it was cold and my clothes were starting to become wet from melted snow. i retreated to the internet cafe for a while to warm up, then i returned to the snow and took more photos. i bought some food and returned to my hotel to let my clothes dry out and read my book. i finished the book in the evening, packed and slept.

day 347 – there had been no flights out of leh for the past three days, due to the bad weather. so when i went to bed the previous night, i secretly feared that the poor weather would continue and i’d be stuck in leh. being stuck in leh isn’t so bad actually, but i wanted to keep moving and was keen to reach kashmir. when i woke up it was still dark, but i went outside and looked at the night sky – it was dotted with stars and i knew that the weather had cleared.

i packed and left my hotel right on dawn. i walked into the main street but there was nobody awake yet and no taxis. i managed to get a ride with some airport workers and arrived in time for my flight.

the flight was delayed by five hours because the airport officials hadn’t been able to clear the runway of snow from the previous day. surprisingly, they had no snow-clearing equipment and the local army had come in to clear the runway using shovels. during the long wait i got talking to a couple of kashmiri guys who work in leh but live in srinigar. we talked about india, cricket, islam, kashmir and numerous other things. it passed the time and i was happy.

eventually we got on board the plane and flew to srinigar. i’d already arranged a houseboat and guide, who was waiting for me, so i was quickly whisked off to dal lake to my houseboat, some food and hot tea. on the way to the houseboat i couldn’t help but notice the enormous number of soldiers lining the streets, supported by vehicles and armoured personnel carriers. i started to worry that maybe it wasn’t as safe as i first thought, but the guide reassured me that it was just a regular sight in srinigar, especially when some kind of event was coming up – like the planned strike on the following day.

the houseboat was really nice and i enjoyed sitting in the warm room with food and drink. i found out that the owner, who is a kashmiri muslim man, has a french wife. i talked with the owner’s son for a while and after dinner the french wife appeared. she introduced herself with a huge reefer in her hand and asked “do you want to smoke?”.

her name was victoria and she was actually the owner’s second wife (his first wife is also kashmiri) and they all live together on the houseboats which he inherited from his father. we talked for quite a while and i got some sleep.

day 348 – i spent the morning relaxing on the houseboat. the boat was warm from the fire in my room (inside a huge stove) and the gas burner in the living room. i ate and talked with the owner, mohammad, and organised a four day itinerary to see srinigar and the kashmir valley. i talked with victoria a little bit, drank some great coffee, and walked into town.

everything in town was shut due to some local strike, so i walked for a bit and had a snack at a local tibetan restaurant. nearby was an internet cafe, so i also checked my email. i returned on dusk and spent the quiet evening watching a movie on my computer.

day 349 – i had breakfast and then went on a long two hour boat ride around dal lake. dal lake is enormous there are thousands of houseboats scattered around it. parts of the lake have small islands and these often contain shops, mosques and schools. we went through some canals and saw the old city side of the lake. the place is amazing and it was nice to look around and see the whole thing.

afterwards i spent some time editing and backing up photos (which i hadn’t done since ladakh). then i went into town to withdraw money. i had a coffee, checked email again and returned to the boat. i edited some more photos and went to bed.

day 350 – today i got an early start and we drove out to kashmir valley and the city of pahalgan. i rented a horse and rode to the top of the hills which had a great view of kashmir and the valley itself. i took a break at the top and had some coffee. there were a few vendors there and i had the chance to go sledding. instead, i followed the sledders and took photos.

i rode back down and returned to the car. i had some lunch and then visited a hindu temple called ‘the fish temple’. inside the temple is a small lake which comes down from the mountain. fish live in the lake and it’s part of the temple’s long history. the place wasn’t very interesting though, except for the fish, so we kept going and wandered around some ruins of another hindu temple which are 1100 years old. the local caretaker was keen to guide me around (i knew he’d want money) but i scorned him for how dirty the place was – littered with cigarettes and firecracker paper. he blamed the local kids, but i didn’t care since he was the caretaker and it should have been his responsibility … not to mention the fact that the site was looked after by the indian archaeological society.

