Myanmar was spectacular. It is a land of temples and shrines and of elephants and gold. It really is a hidden paradise. Myanmar is the second poorest country in Asia, though it’s hard to tell considering all the gold they put on their temples and other religious sites.

We spent the first day exploring Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar. We went to a large park and walked around. Our next stop was the Reclining Buddha. It’s apparently the same length as the Statue of Liberty is tall. Although, upon seeing it I don’t think it’s really that big. Our last stop of the day was the Shwedagon Pagoda. It is an enormous structure of pure gold and precious gemstones, it was stunning. We made our way back to the bus to start hour and a half ride back to the port.

The next morning we were up by 6:00 to leave for our trip. This is the one country we were to take a flight in. We flew into the Heho airport in central Myanmar, then drove for two hours on the craziest and coolest road ever to get to the Green Hill Valley elephant conservation.

They own 2 elephants and lease 5 from the government. Each elephant costs them $400 USD per month just to be allowed to take care of the five. That excludes what they have spend on their healthcare and food. All the elephants they take care of are retired timber elephants. The visitors job is to engage the elephants and help re-establish good relationships with humans.

Every elephant has a mahout or caretaker, that is like their human mom or dad. Once a day at 3:30 pm they release all the elephants into the surrounding hills and let them roam free. Then early the next morning the mahouts go and find their elephant. The only voice that the elephants respond to is the voice of their mahout

We got to feed the elephants pumpkin, sugar cane, and balls made of molasses, grains, and water. I’d say that the highlight of the visit was bathing the elephants. They gave us acacia which produces soap when mixed with water and rubbed against the elephant’s skin. It was amazing.

On the second day of our trip we left at 7:30 to start trekking. It was almost an 8 mile hike, with a lot of ups and downs. The scenery was amazing, it had the trees of central Oregon and the hills of Vermont. The whole hike took about five hours. We also passed through a large family farm, and had a snack at one of our guides houses. We only had an hour left to the train station. Lunch was served at the house of another one of our guides. It was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. There was a noodle dish, dragon fruit, watermelon, and other delicious items.

After lunch we caught a train to head back to Kalaw, the town we were staying in. The ride was beautiful, we saw the mountains we had just spent hours hiking through, and some small farms and houses. It took about 30 minutes to get back to town.

Next on the schedule was a bike ride through Kalaw. Only me and my dad went to the market from our family. After the market less than ten people kept going.

Our last day on the trip we spent travelling back to Yangon. A two hour bus ride, then an hour long plane flight, and finally another hour in a bus back to the station. We decided because we had time until the shuttle would leave to take us back to the port to go to the market. This was a simple market, only three types of shops and a few outliers, fabric shops, souvenir shops and gem shops.

On the last day we went to a monastery/orphanage and spent some time with the kids, and played games. I played the national sport of Myanmar called Xin Lo. It’s played with a small wicker ball. It is almost like volleyball on a shorter net and with any part of your body except for your hands.

We all need to realize that compared to most of the world our lives are incredibly easy. At home we all take for granted three square meals a day, working electricity, Wi-Fi, and safe water on demand, many people around the world have none of these things we take for granted.