Inle Lake is a popular tourist destination in Shan State, Myanmar. The lake offers incredible sites because the lake is active with people and is set in front of the Shan Hills. People fish off of boats using a large cone to funnel in fish. Houses are built on stilts in the lake. You can … More Inle Lake
During our stay in the village, we had a few opportunities to farm. We got to harvest chickpeas and peanuts. People in the village predominately eat food that they have grown themselves, so there farming is for subsistence. A chickpea field after we had harvested and bunched the chickpeas Chickpeas A peanut field after we … More Farming and Food
After leaving the villages, we stayed at a resort in Bagan. Arriving at the resort was shocking given the stark contrast from the village. We were welcomed with warm towels, some fruit juice, and the WiFi password. They even delivered us mid-afternoon cake everyday to our rooms. I immediately took a long, hot shower. I … More Humbled After Leaving the Village
One of my friends was teaching English in a “rural” town, relative to China, called Fenyang. I traveled from Beijing to Fenyang on the train. It took a while for me to figure out which gate to go to at the station in Beijing because the station was huge and all in Chinese. When I … More Fenyang–A “Rural” Town
We went on a 20+ mile hike along a mountain in a National Forest in Myanmar. The hike was led by some Burmese rangers, and we went through an “path” that had not be taken by people before. While we hiked, our bags were being carried by elephants. The elephants took different routes than us … More Trip to Myanmar National Forest
We were taking a cruise along the Irrawaddy River. For one of the stops on the cruise, we visited a 200-year-old pagoda. We climbed to the top of the pagoda to get views of the area. There weren’t set paths to get to the top of the pagoda so you had to do a little … More The Time I Touched a Monk
I flew from Yangon to Beijing on the same Malaysian Air flight that had gone missing a year before. I arrived in Beijing late at night, and my first meal in China was McDonald’s for breakfast the next morning. I spent a few days in Beijing and was able to see many of the main … More Beijing
After staying in a village near Chiang Rai and harvesting pineapples, we visited Wat Rong Khun. This is a contemporary Buddhist temple intricately designed and completely white. Afterwards, we continued staying in various Akha villages in the Chiang Rai region. Many Akha live in hill tribes in Northern Thailand. Many speak Akha Language and believe … More Chiang Rai
During our visit to Chiang Mai, I got plenty of massages, drank plenty of Thai tea, and ate plenty of Pad Thai. We got to explore the city and see some of the main tourist sites. We were also in Chiang Mai during the Flower Festival, so we got to see beautiful floats and designs … More Chiang Mai
The Ginger Globetrotter 