indians have a way of saying ‘as you wish’ when they want money. it’s supposed to mean ‘pay me as much as you wish’ or ‘you decide how much to give as a tip’ … of course, they’re never happy with the amount of the tip and will always suggest more. i’d become fed up with indian baksheesh and, since i hadn’t asked for the guided tour, walked off without paying any tip at all.

we returned to srinigar and when i returned to the houseboat a floating store (a paddle boat acting as a shop) came by. i bought some snacks for the evening, edited some more photos, had dinner, watched a movie and slept.

leh was sunny but cool and my first impressions were of a beautiful town. i found my hotel and walked around the markets and the main street. the town is small and it didn’t take long to wander around nearly the entire village. being cold i figured that i needed to get myself a warmer jacket and did a little shopping, but the prices were high and i was disappointed. i figured i’d try again the next day.

i couldn’t do much today, since the risk of ams is high on the first day after flying to a high altitude, so i got some thukpa for dinner and rested in my room.

day 342 – i walked into town and decided that i needed a jacket regardless of the cost. i found a store and managed to haggle a good price. i also bought a beanie. then i went for a walk up the hill to the old leh palace and soma gompa. further up the hill was namgyal tsemo gompa, which had a great view of the town.

i walked back down the hill and into the main street. i found an internet cafe and checked my email. i had thukpa for dinner again and returned to my hotel before it got dark (and too cold).

day 343 – today i went on a driving tour of leh and the surrounding area. being winter there are no tourists and little business. i’m the only guest at my hotel and the owner offered to take me on the tour himself. we visited 4 of the district’s major temples. shay gompa was really nice and at thiksay gompa a young important lama had been invited to give talks to the monks. the monastery was full of people – monks were listening to the talks and buddhists were sitting outside listening via speakers. there were so many people, but they were all sitting quietly and sharing tea. i drank some tea too and looked around.

hemis gompa was hidden high up in the hills and it took a while to get there. the roads were icy but the scenery was amazing. the gompa was mostly empty but it turns out that my guide and hotel owner is very well known amongst the locals and is prominent in the buddhist community. in fact, he’s met the dalai lama several times. so whenever we arrived somewhere, tea was served, doors were unlocked and we were invited to watch and participate in the local celebrations.

the last temple was stok and we arrived at the beginning of a 49 day mourning ceremony for an old lama who’d died. monks had been invited from as far as bhutan to perform rituals and chant to bless the lama. we were invited inside and got to sit with the monks while they chanted and prayed. i sat quietly and respectfully, sometimes taking a photo or two, and enjoyed the atmosphere of the scene. actually, i kicked myself that i hadn’t thought to bring my mp3 player which is able to record sound. it would have been nice to keep a recording of the chanting.

we returned to leh and i walked back to the main street to check email again. i had a quick dinner (more thukpa) and got some sleep.

day 344 – i woke up to find leh covered in snow. it had snowed during the night and the entire town was white. most of the shops were shut (because it was sunday, not because of the snow) so there wasn’t much i could do. i walked around town and wandered through the tibetan market. much of it was shut too, during the tourist off-season, but some stalls were still open. actually, when i was in goa i discovered that many kashmiri and ladakhi people head south during winter to make money. many of them work in the goan markets or in hotels then return north again for the summer tourist season. obviously though, some people remain in ladakh and tried to make the most of the winter season.

the internet cafe was warm so i devoted an hour catching up on chess. i grabbed some food and returned to the hotel. actually, nights are really cold in ladakh, so i was always keen to get home before dark and crawl into my warm bed to read.

day 345 – i had breakfast in town and returned to the tibetan market. more was open this time and i bought a ‘save tibet’ tshirt and some long underwear. i walked to chowkhang gompa, which is hidden in the middle of town, and walked north of the village to find the korean monastery. the monastery must be small because i couldn’t find it. but i enjoyed the long walk and photographed some kids sliding down the ice slopes. leh also has an outdoor ice skating rink, so i watched the local kids skate and play ice hockey.

