegetation that crops are then grown on, with the farmers tending to them from their boats. A million ways different to our home, and different again to the hill village that we have just left.

One of the villages we went to today was Nampan where yet again we were blown away by what we experienced. A hundred or more longboats grouped together on the water, in front of a stage with live music was being played. TV cameras were in specially erected towers in the water and the stage was lined with water canons spraying water over the boats.

The people on the boats are all throwing water over each other too - the vibe is awesome and there is virtually no alcohol in sight. Pretty special!

I know the kids are young and therefore too young to really appreciate what they are seeing. But I still cried a bit inside when we asked them what they’d loved about today and they said ‘that the boat man was pulling faces at them all the way home’…

H: We climbed off the boat at Nyaungshwe, tired, hot and dirty. Our guide had given us plastic bags to put our cameras in in readiness for the water festival but as we got off the boat, the streets were quiet. Maybe this festival wasn’t all we’d heard it might be?

That was until we came closer to the town and then we very quickly got very wet! Since then I am not kidding when I say I think I have left the hotel once in the last nearly three days without getting totally soaked.

There are groups of people all over the town with buckets full of water or a hose pipe ready to throw on whoever passes. But it’s done so gently and respectfully – we have seen a few locals indicate they didn’t want to get wet and they’ve been left well alone. It seems to be an honour for those doing it, and those having it done to them – motorbikes actually slow down and pull over so they can have water thrown on them before driving away with a big smile. The water signifies the washing away of your sins of the previous year ready for the new one and so it’s an important custom.

Mostly they pour it down the back of your neck. The kids have had anything between a flick of a few drops of water and a bucket poured straight over them! We once made the mistake of walking along near the river, and then we got got with filthy brown water so we made sure we avoided that again.

The boys have coped brilliantly. Initially Ben wasn’t so sure about it – the first day he was very upset to be drenched within a block of our hotel. But by tonight he was happy as and wanting more. Jamie in particular is doing great – he’s still pretty small and there are some big groups of men approaching him with big buckets of water!

It’s really been the most amazing time to be here – we didn’t plan our trip around their new year but we really have lucked out. There is such a buzz – the music is loud (good loud, not crazy loud) and everyone is in good spirits celebrating. We are so lucky to have experienced this.

H: We’re up in the hills and it couldn’t be more different from Mandalay – it is so calm and peaceful. We’ve hired a guide and are setting off with her through the fields and villages to a village called Pattu Pauk, the home of the Pa-O people for the night.

It’s a hot ole walk and as with the first hour of most walks we do the kids are pretty grumbly – too hot, too tired, too hungry, too thirsty and whatever else could possibly be wrong. However as with most walks that we do, they soon find some sticks and they’re all good.

The places we pass through are fascinating and our guide (Cu Cu) is so knowledgeable. There’s going to be so much I don’t remember but here’s a brain dump…

The Pa-O people believe their mother was a dragon and their father a chemist.

They wear a turban that hangs down at the back like a dragon’s tail.

The villagers are all Buddhists and the monastery is very much the focal point of the village.

There is no crime in the village, which has about 175 houses.

There is no mains electricity, instead solar power is used to run a few lights and to charge the odd cell phone!

There is no water supply –rain water is collected, often in an ingenious contraption of bamboo pipes.

Most of the houses are two stories – the ground floor is for animals and to store produce and the upper floor is for living. Whilst there is often a kitchen inside, a lot of the household chores like washing up or laundry are done outside.

The toilet and a cubicle to wash in are also outside. The toilet is a squat toilet that is flushed using a pan of water, taken from a bucket that is kept in the toilet room.

Most people sleep on mats on the floor.

Despite being surrounded by red dirt their houses are immaculate. Unlike Ben, Leo and Jamie who look like they`ve crawled rather than walked here.

Most houses have a shrine to Buddha and you must not point your feet towards this.

You should use two hands to give and receive things – one hand to hold the item, and the other hand touches the forearm of the first hand.

It is taboo to help clear up after a meal if you are a guest – it signifies that you have not enjoyed it and are keen to leave!

