Day 60 - 62 - Bogs, Big Noses and Orang Utans.

Our next destination involved a local flight to Sandakan, to the north west of Sabah and once boasting the world's greatest concentration of millionaires!!! .............. must be hiding out in the mountains somewhere! Although Sandakan acts as the gateway to some of East Sabah's natural treasures, it was very clear from our arrival the those natural treasures were being squeezed to destruction by the massive de-afforestation taking place to make way for more and more Palm Oil plantations. The landscape would be awash with Palm Trees, as far as the eye could see, a landscape that was once indigenous jungle and natural habitat to thousands of Borneo's wild creatures from Orang Utans to Proboscis Monkeys, to the more delicate flora and fauna was being destroyed and replaced with Palm trees. We heard from the locals that this is now becoming a National problem.

We arrived early in the morning and our drive from the Airport revealed many sea shanty towns along the route into town, but it was interesting to see that one thing appeared to link all classes and nationalities ......... Manchester United!! ....... The great marketing machine was ever present on huge bill boards, posters, walls and shanty town buildings throughout Sabah and many SE Asian coutries, with Liverpool following closely behind ............ I did notice a distinct absence of Leeds United posters!!

In town we wander the streets with rucksacks, desperately searching for a good place for Breakfast, which proves a huge task as choice is most definately limited! ... and as the temperature slowly rises, both outside and inside! we eventually, after much disappointment, come across a place on the waterfont which will have to do as hunger is now setting in. We then have a little bit of time for school work and journals, following breakfast, but this is proving a little difficult with Fred and Imogen who are simply not in work mode and a few frustrations follow. As Harry completes his work, he and Jo venture into town to a very local (ie not a word of English to be had anywhere) clothes store (on three levels) to buy him some shorts - it is quite an experience for them and a pair is duly purchased for the grand cost of a pound, then it is into a supermarket for lunch provisions. The modern retail complex opposite, that is near completion boast prelets to Body Shop etc so the retail scene here looks set to change very shortly. With a little bit of success on the schoolwork front we pack up to catch our 11.30am, two and a half hour bus transfer to the 'Nature Lodge' on the Kinabatangon River (Sabah's longest River) in the Borneo jungle.



Once on our bus journey the children enjoy the various huge animal sculptures on the roundabouts en route, but it is shocking, once again, to see the mile upon mile of Palm Tree Plantations in front of us, with ornate signage and security huts at the entrance barriers of these huge organisations. It is quite amazing to see first hand the huge scale of clearance that has taken place and this is just a minor snap shot of what has happened all over Sabah. Even when we arrived at the 'nature reserve' and took our first boat trip down the river to witness some spectacular wildlife, in the upper reaches of the river parts of the opposite bank had been devastated by logging and palm plantation.

The children, armed with binoculars, spotted some great wildlife ranging from the elusive Proboscis Monkeys, with their unmistakable huge noses! ................ this of course produced the obvious humourous banter of Monty Pythons 'Life of Brian' 'Big Nose' sketch!! ................ and boy did the males have big noses!! ........... "Big Nose ............ who are you calling Big Nose!"' .................. apparently the larger the nose, the more attractive and virile the male? .............. and you guys thought it was Big feet!! .... We also saw huge crocodiles, monitor lizards, snakes, bearded pigs, hornbills, silver haired monkeys, storks, kingfishers, the ever present ubiquitous Macaque monkeys and were extremely fortunate to see two wild Orang Utan. They are very solitary animals and difficult to see in the wild and it was strange to see one Orang Utan, on his own, standing bolt upright, looking very human, on a very large branch of a tall tree, staring across the jungle. It looked exceptionally lonely and sad but perhaps with the overwhelming loss of its natural habitat, this was not surprising. We didn't manage to see Pygmy Elephants that lived in this area, but caught their tracks in the early morning.

Having seen the size of the crocodiles slipping into the river on our early morning jaunts, it was amazing to see several fishermen wading up to there chest, with fishing nets, smiling as we passed and seeing our astonished faces, making crcodile movements with their hands in a joking manor. ................ and as our guide quietly informed us that a couple of years ago, a fisherman was devoured by a large Crococdile, .... I somehow felt that perhaps it was the crocodile that would have the last laugh!



