Day two. . .

Our guide for the rest of our time is an 18 year old girl, the daughter from the homestay. She's learnt what English she knows through talking with tourists. It's not exactly fluent. Another black mark for the guesthouse.

She is however fantastic. It's a completely different take on everything. Very well up on market prices, different crops, social events are in each village, and full of insights as to how an 18 year old girl who doesn't want to marry yet gets by. We bond over Pindaya festival where she'd been with her friends and ridden the Ferris wheel 3 times.

It's a lovely day. We meander very slowly around the valleys, through green fields of garlic, brown ginger on the hills, and flowers around the houses. This area exports to Mandalay and Yangoon: its palpably rich - hence the government allowing us to wander through it. Lots of green tea drunk; a local wedding visited, and fed a second breakfast, and force fed lunch at about 11.30. We arrive at her Uncle's house (this is a strictly family affair) at about 2. Another black mark for the guesthouse.

Again though, it's a blissful afternoon. We read on blankets in the sunny upstairs space with a large cat and children watching solar powered DVDs. Our contribution to the household is on the level of the cat: we wait around sleepily until we are fed. It's very peaceful.