We started our travel in Myanmar by visiting Myauk U. We spent 20 hours on a bus from Mandalay to get there.. but it was worth it! The place lies outside of the usual touristic track and so it’s not crowded with tourists. Actually we only met there only a couple of foreigners, which for us is a big plus. Myauk U is quite a small city not far away from the Bangladsh border and it even used to be a capital of Myanmar back in time. This place is a large temple complex, but it is not visited as the famous Bagan. Its unique atmosphere is created by simple but amazing things. When we think about this place we see monks wandering slowly along paths between Buddhist stupas on a foggy day, we recall our bike trip around the city on a warm and sunny day, climbing on the highest hills surrounding the city and admiring a breathtaking view of the city in the light of a rising and setting sun, a bath in a lake and watching a very animated competition in sport discipline called volley-football. We also see smiles of people selling food in a local market and we remember being invited to lunch by a group of just met activists. During our stay there we also went to visit people from Chin tribe living in villages that we reached after three hours of a boat ride. We met there a couple of women with tatooed faces who told us a bit about their lives. It really was a very exceptional experience for us as well as the whole time we spent in Myauk U and we will keep these memories for a very long time.
