Mandalay

Ever since the sanctions were lifted off Myanmar, we had been very interested in visiting the country - particularly before it had become commercialized with Starbucks, McDonalds, etc. This lack of international investment made it very difficult to travel there as only until recently did ATMs start popping up and credit cards became more widely accepted, even at hotels. With these complexities, we decided to use a tour company to help us with the logistics of navigating our trip through several cities, the first of which was Mandalay. 

Our adventure began in the north of the country in Mandalay. Teak comes from this part of the country so many things were made from this hard wood and this monastery was no different. 

The wood allows for some beautiful carvings but unfortunately many of the temples have burned down over the years.

Our first day in Mandalay we learned real quick how to dress in a Buddhist religious site. Shoes off, pants below the knees and no sleeveless tops. This made for some very dirty feet by the end of the day. Men and women also wear a longyi.

At the main pagoda in Mandalay, we were lucky to witness a "novice ceremony" -  where a family sends their kid off to to live with the monks for a period of time. Since it is such an elaborate ordeal with rented clothing, traditional umbrella holders and even photographer and video recorder, many families will do it once for multiple children at the same time or split the cost with another family. After the party, off to shave some heads!

We visited U Bein the worlds longest wooden bridge -  at least what was left of it. It was a shell of its former self with missing guard rails, missing boards, and rotted wood, but it is 150 years old. Needless to say you had to watch every step you took.

Once reaching the half way point, we climbed down and took a boat back to get a closer look at the bridge and the farmers living around the lake. After rainy season, the farmers will leave their villages and farm the fertile once submerged land but leave once the rains come as the water will cover the entire area.

Our guide in Mandalay 

We took another boat ride to Ava which is an island in the middle of the river to see some more sites. At the bank of the river, we picked up a horse cart to take us around the island. Before we could jump in the cart, we were accosted by several kids trying to sell us souvenirs. I made the mistake of telling them my name - then it was used repeatedly! "Philip, Philip you have a hard think, Philip" after I told them I was not interested.



As the cart drove off, one girl jumped on her bike and followed us for quite awhile. Admiring her persistence, we bought a little something.

There were more old teak temples.

 There were also huge stone temples.

We finished the day at a pagoda on Sagaing Hill which offered really nice views of the surrounding areas. While taking pictures, we were stopped by a family who wanted to take some pictures with us. This was the first of many times this happened during our trip as many people had never seen a foreigner in person. This was especially true in some of the more remote regions of the country that we traveled to during our 10 days in Myanmar.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a temple for nuns. This was the first place where we saw so many nuns but with most families sending their children to the monastery at some point growing up, it was not a surprise. The guide said she didn't do it when she was growing up because she didn't want to shave her head. Even though she has since changed her mind and offered to shave her head with her two daughters, they don't want to go since they would have to shave their heads also.

At the airport and off to our next stop, I noticed our boarding passes didn't have our names on them!? I guess it goes with the carnival token thing they attached to the checked bag as a baggage tag.

Extended Stay in Abu Dhabi

We stopped in Abu Dhabi on the way back to Hong Kong for a few days (or so we thought...to be continued...) It was hard to not compare Abu Dhabi to its neighbor Dubai (which we visited 2 years ago), but in every case Dubai had more to see and was just more fun. Abu Dhabi has the hop on hop off bus, so of course we did that for a day. Abu Dhabi's skyline is shaped by many uniquely designed skyscrapers...and an equal number of construction sites where future skyscrapers will be erected. 

While on the hop on hop off bus we saw jets fly over then they started doing acrobatic rolls while letting out smoke in black, red, white and green - the colors of the UAE national flag. 

Our last stop on the tour was the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque which is absolutely massive. The closer you get, the details from the carving to the inlaid stone like on the Taj Mahal become apparent. Before we got too close, a guard stopped Melissa and told her she would have to cover up if she wanted to go any further. We were expecting as much and she came prepared with a pashmina ready and waiting. As we got closer, we saw the line for Melissa to get the proper clothes to go inside (pashmina was adequate only for outside) and it was crazy long as the mosque had just opened up for tourists that day due to Friday prayers. We decided to pass on going inside and to just appreciate the view from the outside. 

We have been interested in taking a desert safari for a long time but it never worked out.  A few years ago in Dubai, we tried to book one but it was sold out and when we were in Qatar, we didn't have enough time. This time, we arranged our desert safari with dune bashing as soon as we arrived in Abu Dhabi. 

We were picked up from the hotel and driven almost 2 hours outside of the city before we switched to the land cruiser - then we headed into the dunes. Unfortunately we had a German family of four with us - we got a bit concerned when before we got started, the driver asked if everyone would be okay and the German father said his daughter came prepared and she held up her vomit bag - Melissa who was sitting next to her was not very happy about that. 

