A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a trip I was going on to Burma/Myanmar and how I was hoping our Not Too Tights would keep me warm. Well, I have a few things to report. First, if you haven't been to Myanmar and are considering it, GO. It's an amazing place with lovely people. Second, it may be warm during the day during peak travel time (November - January) but it's COLD at night. I guess that's why while we call it peak travel time, the locals call it the "cold season." I'm a genius, huh?
Fortunately I was eased into it. We started in Bagan, which was an amazing place with beautiful temples scattered about.
It got cold in Bagan at night, but we were staying in a hotel room that had a bit of heat, we didn't know at the time how lucky that was! Next we went to Kalaw, which is further north. There it got even colder at night, though we did have a hotel room and they brought us a space heater when we asked for it. After that it was the 4 day trek to Inle Lake. Yup, we trekked right along side many an animal.
These kids give a whole new meaning to "helping your parents around the house." And to think I constantly complained about emptying the dishwasher!
Ok, this is the funny part. At the end of the first day, we got to the house we were apparently staying in. It was a house made of bamboo, no running water, the "bathroom" was a little shack with a hole in the ground and the electricity was one light bulb hanging from a wire that worked for a couple of hours each night off of the energy it got from a solar panel during the day. Oh, and we were sleeping on a cushion on the ground in the main room (there were really only 2 rooms.) Ok, that's cool, we came for the experience. It was starting to get colder (uh!!!) so I went into the "kitchen" to hang out.
After several minutes of being amazing watching how someone could cook such good food in this kitchen, I asked when our bags were arriving. The guide looked at me rather confused and said, "Oh, when we said we will bring your bags to the next hotel, we meant the hotel at the end, not the guest houses in between." So there we were, first day into a 4 day trek with nothing but the clothes on our backs and the few extra things we kept to bring warm before our bags arrived (tights, wohoo!!) Not a toothbrush in sight. Hi-larious.
I don't have pictures to show you of this part because my iphone died and thus my camera. But for 4 days straight I wore the same clothes and every evening I added a fleece, hat and tights. And I have to tell you, when you are sleeping on the floor of a bamboo house (basically outside) in 40(F) degree weather, you are going to need your tights!
When we finally arrived at Inle Lake (beautiful, see below) I don't think I've been so happy in my life to see a shower, bar of soap and heat.
In conclusion: go to Burma, get accurate information about what you will be doing and bring tights to stay warm (and it helps to have the kind that aren't so uncomfortable that you hate doing EVERYTHING in them!)