last supper

i can't believe it

but the time has come.

this is a post about our last meal overseas.

sure there was a small breakfast the next morning,

some Burger King at the bangkok airport during a layover,

and several in-flight meals while traveling over the pacific ocean,

but this was our last true meal.

after five wonderful and sunny days in ngwe saung

where we did nothing but lay on the beach, read books, and try not to worry about life once we got back home,

we took our final myanmar bus ride (we are not missing those)

and spent the last 12 hours back in yangon.

after getting to our hotel we realized that we had a plethora of burmese kyat left

so we decided to splurge on a super fancy dinner.

it was a meal to remember.

with fabulous drinks, 

tasty food (quite a rare find for us in myanmar)

and great company,

including the wait staff who, of course, 

wanted to hang around and speak in english during our dinner.

i will never forget it,

and i especially will never forget how we were able to make it happen...

-e

the view during dinner. the shwedagon paya

turned out we showed up during happy hour when drinks were buy one get one free

so we got a couple...

steven's lamb, which was cheaper than the chicken.... we didnt argue

my comfort food. 

us. 42 hours later we landed in san francisco...

elephant camp

on one of our last days in myanmar

we decided to rent a scooter and go see an elephant camp.

i had been very excited to see some elephants 

ever since we landed on the other side of the plant

and couldn't wait to see a whole camp of them.

we showed up and there was a building full of burmese men

who told us to wait and the elephants would come to us.

we waited for a bit and finally saw the head of a giant magnificent animal

heading over a nearby hill.

the elephant came right up to us!

i was surprised at it's size

yet how gentle it was as we got close and said hello.

we spent some time getting comfortable

with the elephant and finally i felt eager to see more,

specifically a BABY elephant!

we asked the building of men if there were more elephants

and they said yes.

if we spent $10 and went on an elephant ride

we would get to see more elephants. 

so we agreed and watched nervously 

as the men strapped a small wooden seat to the top of the elephant 

and motioned for us to get on.

the elephant walked us slowly through the forest

and at one point even took us through a nearby river.

it was an extremely uncomfortable ride

but on the other hand it was incredible to see the power and 

precision of this great animal up close.

the ride took about an hour

and never once did we see another elephant.

we started getting the feeling that maybe there were no other elephants

and i think we were right because after an hour the elephant

brought us back to the building of burmese men 

who accepted our money and suddenly spoke

no english when we inquired again about seeing additional elephants...

-e

ngwe saung

our original myanmar "itinerary"

had us spending our last couple days

visiting yet another city full of payas, monks, and monuments.

near the end of our time in inle lake we were feeling a bit templed out.

each paya is stunning and magnificent,

but after weeks of visiting city after city full of them,

we were longing for an endless white sandy beach 

more then another golden paya.

we asked the friendly owners of friendly inn how to get to ngapali beach,

myanmars most stunning plot of waterfront on the shores of the bay of bengal. 

they were regretful that at this particular time of year there was no way of getting there,

and even if we did get there nothing would be open.

the owners didnt even give us enough time to have our hopes smashed

before instantly suggesting we visit the town of ngwe saung.

he said that is where his family loves to vacation and we would be going at the end of the rainy season,

when beds were cheap and rain was sparse. 

we immediately booked yet another amazing day of myanmar travel!

i'll spare you the details.

in short, it took us 24 hours,

a mixture of sketchy taxi rides,

overnight buses, 

a day bus which got a flat tire and spent the remainder of the journey

trying to catch up for lost time by weaving through traffic at about 100 mph,

and finally a three hour ride on the back of a scooter,

an hour of that through a monsoon...

but yet again, we found it hard to complain

once we got to our destination.

a small beachfront resort

where we got to stay in a duplex bungalow (for $35 a night),

falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves directly outside our door

and waking to sunny days full of walks on the beach and endless hours to read.

not a bad place to end an epic adventure...

-e

looking towards the beach from our little private porch

again...

we lost two of our cribbage pieces but found out small sea shells work just as well...

right outside the front door

sunset through our little canopy roof over the porch

sunset 

more stunning sunsets

taking a walk along the only road in town

animals rule the road here.

kaung daing hot springs

if you ever find yourself near inle lake in myanmar

with an extra day to do absolutely nothing with,

i would highly suggest renting a bike,

riding for half an hour,

and spending the day doing absolutely nothing...

at a hot springs resort....

-e

view from the springs

steven's version of doing absolutely nothing

a hive outside the building. it was HUGE

really...

sights around inle lake

after visiting the weaving shops

we spent the rest of the day

visiting a silver workshop,

stopping for lunch,

and visiting several monasteries.

the sights were beautiful

but some of the most memorable 

were seeing people living their day to day lives 

on the lake.

we saw kids swimming, families bathing, and school children 

paddling home on little boats.

it was a fantastic escape from reality...

-e

lunch!!

a silver smith pounding out a silver baby rattle 

burmese puppets 

the only public trash can we saw in all of myanmar...

weaving on inle lake

the first workshop we went to on inle lake

was a weaving shop.

the owner took us through the entire process 

from harvesting and creating the different threads,

(they used lotus, silk, and cotton)

then washing and dyeing,

next spooling the colored thread, 

and putting those spools onto the weaving machines

(i'm sure i missed a step or two here...).

we got to see workers demonstrating every process and they were each as fascinating as the next.

i could have stayed there for hours.

after seeing the entire process we were taken to a room

where we could buy products they had made

and i'm sure our boat driver 

got some sort of commission for anything we bought.

after being in myanmar for some time it became clear that everyone you encountered

from taxi drivers, to restaurant owners, to long distance bus operators,

any one who gave you advice on where to go or took you somewhere

got a commission from your business.

we also got to see weaving done by traditional shan women

which was captivating.

the three women we met were some of the kindest people we encountered

and used their small grasp of the english language

to say wonderful things about humans 

and how much they enjoy visitors...

-e

making lotus thread

lotus. the back one is washed, the front before washing 

silk and lotus mixed scarf 

beautiful creations

the shan method of weaving. they used cotton and silk

the most lovely shan women