the evening was really cold and i finally gave in and got a heater for my room. up to now i’d been surviving without one, but the days were getting colder and there was more snow around. i also grabbed a book from the hotel library, paulo cohelo’s ‘the zahir’, which i read in my now-warm room.

after breakfast i packed up and our group hiked to some other villages. it had rained the previous night, so the track was quite muddy. a lot of the area we were hiking through was all rice paddies and small forests. the ground had a lot of clay, making the track really sludgy and slippery. we took a break at the top of a waterfall and also visited a local house. i took some great photos of kids playing with buffalos in the nearby river. eileen and i said goodbye to our british companions and we parted company. we hiked up to the highway where we had lunch at a restaurant and waited for the minibus to take us back to the hotel.

when i arrived back in sapa i took a shower, ate dinner and messed about with my now broken computer. i tried to get it running and tried installing linux on it, but the computer was playing hardball. i suspect the problem is the hard drive.

we got a minibus back to the train station and during the drive a guy on a motorcycle pulled our minibus over. he was the owner of a rental shop and accused two foreigners on our bus of ripping him off. a vietnamese guy, also a passenger on our bus, quickly showed he was a racist prick by siding with the rental shop owner (despite not even knowing what was going on). after some shouting, the rental shop guy tried to get on the bus and continue the fight. i was sitting by the door and when he came around i gave him an evil look and said “you are not getting on this bus”. my face and tone of voice actually made him stop. he took his hand off the door handle, paused to think, and then returned to the other side where he could berate the foreigners through the window.

they offered to pay him some more money, just to shut him up and end the saga. meanwhile i yelled at the vietnamese guy that he should mind his business and he was an arsehole for interfering (and assuming the foreigners were in the wrong). i told the minibus driver to hurry up and go (even though we were quite early and had no chance of missing our train). the rental shop guy was satisfied with his extra cash, so he left and our driver took off. the couple got stuck into the vietnamese passenger for getting involved. eventually, everything quietened down and we arrived at the train station.

i bought a kinetic (batteryless) torch from a street vendor and got the overnight train back to hanoi.

day 162 – i arrived in hanoi at 5am, said goodbye to eileen and caught a cab to the travel agency (who had my bus ticket to china). i had breakfast and jumped on the bus to nanning. the trip was mostly good. i crossed the border and immediately noticed the difference in attitude. on the vietnamese side, everyone pushes and shoves to get their passport stamped. on the chinese side, everyone lines up calmly and the chinese guards yell at people who don’t follow the rules. it was nice being in a country with a bit of organisation.

when i arrived in nanning i got a taxi across town and it was a moment when i felt a little worried about what the hell was going on. the driver spoke no english and he had another passenger, a female, in the front seat. i figured he was doing a double fare, so i just enjoyed the view for much of the ride. i’d been in the cab for a while when i realised he hadn’t asked me where i’m going. so i told him i wanted to go to the train station. he didn’t understand and called a friend, who spoke english to me over the phone. i told him where i wanted to go and that it seemed the driver was taking the long way. the driver laughed when that was translated and soon after he turned off the meter. we arrived at the train station a few minutes later. it turns out that the passenger wasn’t a customer, she was a friend (probably girlfriend) and just coming along to keep the driver company.

i found my hotel, checked in and wandered around town. i found an internet cafe, checked email, returned to the hotel and watched tv. ‘star wars’ (the original) was on, which was cool. i discovered that the movie channels show the same movie repeated all day long.

day 163 – i went back to the internet cafe to do some research about entering tibet and i also tried to download another version of linux to install on my still broken computer. after lunch i walked down to the train station and got myself a ticket to chengdu. everything was going well. i installed ubuntu linux on the computer and watched ‘the empire strikes back’ … i was pretty pleased that they seemed to be showing all three original star wars movies. downloading linux had taken a few hours, so the rest of my evening was ruined. i played about with the computer, watched tv and went for a walk through the fruit and veg market in the next street. burried deep amongst the stalls (as i was to quickly discover) are little store fronts for ladies of the night. a hooker accosted me as i tried to pass by. i made my escape, returned to my room and called it a night.

