And yet another day in Hpa-an, we climbed a mountain!

It’s called Zwekabin Mountain, and it’s the largest in the region–famous to all of our neighbors. Adam, Stephen  & I were keen to climb, but Nu and every other Burmese person we talked to generally chuckled, and said, “Oh, I’ve done that already.” Nu later said, “You do it once for the experience, and twice because it’s really beautiful. But if you do it three times, you’re crazy.”

We started one day about 6:45am, and began trudging up the steps. Again, both Thailand & Burma love to take very beautiful places and cover them in gold and concrete. So the way up was extremely steep concrete steps.

Here is a photo before we melted from the heat, so pretty much just after we started.

After this, we weren’t fit for photos. But we did continue to climb, all 3600+ steps. Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have chosen to do that with as sick as I was feeling, but hey–you only live once!

And the views were stunning!

There were hoards of monkeys all over at the top of the mountain. They were very friendly, walking with us and mostly waiting for us to drop something of value. They did manage to steal a can of pseudo-Gatorade from Adam.

After a rest at the top, we headed down the other side, which was a more pleasant hike. It was more of a natural path with rocks, rather than concreted steps. And still the amazing views on every side!

One day while we were in Hpa-an, Nu and her friends arranged a trip to the beach.

This is what we were told: it’s about three hours away, and then we’ll drive back that night. We’re leaving at 6am.

When I suggested bringing my swimsuit, Nu said they would probably all just swim in their clothes. At that, I decided to leave mine behind and wore jeans and a t-shirt that seemed “swimmable.” Stephen still wore his swim trunks and a t-shirt, since it’s pretty similar to his usual shorts.

When we came out in the morning at 6am, Nu was wearing a nice top–like black and flowy and fancy. It had sparkles. (It should be noted at that Adam was with us, dressed similarly. It was a cultural miscommunication, to be sure.) Stephen & I looked at each other, looking more prepared for what we’d call “a beach day” and 6+hours in the car; we decided we just had to go with it, particularly after asking a few questions and not really following the answers.

We left the house at 6am & left town at 8:30am, with 13 people in a huge van, trekking our way across Burma.

We drove for a few hours, and pulled up to the Death Railway Museum. We felt a bit underdressed, but went with it.

Turns out, it wasn’t really for the history–which was minimal, with three panes of info and about ten blurry photos. Instead, it was for the selfies. The entire place was built for selfies: selfies with trains, selfies with Japanese soldier statues, selfies with 3D art railroad scenes…it was for selfies.

Then we hopped back in the car and drove a bit further. A bit.

And stopped for lunch.

And got back in the car, for a very, very small bit we could have walked. And stopped at a World War II memorial cemetery, where we now we felt really underdressed.

Turns out this was for selfies, too, which took some adjustment. Culturally, you know what cemeteries are stateside, particularly memorial cemeteries. Instead, we watched friends climb into trees and pose by statues, or another group had a picnic.

We now understood why Nu wore a nice top. It was selfie day. So I’m in a whole lot of selfies with my hair thrown up on my head and a t-shirt on.

We did make it to the beach about 3:30pm.

The views around the beach were beautiful, with so many mountains on every other side.

The water was…a little murky and fishy.

The people were…very,very modest. Everyone was fully clothed and then some. They were also fairly fearful of the water, so no one was in more than a few feet of water. Adam & Stephen went out to chest level–after wearing swimsuits all day they wanted to make it worth it!–and received comments from every passerby.

I think these are the cutest bicycles made for two I’ve ever seen!

We stayed at the beach for a little over an hour. Then everybody changed clothes, we watched the sunset, and we went home. So though it wasn’t what we expected, it was a nice day!

One of the days in Hpa-An we visited a local cave. Both Burma & Thailand are infamous for taking beautiful, beautiful places and covering them in gold and concrete for temples. This was in some ways the same: we arrived to a temple and walked through a lot of gold, some blinking LED lights, and other things I might personally label “gaudy.” I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

The cave was absolutely incredible, though. We walked about a mile underground, up and down through this ginormous cave.

The end of the cave opened up into a beautiful lake that fed into the rice paddies. There were long tail boats waiting that you could hire to paddle you across the lake, through another cave, and down through the rice paddies.

This was probably my favorite part of our trip! It was stunningly beautiful, and long tail boats always feel whimsical! It’s the Burmese version of a gondola on it’s way through Venice.

In Sleepless in Seattle Tom Hanks describes meeting his wife, “It was like coming home, only to no home I’d ever known before.” Really, I always thought this was a stretch of a line. What does that even mean?

A few weeks ago we went with friends to Hpa-an, the city that our friend Nu grew up in. It’s also in the same area as most of our neighbors are from in Burma, and a place we’ve wanted to visit for awhile.

We drove across the border here in Mae Sot and hired a car & driver (which cost $30 for all five of of us!) to take us the three hours to Hpa-an. And for the first few days, all I could think was, How does this feel like home? How does a place I’ve never been feel so much like home?

So it was like coming home, to no home we’d ever known before.

