Mr & Missy in Myanmar - Day 6 & 7 - 24 & 25 Dec 2013

After a gruesome bus journey, we finally made it to the town of Kyaukse at 4 am. Famous for its Kyaukse Elephant Dance, this is the hometown of Missy's father. 

We would spend the next 2 days here witnessing a traditional Burmese Buddhist procession called the Ah-hlu. The Ah-hlu basically is a celebration that is held for a family when they donate generously to the local Buddhist monastery. Missy's youngest uncle had recently donated and held the Ah-hlu procession also to send his sons to become monks at the monastery. This is a traditional rite of passage for all Burmese Buddhists boys to show their coming of age. They typically spend a minimum of 3 days at a monastery to follow and learn from the monks. For me, it was truly an honour to be able to witness such a procession as I have never seen anything close to that before.

 Young girls take part in the procession too! Ear piercing ceremony is the rite of passage for girls.

Mr & Missy in Myanmar - Day 5 - 23 Dec 2013

As we started the 5th day of our tour, first stop was the iconic Htam Sam cave, located 19 km east of Taunggyi (1-hour drive away from Taunggyi). Believed to be one of the longest caves in Myanmar, Htam Sam is found in Hopong Pa-O self-administered area.  From the entrance, it did not seem like there was going to be much to see inside but the moment we stepped in, we were taken aback by its natural beauty inside. Never, ever judge a book by its cover. 

Limestone and natural rock formations littered the place and were truly a sight to behold. They reminded us of icicles, just in the form of rocks. Also, further down in the cave, various Buddha images were scattered around and at the end of the path was a small waterfall. 

Discovered only recently, this cave currently does not have the popularity of Pindaya Cave but surely in time as more people come to know about this, it will be a new tourist hot-spot.

Mr & Missy in Myanmar - Day 4 - 22 Dec 2013

We were ready and packed our bags by 7:30 am and headed to breakfast.  The previous night, we had arranged with the boatman to fetch us at 8 am. Our plan was to have breakfast, check-out from hotel but leave our bags at the lobby, go around Inle Lake, collect our luggage from hotel and go back to Nyaung Shwe Jetty.

At the beautiful Royal Inle Resort / Inle Palace Resort