It couldn't have been a more different capital city driving experience. Leaving the old capital city of Yangon everyone pushed and shoved as three lanes of traffic squeezed into two. A pick up truck filled with old bicycles piled higher than the height of the truck pushed in front of us, wobbling precariously. Meanwhile motorbikes filled with people and shopping; trucks belching diesel smoke; and motorbike taxis piled twice their height with goods all staked their claim on the road with a chorus of raucous honking. We quickly lost our guides in the van, as vehicles squeezed in between us (to cross Myanmar we have to be escorted by a tour agency and a government official). 6 hours later, we cruised into the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw on an 8 lane highway. We sailed past our hotel, in the "Hotel Zone", to make our way to the Parliament building. Usually with the truck we try to stay away from city centres due to our size but in Nay Pui Taw we had no such reservations as the 8 lane highway turned into a 20 lane one, with only our escort van in sight. Where were all the people? The place was like a ghost town. In 2005, the Military Junta announced that they were going to build a new capital city closer to the geographical centre of the country. Built on scrub land and rice paddies with just a few villages nearby, it was "finished" in 2008. The name translates as "Royal City" and cost untold expense. Quickly built, parts of it are already showing their age. The hotel we stayed in had all its smart marble tiles up in its huge entrance way, as they were coming unstuck from the floor. Meanwhile the top floor wasn't fully fitted out yet. Driver Kyaw drove us the 30 mins to the "Restaurant zone"' there were a few more people out zipping down the huge highways in their cars and motorbikes. We stopped for quick look from the van at Uppatasanti Paya, a pagoda built by the senior General Than Shwe as an exact copy of Shwadagon Pagoda in Yangon, apart from it being a foot shorter. The city, although bizarre wasn't completely unpleasant it was green with trees bordering all the highways, but I know which capital I prefer. It seems like businesses and the diplomatic community feel the same way with the vast majority of them staying in Yangon. Once out of the melee the previous day, we had all been on the boring but smooth Yangon to Mandalay highway, Steve got to use the truck's cruise control for the first time since Malaysia, but now we were back on the normal highway. Through villages with bikes, trucks, school kids and bullock carts just wide enough for 2 cars to pass. We watched Guide Kyaw jealously as he zipped their little van past slow rumbling trucks, while we had to wait for the road to become wide enough and for there to be no motorbikes in the way. We then wound our way up through the hills. Arriving in the town of Nyaungshwe, Kyaw asked around to find us somewhere for us to park, there are definitely some upsides to this guided tour lark, it makes a nice change not struggling with a few words and lots of mime. In the end we ended up in the tidy garage of their hotel. After a tiring drive it was good to sleep in our own beds, our first night in the truck since we got to Myanmar. That night we were serenaded to sleep by the garage boys harmonising to their acoustic guitar. The next morning we were awake to see the monks out collecting alms, over the fence from the comfort of our bed. Tante, our government official, turned up with a local colleague who had kindly brought us a huge pile of bright red pork rice wrapped in banana leaves, herbs, chilles and fish sauce. We are slowly coming round to the Asian idea of eating what we would consider lunch and dinner food for breakfast. In all the hotel breakfast buffets there are noodles, rice, vegetables and meat all with copious amounts of garlic and chillies. Even so there was far too much for one family to eat, but it made a good morning snack for the singing garage boys. Then we were ready for a full day out on a boat around Inle Lake. A few minutes in, more snacks were handed out: "Oh no, at this rate we are going to sink the boat". Thankfully not, they had sweetly brought snacks so the girls could feed the gulls. We got our first sight of the unique rowing technique of the fishermen on Inle Lake, to keep their hands free to handle their dome-shaped nets, they row with their legs. It's not a natural looking movement but it seems to work for them. On different days of the week a market is held in a different village. Parts of the villages are on islands or on the lake's edge and other parts are on stilts. Most of the getting around is done by boat. We saw a hardware shop and post office completely over the water. The only way I could see to get to the school on a little island was by boat. The market held in an island pagoda was fun with vegetables, food and quite a few souvenirs for sale. We spent the rest of the day tootling around the