But a home where we could speak the language–and there was only really one, which is an indescribable treat coming from Mae Sot! We could read signs and follow conversations.

It was like our street and our neighborhood–our favorite place in Mae Sot–exploded into an entire city and country. And now, they even have stores and businesses and streets and cars and churches. They can travel freely, as legals, and we can visit places and go out to eat.

We spent much of the week with Nu’s family and friends. And in some ways, we were the poor ones. They were treating us to meals and taking us to nice restaurants; they organized a trip to the beach!

It was surreal in many ways, and in all ways it was just lovely.

First, we love Adam and Nu & their daughter, Esther, so that made for a fun trip. We also really like Esther’s little voice calling us Oo Oo Stephen & Daw Daw Kelli, which is Uncle & Auntie. Hoping that spreads into this community, because it’s adorable.

Nu’s parents house was a beautiful, teak house, raised off the ground. The bottom level was dirt and for the practicalities of laundry; the top floor was for sleeping and cooking. While it was hot, we did have pretty consistent electricity and a fan.

We did have to work pretty hard for water: there was a well on the other side of the property, which I know in my head wasn’t really that far. In the morning and sometimes evening, I’d put on my sarong & Stephen his longyi or shorts, and we’d start carting water with buckets. We’d use a pulley and carrying two buckets at a time across the yard and through the trees to the house, filling two large storage buckets. After a number of trips, they were full; we’d start laundry. Laundry–by the inexperienced hand, at least–takes a whole lot of water. It also works up a sweat. And once you’ve finished laundry, you need to haul more water for showers. And then you shower, in your longyi, in the yard. It’s not easy.

But the well also becomes a sort of Burmese water cooler, where a lot of conversations seem to take place.

I also loved Nu’s great advice for us while we shower: Watch out for falling coconuts. When I asked how we should know they were coming, she said you can’t–they just fall quickly and randomly, and there’s really nothing you can do. I feel like it was really more of a vocalized waiver.

Another highlight was when her parents bought their first fridge. It was delivered to the house, where Stephen then strapped it on his back and carried it up the stairs. We were all impressed 🙂

We spent many days with Nu’s friends from university, and one of them had the cutest little son a little older than Esther. How cute is he taking her around on his bicycle?!

We enjoyed a few very Burmese-esque experiences, which we are adapting to very well, if I may say so myself.

These were some hilarious go-cart-like machines that moved very, very slowly. They also spoke only Chinese. But the kids were impressed!

Hpa-an was really beautiful. We loved going out in the mornings for a walk to the market and catch the sunrise along the rice paddies.

We had a few specific adventure days, so I’ll capture those in a few more posts!

Last week, we skated away to Bangkok for a few days to celebrate our anniversary (7 years!) and breathe.

In case you haven’t noticed, we need some space in our lives for breathing, and we’re working it in. {Not without effort! Last week we attempted an escape to camp one night away, but found our tent flooded before 3pm and we ended up at home drying off sleeping bags, a tent, and all our gear that was yet unused and wet. Apparently rainy season is not yet over.}

Bangkok is becoming our friend, offering anonymity, delicious Western food, coffee shops, used bookstores, clothes that fit…

We also visited IKEA, which I love and hate. I usually love it when I first walk in, because the possibilities are endless. By the middle, I wonder why I live where I do, when I could live in a house and country that allows for such nice, soft things and an item to creatively solve every minuscule problem. And by the end, I just want out and to go back home, to little mom and pop stores and real world problems that new pillows won’t solve. And IKEA really is that big, that I can experience this slew of emotions in one stop and have it autocorrect every time I type it in lowercase letters. Wow.

We did both nearly lose it in the Christmas section, because we might be the most homesick we’ve ever been right now. So we took a picture of the warm coziness that is Western holidays. Because sometimes the river you skate away on is just Christmas decor in a superstore!

For our anniversary gift, we went on a 60-kilometer bike tour outside of Bangkok. It started as we biked through the city in the midst of morning traffic–us and our guide on three bicycles on a six-lane roundabout at one point; at another point Stephen looked back and saw just a bus, who had squeezed into the bike lane between us. It was not for the faint of heart.

We made our way to the train station and then caught a commuter train out of the city to Mahachai.

Trains are such a great way to see a place! I loved seeing the variation of rural & urban; the wealth in Bangkok compared to the poverty.

Mahachai is a fishing town along the ocean, full of fisheries and farms, often worked by Burmese laborers, we learned.

It was a really beautiful bike ride along the ocean and on trails outside of the city. We had fresh seafood for lunch. We also took a ferry somewhere in there, which is another very fun way to make your way around a city.

In the afternoon we stopped at a sea salt farm, where we got to see and learn how they gather sea salt from the ocean.

This is all done by Burmese workers, who we got to chat with and loved that we knew Burmese and live in Mae Sot.

And it looked like snow!

We really loved the tour, loved meeting some more Burmese friends, and loved seeing more perspectives of Thailand.

We also took a night out in Bangkok to listen to live jazz!  It was such a fun trip to celebrate seven years together, with six spent here in Thailand!