As our boat headed back to camp, the light fading as dusk fell, we would witness an amazing sunset along the way, with silhoueted fruit bats flying overhead, some with a wing span of more than a metre in length.

FREDDIE HOLDING A GIANT CENTIPEDE

Our Jungle Lodge comprised very basic bunk accommodation with central washing and open air shower facilities and a large open air dining hall for meals and temperatures were hot and humid. We went on Jungle walks during the day and night! (with torches) and as the mud was sometimes very deep, wellington boots (provided) were essential. As our jungle guide explained that during walks, to avoid 'Tiger Leeches', ....... we should wear long sleeved shirts and long trousers tucked into our socks! ...... (now you must remember, that to an 8 and 9 year old, hanging off his every word, the thought of a Leach the size of a Tiger conjured up a significant problem that sent their little hearts racing and frantically searching for their return Air Tickets to England, ......... and no matter whether you were wearing shorts or long trousers ....... who was he trying to kid that, that was going to make a difference!!!) ................In any event, we all stared uncomfortably at each other as our limited hand luggage packing, for this trip, didn't run to such luxuries, so shorts and t-shirts it was. As we learnt from the jungles of Laos, at least with shorts and t-shirts you could see these silent blood sucking little buggers on your skin and get them off before they devoured a couple of pints of blood and left you haemorrhaging for the next two hours!!! With long trousers, they would still find their way in but you had no idea they were there!! ..........

Our young guide was extremely knowledgeable, in particular about the medicinal uses of some of the local plants, with various interesting tales handed down from his grandmother. The mud on the jungle walks was deep in places with your wellies frequently becoming firmly stuck with the suction and Imogen's rather small pair of wellies were no match for some paths. This meant I had to carry her under my arm on several occassions, like a sack of carrots, while trying to negotiate the tricky and unbalancing suction steps myself, keeping one eye on the 'Tiger Leeches', but unfortunately not being aware of the stinging caterpillar hairs that I managed to brush passed on one unbalanced occassion, with my arm. It was like several needles being stabbed into your skin every 10 minutes for about 5 hours. ....................... but, we all managed to avoid the blood suckers ..... this time!!

The second evening we decided to miss the night walk and catch up on a few emails but Fred, looking like 'Jungle Jim', armed with his torch, camera and survival pack, decided this was not to be missed, so we sent him off on his own (with guide) to explore the night creatures of the jungle. He was so excited when he returned as he had managed to see a Bush Baby at very close quarters, which they hadn't seen at the camp for several months and his photograph of this extremely shy creature, with huge bulging eyes and hopping like a Kangaroo, was amazing!! As Fred, at the tender age of 9, was normally more reserved than Harry, going off on is own, with no other family member, was quite a big step, but we certainly noticed a huge interest in wildlife from him. ...................... and with Fred I am sure that 'wildlife' will occur in more ways than one throught his adolescent years!!

The food at camp was very good and apart from the friendly rat that would run along the eaves of the dining hall, causing Jo to shreik out loud from her serious rat phobia and the guest that mistakenly took my flip flops, leaving me barefoot in the jungle, feeling like Zola Budd, ............... we all ate well, slept 'reasonably' well and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

After our Kinabatangan River experience we were due to head back to Sandakan, but instead stopped off at the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, which is only one of four Orang Utan Sanctuaries in the world as Borneo is the only place where Orang Utans and Proboscis Monkeys cans still be found in the wild. The apes are brought here to be rehabiltated into forest life and are fed twice a day, where from viewing platforms you can witness these amazing creatures at close quarters. It is understood that Orang Utans are actually 96.4% human! .............. I rather tend to believe the other statistic, that my children are 96.4% Orang Utan!!

Sepilok has rescued many young Orang Utans that have lost their parents by either poaching or deforestation and are then left helpless, unable to fend for themselves. They are brought to Sepilok in the hope that they can be rehabilitaded. They are extremely sociable animals and the young orphans will often cling to each other duriing the early years for comfort and some young Orang Utans can take up to 10 years before they are confident enough to return to the wild, but Sepilok has had many success stories. The children are certainly learning a lot about environmental issues and the need for a balanced approach between commercial gain and the natural environment.

