Pyin oo lwin

Edward and I were up early to catch a share taxi to a town two hours drive outside of Mandalay. The winding drive took us up through mountains with beautiful autumnal views. We were dropped off at a village 9km from town and noticed a village festival was being set up. We asked what was happening and was told it was Independence Day. We went through the village and started on an hour long trek to a waterfall. The trek was very steep and we were already dreading the walk back up. We met lots of Burmese tourists and locals on the way down. The fall was stunning and we enjoyed sitting, drinking tea and observing the shameless Burmese taking hundreds of selfies. We wanted to start the trek back up before it got too hot and witnessed two rich Burmese kids being carried up the path lying in hammocks attached to a large bamboo. Pretty lazy if you ask me! 

Edward and I managed the steep climb up and was even taken the rest of the way by a pick up can full of very friendly Burmese girls. In between the giggling we found out they were all friends in Mandalay and studied at the university. Once we arrived at the village we found the festival in full swing. Kids were eating ice cream and the men were participating in local games. One was a tall piece of bamboo that had lots of oil on it and the guys had to try and climb it. The locals found it very funny when the guys slid down. Another game was two men sitting on a piece of bamboo with a pillow in one hand that they had to use to try and hit the other guy off the bamboo. There was a great atmosphere and we got lots of smiles and 'hello's like always.

We ventured into town once our stomachs began to grumble and found a very busy Indian restaurant. We were given a lot of food and it was very tasty. Next stop was the national botanical gardens. We had a walk through an aviary and saw some lovely looking birds and a cheeky monkey being fed by a monk. There was also a music festival. We didn't have tickets like the locals but were told we could go in for free just because we were tourists. This shocked us both because we are usually always charged at least 5 times more than the locals! 

After a long day we got a shared taxi home and had a very yummy dinner!