This “Top 10 Trip Pics” post is the first in a series of articles by ICS staff members around southeast Asia to share their 10 best pictures from their own trips in our destinations.
About the Author: Arpatip Reancharoen is Group General Manager in Bangkok, Thailand. She has been with ICS Travel Group for 16 years.
This trip was to celebrate my husband Martin’s birthday, so I took him to places he has never gone, to do things he loves.
We trekked for 5 hours cruised on an open-top boat for 10 hours, rode an e-bike for a half day, rode in a hot air balloon for nearly one hour, and many more things. Even though I was tired when I came back home and might take a long time to recover, it was worth it. I really want everyone to go to Myanmar. Myanmar is much more than only Yangon and Kyaikhtiyo (Golden Rock)…there are other beautiful cities waiting for you to visit.
The “Meditation Cave” is a very small cave inside the larger Pindaya Cave, but it felt peaceful when I was inside. Even though it is small it is not uncomfortable.
These are the only two black Buddha images (out of a thousand) found in Pindaya Cave. Local people believe they can pray and ask Buddha to give them good health.
These green stickers show how long the train is, just like in Europe. The difference is in Europe they don’t use paper like this.
We were able to donate medicine to a local school while trekking to Kalaw.
This type of house was originally called a “long house” but it used to be much longer than this.
There is often more than one family living together in one house. The walls are not insulated from the weather, which is terribly cold. However, when prosperity comes, the house becomes a brick-walled house.
A parade for “novice” (beginner) monks and nuns. Boys ride horses and girls ride on ox carts.
This scene was a lot more beautiful than what you can see in a photo. I could see many shades of red, orange, and yellow sky clearly.
Although there were hundreds of people there, what I could see was peaceful. I felt really great and wanted to stay there longer.
Hot air ballooning over Bagan was the highlight of the trip. The landscape was stunning and calm.
The ballooners came at 5:30am to pick us up from our hotel, take us to the launch site and explain what to do while in the balloon. Just before sunrise, the balloon lifted off. The view was very impressive. When the sun rose, everything turned golden. I thought yesterday’s sunset in Bagan was beautiful, but this sunrise was a lot more beautiful.
The balloon flew over pagodas and houses. The local people greeted us, shouting and waving. I could see herds of cows, pigs and goats run out from their corral. Children were awake and playing. It was a really impressive experience.
Tea leaf salad and vegetable tempura – a Burmese snack – is super delicious, especially this one from Palm Sugar Village.
I arranged a surprise, sunset boat trip for Martin. A dinner table was set up just for the two of us to see the sunset over the Irrawaddy River.
It was really private. The vegetable tempura was super delicious, especially the plumeria tempura 🙂