Whilst viewing the young Orang Utans at feeding time one of the young ones came gracefully down to the walkway and literally brushed passed the children as it made it's way, slowly and inquisitively, to the feeding station. The children couldn't believe their luck at being able to get so close.
Imogen was very keen to take one home with her but not enough room in the rucksack!







Leaving behind the Orang Utans as the Sanctuary closed, we patiently wait for a local bus, but after half an hour of waiting it is clear the bus was never intending to turn up, so we manage to find the last cab just outside the Sanctuary and head back to Sandakan. We decide to ask our cab driver to take us via the Sandakan Memorial Park on the way, but just before we reach our destination the heavens open and the rain comes down in torrents, which with all of us in shorts and t-shirts, it was going to be a challenge but no reason to call off our visit. We all run through the park to reach the pavilion for shelter and spent about an hour inside reading and listening to a bit of history. The Memorial Park was constucted to comemorate the 2,500 Australian and British POW's who died in Sabah during the Japanese Occupation. We thought this would be a good occasion to let the children understand some of the past atrocities of WW2, carried out by the Japanese and the stories of Sandakan concentration camp certainly didn't hold back in their descriptive presentations. It was also an education to Jo and I, as we had no real idea of what was going on in Malaysia during WW2. - Officers were separated from the ordinary soldiers and sent to Ranau, where they were treated with a small amount of dignity. The ordinary soldiers however were put to work building the air strips and generally beaten and starved. Then in 1945, there were three 'death marches' to Ranau. The men were made to march 200km through the jungle, again beaten and starved on the way with no malaria protection or first aid. Six men managed to escape and survive the horror of those marches and the remainder died either en route or from disease shortly afterwards. The six Australians were the only survivors from the 2,500 POW's and it was only through their testimonies after the war that the Japanese Officer in charge was tried at a war tribunal and executed for his part in this horrific scar etched in the history of War.

The rain eventually subsided as we headed back to Sandakan for a comfortable nights sleep in the Sandakan Hotel and following an early morning breakfast at 'The Fat Cat Bakery' we boarded a boat and headed out to Turtle Island.

Day 55 - 59 Kota Kinabalu and Budding Jacques Cousteaus

After leaving the hussle, bussle and 'black marketeers' of Yangon behind, we headed for Kuala Lumper (KL), the capital city of Malaysia and then a direct transfer on to Kota Kinabalu (KK), the capital of Sabah, Borneo, another two and a half hour flight. Kota Kinabalu, lying between the green peaks of the Crocker Range and the waves of the South China Sea, was formerly known as Jessletown but it's name was changed in recognition of Malaysia's highest peak, Mount Kinabalu at 4,095M.

Although Harry, now almost 12, didn't usually eat the delights of aeroplane 'food' on account of his travel sickness, I did notice him eating a bit of chicken curry!! Harry now, had not actually been travel sick since the second day of our journey, not even with all the driving through Laos, which was truly amazing and hopefully, I think, he is well on his way to being cured! This is a great and unexpected result! ........ Following a quick and necessary chocolate fix during transfer at KL Airport, having not experienced the taste since we left the UK and rather resembling a heard of thirst quenched wild animals at a water hole after 55 days wanderring in the desert heat, we connected our transfer through to KK on Malaysia Airlines.

Unfortunately, Malaysia Airlines food was probably not the best flying food to test Harry's stomach, but his chicken curry, on the Yangon to KL section, proved edible. Imogen's chicken curry on the other hand, didn't. She had clearly chosen the 'sale or return ' option, when chosing her curry, as she decided to give it back outside the Kota Kinabalu Airport Arrivals zone, just before getting a taxi to town. It was now getting on for 10.00pm and we hadn't had time to book any accomodation in KK, but after a quick bit of homework and price haggling, we booked in to the Best Western Daya. With only one emergency stop on the waterfront, allowing Imogen the joint pleasure of taking in the late night sea view and depositing the last part of her meal on the promenade, we got to the Hotel and went straight to sleep, with Harry, Fred and Imogen in a king size bed and Jo and I next door in an interconnecting bedroom.