lake, stopping off at various workshops. Inle Lake is one of the most popular places in Myanmar to visit, although it is so big it never felt crowded. We just enjoyed seeing it all and hearing about life in Myanmar. It's rare that we visit places with a guide, as they can give too much information for the girls. However they love being with Kyaw and asking him questions, he is very sweet with them, listening to their stories, teasing them and chasing them when they get bored. The other Kyaw, the driver, even through he speaks only a little English, is very good with them too as he has kids of his own In Myanmar, boys usually join the monastery at two points in their lives, once as a novice at about 8 years old and again in their late teens. The boys can stay for a few days, weeks, months or even years. They may then decide to become a monk, it is totally up to them. There is a grand procession that take the boys to the monastery, there is music, dancers and relatives join in and there is a big meal there. Being a lake at Inle they travel by boat and we were lucky enough round a bend to see a Shinpyu ceremony in front of us, taking a young boy for his ordination at a nearby monastery. The little boy smartly dressed sat on a throne, his cheeks and lips rosy pink with make-up. He was looking a little apprehensive at all the fuss around him but his family smiled away at us. The traditional silver, paper, umbrella, boat building and weaving workshops might now be set up so tourists can buy directly from the manufacturers but there was no hard sell. It was interesting to see all the traditional crafts still being used, the whole of the pretty mulberry paper parasols shafts were made of bamboo. It must have been a pretty relaxing experience as I have a feeling even Steve was swayed to buy me a Christmas present at one of the stops, he is a notoriously reluctant shopper (secrets are hard to keep when you live as closely as we do). Before we arrive in any new country, the girls and I drag out their Lonely Planet Kid's The Travel Book. With a page dedicated to every country in the world, it's been invaluable on this trip, as they love all the quirky and interesting facts. The number one thing they wanted to see in Myanmar: Nga Hpe Kyaung Monastery - otherwise known as the Jumping Cat Monastery on Inle Lake. The monks, in their downtime between studying Buddhist scriptures, had trained the monastery's mousers to jump through hoops. Unfortunately since someone died, we never found out if it was a monk or a cat, the cats are no longer so obliging. However the monastery was full of the sweet kittens, so that kept the girls happy even if the felines seemed far more keen on having an afternoon nap rather than jumping through any hoops for stupid humans. It also had a fine collection of ancient stupas. We also stopped at Phaung Daw Oo Paya a Buddhist temple where the 5 Buddha statues were so covered with gold leaf from worshippers that their actual shapes were no longer distinguishable. Market gardening flourishes in the lake, farmers build up a layer of waterweed, sawdust and soil over a few years to make a floating platform for their plants - natural hydroponics. Tomatoes and cucumbers seemed to be growing well while we were there, with lots of sunshine and water under their floating mats. It was a long drive back over the hills and then northwards on the highway to Mandalay, at least the afternoon traffic wasn't as crazy as in Yangon. However we didn't get the best first impression of the city as we headed out on foot by ourselves in the dark early evening to find a place to eat. It was rush hour and it took us over an hour to find a place, not easy with vehicles rushing past; cars parked so they blocked the pavement; and big holes in the pavement with drops of a couple of feet into a nasty black sludge below. Walking back later was far easier as the traffic had completely eased as we came across a side street with bright lights, food stalls and music blaring. It turned out to be a collection of goods donated for monks at a monastery, there were fancy displays of towels, dishes, robes and bouquets of cash. The next day, we played tourists seeing lots of the sites in Mandalay. There were several pagodas, the hill overlooking the town, the Royal palace and a look at the "World's Biggest Book". A 729 "page" tome made of marble with important Buddhist scripture in it. Each page is housed in its own little stupa. A couple of the pagodas were made of beautifully weathered teak wood, all beautifully carved from before the British took over in the Victorian era. Steve and I had been tempted to watch the ceremonial washing of the Buddha image at Mahamuni Paya but were soon voted out by the rest of the family when they learned that it occurred at 4am. It's supposed to be a beautiful ceremony attended by the faithful. We still saw lots of pilgrims from the countryside when we attended at a far more sociable hour. The 2000 year old statue has now been so covered in gold leaf by devotees, that everything but its gleaming face has developed a rather gnarled and knobbly appearance. As in many of the temples here, only men are allowed to get close to the statue. We finished the day at the 1.2km teak U-Bein Bridge over a lake. Taking a rowing boat out to avoid some of the crowds it made an beautiful sight with the sun setting behind it.