Cane ball is the traditional national sport of Myanmar. It’s a bit like volleyball but played with your feet – you can use your feet, chest or head to get the ball over a tall net. It’s a pretty impressive game to watch, seeing them get their feet up to the height of the net to smash it down. But maybe I am just comparing to the flexibility (or lack of) of G…

We walked with our guide and with a girl from the village who was returning home for the new year. She was struggling with her bag and when both the guide and I offered to take a turn carrying it, she said no – because we were older than her, and because it had her dirty laundry in it, she could not let us carry it.

When someone chooses to build a house in the village, it is a long process. The first year they may save enough to buy the lime powder needed for the bricks. Each brick is made by hand and then dried in the sun – it is possible to make about 100 bricks a day so it’s a slow process. The next year they may save for some more materials and so on.

When they are ready to build, one person from every family in the village must come and help build the house. A brick house can be built in about 25 days, a bamboo house in 7. I think this is such a beautiful tradition.

The people know a huge amount about the land they live on and the things that grow on it. They believe the ground has power and so a baby is kept close on the land once it has been born. Our guide said if for example a baby has weak legs, the lower half of its body is buried in the earth to improve its strength.

A child is often not named for a few months after it’s born as it is believed that the name is of extreme importance and so it must not be gotten wrong. Cu Cu told us that after having a high fever as a child, her parents consulted an astrologer who suggested that they change her name. So far, she says, it has worked!

We are so lucky to have visited Myanmar over Thingyan, their new year, and to see the beginning of this celebration in a rural village was brilliant. We went with our guide and the family we were staying with to take their offerings to the monastery. We watched them join other villagers to pray with the monk. The monk gave the boys a juice drink each - I think that might have made up for all the monastery visits for them!

Another of their New Year traditions is for the young to visit the elders of the village and take an offering to them too. We visited with two elders in the village and watched as Cu Cu gave them each a longyi and shared some food with them. It felt very privileged to be invited into their homes and learn a little bit about their lives. One of the ladies tutted a wee bit when she saw my unfinished, unedged longyi and sewed it up for me. She used to work in the fields but older age means she is now the village seamstress.

Ten years on from seeing monks in an internet café in Laos, I am still a bit confused/bemused as to why we see so many monks on cell phones and on the back of motorbikes. Some even driving them! From what I can tell, a monk can decide how many precepts (rules) he follows. A novice must follow ten and there are 279 (I think) in total. So I guess some miss out the modern technology rule??

Most Buddhist men become monks (and women nuns) in their lives, even if it is just for a few days or weeks.

Buddhism is focused on leading a moral and good life, and is more a philosophy than a religion. Whatever it is it seems incredibly gentle and peaceful, and the people very humble.

Our homestay family were very welcoming and we can interact with each other pretty well despite not being able to speak each other’s language, but I so wish we knew a bit more Burmese. When I say a bit more I really just know how to say hello (mingalaba), thank you (jezubar) and goodbye (ta ta). The language is hard and the sounds are so foreign to us. We did manage to play Uno with a boy from the village – he came and watched G and Ben playing it and shook his head when G asked if he wanted to join in. He watched for a few games and then signalled that he wanted to play too – that was pretty special.

Bedtime was a bit strange as when we came to go up to bed we found a group of people sitting and chatting next to our mats. We were sleeping in the living room so they were just enjoying their evening. Despite it feeling a bit strange, we were all tired so fell asleep easily.

Another walk (although slightly cooler this morning as we set off early), another monastery and a couple of villages later and we climb into a pick up. The kids are happy as! Until 15 minutes later it stops and we climb out to walk ‘a couple of hours more’…

We eventually climb in the pick up again and it takes us down to the edge of Inle Lake, where we catch a long tail boat that winds through the waterways, out into the lake and to the town of Nyaungshwe at the northern end of the lake.

It’s been such a great couple of days. We have been lucky enough to see so much on our previous travels but it still amazes me how different people’s lives around the world are. Villages like we’ve seen over the last two days may not be as comfortable to live in as ours, but everything is so much more natural and open, and therefore feels like so much more of a community, even compared to the lovely one that we live in in NZ.