Unfortunately, at about 1.00am Harry, who has been sleeping next to Imogen, quietly drifts into our bedroom and calmly .... I assume still half asleep ....... and waking us up, ......... announces that Imogen has diarrhoea and it's all over his leg and Imogen's teddy! As WE were still half asleep and he seemed so calm about such a hideous event, we thought he was probably sleep walking or having a very strange dream and clearly needed to be quietly escorted back to bed. However, on enterring their bedroom, the unforgiving and pungent smell revealed that Harry was fully compus mentus and quite accurate with his assesment!! ........ PANDAMONIUM ensued with lights on, all children awake and out of bed, Imogen directed speedily to the shower, bed sheets and duvets stripped and pilled tightly to try to control the smell, lest the other 200 guests in the Hotel become subjected to a full evacuation of the building as the unrelenting aroma made its way in deathly silence through the hotel air conditioning system! ........................ Jo, unable to stand the smell, remained in our room for as long as she could!, I assume hoping the firebrigade would soon arrive with full breathing apparatus! ............. not good!!! ................ However, I was extremely impressed by Harry's calmness at this situation! as he too was hosed down in the shower! and without going into any more detail, housekeeping arrived and helped us change the beds and I ended up roaming the streets trying to find an all night 7/11, at 2.00am in the morning, in search of baby wipes, man size diapers (all they had!!), disinfectant and divine intervention from God!! ...................... hopefully Imogen's troubles would be short lived and salmonella or campila bacta was not what we were dealing with!!

The next day revealed Imogen looking a little more perky and taking it very easy it today, we were hopeful that the divine intervention had paid off and the remaining man sized diapers could be saved for another day! .... or hopefully not as the case may be!

The next couple of days were spent chilling out and spending rather a lot of time at the Tourist Information Centre, with an extremely helpful lady, working with us to plan our itinery for the next three weeks; sorting out my Sipadan diving licence, together with our planned trip to conquer Mount Kinabalu for Harry's 12th birthday and seeing the Orang Utan's in Sepilok. It all took time!! ... but was pleasantly interspersed with much need Coffee sessions at the 'Old Town White Coffee' house and 'The Coffee Bean' in central KK. ......... I certainly have never been served a Pint of Latte before!!

We were soon introduced to 'Pat', who came to our hotel to organise my Sipadan Licence and also kindly agreed to take us to the Airport to organise a couple of internal flights, along with his wife and 2 young children, who had just finished school. On the way back we joined them for dinner, at a slightly 'different' restaurant facility, the food of which was not too good, after which they very kindly dropped us back at the waterfront, whereupon Imogen, clearly remenissing on her last visit to the promonade, promptly threw up! ............... mmmmmh? maybe not quite cured yet! .................. hopefully another sachet of dhioralite would do the trick!

To prepare for my Sipadan dive I needed to organise a local refresher dive and Jo is keen to join me, as she has not dived for about 5 years, so we headed for 'Sabah Divers' and duly arranged refresher dives for Jo and I, together with a 'Discover Scuba Dive' for Harry and 'Bubbles' dive for Fred and Imogen. This meant we could all be together and take a boat over to Sapi Island within the Tunku Adbul Rahman National Park, some 15 minutes by boat from KK. The children were extremely excited at the thought of experiencing REAL scuba diving with all the equipment ...... and in the sea!! ........ in fact they could hardly contain themselves. Imogen, although still not 100%, insisted she was absolutely fine and fit for duty! ....... so, keeping a watchful eye on her, the following morning, we all headed for Sabah Divers, were given our kit and boarded the dive boat to explore the coral reefs of Sapi Island.