day 164 - in the morning i finished the star wars trilogy with ‘return of the jedi’. i checked out, walked across to the train station and boarded the train.

when i bought the ticket, the idiot employee hiding behind inch thick glass told me there were no sleeper seats. when i got to the train, i noticed plenty of sleeper seats! dickheads!! i got off the train and found an attendant. i complained and used sign language to illustrate that i’d asked for a sleeper. the guy was sympathetic and said it would be ok. he told me to board the train and he’d come find me after the train had departed.

he found me again 20 minutes later, crammed onto a seat with four other people in cattle section of the train. he lead me to the dining carriage, and after a short discussion about my ticket, told me that i can upgrade (for a fee). they issued me a new ticket and lead me down to the sleeper section … there were plenty of available beds and i wanted to slap the guy who sold me the ticket. i had lunch and two large bottles of beer to celebrate my new (much more comfortable) arrangement. the warm beer got me a bit pissy, so i had a short afternoon nap. i spent the evening eating, reading my bill bryson book, watching movies on my ipod and doing more sleeping.

day 165 – i bought some bananas from the food cart and continued reading my book. then i spent some time writing my blog on my computer. the train ride was 32 hours, so i had lots of time to kill. i ate lunch and spent the afternoon relying on my ipod for entertainment.

late in the evening, we arrived in chengdu and i couldn’t find anyone who knew where my hotel was. i was kicking myself for not printing the address when i was in nanning. i asked a girl at the vip counter for help. she was friendly, but didn’t know the hotel either and i eventually had to go to an internet cafe, print out the address, and get a taxi.

the taxi drivers in china will happily take your business. they nod and smile and most of the time have no fucking clue where they’re going. i handed the driver the paper with the address (in chinese) and off we went. he went up the wrong road and then came around to the right road. he stopped twice to ask directions from passers by and we found the hotel after a long frustrating taxi ride.

i’d emailed the hostel twice before arriving in chengdu, but they hadn’t received my emails and hadn’t booked a room for me. so i took a dorm room (single rooms in china are ridiculously expensive), i checked my email and went to bed.

the train arrived and i found my seat. the chairs were big and comfortable, if somewhat old, and i settled in for the ride. the window next to me opened on a great view of the myanmar countryside.

while waiting for the train i’d tried to find some water and snacks. however, the only water available was refilled bottles, which i wouldn’t buy. i hadn’t been sick in over a month but i wasn’t prepared to risk it. i thought i was going to have to do the whole four hour ride back to yangon without food. i got lucky though, since there was a food cart and other vendors wandering up and down the train. i bought water, some cookies, and a coke (at the exhorbitant price of $2 for the coke, smuggled in from thailand).

the train trip went without dramas and was, quite frankly, the most pleasant travel time i spent in myanmar … a million times better than the buses. it was funny though, that as we reached the fringes of yangon the beautiful countryside transformed into piles of garbage and slums on the outskirts of town. those too eventually disappeared and were replaced by the familiar sites of yangon’s colonial architecture.

the hotel i stayed in before owed me three more days, so i returned to the hotel and checked in. this time i got a room with a view of shewdagon pagoda, myanmar’s most famous pagoda. i finished ‘burmese days’ and got some sleep.

day 57 – with time to kill, i decided to wander the streets of yangon. i only had a few objectives for the day, but i thought i’d get out and enjoy the beautiful, if hot, weather. i went to myanmar air’s offices and changed my flight, bringing it forward to may 4th. the building i was in also had a top floor restaurant with an impressive view of the city. i headed there for a drink to check out the views. on the way back through town i walked past the australian embassy (which was closed for the weekend) and into the british council offices (which is built into the british embassy). although there were no classes on weekends, the british council library was open. it’s a really big library and is quite nice. i went upstairs and asked a secretary about jobs with bc. she gave me a little info and the name of a person to talk to. so i promised to come back on monday and get more information.

after that i headed back to the hotel. it was early afternoon and hot as hell. i had a shower and a rest and went outside onto the balcony to listen to my ipod. i was surprised how sore my arse and the backs of my legs were from the truck ride to kinpun. i spent the afternoon listening to music, thinking about my awesome trip in myanmar. i watched the sunset, headed to the internet cafe to check email, and called it a night.

