Part 1 - Bangkok & Myanmar
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I was awake fairly early around 7am and as the Austrian was packing in the room I decided to have breakfast. By the time I had got there they had already run out of some things but they did bring out more. I sat talking to Sam from Israel who I'd planned to drink with yesterday but he had come back late from dinner and he hadn't known about the balcony. I tried to book a room at Kalaw but couldn't fine much so I treated myself to some more rest afterwards before packing up my bags not just to move but also so I could join a trek straight off the overnight as the area was busy probably due to the festival nearby and prices were to high so I thought about just taking the overnight bus there and going straight on a trek. Used the toilet and this time I used up the last of the toilet paper, then forgot to replace it until about 10 minutes later - guess its not so easy to be a great backpacker. I left the hostel around 11 and decided to see the waterfall and hot spring and as I didn't have too long I rented a bike. The paths on the map were not as smooth as expected and there were streams for irrigating the fields to cross. I got slightly lost but found my way to the cemetery which was on the basic map I had been given. There were lots of Chinese graves there as the area is closer to China. Next came a rubbish tip and then it was gravel and mud paths to the waterfall which was empty when I arrived so I took some pictures and had a well deserved swim to cool down as it was pretty hot. I left the waterfall and people were on their way there but I went back to the cemetery to go a different path to the hot springs. The concrete path soon became a mud path but it was ok to cycle until there was a river crossing the road damn! I mean dam, there was a dam there but not a normal looking one and so I needed to wade across the river which was not that hard apart from when I took a selfie of me with the bike in the river. Then I cycled along and passed some people swimming but I kept going and found a place in the stream/river deep enough to get in but not to swim. I went back and there were more people there who turned out to be German. One showed me that there was a small rock pool which was the hot spring. I got in and it was warm but too shallow. Turns out they had crossed the river further down which was harder. We all headed back and saw a pagoda before going different ways and I went to the hostel to book a bus ticket but they couldn't book me one so I went to another place who booked me on the 4.30 bus and told me to turn up at 4 at the bus station which was a bit of a walk. I took the bike to see the last thing a standing up Buddha and then got some food before returning and picking up my bags and walking to the RC bus station. Got there before 4 but was more of a rush than I had wanted for the day and I still hadn't finished my book so I read some more and at 4.30 the bus didn't turn up and at 5pm the bus still wasn't here and a German pair from the hot springs turned up as they had booked the 5.30 bus and were told it was running late. They were also planning to go trekking when they arrived at Kalaw but went for coffee across the road as they had an hour before their bus was due to come.
My bus turned up and there were about 7 of us getting on but they had no luggage storage so we had to carry our bags onto the bus and my big suitcase was a problem especially as they had fold down seats so the aisle was not wide enough. I left my suitcase near the entrance as I didn't understand what they were doing and someone picked it up and put it on a seat behind me with the other bags. The coach was pretty full and not too comfortable so I didn't sleep too much over the night and I was woken up about 4.30am as we had arrived in Kalaw and it was raining. I got out as did another couple and a motorbike guy offered them a hotel for 6,000 for the night which is cheap so I went along and got a room for 8,000 for myself and went to sleep until close to 9am.
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