The children were excited and equally anxious about this amazing adventure they were about to experience and Sabah Divers had special small Air Tanks and BCD's, wetsuits, masks and fins for them to use. Their first experience on the Island was a beach entry dive where the children had to show their competence at mask clearing and regulator removal, ensuring they were comfortable with the equipment under water ......... quite a task for them as it was their first time, but they all passed succesfully. With the excitement of the experience still in one piece, we all went off for a shallow reef dive in the surrounding waters and the young budding 'Jacques Cousteau's' began their real underwater discovery. Harry with Jo and I and 'Nev' our very calm and knowledgeable Kiwi instructor and Imogen and Fred with their own Malay instructor, Jason, all making our way over this beautiful sea garden of coral and extravagantly colourful fish, with the odd 'sting ray' hiding under rocks or speedily escaping our view, to numurous black sea slugs that resembled underwater cigars, slowly filtering the sand for food and much to the children's fascination, leaving behind amusing rings of sand poo ................. which was ..... just sand really. They eat sand, they poo sand, they eat sand, they poo sand ................ maybe my life is not so bad after all!! I suspect sea slugs frequently dream of having a gourmet sand souflee with a side sand salad, followed by an exquisit sand roulade, with a topping of fresh whipped sand, washed down with a fine glass of 'sand claret' and finsished off with a nice cup of sandaccino and an after eight sand. ............. 'wooh, life's a beach!

We all climbed back on the boat, changed and headed for the Island for a well earned lunch stop, the children excitedly recounting all of the things they had seen. After some basic but welcomed food of chicken fried rice, we rested a while, watching huge Monitor Lizards roaming freely around the Barbecue area hoping to find some easy food for their lunch ....... hopefully not the children!! The children were extremely excited to witness these huge reptiles strutting around with their fork tongues, constantly sniffing the air; there must have been a dozen or more.

Our next dive was to comprise a backward roll off the side of the boat and this created a whole new level of anxious excitement amongst the children. ............... this was real 'Jaques Cousteau' stuff for them!! We boarded the boat and headed off to another coral reef off the Island. Once at the dive site, we donned our dive equipment and prepared for the backward roll, off what was a fairly high drop as boat dives go! .... Harry in, .... Imogen in, Freddie ................ a few double and triple checks of all his equipment as he was contemplating the hight of the drop and whether or not following this huge backward role, he would be gobbled up by a shark!, eventually ..... and succesfully, completed the roll and enterred the water with a confused splash!! With the 'OK' signal from all, they started their second underwater adventure, but Fred was feeling a little uncomfortable as he had been sufferring from a sore throat and the dry oxygen from the dive tanks was not helping, so he climbed back in and decided to sit this dive out in the boat. However, whilst we were underwater, Fred managed to see wild Probuscis Monkeys in the trees and even on the beach ........... which was a pretty amazing sight.

This second reef was even more colourful than the first, with a huge array of beautiful coloured fish and coral, resmebling a summer meadow in full bloom, beneath a turquoise blue sea blanket glistening in the sun. We saw lion fish, moray eals, more sea slugs, beautifully coloured giant clams exposing their intricately decorated velvet lips, more sea slugs, trigger fish, angel fish and hundreds more. All in all, a great introduction to the undersea world and certainly an education for the children on what has been a very privileged day for them. Jo has also rejuvinated the bug for diving and I am sure Fred will come into his own in a few years time.



Back in Kota Kinabalu we finish the day with an easy Pizza and Pasta at the local Italian Restaurant on the ground floor of The Jessleton Hotel, and discuss the days adventure.

Unfortunately we had some great photos of the children on the dive boat in all their gear completing their backward rolls, but we had Jo and Imogen's cameras stolen whilst in storage at the Best Western Hotel.

As we can't fly for 18 hours after diving, we spend the next day roaming the shops of KK as Jo was keen for a little retail therapy and as the limited amount of clothes we had taken with us were now looking a little dishevelled, we stocked up on a few essential items, ready for our next journey to the north west of Sabah, Sandakan.

