Liddy........Tasha, my little sister, wanted some detail about the practicalities of our travels so I thought I'd write a more mundane blog entry about life on the road, which many may wish to skip!
First question was how Mike and I are finding travelling together. Luckily this is going well and we seem to have settled upon a mutually agreeable attitude towards what we do. We tend towards the more basic end of the travelling spectrum (have now abandoned the Lonely Planet's midrange accommodation section and are firmly in the budget hotels). This means we are spending 15-20 dollars a night and Sam and Meg are getting accustomed to sharing a bed. We started them off top to tail but they didn't enjoy that so they are now up at the same end and the nightly fighting over whose legs go where is getting shorter. Sam has taken to waking up in the middle of the night and shouting random words (last night it was green beans, then he keeled over and went back to sleep) whilst Meg is perfecting the art of falling out of bed and remaining fast asleep on the floor.
We are sharing the chores, the main one of which is washing the children's clothes, which is a mightily boring task, let me tell you. I have to confess that they are not absolutely spic and span all the time. Neither are dry at night (though Sam is finally heading in the right direction) and although the local method is just to let them wet the bed, we don't really feel able to do this so both of them are in a washable nappy. These are enormous great things and whilst we are feeling very proud of our minimal environmental impact, they do take up half a pannier between them and most days see me cycling along with a bright pink thing flapping around on the back of my bike in an effort to get it dry!
Rows have so far been at a minimum though the Pleasants family travel on their stomach, so we all go a bit quiet / grumpy in the hour or so before we manage to find food.
Luckily we both seem to agree on what is a good amount of cycling to do each day. Our philosophy is definitely that it is meant to be fun and not a route march. Our ideal daily cycling distance is perhaps 30-40km which may not sound a lot but is enough for us once you factor in the kids, the panniers and the heat. We have tried to work out how much we are both carrying but this always descends into banter about who is carrying more and is therefore fitter / working harder (not that we are a competitive bunch). In truth I suspect that Mike has the heavier load but I figure that this is compensated by the fact that Sam 'helps' to a certain extent whilst fatty puffs Meggles just sits there and chats away singing 'wind the bobbin up'.
Next question was about the food. This is good but Burmese fare is not up there with the other Asian greats. We are eating a LOT of fried rice and fried noodles which are tasty but not wildly exciting. The Burmese have much the same attitude towards garlic as the French and so we all permanently stink but it seems to help keep us healthy. Generally though, it is a cross between Thai, Chinese and Indian, without being quite as good as any of those. The Chinese influence, particularly up here in the north of Myanmar, is pronounced with Chinese music, TV and restaurants everywhere.
Someone else asked me about the toilets. These are Western style in hotels and squat everywhere else. Mike has discovered that he can't squat so very conveniently, is unable to hold Meggles over the loo. Both Sam and Meg seem to be coping with this set-up fine although the other day Sam wanted to show me how he could 'flush' a squat with the bowl of water next to the loo, and ended up splashing number twos all over himself and then falling over in the loo in his consternation. Charming.
Last question was about whether we have met many other travellers. This answer to this is an emphatic no. In Bangkok there were a few other people with kids but we weren't really in the mood. In Myanmar, in the majority of places that we have been to, we haven't seen any other foreigners. Obviously in Bagan and Mandalay there are other people around but really not many at all, especially when compared to other countries in the region. I read somewhere that from January to September this year, there were only 4800 British visitors to Myanmar (plus about 5500 French and 6000 Germans); given that this must include business people, it is perhaps not surprising that we haven't met a whole load of travellers. Also, I guess that we are not a very enticing proposition to most backpackers so perhaps people don't come our way.
That's it for now. Mike is writing a post but after this we will probably be offline for another couple of weeks.