day 58 – after breakfast i decided to clean my camera. actually, one of the girls who worked in the hotel was cute and she kept smiling at me. it seemed like she was always lurking around. so, while cleaning dust and crap off my camera, i left my door open and watched her walk past my room quite a few times. i don’t think she spoke english, so i didn’t know what i would do if i got her attention … so i enjoyed the breeze and focused on getting grot out of the buttons on my camera.

for lunch, i walked into town again and went back to the building with the top floor restaurant. i had a burrito and a beer (which were both good). my plan was to spend the afternoon at shwedagon pagoda. today was my last full day in myanmar and i hadn’t actually been to the pagoda yet.

first, i got a cab and went to chank htatt kye pagoda which houses a massive reclining buddha. this buddha is quite unique in that it looks very real. in fact, it’s so realistic, that the eyes are glass and even contain pupils and pigments. i got some shots and went to the nearby bogyoke aung san museum. aung san is the father of the very famous aung san suu kyi (the rightful president of burma who is under house arrest). their family house has been preserved as a museum because aung san is the most famous figure in modern burma. sadly, the museum was closed (lonely planet said it’s open sundays), so i went down to shwedagon pagoda.

minutes after arriving i was waylaid by a monk who was intent on having a conversation with me. the problem was that he spoke no english. we sat in the shade, drawing quite a crowd, and he tried to explain stuff to me in burmese. with a little help from onlookers, we had fun with burmese words and translating them into english. he kept writing on my notepad and eventually he explained that he was my teacher and we practiced some greeting rituals. eventually, we both got frustrated and bored and he decided to go and hang out with other monks.

i wandered around for a while, taking photos, and was taking a break when i met another monk. this monk spoke english so we sat and talked. i was happy to sit because there was still time before the sun began to set, which is what i was waiting for.

while i talked to him, two girls sat down near us and i could tell that they were keen to join our coversation. so the four of us talked for quite a while about various random topics.

right on sunset we decided to walk around the pagoda some more. i took photos and the three of them explained to me what different parts of the pagoda were. my favourite story is about the very large bell at the pagoda which was taken by the british. after england conquered burma, they decided to steal the bell so that they could melt it down and use the metal to make cannons. the bell is very big and extremely heavy, and while the british were trying to load it on a ship, the bell was accidentally dropped into the irrawaddy river. the british, with all of their technology and superiority, couldn’t recover the bell. so in a fit of anger and arrogance, told the burmese that they could keep the bell. the burmese, using bamboo poles placed under the bell by divers, eventually floated the bell and took it to shwedagon pagoda … now that’s funny!

shwedagon pagoda is covered in gold and jewels. at the very top of the pagoda is a massive diamond and after dark, the diamond appears to be different colours depending on where you stand to look at it. so, while wandering around, we went to the places where it’s possible to see white, yellow, red and green reflections.

not long after that, a strange thing happened. i’d been walking around with the monk for nearly an hour (the two girls were also still with us, but left not long afterwards) and for a moment the monk walked away. while he was gone, some guy tapped me on the shoulder. i turned towards him and he pointed at the monk then gestured, making a circle around his ear with his finger, then gestured towards the exit with his arm. the message was clear: the monk is crazy, you should leave. the man kept walking and the monk didn’t see this little interaction.

after that i was more on my guard. and when the monk suggested leaving, i thought that maybe he meant leaving together or that he’d want something outside the pagoda. however, i shook his hand, said goodbye, he talked to a taxi driver and told the driver to give me a good price, i waved and drove off. perhaps the monk is strange, or crazy … but he seemed fairly harmless.

back at the hotel i decided to set up my tripod and photograph the pagoda. i got some decent shots, packed up my gear and went to bed.

i had a late afternoon shower (it was really hot), then met shinya and sonia. we went into town for a 90 minute burmese massage. the massage was good and after it we all felt relaxed. they even applied some eucalyptus oil to our skin and advised not to shower until morning (to let the oil soak into the skin). we decided to go back to the restaurant where we’d got gnocci a few nights earlier. the three of us had gnocci and shared a pizza. sonia and i drank mojitos which were very strong (well, mine was) and very minty. feeling a little happy and with a nice buzz going, we cycled back to the hotel and i went to bed.