We pretty much just followed the SUV in front of us which made things a bit more concerning as we could not tell when we were about to go down a big dune until the SUV in front of us slowed down, then we would see the spare tire on the undercarriage reveal how steep the dune really was. We did that for a bit...along with some sliding horizontally down hill before we stopped to enjoy the sunset on the dunes. It was an awesome experience and one we won't soon forget! 

After the sunset, we went to the camp where they had the whole desert experience waiting for us -  a falcon, henna painting, arabic water pipes, traditional arabic clothing for photos, camel rides, sand boarding and even a gift shop. There was absolutely nothing there (out in the middle of nowhere), so everything had to be brought in - from the generators to the water - it was a pretty impressive operation. For dinner they had a large buffet of Arabic food which was pretty good, at least so I thought.. (to be continued....)After dinner they had a belly dancer which was not that impressive.

The next morning I woke up not feeling very well, but had a light breakfast which I was not able to keep down very long. I will spare you the details but we were due to fly out later that evening and mid afternoon I was feeling much worse and ended up going to the hospital. I was diagnosed with severe dehydration and food poisoning. After several hours and over $300USD, I was discharged and told not to fly for 3-4 days. Luckily we were able to change the flights to later in the week and extend our hotel reservation. 

After a few days of being holed up in our hotel room and taking the requisite prescriptions, I was feeling much better to where I could start eating again and even felt well enough to start walking around, so we took advantage of it and enjoyed the rest of our extended stay in Abu Dhabi. We went for a long walk down the corniche.... 

We found a Lebanese restaurant which was very good! So good in fact we had it twice! Look at the size of that flat bread.

By the end of our trip, we were so ready to get back home to Hong Kong!

Look! Goats in a Tree!

For our second day trip, we went to the coastal city of Essaouira located a few hours outside of Marrakesh Along the way, we saw one of the sites that we were most excited to see in Morocco...GOATS IN A TREE! When we first saw a photo of it, we were amazed and humored at the same time but that was short lived as we were told that it was just a tourist trap - local herders put the goats in argan trees just so that tourists can pose for pictures. Argan trees are very important to Moroccans as they use the nut for cosmetic oils which are exported, the husks are fed to animals, and the nuts themselves can be toasted and found in a wide range of Moroccan delicacies.

Our driver stopped at the first goat tree we saw. As soon as we got out of the car, one of the herders put a 7 day old baby goat in Melissa's arms. After I took a few photos of her, he gave me a goat too. Their little hearts were beating SO fast. I was joking with Melissa that it was because they were so worried about getting put up in that tree!

Essaouira is an 18th century fortified town with old walls and cannon lined ocean facing exterior walls. Inside the walls it is so easy to get lost in the maze of small windy streets.

Our guide took us to an argan co-op where the ladies pick, sort, husk, roast, grind, and sell it in its various forms. We were treated to a sample of some of the items that contain argan -  including an argan bread spread, argan honey, argan nut powder and argan olive oil.

After the tour was over, we had lunch at one of the many fresh seafood stalls, where we had some freshly grilled fish, shrimp, and sardines. After finishing up we were soon back on the road headed back to Marrakesh.

Up the Mountain and Through the Stream to Ben Haddou We Go!

We arranged two day trips from Marrakesh to get a better view of Morocco's country side and check out two World Heritage Sites. One day trip was up into the mountains to visit a casbah and Ben Haddou. The other was to Essaouira, an old Portuguese city on the coast.








As we gained elevation, the temperature dropped QUICK and at times we were driving through clouds! At one point the guide pointed out that we would be heading off the highway and we were soon on unpaved  back roads, slowing down for river crossings and sheep herders. After a few hours, we finally reached our first destination an old crumbling casbah in the middle of nowhere. Even though it was not in the best condition and the outside was crumbling around us, the details inside were amazing - from the carvings to the ornate tile work.

After visiting the casbah, we were back on the windy road to Ben Haddou. After a couscous lunch, AGAIN. We walked over to Ben Haddou. Its claim to fame is that it is in many movies from Indiana Jones, Lawrence of Arabia, and Gladiator and even The Game of Thrones.

Ben Haddou is a fortified city built on a hill and the views were pretty amazing from the peak not only of down below but also of the desert and mountains off in the distance. As we wandered through the narrow alleys uphill, we passed many people who still live there.

Making our way back to the SUV, we had to cross the river and the guide thought it would be more fun to take the rocks instead of the bridge. After watching Melissa, he was a bit unsure if she would actually make it all the way across so he enlisted one of the kids playing along the shore to help her across. He jumped into the mountain snow melt stream which was FREEZING and led Melissa across.