Day 51 - 54 Legs, Lakes and Orange Umbrellas

It was another early start and armed with our packed breakfast and a few packets of the local tamarind pod sweets (The Taramind Tree produces pod like fruit, which is very sweet and tasty. Also good for indigestion, but too much can act as a laxative!) to keep us going, our taxi driver took us to Bagan Airport for our journey north east to Inle Lake and the home of the famous 'Leg Rowing' Fishermen. We persuaded him to drive us around Old Bagan town on the way, passing many more temples and we finally arrived at the extremely small Bagan Airport. The children were once again in a state of 'Aeroplane' excitement and the usual threats of abandoning them or exchanging them for a couple of goats and a mangostine, didn't carry any weight! ............... at one stage Freddie was on the rollers following the luggage into the x-ray machine, which in front of surly Burmese Officials was probably not the best move! ......... but that was all I could think of doing to keep him quite!! We were in desperate need of a coffee after eventually getting through immigration, but this involved Jo having to go back out of immigration to meet a lady with a flask of hot water and a 3in1 Nescafe coffee sachet!! .................... eat your heart out 'Cafe Nero'!

We eventually took off, ......... with all the children, .......... and as I did not have the pleasure of sitting next to Fred (my 9 year old) on the plane, both myself and other surrounding passengers were content that this fight would be successful and that nothing was likely to fall off the plane, such as wings or engines and that we were not about to be imminently chopped into small pieces by a loose flying propeller blade!! ...................... However, those sitting across the isle from us were not assured of such a successful mission!!

Amazingly the Plane was 25 minutes ahead of schedule and I think the pilots worked on the same basis as the 'refuse collectors' over in England, that the sooner they get finished the sooner they get home!

We landed, successfully, at Inle Lake Airport and hadn't quite appreciated that out Hotel was some distance away. Approximately 50 minutes by taxi, followed by an hour by boat!!! ............. Wow!! ..... I was hoping for a 10 minute jaunt down the road and a hot shower!! - Not only that, but as with Hotel prices in Yangon, the taxi fares had risen dramatically and were much greater than the Lonely Planet guide had suggested, .... about 400% greater! In a country where the only money you had was what was in your pocket, this was not good news. Although we tried to find another mode of transport after getting cross with the head honcho of the taxi monopoly for ripping us off, after 45 minutes, it was clear that everything went through him!! .... there was clearly no alternative but to eat humble pie and go in his 'best' car with his brother-in-law driving us. ............. mmmmmmh!!