day 52 – the previous day, shinya had got incredibly lost in the hills outside naung shwe, the village surrounding inle lake. finally returning from his adventure, he told us that he’d found (by chance) a small school. the school was a summer english camp conducted by a local burmese guy. he had seven students. shinya promised the teacher that he would return to the school, so shinya, sonia and i cycled there after breakfast.

we arrived just on 8am which was the time he began school. for the first part of the lesson, we sat in the back of the room and he taught for about half an hour. i noticed something a bit strange about the lesson during his introduction ‘rote’ work. he asked each of the kids (whose ages were about 15-18) some general questions: name, age, etc. he asked some of the students if they were married. one girl answered “no, i’m a virgin” and the rest of the students laughed.

the day’s lesson was diseases. it was a disorganised and sometimes very inconsistent. the lesson (to me) seemed partly irrelevant. he’d included gonorrhea in amongst the general diseases (heart trouble, lung disease, etc) and had mentioned abortions too. he also misspelled hemorrhage. the teacher, however, was very nice and seemed genuinely interested in teaching the kids. there didn’t seem anything untoward about the lesson at all. i decided to look at the students’ books while he was teaching. flicking through a couple of pages i noticed a page on body parts. penis and vagina were both there. rather than being all conservative and offended, i decided that sexuality is much more open in burma and they can talk about such things much more freely than we do.

the lesson continued for about 30 minutes before he asked each of us to teach the students something. it’d already been an interesting morning and we were having a lot of fun. i volunteered to go first, since i’m a teacher, to give the other two time to think of something. i decided to keep it simple and practical. i taught them large numbers under the guise of ‘money’. the students (who had only been learning english for a few weeks) took to it quickly and already understood up to hundreds. i taught them up to billions and how to break large numbers down for reading and speaking. most of them picked it up and understood it. one girl, who sat at the back, was quite fast and mostly understood what i was teaching on the fly. the craziest part of the lesson was when i explained how important it was to understand large numbers … especially if those numbers represented money. the teacher chimed in and said “no money …” to which the students immediately chorused “… no honey” before laughing hysterically. sonia looked positively shocked and i admit that i was also a little stunned. we laughed together and kept going.

sonia went next, talking mostly about switzerland (her home). she told them about chocolate and cheese, the countries around switzerland and the local topography (lakes and snow capped mountains). the students followed it mostly, but seemed to have very little understanding of geography, since they don’t know anything at all about europe. shinya went next and they didn’t know anything about canada either. so instead of teaching them about canada, he decided to review basic introductions with each student.

as an after thought, i asked for a few more minutes and taught them handwriting skills. i’d noticed that their handwriting was attrocious. this is partly because their teacher’s handwriting was attrocious and partly because burmese writing is very curly and loopy (lots of circles), so when they write, they tend to use curly, loopy letters for english. the worst part of their writing is that some of their letters are print and some are cursive, which is very difficult to read. i explained how important neat writing was and told them that if they wanted to get a job, it was terribly important that their writing be neat and clear. i put the alphabet (small and capital letters) on the board and said that this is what letters should look like. the students wrote it down.

we’d been there a while and it was time to leave. we took some photos with the students and said our goodbyes. we got the teacher’s address (he doesn’t have email) and promised to write to him and send photos.

on the way back to town, we got to talking and decided to help them out a little. we planned to buy a world map for the classroom wall so that he could teach basic geography and info about other countries. reaching town, we looked around and had no luck finding a store with maps. a strange thing, actually, was that shinya and i both commented on how many maps we saw for sale in yangon. it seemed to be a big industry for some strange reason. however, in naung shwe, there were none to be found. shinya went off on his own and found a bookstore. he bought seven burmese/english dictionaries (one per student) and an abc poster with correct writing technique on it. he’d bought it all for around $5. the same store said they could get english world maps that same day. we ordered maps and went to check email at the slowest internet cafe in the world.  then we went back to the hotel to relax. i read my book and talked to a british traveler who’d been through nepal and tibet. i asked lots of questions about passing between the two countries and he confirmed my suspicions that the only way to get through is with a tour group.

