These kids were very shy...as in, climbed up onto our motorbike to have pictures taken with us. |
Once Liz found the puppies, the boat ride was forgotten. The bus was almost forgotten too until Kip pulled her away. |
But who needs boats when you have a bus station (read: empty lot) complete with puppies and local women selling all kinds of snacks from baskets on their heads. Plus, monks take the bus, so it must be good.
A Burmese woman sells fruit from the basket balanced
on her head.
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After a short two hour ride through parts of the beautiful countryside of the Mon and Kayin States, we arrived at Hpa An (pronounced: Puh Ahn). We had almost forgotten we were in a country where the government demands extreme, totalitarian control of its citizens, until we came upon an English translation of a billboard we had seen in several places (see below).
A multi-lingual billboard that explains the goals of the Myanmar government. |
Seeing as how we had no intentions of disintegrating the union, or national solidarity (at least for the moment...we had just arrived, after all) we decided to see some of the sights around the area, of which there are more than two.
And, since we missed out on our scenic ferry ride, we were lucky enough to find a willing boat driver to take us out for a three hour tour on the river, past river villages and many pagodas best viewed from the water.
View from the river of one of the many golden stupa topped islands. |
We may have gotten lost a few times on the back roads, but there were always plenty of villagers who, though they spoke no English, pointed us in the right direction. Kip even tried to ask this new baby goat for directions, but couldn't get a straight aah-aah-aah-answer.
At last we arrived at the Kaw-goon Cave, one of many limestone caves in the area that are religious sites. This cave, with statues and carvings dating back to the 13th century has its own monastery, koi pond, and numerous Buddha statues.
Kip gets a closer look at the intricate wall carvings of Kaw-goon Cave. |
Monks cross the bridge over the lake to their island monastery. |
Kip poses with this awesome group of fun kids. |
Now that was a great post. The people are always more interesting than "things."
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