It was a pleasant journey driving through the countryside, villages and towns, passing different landscapes, from fertile rice fields to undulating forests and passing large oxen pulling carts and pony and traps full of bamboo as well as people. We eventually arrive at the Town of Nyaungshwe, although on entering the Town we have to stop at a small Government Office to pay to enter the Inle Lake Zone. ...... more dollars!! Our taxi driver informs us that we have to pay $5.00 for adults but the children will be free, but when we get to the desk, the officious looking female Burmese Government Official, insists that we pay for each of the children. As it is getting closer to the point of running out of money before we actually reach our destination, every dollar now becomes extremely important and worth fighting for!! However, as tempers are getting high and Jo reluctantly hands over the $25.00, I manage to get her back in to the Taxi before she is arrested! ....... However, our friendly Taxi driver states that we should have asked to see the official government paperwork to show that children have to pay, but he emphasises that he cannot be seen to be getting involved or his life could be made difficult. With this ammunition in tow and feeling slightly wounded, it now becomes a huge matter of principle and we ask him to turn around and head back to the government kiosk. I am by now getting a little fed up with the Burmese way of seemingly extorting money out of tourists, for what appears to be, not a lot in return, when the country makes it so difficult for tourists to get hold of money in the first place. The Taxi pulls up, back at the road kiosk and I re-approach our officious uniformed lady and in an even more officious way, insist on seeing the Government paperwork that states children have to be charged to enter the town. As expected there is no paperwork evident and she informs me that her boss has the only copy. .. I insist on meeting her boss, so that he can show me the respective paperwork, but this, apparently, is not possible. .......... with an invisible sigh of relief,.... as I had visions of her Boss resembling Al Paccino in 'Scarface', ..... I explain, in no uncertain terms, that I am not leaving until she refunds the charge for the two younger children, but she flatly refuses ...... and I refuse to leave. ........ It's a Mexican Stand-off!! ................ It was like a scene from 'The Good The Bad and The Ugly' ........... Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef! ... I was The Good, she was The Bad ................ and things were about to get Ugly!! .................. Eventually, after a battle of eye contact, she puts $5.00 on the counter, saying she will refund the youngest child, ........... and with a visible chink now in her armour, I insist that unless she can provide a copy of the government paperwork we are not leaving until she refunds both younger children! .............. At this time the discussion is getting very heated and the Burmese language does sound very sharp when it's angry!! .... in the back of my mind I am now assuming at least 10 years behind bars in the darkness of a Burmese prison, ....... House arrest is out of the question as I don't have one! .. but I am placing my faith in the posters I have seen around various towns stating 'We look after tourists' .......................... What exactly 'look after' means in Burma, I was possibly about to find out!! ......... but it was now principle and a battle of wills! ..... ..... 'play it cool Trig, .... play it cool' I was thinking to myself, ... (but don't lean against the bar!!) ..... and staring directly into her eyes, I refused to move! .................. so $10.00 it is!! ... could be today, could be tomorrow! ........ Eventually she slaps down $10.00 on the counter, with a look of complete disdain, whilst our taxi driver has a huge hidden smile and with a sharp 'THANK YOU!' we go on our merry way, safe in the knowledge we have food for another day!! .... and the taxi driver and some of the locals having had at least $10.00 worth of entertainment! ................ However, principles and naivety can sometimes run hand in hand, as our officious young government employee now has all my detailed passport information and somehow, getting out of Inle Lake might be a little more difficult than getting in!! ......... and, as with every great spy movie, I now needed to keep my eyes open, especially at hotels and cafe's ......... to see who was watching me!!! ...... Paranoia was already setting in!! ................... It does bring to mind a popular National joke in Myanmar that has been doing the rounds in the streets of Yangon: - "George Orwell wrote not one novel about Burma, but three: Burmese Days, Animal Farm and 1984. It would be funny if only it wasn't so poignantly true."

We eventually get dropped off at the pier to get a boat to our Hotel and our friendly boatman negotiates a good deal for us to have one of his boats for the day at a reduced rate so that we can explore the huge lake and hundreds of inlets in and around the floating villages. We also learn that the only way to reach our Hotel is by water and the only way to go anywhere from the hotel is by water and the boat taxis are not cheap!!!

Leg Rowing Fishermen out on the Lake and 'Egrets' galore.

Inle Lake is within 'Shan State' which is vast and untamed, with rebel groups, warlords and drug dealers living in its mysterious mountains, which remain largely unexplored. The Lake itself, hemmed in by mountains and populated by floating friendly communities, is classed as one of the most beautiful lakes in South East Asia, a picture of rural tranquility, remote, lush, green and fertile. Amazingly the Lake is situated 875m above sea level and is nearly 100km, north to south but only 5km wide and there are more than 200 villages on or around it, the local people of whom are mostly known as the 'Intha People'. On board our traditional boat complete with chairs and orange umbrellas, we headed out of town along the initial inlet, passing homes, businesses and many trading boats. It soon opened up and revealed a huge and beautiful expanse of water, against a backdrop of mountains and you could see why Inle Lake was classed as such a beautiful area.

Orange Umbrellas and Chinese Egrets

We were staying in two very nice little chalets, perched on stilts above the murky brown water of the Lake inlets, the tide of which was extremely low at the moment and during high tide would normally be a couple of feet from the balcony. The villagers rely on their gardens to harvest tomatoes, which are their main crop and as all of the gardens are literally floating on the water, the tides don't affect the crop. The ripe red tomatoes are consumed locally with thousands of green tomatoes being transported to Yangon and Mandalay, ripening on the way. The floating gardens have all been constructed by the local people and they are dense enough to walk on, your feet sinking in the thick green matting as you cautiously move along!

