Exactly 6 months ago, I arrived in a brand-new country. It was #65 on my list.

It’s always a thrill to “collect” another country – and this one had been on my radar for a long time.

The country? Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, in southeast Asia – which is arguably my favorite region in the world.

My trip was unique in a few ways. For starters, I wasn’t in charge for a change! I had not developed the itinerary; it was not an industry familiarization trip and I was not intending to do any specific site inspections. I was paying my own way (no discount!). I was traveling there with a group of women from my favorite philanthropic organization, Dining for Women, visiting some of the women and girls we’ve supported with our funds through the years.

I recently re-read some blogs I had posted on the Dining for Women website, and was transported back to this extraordinary country.

I wrote about one of the sweetest hotel experiences I’ve ever had:

The sun was setting as we pulled into the Cassiopeia Hotel in the town of Nyaung Shwe, where we would spend the next four nights visiting the sights around famous Inle Lake. A group of 14 American women descending on a little boutique hotel could have been a disaster anywhere in the world – but the manager greeted us warmly, gave us the wifi password and told us that, “if we needed hot water, all we needed to do was call Reception and they’d deliver it immediately.” He must have noted the look of panic on all 14 faces and was quick to clarify that he was referring to the thermos of hot water that would be delivered if we wanted to make in-room coffee or tea. Whew!

Mr. Ko Soe Lwin could not do enough for us. Every morning, we had to make the difficult choice between plain, banana, chocolate or banana-chocolate crepes for breakfast. On our final morning, he surprised us with big bowls of mountain-grown strawberries, having felt guilty for offering us the same pancake menu for three consecutive mornings! I’ve traveled a lot of places in my 35+ year career, and don’t think I’ve ever been more impressed with a hotel operation than I was with this little 16-room boutique hotel. In the evenings, many of the staff were sitting around those same breakfast tables taking English lessons, a critically important skill for anyone in the hospitality industry.

 

And isn’t that the point of travel – to see a place where the people are just as curious about you as you are about them? And Myanmar, like my other favorite place, Cuba – is welcoming visitors at an ever-increasing rate after having been closed off to the rest of the world for nearly 60 years.

Another memory:

In the northern region of Shan State, we drove through bucolic countryside to a collection of more than 8,000 Buddha statues housed in limestone caves – dating back to the mid-1700s. As impressive as were the caves, it was the drive that I’ll never forget:  many homes were built of stone blocks with shutters painted a periwinkle blue, which reminded me of Provence. The hillsides were a patchwork of gold and green, which reminded me of Tuscany. But the farmers working the fields with their oxcarts reminded me of no place else I’ve ever been. I opened the windows on the back of the bus and darted from left to right to snap photos of rustic farming scenes that could have been taken from the set of a movie. Like everywhere in Myanmar, the people stopped and waved, shouting a friendly greeting, “mingala bar!” as we drove past.

And I repeat: isn’t that the point of travel – to see a place where the people are just as curious about you as you are about them?

And still another memory, seared into my consciousness:

My eyes welled with tears and my heart overflowed with emotion as I sat in the front of a flat-bottomed wooden longboat on a gorgeous morning at Inle Lake, and I experienced one of those “I can’t fathom how there can be this much beauty in the world and I’m so blessed to be here to experience it – pinch me, this might be a dream” kind of moments.

Inle Lake was the last stop on our itinerary, and we had already experienced almost unimaginable beauty every day of our journey. I played back memories . . .

• of the gigantic golden Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon – even more resplendent at sunset
• the periodic “whoosh” as the pilot engaged the burner of our hot air balloon as we floated silently above the 26-square mile plains of Bagan littered with ancient brick pagodas

•  the equally-beautiful experience of climbing atop one of those pagodas to watch the dusty sunset
• the sweet smiles of the bald-headed young Buddhist nuns we’d met along the way

• the family-owned paper-making business where we’d made a spontaneous shopping stop – and their obvious delight at our curiosity and appreciation of our purchases
• the colorful Novitiation ceremony we had happened upon – where a young boy, dressed as a prince, was riding an elephant en route to the monastery where he would shave his head and ask permission from the Abbot to become a novice monk

• the curious custom of that yellowish paste on the cheeks of women and children – called thanaka – an organic astringent, cosmetic, perfume and sunscreen

• the hike we’d made into the hills to have lunch in a local village, passing women and girls harvesting turmeric roots in the fields and men making charcoal

• ..and now here – on this lake, where generations of fishermen of the Intha tribe have propelled their little wooden boats with one leg locked around a long oar, and the other foot gripping the flat stern of the boat as he thrusts his conical-shaped fishing net into the shallow water with the agility of an acrobat . . .

THAT’s why I travel to places that are undiscovered and untouched and untrampled – and that’s why you should join me as I return to this magical country (combined with another favorite, Vietnam).

I’ve published a collection of my best photos of Myanmar, in case my brilliant prose hasn’t sufficiently captivated you . . .

Visit the website for details and specifics. It’s a two-week journey in January 2016. As much as any journey I’ve ever offered – this is a definite WOW! And, yes, we will be staying at the Cassiopeia Hotel!

I truly hope you’ll come along with me!

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