The late afternoon sunlight danced off the bright golden stupa. Beneath us sprawled the town of Mawlamyine (formerly called Moulmein) the first British colonial capital of India. It was no longer the thriving port it once was but there were still ships in the delta bringing goods to the port. As we watched the sunset over the mountain tops our thoughts turned to Kipling. By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' lazy at the sea, There's a Burma girl a-settin', and I know she thinks o' me; For the wind is in the palm-trees, and the temple-bells they say: "Come you back, you British soldier; come you back to Mandalay! " Come you back to Mandalay, Where the old Flotilla lay: Can't you 'ear their paddles chunkin' from Rangoon to Mandalay ? On the road to Mandalay, Where the flyin'-fishes play, An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer China 'crost the Bay!  Heading out next morning for a stroll (certainly beats the commute to work) along the side of the waterway the whole town was coming to life. Men were unloading heavy sacks from the barges and trucks were pulling in with goods from the countryside. In the market people were busy shopping for the day as the market vendors hastily prepared their goods for sale. Motorbikes whizzed everywhere dropping people off and then speeding off again. The men wore traditional longhis rather than trousers and the women's faces were decorated with Thanaka, a yellow paste, to protect them from the sun. Even after travelling for so long it felt exotic. The sense of being in a new country was palpable, a lot of it felt much closer to India than Thailand only a short distance away. Up until recently it was not possible to drive your own vehicle across Myanmar. When we set off on our trip we never thought this would be possible so we were delighted when the opportunity opened up. There has been some backwards and forwards over the last year with the rules changing so at what point we could not drive across but we were delighted to get our permit giving us permission. It's not that straightforward though. The only way to drive across is to be accompanied by a guide and tour company. So it was that after swiftly exiting Thailand we were met at the border by our guide Kyaw (pronounced "Joe") , the driver also Kyaw and a representative from the Ministry of Tourism, Tante. They would be driving ahead of us in a minibus throughout our time in Myanmar. Whilst we would rather drive by ourselves, this did have several advantages along the drive to Mawlamyine. They dealt with all the road tolls as well as the numerous checkpoints along the way. We just followed them through. Stopping for lunch at a small roadside restaurant, the staff spoke no English and the menu was only in Burmese. Here Kyaw came to the rescue explaining what was on offer and ordering for us our first delicious Burmese curry. The next day was to be spent seeing some of the sights around Mawlamyine. Here having a guide and driver with a van came in handy again. It didn't make sense to drive two vehicles to the sights so we all hopped into the van to be taken on the tour. While I am not one to really enjoy guided tours it made a nice change to be able to just sit back and let someone else do the driving. The sights themselves were not that outstanding but it was a pleasant enough day and we got to try some more local food specific to the Mon area we were in.   The people of Myanmar seem to be into building giant Buddhas and we visited the largest reclining Buddha in the country. Even though it wasn't completed they were already building one opposite it and whilst it's size was impressive it was already starting to look a little dilapidated from the tropical weather, even though it was only a few years old. The rest of our tour took in the first Baptist Church in Myanmar built in 1827, a local beach and a poignant visit to the Allied war cemetery. We had previously visited the more famous "Death Railway" in Thailand, this was the Burmese end of the railway. Mt Kyaiktyio ("Golden Rock") is a major pilgrimage sight for Myanmar Buddhists. The day we arrived was also a sort of celebration day for Truck drivers or something, so the hair raising truck transfers up and down the mountain were free. As a result the town at the bottom was thronged with local people. Once we reached the top we had to continue towards the Golden Rock barefoot. People were laying out mats preparing to spend the night up there and all sorts of food was bubbling away. The Golden Rock itself is an enormous Boulder covered