Hpa-an

'This is Burma, it is quite unlike any place you know about'. Rudyard Kipling couldn't have put it any better. A country who for years has been isoated from the Western world, the evidence of which lies in its complete lack of any western logos; no McDonald's, no samsung, no Shell, no Starbucks, no Sony... Nothing. Everything is local and you really feel like you're in a new world or at least a parallel world. The globalism weed has not taken over in this part of the world yet a few seeds have been sewn as told by the sprinkling of coca-cola company products in shops and restaurants.
I crossed the Thailand-Myanmar border in the morning and was immediately approached by an English-speaking guy who asked where I was heading. He directed me through immigration, across to a money seller (at nearly 1000 kyat to the dollar, I was given wads of notes held together with elastic bands) and finally to a share taxi kiosk. Once I paid the fare to Hpa-an (4 hours for $13), I was directed to get into one of the vans and waited there for an hour until we had more passengers. Once more passengers arrived we moved to another van and were then on our way... 7 of us and the driver.
After only 10 minutes we were in rural countyside, looming hills and green forests. The dirt road was in a bad way and soon we were driving on 4x4 terrain and even driving across rivers (see pics). Then the most interesting part; every 2 kms or so we were stopped by a soldier with a HUGE gun with the letters KNL on his breast. This stands for the 'Karen National Liberation' Army who are fighting for the Karen state to be an autonomous region. The turmoil in the area explains why the border crossing was only opened two years ago. The soldier would talk with the driver who immediately handed over money before the two engaged in heated discussion, finally ending in further money being passed over. This bribery is the foundation of Burmese culture. This happened about 10 times, one of which the foreigner (me) in the car was of particular interest and nearly cost the driver more.
In the back seats of the van were three young lads from Yangon one of which spoke some English and could hold a conversation. At the lunch stop we talked about our lives and they were very friendly. The played their music in the car which included 'my heart will go on', justin beiber and Boyzone's back catalogue. We all sang along and they asked me to tell them what the songs were about as, in his own words, 'we can sing the words but we don't know what they mean'.
In Hpa-an I hired a tuk-tuk to take me to the caves in the surrounding countryside. They were filled with buddhas and shrines and one had fantastic views. The ride in the tuk-tuk was rather uncomfortable due to the awful state of the pot-hole ridden roads. It was interesting, however, to watch all the farmers in their fields as the afternoon sun faded. That evening I ate at a traditional Burmese restaurant. The food was incredible and comes with 10 condiments and dipping sauces. For dessert they have 'jaggery' which is coconut and cane sugar.Read more