Day 19, Pakkoku: Ayeyarwady Aflame.

(Posted by Andrew about the events of Dec 30; Pakkoku, Myanmar.)

In the morning today we visited the village of Pakkoku and got see an authentic local market.

Throughout this trip as we've traveled through various countries we've gotten a lot of stares. I've been getting them for my height; Jessica has been getting them from other, um, assets. In the market today one young girl just called out to our guide a joke about my height and they both had a good laugh about it.

(In Pakkoku we also visited the local “flip-flop factory” as well as a cigar rolling factory. Both felt like sweat shops as the boys (making shoes) and girls (making cigars) seemed extremely young, and it made us feel like crap despite our guides saying it's just the local way. Move along, nothing more to discuss about that.)

In the evening we were told to head to head to the top deck for a “surprise” which turned out to be 2600 multi-coloured candles set adrift down the Ayeyarwady for our benefit.

In the morning, we came across three villages downstream that had been burnt to the ground. I'm sure that's completely unrelated.