in gold leaf balanced precariously on the top of the mountain. Legend says that it is balanced due to a precisely placed Buddha hair in the stupa on top. I have to say it did look finely balanced but even an earthquake in the 1970s had failed to shift it. I (much to Alisha's disgust only men are allowed) was able to touch the rock and add my small piece of gold leaf to it. As we approached Yangon (formerly Rangoon) the largest city in Myanmar with a population of over 4.5 million we had a bit of a dilemma. We wanted to stay in the centre of town but the problem was parking the truck. If we stayed where we could park the truck, it would be a long journey into town to eat and see the sights. In the end we parked the truck on the edge of town and jumped into the van to stay in the centre ( how convenient). On the way into town we stopped at the entrance way to Aung San Suu Kyi's house. This was where she had been held under house arrest for nearly 20 years. Whilst there is not much to see at the gateway it has been at the centre of many political events in the recent history of the country so we had been keen to visit. Late in the afternoon we headed out on foot into downtown Yangon. Smoke belching buses chugged past and the pavements were clogged with people hawking their wares. Pedestrians ran the gauntlet trying to cross the clogged street. We thought jumping in a taxi was safer until we saw the way they drove. Weaving in and out of the traffic we arrived at Sule Pagoda which was now surrounded by a giant traffic clogged roundabout. It was much more peaceful inside looking up at the 46m high golden Chedi. As dusk was approaching quickly we set out back on foot to see some of the colonial buildings from the time of British rule. The light was fading fast and it looked like many of these buildings were also fading and were well past their former glory. As we walked it came to my mind again that we felt closer to India than Thailand and that the buildings were from the time of the Raj. As it was now dark we jumped into another kamikaze taxi who forced his way through the traffic, including driving down the wrong side of the road for several hundred metres at a traffic light queue just so he could pull in at the front. Relieved we were dropped at our restaurant set in an old mansion where we enjoyed a lovely meal form the Shan region of Myanmar. A relaxing end to a hectic day. Our sightseeing day in Yangon involved a lot of temples all linked to the bringing of 8 of Buddha's hairs to Yangon. The Botataung Paya is a temple originally built over 2,000 years ago. It was where the Buddha's 8 hairs were originally stored. When they were moved it was allowed to keep one hair which was the reason for the temple. Unfortunately the stupa took a direct hit from a bomb in the Second World War. When trawling through the ruins they found the casket containing the hair. The temple has now been rebuilt and unusually you can walk into the Chedi through the gold panelled walkways to see the tiny gold casket containing the hair. After all this culture we needed some refreshment and what better way than to visit a Yangon institution, the tea house. The tea house is to Yangon what the pub is to England. TVs show sports games and there is plenty to eat along with loads of tea instead of beer. It made a great lively stop for lunch. We left the highlight of our visit until last. Shwedagon Paya (where the rest of those Buddha hairs are entombed) is regarded as one of South East Asia's finest temples and it doesn't disappoint. The golden stupa stands 98 metres high and the gold glimmering on the light is the real thing. It's covered with tons of gold leaf and gold plate and right at the top of the stupa set in a jewel encrusted case is a 75 carat diamond. It's a working temple and when we arrived it was alive with pilgrims, monks worshippers and tourists. The girls, especially Lucy, continued to be patient as we circuited the stupa. Since entering Myanmar they have become minor celebrities with local people wanting to take their photos wherever they went and at this temple it was no different.   Circling the stupa is over 400 metres and whilst there is plenty to see at floor level your eyes just kept drifting up to the wonderful stupa which looked magnificent from any angle. As the dusk settled lights came on to light it up against the darkening sky and oil lamps were lit around the base. A truly wonderful sight. We retreated down the hill to a street full of activity. The tables had spilled out on the sidewalk and there were skewers of food everywhere waiting to be grilled. We moved passed some of the more imaginative offerings and instead went for chicken, quails eggs and some vegetables all washed down with some local beer at the end of a fascinating day. As we pondered our first few days in Myanmar, Gilly and I both agreed it was definitely a bit different .. and that was not just because we had to follow a van everywhere we drove.