First question was how Mike and I are finding travelling together. Luckily this is going well and we seem to have settled upon a mutually agreeable attitude towards what we do. We tend towards the more basic end of the travelling spectrum (have now abandoned the Lonely Planet's midrange accommodation section and are firmly in the budget hotels). This means we are spending 15-20 dollars a night and Sam and Meg are getting accustomed to sharing a bed. We started them off top to tail but they didn't enjoy that so they are now up at the same end and the nightly fighting over whose legs go where is getting shorter. Sam has taken to waking up in the middle of the night and shouting random words (last night it was green beans, then he keeled over and went back to sleep) whilst Meg is perfecting the art of falling out of bed and remaining fast asleep on the floor.
We are sharing the chores, the main one of which is washing the children's clothes, which is a mightily boring task, let me tell you. I have to confess that they are not absolutely spic and span all the time. Neither are dry at night (though Sam is finally heading in the right direction) and although the local method is just to let them wet the bed, we don't really feel able to do this so both of them are in a washable nappy. These are enormous great things and whilst we are feeling very proud of our minimal environmental impact, they do take up half a pannier between them and most days see me cycling along with a bright pink thing flapping around on the back of my bike in an effort to get it dry!
Rows have so far been at a minimum though the Pleasants family travel on their stomach, so we all go a bit quiet / grumpy in the hour or so before we manage to find food.
Luckily we both seem to agree on what is a good amount of cycling to do each day. Our philosophy is definitely that it is meant to be fun and not a route march. Our ideal daily cycling distance is perhaps 30-40km which may not sound a lot but is enough for us once you factor in the kids, the panniers and the heat. We have tried to work out how much we are both carrying but this always descends into banter about who is carrying more and is therefore fitter / working harder (not that we are a competitive bunch). In truth I suspect that Mike has the heavier load but I figure that this is compensated by the fact that Sam 'helps' to a certain extent whilst fatty puffs Meggles just sits there and chats away singing 'wind the bobbin up'.
Next question was about the food. This is good but Burmese fare is not up there with the other Asian greats. We are eating a LOT of fried rice and fried noodles which are tasty but not wildly exciting. The Burmese have much the same attitude towards garlic as the French and so we all permanently stink but it seems to help keep us healthy. Generally though, it is a cross between Thai, Chinese and Indian, without being quite as good as any of those. The Chinese influence, particularly up here in the north of Myanmar, is pronounced with Chinese music, TV and restaurants everywhere.
Someone else asked me about the toilets. These are Western style in hotels and squat everywhere else. Mike has discovered that he can't squat so very conveniently, is unable to hold Meggles over the loo. Both Sam and Meg seem to be coping with this set-up fine although the other day Sam wanted to show me how he could 'flush' a squat with the bowl of water next to the loo, and ended up splashing number twos all over himself and then falling over in the loo in his consternation. Charming.
Last question was about whether we have met many other travellers. This answer to this is an emphatic no. In Bangkok there were a few other people with kids but we weren't really in the mood. In Myanmar, in the majority of places that we have been to, we haven't seen any other foreigners. Obviously in Bagan and Mandalay there are other people around but really not many at all, especially when compared to other countries in the region. I read somewhere that from January to September this year, there were only 4800 British visitors to Myanmar (plus about 5500 French and 6000 Germans); given that this must include business people, it is perhaps not surprising that we haven't met a whole load of travellers. Also, I guess that we are not a very enticing proposition to most backpackers so perhaps people don't come our way.
That's it for now. Mike is writing a post but after this we will probably be offline for another couple of weeks.
Fascinating, Liddy, thanks for giving us the sort of insight which is usually so hard to get at even here at home.
ReplyDeleteI think you are both/all wonderful to cope with so many uncertainties and adventures as well as all that cycling - and still manage to enjoy yourselves.
How you going to keep em, down on the farm...!
Love to you all, Robin.
Glad to hear everyone is agreeing! Is everyone looking like a leaner, fitter version of themselves? Can't wait to see you - only 16 sleeps to go!
ReplyDelete