at about 5pm, shinya and i went back to the bookstore. they’d found some maps … all in burmese. shit! we bought one (70 cents) and took it, along with the dictionaries and writing poster, to the school. when we arrived, some of the students’ parents were there. the parents were arriving for dinner and had come from all over the district. it was going to be a special night. we gave them our gifts, had some coffee and said goodbye again. they seemed very happy for the dictionaries and we told them how important it was to study. jokingly, i told them that they could use english to make money and said “remember, no money …” and they, predictably, replied in turn “… no honey”. we laughed, got on our bikes, and cycled back to the hotel. i had noodles for dinner and went to bed early.

the morning at the school had been quite an education for me. the students, all older teenagers, were paying $50 a month for the lessons. the were sleeping at the school, kind of like a camp, and spending their days studying english. the students learned quickly. $50 is a lot of money for burmese families, especially people in this district. so the students were under a lot of pressure to study. their motivation was to get out of myanmar. apparently, many of them are trying to get jobs abroad, particularly in malaysia and thailand. their families all hoped that these children could learn english, cross the border (legally or otherwise) and get work in other countries … which would be much more lucrative than staying in myanmar. it was a big risk and a big dream. i also learned that obtaining a passport in myanmar costs about $1500. the cost is not bureaucracy, but bribery. much of that money goes to greasing the wheels enough to get permission to own a passport. it’s clear, then, why so many burmese opt to cross the mountains illegally into thailand.

day 53 – i had breakfast and said goodbye to sonia. she was flying to yangon early and had already packed. we exchanged email addresses and promised to meet again in europe. i walked into town and bought my first longyi. it’s purple and white. a longyi is the traditional dress of burmese men and women. they both wear longyis, although the style is a little different. men’s longyis are cotton and fairly plain in design. women’s longyis are always much more beautiful. longyis are a long, circular piece of material that wraps around the waist. it’s basically a shapeless long skirt. the woman in the shop showed me how to wear the longyi, which is quite simple to wear but difficult to get to look good. i had some difficulty tying it properly and it kept coming loose.

then i walked back to my hotel, packed my bag and braced myself for the long, shitty ride to bago.

day 13 (continued) – i ran into oliver again that night in bodhgaya. it’s such a small town and the main boulevard is the best place to hang out. i had dinner with he and his italian friend. 

i also bought a book, “the glass palace” by amitav ghosh. it’s a story related to the english conquest of burma and the subsequent exile of the burmese king from mandalay. actually, the book is a fictitious tale of characters caught up in those events, but the background is very real. despite being fictitious, it’s a good read and i thought it would be a nice background before i head into myanmar. what caught my attention is the silhouette of burma’s famous ubein bridge. east of mandalay, ubein bridge runs across a lake and it’s the longest teak bridge in the world. so, partly, i bought the book based on the cover illustrations and the association with burma.

i headed back to my hotel, started reading the book, and slept.

day 14 – today i got an early start and had a really, really great day. i decided not to visit the main temple on my first day. instead, i wanted to save it for the morning of my second day, where i could take my time. i walked into mahabhodi temple early before too many tourists or pilgrims had arrived. i took some photos and walked around. the stupa is enormous and really nice. there are lots of buddha statues everywhere. the place is very quiet and serene.  under a tree to the side of the main stupa (not the bhodi tree) there was a monk giving a lecture to a group of people sitting on the grass. 

as i walked around the side of the temple i notice a monk in light coloured robes in meditation. actually, there were lots of people meditating, bowing and praying around the temple. but this monk was by himself and he was in a good position for photography.

