Ethical Seven Star Tours - Inbound

👨‍👩‍👧👨‍👨‍👧‍👦Family bounding trip with kid activities 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧👨‍👨‍👧

What do kids like ? They are energetic, they are curious with everything including flowers and animals. The trip is created to be an enjoyable one for both parents and children. The program consists of culture, nature, visit and wash elephants at the camp and short trek in the Shan mountains. The program can be modified to your preference 👩‍❤️‍👨

For more detail: www.ethicalsevenstartours.com

What is your favorite breakfast?

In Myanmar, Mohingar (Burmese Fish rice noodle soup) is one of the Myanmar people favourite dishes. Mohinga is the hearty fish broth served with thin rice noodle. Usually topping with hard-boiled egg and gourd fritter.

Myanmar people love it as one of the favourite breakfast but it can be seen as the common snack throughout the day.

A Traveler’s Memoir 03: Holy spirit of people

It was Sunday when we visited Rathepyan Gu (Gu means Cave ). It is noticeable that Hpa-an and its landscape is full of limestone caves. Being Buddhism country, the ancestors offered Buddha statues inside the cave to worship and keep it as a holy place.

Days like National holidays, Saturdays, Sundays and Holy days the caves are full of visitors and pilgrims. We walked to the cave and were surprised by the invitation to have Butheekyaw ( Gourd fritters) by a local. I saw a group of people cutting gourd, some mixing cut gourd with batter, some frying them in a huge wok, some preparing a dipping sauce, some arranging the fries into plates and offer to the visitors and some doing washing and cleaning the plates. Another surprise is that they cook snacks for visitors every weekend except during 3 holy months and are free of charge.

We learned that the abbot of Rathepyan Gu has arranged this to feed all visitors with the donation money they received and it is part of their meritorious deeds. I found everyone looks happy and content. I don’t see any worries on their faces and they all look healthy.

I visited around the cave, did prayers and continued to the pier for a boat tour to Water Caves. Different from other caves I mentioned above, Water caves are filled with water during the rainy season and reachable by boat when water level gets lower. The water caves were discovered by a group of Cavers from Shepton Mallet Caving Club in February 2019.

The boat tour was well equipped with life jackets and hats for passengers. It was a pleasant trip to water caves through green surroundings and mountains above us. Upon reaching the gateway, the walls above us were low so that we could touch it. Inside the caves was quite dark and specious that we used torch lights for a better view. We kept going towards another gate for better scenery outside the cave and returned to the pier. Have lunch at a famous San Ma Tu restaurant and rest.

to be continued next week…….

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[Ep.5] Le Myanmar depuis les Airs / Pindaya ➤Une nouvelle vidéo chaque Vendredi à 16h00 sur la chaîne de Shelduck Production ! ➤Shelduck Production vous emmène tout droit dans sa nouvelle série "Le Mya...

Traveler’s memoirs 02 : Stop ,Talk & Mock with villagers.

We wondered around the village of rice wine brewery, meet & chat with locals. Even villagers couldn’t speak English well though they were clever enough to communicate by signed language & using a few English words. They have sense of humor & kind to others.
Most of the villagers living there are Karen races.

We continued walking to Letkhana village where they produce Palm sugar. They live in very simple hut made of bamboo/ wood and teak leaf or thatch for roofing. Most of their daily works are simple as well. In every household, the husband climb Toddy palm trees to collect juice after that the wife prepares at home to cook that juice until it gets thick. Then the thick cooked juice will be dried in sun by making pieces until it finally become palm sugar. Well, their life is that simple.

I did travel to many destinations new and old in Myanmar and visited some of the palm sugar production places. Although I had tasted many palm sugars before, never been tasted as fresh and natural as this small village’s palm sugar. I like it much and I bought some for home in order to help the community.

At this little messy old hut, I tasted fresh toddy palm juice which the land lord kindly picked up from the tree freshly and also tasted fermented toddy palm juice which locals consumed as their daily wine after their long-day work. I watched him climb up the palm tree, collecting juice in bamboo jars and climb down with jars hanging around his waist. It was just awesome!

With the help of my friend, I managed to find a small restaurant for lunch. There were not too much variety of food, but are clean ,tasty and simple. After Half day of activities like Kayaking and walking, we rested for a while at the restaurant having local green tea and Myanmar tea leaf salad with condiments (Tea leaf salad is traditional snack taken after meals).
After lunch we started to walk again through rubber forest to another village. About 15 minutes walk we reached at Thalagu Karen Buddhist village who practice Buddhism staunchly. They build their own houses, they weave their own clothes and they earn their living by farming. Men wear white long dresses and women wear red dresses. Children wear white long dresses called Thin Daing. Near at a hut one of the ladies is weaving teak leaves for roofing and I can see her expertise in her work. They seem to like isolation from other community and want to be on their own society and stay strict to their believes. They are humble and welcomely greet when a visitor come to their village.

I was invited by one of the households and visited to her house for a cup of tea, she explained about their village life and customs. My interest is to talk with elders about their lifestyle and authentic herbal medicine. I learned and gained lots of knowledge about genuine village lifestyle and nature.

Later on, we enjoy around the village by watching children playing & ladies working in their compound. Time is running fast. When I checked my watch, I found out that I have spent a couple of hours already.
Although I loved to stay more , it’s time for me to go back to my hotel............ to be continued next week.

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Durian

Durian is one of the famous products of Mon State in Myanmar.
Credit: Mingalapar

Traveler’s memoir - 01

Kayaking over Paddy Fields (Hpa - Aan)

On one sunny days of October, heading towards North -East of Yangon, not far from Kyaiktiyo Pagoda (Golden Rock), we reached to a little cozy town,Hpa-an. October is just after rainy season when paddy fields are filled with water.

Traveling like local is the best way to explore the nature and culture for the destination, therefore we took the express bus from Yangon to Hpa- An with other locals. Bus was not beefed up, it took us thru historical cities like Kyaiktiyo, Thaton, Belin.

Sun was quite high during day travel, but to protect the heat all car windows were covered with curtains. Luckily, I got a nice seat at the corner. It took about 7 hrs drive from Yangon and arrived Hpa-an in the afternoon.

After some rest, we visited some famous spots of Hpa-an afterwards we enjoyed my delicious dinner at night market which is full of authenticity where you can try Karen meals, Mon meals,Thai style cuisine , etc. I tried native meals that I couldn't get in Yangon or any big towns.

Next day early morning starts with Kaw Ka Thaung Gu , a large lime stone cave full of Buddha statues . We visited the cave and walked a few minutes from the cave to the restaurant at road side where we start our journey for Kayaking. Kayaking on Paddy fields are unlike any other experience. We are in amidst of nature, water is calm, paddy fields are below us ,Paddy birds here and there & mountains overlooking at us. I just simply enjoyed being enchanted by the nature of Hpa-an.

We kayaked for about half an hour and stopped at a village. We left our kayaks and start walking to the village where they make local alcohol from rice. They use locally harvested rice to brew , which I brought one bottle . This local rice wine is very strong with high alcohol percentage. To drink, you need to add adequate amount of water to dilute it. It is very good for marinating pork and meat. I cannot get such authentic wine in town.

We continued our venture by walking to another village.....

to be continued next week..




Photo credit: Ma Hnin Kayak