We were taken to a local restaurant for lunch, the food of which was very palatable and the usual chicken curry was on the menu, which the children were all getting used to, and actually requesting now at most eating houses. As we would be boat-less for the next two days, we needed to stock up on food supplies so one of the local men took Harry, Fred and I across a very ropey bridge to the local shop, ............. well it was somebody's house, with a shop at the rear and we eventually completed our food/snack list as we had left Jo and Imogen wandering around a small 'Silver' factory, although the language barrier made the shopping interesting! Luckily one local boy had accompanied us to help with translation! We also noted that every village had its own large Monastery, with many Monks to feed, but as with most places we visited, the Buddhist Monks were looked after very well by the local people.

Back at the stilted chalets we chilled out watching the sun set across the inlet, with the last of the work boats heading home before dark ..................... usually enjoyed with a couple of sundowners!!

View from the chalet balcony at sunset.

The next couple of days we spent catching up on school work and diaries with a table set out on the balcony outside the lounge which worked very well. We would watch the boats and 'leg rowing' fishermen go by as the very friendly Manageress looked after us. She was a lovely lady who was very pleased to see the children, as she had two adopted children of her own, but as she and her husband worked from 5am to midnight at the Hotel seven days a week, she could only get back to see them once a month, when she took a couple of days off. The children stayed with her mother so they could attend a good school, the youngest being 8 years old, the same as Imogen.

Tying the boats up at sundown

We enjoyed our short stay at Inle Lake, which was a complete contrast to both Bagan and Yangon and early on the morning of day 54, we were picked up by our friendly boatman and taken back across the Lake, to find our boat owner had organised a bus, just for us! to take us to the Airport for our flight back to Yangon. The children were very excited to have their own bus, but amazingly with 19 spare seats on the bus for just 5 of us, the children still insisted on sitting on our laps for most of the trip! ............... so not as comfortable as one would have hoped, but very endearing!

A Bus just for us!

We managed to get out of Inle Lake, without difficulty, ............ No stopping at 'Check Point Charlie!' although as we got to the Airport on went through customs, Jo did get rather worried as they appeared to take my passport to one side for a while!! ................. maybe I was about to be 'looked after'!! ..................... but we were eventually let through, without a fight and the flight back to Yangon was short and succesful.

Back in Yangon, we had to make a stop at our 'Black Market' money man in Scot Market to make sure we had enough local currency to get through our last day and night in Yangon, where we managed to book a little better accomodation as they reluctantly agreed to allow payment by credit card! ............. This wasn't by swiping the card through a machine, this involved me filling out a form with all my credit card details, addresses and security numbers on!!!! which would then be faxed over to my bank, who would then facilitate payment and confirm to me via email!! ................. wow!! ............... what a palarva! a bit worried about whose hands that piece of paper might fall in...... but no choice!

Yangon was as busy as ever and we bartered some fresh fruit for lunch and went up to the 'sky' bar for a panoramic view of the city at sunset, washed down with a cuople of very small cocktails!! and on the way back to the Hotel we went past Aung San Suu Kyi's house which was heavily guarded and our taxi driver was very reluctant to stop as he would be pulled over and questioned.

Fresh street vegatables and Mangos

Jo bartering for a fruit lunch.

Yangon at dusk ................... and oh dear ................. I think they are onto us!!!!! Well it looks like we might not be leaving Myanmar after all!!!





Myanmar is a country going through change and hopefully that change will be for the better, but local people still fear that it might all fall down like a pack of cards very soon. In the days before military rule, simple things such as having people over for dinner and staying over was normal behaviour. However, with the Military Government, LORC (Law and Order Restoration Council) was established and every person now had to be back in their homes by 9pm!!, or had to report to LORC their whereabouts and frequent checks would be undertaken. Failure to 'report the guest list' could result in a fine or a prison sentance for both the guest and the host! Nobody could go away for the night from his own home without informing the local LORC as well as the LORC of the place he will be staying. This is one of the things that has now been relaxed with the current political changes happening in the country which includes the recent election and swearing in of Aung San Suu Kyi into Parliament but there is still a long way to go and local people are hoping that they will feel a little more secure if these changes can last and continue through to 2015 - it will take this long to enable foreign investment to flow in as currently the infrastructure to allow foreign ownership for longer than the length of a parliament session is not there.