There’s a lot to take away from seeing places like this, but the tricky part is being back in our ‘normal’ life and remembering those things…

H: I am actually typing this wearing long sleeves but before you role your eyes in preparation for my ‘I’m cold’ grumbles – I’m not. We’re at 1,300m and the humidity and temperatures are way reduced. It is actually pleasant! For a couple of hours at least – then it’s just really pretty hot again. I know I know, I am not easy to please.

A man said hello to us with a huge smile yesterday and Ben turned to me and said it was like he knew us. He is so right and it’s so interesting to see things through a child’s eyes like that. As we have found in the week we’ve been here the Burmese people continue to be so friendly. It seems to be a very special place still.

We had read there was a view over the town if we climbed some stairs (more stairs!) to a monastery up a hill. We started the climb up and someone told us there was a special ceremony going on. I thought it would mean that we couldn’t go up and as we stopped climbing she indicated to keep on going. We got to the top and someone very quickly mimed eating and beckoned us to follow him. They took us into a building and pointed us to a table and soon filled it with so many bowls full of food. Someone else with amazing English told us that it was a ceremony to ordain monks and it was a very important day for their community.

Unfortunately the food poisoning a few days ago has knocked both of our confidences eating food like this and today’s had obviously been bulk prepared and reused if it’d not been eaten on someone else’s table. G stepped up and managed a wee bowl of food while the rest of us picked at the fruit.

We watched some of the start of the ceremony from outside but were quickly invited inside. I have embarrassingly little knowledge of Buddhism but it felt like such an honour to be included so freely in what was obviously a very special day for them.

H: We are staying in a bungalow in a hotel just outside of Kalaw, with a view over the hills if you can peer through the trees. Our day started off with an early toilet trip for Jamie. I put my phone torch on so that I could help him and just as he was about done, I spied a big dark thing in the shadows. I think I deserve a medal or something because I very calmly got him down and we washed our hands. I then sent him running to wake G up to tell him there was a spider and we needed his help. ASAP.

It was huge – I mean I know it’s easy to write huge. But we have seen a few spiders in our travels and this was big. Easily the biggest thing (by like two, three times) that I have ever ever seen inside. And barring a tarantula or something we were shown in its den in the jungle, getting on for the biggest one I’ve seen outside either. But this was inside – in our bathroom.

Impressively, G stays very calm and puts on a decently brave face. He then searches our room for something that we might be able to catch it with. It wasn’t going to be fitting into any bottles or cups we had so we empty out the boys lego box – a 2 litre box. By now we’d managed to wake Ben up with the commotion so he, Jamie and I hovered by the door ready to make a quick exit while G followed the spider walking along the walls, ready to pounce.

He pounced. He missed. And it fell to the floor. I screamed and hightailed it out of the bathroom. Ben managed to get out before me which is impressive because I was moving at some speed. Unfortunately I was holding the phone so now G and Jamie had no light and were trying to follow me in the dark. Between us, we knocked the bathroom door shut so now G and Jamie were trapped in a pitch black bathroom with a monster spider on the loose.

G was backing away pretty quickly from where the spid had dropped. Jamie was behind him. Behind poor Jamie was the sink top which was at just the wrong height for his head. So now I am shaking, Ben is wondering what the fuss is about, Jamie is crying, G is questioning the love his wife has for him having been abandoned in such a time of need and somehow Leo is still fast asleep.

H: My family will be the first to agree that I love loud music. As a teenager, my parents regularly pulled the fuse to my room because I couldn’t hear them yelling at me to turn it down. I still find it funny that they never seemed to learn which fuse they needed to pull as they invariably got the one that affected Ally’s room instead!

So you’d think I’d love the music they are playing here - which is loud! But I don’t just mean loud, I mean loud like I’ve not often experienced before, not even in my teenage and clubbing days (gulp, yes I do remember them). There are huge speakers lined up on top of more speakers, playing music into the street. I have absolutely no idea how anyone working in the shops and food places next to them can manage for more than a minute.

Today we’re travelling to Kalaw and stopped at the side of the road for lunch. We were literally shouting, stood right next to each other and were struggling to make ourselves heard. The momentary second or two of slightly quieter music as a big truck drives past and creates a barrier between us and the speakers was blissful!

