So much to write, so many stories already but we are in the communication black hole that is Burma so the stories will have to wait until we are back in the 21st century in Thailand in 2 weeks.

No mobile network, difficult to make an international phone call, no Hotmail, no Yahoo, no free email (unless you smile nicely at the person running the computer place and they'll let you send one message at a time, at a cost and probably via a government office). But you can blog, and I can visit forums... sort of, not exactly at any speed tho! I think the people in charge are not quite up to speed with the latest in Internet advances.

We are in Moulmien, which is the old spelling of this town, I can't remember the new spelling and I can barely even pronounce it.

This town is in the south at the beginning of the peninsula (shared with TL). We didn't go to Pyay as I said in my previous letter.

It's much nicer here, quiet, almost serene. Not many cars, the trucks are all straight out of the 50's, palm trees sway in the breeze. There are temples dotted all over the hills and mosques on the flat. The children are fantastic, 'hellos!' every minute, they all want their photo taken and we develop bands of small followers where-ever we go (in case we do something interesting I guess), a bit like being a celebrity.

Our guesthouse overlooks a wide river with fishing boats put-putting back and forth along it, it's all very picturesque.

We spent a few very eventful days in a village called Kinpun but those stories will follow later, lots and lots to tell Up northwards tonight, Lake Inle via Bago and then further north still to the famous Mandalay.