Exploring Treasures of North Myanmar

Bagan is a Unesco World Heritage site, well known for its thousands of temples and pagodas scattered across a big plain. The temples were built over 1000 years in red bricks and still stand strong today.

Bagan - Land of Pagodas

There are a number of prominent big temples to explore. One such is Dhammayanyi Temple, the largest in Bagan. Cycling or electric biking is the most enjoyable ride to explore the temples in a day. The temples could be few floors high on the ground. Viewing from the platform on the higher level provides a bird's eye view of the temples across the plain.

Horse rides for sunset

Dhammayanyi Temple from afar

Irrawaddy River 

The most enjoyable moment was standing on one of the temple tops to look out for a gorgeous orange sunset far away in the sky...

Sunset in Bagan

Another memorable place to explore is Inle Lake. We reached Inle lake via trekking from Kalaw after 2.5 days of trekking and a boat ride through the lake to reach the town.

Inle Lake Pier

Early in the morning, the misty view with bustling life around the open market in the canal was a memory to treasure. Big wooden boats were parked along the narrow canal while the workers were busy transporting the giant rattan baskets of vegetables and tomato into the vessel.

Tomato from the lake

Big basket of cracker

Traditional wood frying

Local produce leaving the lake

A boat ride around the lake to visit the fishing villages was exciting experience to have a glimpse of the rural life in the lake. One unique product from the lake is the hand made silk made from lotus weaving. I remember the bright sunny light shined upon the water that reflected a vibrant lake life. 

Monks in boats

Buddhist procession in the lake

A local market for tourists?

Enchanting lake

A village in the lake

Mini Bagan in Inle Lake

Traditional fishing method

Sunset in Inle Lake

Lotus weaving

Exploring the underrated towns in South Thailand

Khao Lak is a small town near the famous Phuket and Krabi towns in south Thailand. It consists just a row of shophouses along the 1-2 km stretch of the trunk road, but can be a relaxing place to escape.

Khao Lak Town

The key attraction is to explore Khao Lak National Park.  It takes about 30-45 mis to trek from one end to the other that ends with a secluded bay with blue water beach. Sitting there enjoying a breezy wind and dipping in the unwavering waves is truly a natural luxury.

Hidden beach in Khao Lak National Park

Approaching the end

A walk to the beach in town during sunset is another checklist,. Even though the big round egg yolk sun is partially hidden behind the rock, the orange and red sky illuminates the sunset scene. There is also a night market on weekend to savour the local street food.

Sunset at Khao Lak Beach

2 hours away on the other east side of South Thailand, lies Surat Thani, the gateway town to the less explored tourist triad islands, Koh Samui, Koh Phagan and Koh Tao. The port is just right in the town centre, where big passenger vessels can be seen parked along the river. 

Surat Thani Port

There is nothing much to explore in town but one thing that attracts is the night market on weekend which is gaining popularity as a tourist attraction. Varieties of street food can be found. 

Bugs for sale

Colorful local delights

I personally prefer the morning local market, where the typical local livelihood can be experienced. I like to go to the market to get the spiciest and hottest fresh chili paste to cook the famous spicy red, yellow and green curry. South Thailand cuisine is more spicy compared to North Thailand.

Spicy chili paste

My most memorable experience is to countdown for New Year on 31st Dec in this quaint Surat Thani town square next to the river where floral display was part of the countdown festival.

Colorful bridge

Firecrackers to countdown for new year

The Mystery Plain of Jars

Xiengkhouang province in North East Laos is an underrated tourist destination, but it holds the treasure of past in Laotian history. 

When we landed in Phonsavan in the province of Xiengkhouang, we had to walk 30 mins to our guesthouse in the town centre. I remembered it was a dusty isolated outskirt feeling during the walk. It was the lunar new year for the Chinese community when we we landed in this province, hence we could see some Chinese decorations in some of the Chinese descendants of the Laotian shops.

Phonsavan Town

The guesthouse we stayed was a famous guesthouse called Kong Keo, run by a Laotian family. It was the host of the guesthouse that brought us to the adventures of Xiengkhouang in the next few days.

Kong Keo Guesthouse

In the next morning, we visited the local market and some typical local villages in the outskirts. The roads were dusty and the houses were mainly made of attap and woods. The laterite roads plus the yellow sands transformed the village scene into a bright brown surroundings. There were bull carts and chicken coups around.

Squirrel for sale?

Beautiful land

Traditional village

Rice grinding

Memorable childhood

Nearby, there were big craters caused by bombing during the Vietnam war with US in the 70s, as the province is near North Vietnam border. Xiengkhouang indeed is an UXO (unexploded ordnance) district where there are still remnants of unexploded bombings around. Therefore, it is unsafe to stray from main roads and there could be unexploded bombs planted in the ground long time ago. Not far away, there is a beautiful waterfall.

Crater from bombing

UXO

The main and must see visit is the mystery Plain of Jars, the UNESCO megalithic archeological landscape. There are more than 2100 tubular stone jars scattered across Xiengkhouang plateau. There are different version of stories on how the jars came about. It is believed to be more than 2000 years old, starting from 500BCE. Some said the jars were used to store rice wine while scientists believe they were used as urns for the dead as human skeletons were found inside the jars.

The mystery Plain of Jars

For burial or rice wine?

On the 3rd day, we trekked to an unnamed beautiful hill, where the past could be partially explored. On the hill, there are tunnels made by the Vietnamese to escape and hide from the US armies during the 70s war. It was a wonderful trek, overlooking gorgeous barren valley below and passing by some farm houses.

Savannah in Laos

The hidden tunnel

Awesome scenery

A farmhouse

The endless road

This province is indeed one of the places I love the most in Laos besides the 4000 islands in the south. It is isolated, peaceful and less developed, therefore, giving a sense of tranquility..