It’s all in preparation for the Buddhist New Year, the biggest celebration in the Buddhist calendar. For the last few days around Mandalay we have seen the preparations for it - floats are being put up, stages being erected and stalls being set up by the side of the street. It’s a time where people go back to their families so there are a lot of people moving around.

It’s also called the Water Festival as during this four day period people throw water at each other, maybe like Holi, the festival of colour, that’s celebrated in India. It would have been so interesting to have stayed in Mandalay for it, where the celebrations would have been huge but we didn’t want to stay there for that long. We’ve been told the festival is celebrated all over the country so it’ll be interesting to see what it’s like wherever we end up when it starts in a few days’ time.

We have driven into the hills today, up to Kalaw in the mountains. I say that we have driven but I really mean we have been driven, which I must admit is yet another thing which I would be embarrassed to admit to my former traveller self. The journey by bus from Mandalay would have taken 7 or 8 hours, in a likely un-air-conditioned bus, rammed due to people going home for the water festival and with uncertain toilet stops. I used to cope with these sporadic stops, although with my awful bladder it wasn’t much fun. But it is harder to make three young boys hang on for too long. The temperatures in Myanmar are in the high 30s and whilst we’re used to temperatures in the low 30s, the humidity makes it pretty intense. Rightly or wrongly, or maybe I am just kidding myself and it is just wimpily we hired a driver instead who could take us in the ‘comfort’ of an air-conditioned car, that would stop when we needed and would only take about 5 hours.

I put comfort in quotes because the air conditioning in this car definitely did not work too well. Plus, I had Jamie on my knee for all 5 hours which pushed my temperature up that little bit more. By the time he fell asleep on me four hours into the journey we were sweaty messes, especially as I had Leo snuggled up the other side to me. I don’t get to hold them like that so much anymore so no complaints from me. Although that feeling was tested when the car overheated and we had to stop, wait for it to cool down and put the windows down in the hope we get a gasp of breeze.

H: Well it had tasted good but it sure hadn’t been good. I was really really unwell for the day after. G pretty unwell. And we had three boys to entertain all day – argh! G rustled up enough energy to take them to the train station for an hour. I couldn’t do anything that required sitting upright, unless it involved running to the bathroom. We spent the best $8 ever on a subscription to Netflix – a few episodes of Paw Patrol for the boys got us through a particularly tricky couple of hours!

24 pretty miserable hours later and we’re both doing much better so think we’ve had a very lucky escape! We had shared two meals between us at the shack and the boys had eaten just what we had so I have no idea how they managed to avoid it.

The kids have been absolutely brilliant these last few days. For five days we have asked them to be calm or quiet – on the airplane, in the airports, at the temples, in the hotel room, restaurants, buses and taxis and even in the tuk tuks so we don’t disturb the driver!

However as with most children, the boys really really need to let off steam sometimes and apart from climbing two hills (and even then they had to be calm through each pagoda we passed through) there’s been so little time to burn off energy. We’ve not been able to find any big open space for them to run in, in fact I’m not sure when we last saw grass. We found online that there was a water park so we went to find a tuk tuk to take us there – we have completely given up on local buses. To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve even seen one - only the collective ones but how you work out where they go I have no idea.

The tuk tuk driver we found had heard of the one we wanted to go to but suggested a different one was better and cheaper. A bit embarrassed that we may have been able to afford the more expensive one, we went for his recommendation. We got there and it was so dirty. Snobbery aside I think it would have been a health hazard to get in there, and with the sickness yesterday we decided we weren’t going to risk it. Our tuk tuk driver had left which we were relieved about as we wouldn’t have to be embarrassed about not wanting to stay.

We went outside to try and flag down another tuk tuk and the man at the gate signalled that he would ring someone for us. He did. Our original driver – noooo! So we very embarrassingly had to apologise and ask us to take us to the other one.

The other one was great. Clean, affordable, and totally the right level for Ben, Leo and Jamie’s ages. We had three hours there and the boys could run and play and shout happily. Not something we’d normally do when we’re away (or ever really!) but perfect for today.

