Myanmar for Christmas!

Our trip to Burma (Myanmar) was triggered by a desire to see our good friends, Court Walters and Susan Stewart in Yangon, and spend Christmas with them. However, since this would probably be our only visit to Myanmar, we obviously wanted to include several of the leading tourist sites. We “passed” on the beach resorts since we have plenty of those in Malaysia but did include Mandalay, Bagan (the site of an incredible number of ancient pagodas built in the glory days of the kings of Burma – C.11-13 A.D.), Inle Lake, and the old colonial hill station of Kalaw. Hopefully the following posts will give an overview of our trip, but Nancy’s top five experiences were:

1. Sunset on a flat-bottomed boat on Inle Lake,
2. A 4-hour tour of the pagodas in Bagan on a horse cart,
3. Seeing the floating gardens of Inle Lake
4. The boat trip up the Ayeyarwady River from Mandalay to Mingun, and
5. The delightful hot baths at the hotel in Kalaw when the temperature outside was at or near freezing, and there was no heat in the room except for a fireplace!
Ron’s top five were:

1. Sunset from an upper level of the Shwesandaw Pagoda in Bagan with a host of other tourists as we saw a full moon in the eastern sky, a couple of hot air balloons to the west, and innumerable smaller temples dotting the landscape in every direction,
2. A ride to some rural development projects outside of Kalaw in a vintage WW2 jeep,
3. A canoe return-trip after walking across a famous 1.2 km. teak bridge near Mandalay,
4. The floating gardens at Inle Lake, and
5. Sitting in front of the fireplace—and tending the fire—at our boutique hotel in Kalaw!
Other highlights for both of us were:
• A crowded Christmas Day worship service in Yangon which included four pastors from Chin State singing in English and in 4-part harmony, “There Will be Peace in the Valley,”







• A Christmas Day dinner with Court & Susan at a hotel in Yangon that had a dining room overlooking the whole city, and
• A New Year’s Eve buffet dinner at our Inle Lake hotel that was followed by a program of music and traditional ethnic dances that lasted ‘til midnight (we left early)!