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

Have you guys read the news that Myanmar will be named as the World's Best Tourist Destination for 2014 by EU? 

[http://www.business-standard.com/article/international/myanmar-to-be-named-world-s-best-tourist-destination-114030900300_1.html]  

Myanmar Day 6 - Kyaukse - 24 May 2012

After non-stop travelling, we decided to relax! So we slept in, did some sight-seeing around Kyaukse, played with my niece and packed our bags since we would be leaving for Yangon with an overnight JJ Express bus.

The only highlights of the day were
1) sightseeing around Kyaukse on Dual-Sport motorcycles which were driven by my daredevil male cousins
2) picking mangoes at the mango plantation!

Myanmar Day 3 - Mandalay - 21 May 2012

After we got ready for the day, our driver had not arrived yet.  So we decided to walk from my aunt's place to my grandma's place.  It was just a 5 min walk.  But hey, it was still a chance for Mister to see the bustling town in broad daylight! haha

Kyaukse Clock Tower