H: We spent today exploring four ancient cities surrounding Mandalay – Min Gun, Inwa, Sagaing and Amarapura. Inwa has been the capital city four times during Myanmar’s history! It seems that new kings wanted to make their mark by finding a new place for the capital.

Local buses seem impossible, but we also didn’t want an air conditioned taxi so instead we hired a tuk tuk driver for the day. The tuk tuks aren’t big and it won’t be long before we can’t all fit in one, but for now with them half on our knees we are good. Even for us as adults it’s still an exciting way to travel and the kids love them. The only slightly daunting part is when they cross major roads – there are few traffic lights and instead the technique seems to be to keep driving and let the cars, tuk tuks and motorbikes coming from each side avoid you. Fortunately the proportion of small vehicles (motorbikes and tuk tuks) to trucks is much greater so they are easier to dodge through. So far so good…

The number of temples and monuments here are just incredible – I’ve never seen anything like it before despite having travelled a fair bit around South East Aisa. You literally can’t go a few minutes without seeing one. Today we’ve been to I don’t know how many – all of them pretty impressive. We’ve crossed the river on a boat, explored on horse and cart, and are learning where to walk to find cooler ground – all these places have to be explored bare foot and some of the places burn!

The Burmese people we’ve met so far seem so friendly, very genuine and helpful. I am finding it hard to lose the wall that I sometimes put up when we’re away because you do often meet people that are more interested in your money than in helping you. That doesn’t seem to be the case here yet which is lovely.

That point was proved in Inwa when we hired a traditional horse and cart to explore the ancient city for an hour. The trip had taken a bit longer than an hour and when he stopped at one temple and let us get out we saw him drive his cart away. I was convinced we’d been ditched – that our time had run out and he’d gone to find another job (yes that has happened to us before). G however was much more optimistic and as he should have been – he’d just gone to turn round and was waiting for us when we got back. The kids take our conversations like this very calmly – we reassured them we’d manage to get back somehow and they seemed content with joining in our bets.

These wee boys have been brilliant in general actually. We have taken them places like this before but they are still very young and we have taken them way out of their usual life. The heat, humidity and smells are all a lot to take in, and that’s before all the different sights to normal. And how and what we eat, what we’re travelling in and what we’re seeing on the streets. They’re awesome!

We ate tea in a little shack – more chicken and fried rice and it’s still tasting good!

H: Full of rice, veg and eggs from the breakfast buffet (a much more nutritious and tasty meal than yesterday!) at our hotel we set off for Mandalay Hill. We attempted to catch a bus but were told it was basically impossible. Whereas once we would have persevered and spent an hour working out how to find one – today we walked to the end of the road, found a tuk tuk and splashed out the $2 to take us to the base of Mandalay Hill.

The climb to the top is under a covered walkway, up countless steps and through seemingly endless pagodas and monasteries. I wasn’t sure what the difference between pagodas and monasteries is but Mr Google says a pagoda is a shrine, and a monastery is a residence for monks. Either way they are impressive.

Whilst Myanmar has now opened up to tourism – the majority of tourists visit from Thailand and other South East Asian countries. We have seen virtually no other people with our skin colour which in turn means that three young white boys are pretty unusual. A few minutes into the walk up the hill some monks had stopped us and asked if they could have a photo with the boys. And so it started.

By the time had reached the top and set off back down again I kid you not we must have been on photo stop 30 and the kids were starting to get past it. Ben had probably struggled with it the most but had stepped up pretty good. Until one particularly affectionate surprise hug and the poor kid broke down in tears. Jamie was holding my hand pretty tight but did well. Leo was a total trouper – he reasonably happily stood for all the photos with his cute wee smile – only at the end did he refuse a lady who was trying to give him a piggyback.

It’s hard for the boys who have not experienced this before, and are not used to strangers coming up and hugging them or pinching their cheeks. It’s a hard balance to let them have their own space, but also not to offend the people who are asking.