i approached him and when he saw me, he handed me a video camera. it turns out (through his friend’s translations) that he is a thai monk. he saw my camera gear and, figuring i was somewhat professional, asked me to handle his video camera. i video taped him in meditation for about 6 minutes until the batteries ran out. i also took a few photos. i thought that would be the end, but from under his robes he produced another battery for his video recorder. we walked down to the bhodi tree where the buddha became enlightened, i made about 10 more minutes of him in meditation. i was clever about it all too, i started with a silhouette of the tree, and panned down to him in meditation. i’m sure he’ll be duly impressed with my awesome camera work!

after that i took some more photos and sat under the bhodi tree for a while. there were many pilgrims and monks doing prayers under the tree. many people brought offerings. 

the funny thing was that people were quickly picking up the fallen leaves of the bhodi tree; to keep as lucky charms or souvenirs. the falling leaves weren’t common, so it was difficult to get them. i sat for about half an hour and during that time i got two small leaves. when i came back later, i managed to get two more bigger leaves, so i was very happy about that.

off to the side, away from the main stupa is a small, square lake. the lake is famous because (legend has it) that the buddha meditated here during a storm. the king of the lake (or a god, i’m not sure) in the form of a cobra came to the buddha and stood over him, sheltering the buddha from the rain as he prayed. 

so, in the middle of the lake is a buddha statue with a big cobra standing over the top of him. it was a little tacky, but i was happy to sit there … until some kid walked up to me and said “hey, give me 10 rupees”. i told him to piss off (how zen of me) and went back to enjoying the serenity. one of the most popular activities at the lake is feeding the fish. they looked like catfish, and people throw food to them, which they hungrily gobble up.

the scene was complete when two young brothers (maybe aged 4 or 5) began to fight. the littlest one pushed his brother, and it was quite a good shove, causing his brother to fall backwards onto the steps, then roll down about 4 steps into the water. he landed on a bunch of hungry fish and his father plucked him, screaming and crying and soaking wet, out of the water.

i was satisfied, so i walked back to the main stupa. 

as i headed out i bought some sandalwood prayer beads and a small bracelet (my first souvenirs in india).

the heat of the day was settling in, so i decided to take the early afternoon off. i went back to the monastery and washed my clothes. i read my new book (which is interesting) and had a sleep. when the heat of the day wore off i headed back to the main boulevlard, checked email, picked up my train ticket and had dinner.

then, after dark, i headed home. actually, i didn’t go straight home, i took a shortcut which i thought would avoid the main street. the shortcut took me to the thai temple and there was no way to the main road. so i had to trek all the way back and walk home the long way.

day 15 – today wasn’t as good as yesterday … not by a long shot. i packed and checked out of the monastery. right outside i found a rickshaw and negotiated the trip to gaya (where i needed to catch a train to patni … from patni i head to darjeeling). the rickshaw drove like a korean bus driver, swerving and dodging everything; as well as overtaking even when he didn’t have enough power or speed to overtake. a few times i was tempted to tell him to slow down. it was a big rickshaw, so he insisted on stopping to try and pick up extra passengers along the 13km ride to the train station. he picked up two, which wasn’t so bad, then 3 more, then 2 more. there were 9 of us in total, as well as my pack, crammed into the rickshaw … and he still drove like a maniac.

we eventually got to gaya and i lined up for a train ticket. after 80 minutes of queueing and yelling at line jumpers, i got to the counter and was told that my ticket couldn’t be bought there, i had to buy it at the ‘unreserved’ counter. this was because the train was leaving in 25 minutes … but i’d lined up an hour and a half earlier, at which time, i was a the right fucking counter! because of the damn queue, i missed the end of the reservation time. 

so i got the cheapest ticket possible and was thrown into cattle class. i jumped on the train as it was leaving, hoping that there’d be more space. but as i jumped on, about 10 more people jumped on behind me. so we were all huddled together with nowhere to move and nowhwere to sit. 

i sat on some guy’s metal container and read my book. slowly, as the train crawled through dirty country stations, people got off and there was more space. i continued reading, but had to stand up when the owner of the metal container got off the train … i abandoned the book and just waited out the last 50 minutes until arriving in patna.

when i finally got off the train, i headed for the nearby hotel windsor (which has internet and a cafe) to wait it out until my 10pm overnight train to darjeeling.