I am enjoying seeing all the local people and their traditional dress. The Burmese dress very conservatively – the vast majority of women, and probably the men too wear the traditional longyi – a sarong that is worn below the waist. They all look so smart – even the children. Which is a far cry from our three who an hour into any day seem to look like they’ve not washed for a week (and not just when we’re away!) – their ability to find mud and dirt is pretty impressive…

H: Our trip is perfectly timed as the weather is changing. Yesterday morning was the first morning I’d regretted wearing jandals for the school run so it’s time to get out of here! I feigned total indignance when the boys were super grumpy that I dared to wake them up at 4:15 to get to the airport. I explained that they got to wake me up pretty much every other day so I should be allowed some fun sometimes.

We’re only flying half the distance to the UK so it felt like easy streets. The kids don’t really watch TV at home which pays off big time on the flights – we took no books or games on the plane and they binge watched TV on both flights, requiring relatively little input from G and I which meant we both got to watch a couple of movies and even sleep. Flights have definitely gotten easier since they were smaller!

Our flight times meant we had to have a night in Bangkok and that’s when the easy street got a bit more bumpy. We were flying out of Bangkok from a different airport so booked somewhere to stay near the second one. There was a free shuttle so it should be all easy.

You may remember from previous trips that we have a bit of a score to settle with airport buses. We followed the signs and waited at the bus stop. It didn’t take us too long to realise we were in the wrong place. We tried asking one bus driver where to catch the airport shuttle, but were met with a look to say ‘errr you’re already at the airport’. We gave up and went back inside, soon realised we were on the wrong floor and tried again. Despite the shuttles being advertised every 12 minutes, we waited 45 minutes and eventually it arrived.

The journey time said it could be anywhere between 1 and 2 hours. We’ve been in Bangkok four times now but I’d still managed to forget what the traffic is like here. The journey took two very very slow hours – mostly sat still in a stream of red break lights. I had had enough by about 30 minutes. Leo was desperate for a wee with half an hour to go and was jiggling around pretty good for the remainder of the journey.

Before we had kids we both travelled with a rucsac each on our backs. Once we had children we bought a rolley suitcase so that we could carry one of the kids on our back and pull a case. We didn’t think about the fact that we didn’t need to carry children anymore so have set off with a wheeled suitcase again. Which has been a big mistake because the wheels are broken so it’s heavy to pull and Bangkok sidewalks are not wide enough or obstacle free enough to drag it along. So a very hot and sweaty half hour later we arrive at our hotel, eat some delicious chicken fried rice on the street and collapse into bed at 11 - not before setting our alarm for 7 the next morning to give us enough time to drag our case back to the airport for our next flight.

What a joke – our alarm was unnecessary by 3 ½ hours!! A sugary breakfast of sticky rice, coconut dumplings, donuts and biscuits later (a traditional breakfast apparently but pretty grim – how are Thai’s so slim?) and G is steadfastly refusing to walk back to the airport. To be fair to him, he’s the one having to carry the case so with a couple of comments about him being a wimp we load into a taxi.

A short flight, a pre-booked hotel transfer (I have queried G about this) and a realisation that Mandalay is a vast sprawl of concrete and we arrive at our hotel. We’re shattered, kids just want to play and we waste/spend a valuable afternoon in the hotel room, walking to the nearest place that sells any kind of food, swallow our pride and have pasta and pizza (if you can call it that) for tea.

39 hours door to door and we are in Myanmar. 3 hours longer door to door than flying to the UK!

H: Our passports are packed. We have our visas. In fact our bags are looking pretty packed too. Month end accounts are done and I’ve even managed to make a good stab at year end. We are unusually organised with 24 hours to go! Having said that, I feel like I’ve hardly slept the last few nights but you can’t have it all eh?

It’ll be no surprise to read that we had wee Leo at the dentists a few days ago as we noticed one of his teeth had lost its colour. Apparently it’s had a knock and died and we may or may not have any trouble with it while we’re away. However our doctor (who must have heard about our regular overseas medical visits) has sent us with antibiotic powder, antiseptic things and even a wee blade in case Leo gets another abscess on his bum so we are prepared! We are all set to go. To…

Myanmar! Which has resulted in some very baffled looks when we’ve been asked where we’re going, but the country has only relatively recently opened up to tourism and so it is a chance to see it before the inevitable changes that tourism brings.