Markets are a great place to people watch and this was definitely true in Burma, where the vibrant bustling hill tribe markets at Inle Lake were one of our highlights.

This market vendor is smoking a cheroot, a Burmese cigar wrapped in a green leaf.

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Burma (or Myanmar) isn’t the worst place we’ve been for vegetarians and we coped a lot better than we expected. This was largely due to the big Indian influence and the fact that in this Buddhist culture there is a well understood Burmese word for vegetarian. Being able to communicate this made things a lot easier.

We had some delicious meals in Burma, some that were decidedly average, and only one mishap when we were served shrimp in our salads. Overall we enjoyed exploring the cuisine of this little-visited country.

Here are our tips for surviving Burma as a vegetarian.

Learn the Magic Word

The best advice we received was from our friend Shannon who told us to learn the magic word for vegetarian: “thatalo”. I think it literally means “lifeless” so by using it you’ll get a meal without any living creatures in it.

We found it worked really well, although sometimes we didn’t get the pronunciation quite right so it wasn’t always understood.

A traditional Myanmar meal

It did enable us to eat in traditional Myanmar restaurants and get all vegetarian meals. Unfortunately we found the food in these places rather bland and unexciting – usually we’d get some boiled vegetables with rice. Better than going hungry though.

Indian Food

Vegetarian thali

There’s a huge Indian influence in Burma and we are very thankful for it! We ate some delicious cheap meals of dosas (pancakes filled with spicy potato) although more commonly known as thosai here, and all you can eat vegetarian thalis (rice and curries).

We also loved the availability of fried Indian snacks on the streets. Samosas are easily found and were always vegetarian (although check by asking “thatalo?”).

Samosas and other fried snacks

Tea Shops

Tea shops are obviously a place to drink tea, but we found them to be a good place for snacks too and we often found samosas or fried vegetables here.

Another good option is Pe Byouk – flat bread served with a boiled pea dip. It’s common for breakfast or as a snack later in the day. Breakfast is usually free at guesthouses but if not head to a tea shop.

Shan Food

We found the food from Shan state (although available in Yangon too) to be particularly delicious and vegetarian-friendly.

Some dishes to look out for:

Shan tofu – a creamy version made from split yellow peas rather than soybeans. We ate it fried, in a tofu salad, and mixed with noodles for a creamy comfort dish.

Shan tofu salad

Shan noodle salad/soup – we ate both a noodle soup and a noodle salad, which had a little bit of broth so was like a soup.

Shan noodles

Shan yellow rice and tomato – tasty rice with tomato, onion and garlic.

Shan yellow rice and tomato

Burmese Salads

Burmese salads are a revelation. They are nothing like the western salads we know and are always full of flavour. Usually the ingredients are chopped thinly and it’s all mixed by hand. They make a great option for vegetarians although fish sauce and shrimp are often added so you’ll need to say “thatalo” when you order, and hope for the best. We ended up with shrimp on top of our salad once and had to pick them out.

Here are some of the salads we tried, but there are many more interesting options.

Tea Leaf Salad (Lahpet Thoke) – This is the classic Burmese salad. We loved it but it does have a strong flavour that takes some getting used to. Pickled tea leaves are mixed with tomato, cabbage, onion, sesame, peanuts, dried peas, garlic, chilli and lime. It’s crunchy and full of flavour. See the top photo.

Tomato Salad – In France you’d literally get a plate of tomato but the Burmese tomato salad is so much more interesting. There are different variations but usually included onion, garlic, peanuts, coriander and sesame.

Lemon Salad – A mix of cabbage, red onion, lemon, chilli, and sesame.

Lemon Salad

Pennywort Salad – An unusual but delicious salad made from the pennywort herb and mixed with onion, sesame, peanuts, garlic and lime.

Pennywort Salad

Recommended Restaurants

These are some of the restaurants we recommend.

Yangon

Barbecue on 19th Street/ Mahabandoola Rd

The best barbecue we have ever had was in Yangon’s Chinatown. 19th St is lined with stalls where you pick up a tray, choose your food and they grill it up for you. There is meat and fish but also plenty of vegetables – we feasted on tofu, okra, broccoli, garlic and potato grilled in a tasty chilli and garlic marinade. It was utterly delicious and cheap too – our first visit only cost 1200 kyat for the two of us and even stuffing ourselves on our second visit cost 3000 kyat for us both including water.

Barbecue on 19th St, Yangon

Ingyin New South India Food Centre on Anawrathta Rd

There are lots of Indian restaurants on this road. The South Indian restaurants will be most vegetarian-friendly. We ate tasty dosas and a vegetarian all you can eat thali here for 1000 kyat.

Nang Htike on Bogyoke Aung San Street between 46th & 47th

On our first night we met up with Bessie and Kyle from On Our Own Path who lived in Yangon at the time. They took us to this Shan restaurant where we feasted on Shan creamy tofu and noodles; rice with tomatoes, garlic and onion; fresh water seaweed in a tangy chilli and lime dressing; and spicy mixed vegetables. It was delicious and cost 1600 kyat each. They ordered for us though and I don’t know how easy it would be to do if you don’t know the names of the dishes.

Bagan

Aroma 2 on Restaurant Row in Nyuang U

It’s not as authentic as the cheap places in Yangon but this is a good Indian restaurant with a friendly owner and nice setting. The tasty vegetarian thali included vegetable curry, chapati, rice, and five chutneys including tamarind, mint and coriander, and spicy tomato.

The Moon Vegetarian Restaurant, near Ananda Pahto, Old Bagan

It’s location makes it a good place for lunch while out at the temples and there’s a huge selection of interesting dishes at this vegetarian restaurant. The eggplant salad made with warm roasted and mashed eggplant, and the creamy Bagan Tamarind Curry with groundnuts were particularly good.

Eggplant Salad at The Moon

Yar Pyi Vegetarian Restaurant, opposite The Moon

It’s not as busy as The Moon because it’s not in the Lonely Planet but it’s another good option for vegetarians with a similar menu.

Mandalay

NVC Nepali Restaurant, 81st Street 26/27.

We liked the all you can eat vegetarian thali for 2000 kyat and the potato paratha served with curries.

Nyaungshwe (Inle Lake)

Night Market

Nyaungshwe Night Market

We ate at the first stall which had a menu in English and the lady understood our “thatalo” request. We liked the Shan noodle salad, although it was more like a soup with cabbage and a little bit of broth, served with pickles and chilli. The tea leaf salad was quite strong but the lemon salad was good. All dishes are around 500 kyat.

Shan noodle salad and pickles

Star Flower Italian Restaurant

We didn’t usually bother with western food in Burma but we had heard good things about this Italian restaurant. It’s quite expensive but the pizzas (5000 kyat) and homemade pasta with eggplant and parmesan (3500 kyat) were excellent. You get free bruschetta too.

If you are a travelling vegetarian don’t miss our vegetarian survival guides to Chiang Mai, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Peru.

Leave a comment if you have any vegetarian tips for Burma.

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A boat trip is the most popular way to explore Inle Lake but this beautiful area deserves more than just a day and a bike ride is another interesting way to explore. We spent a day cycling past rice paddy fields, canals, and villages of stilted houses; visiting hot springs, colourful tribal markets, and an incongruous winery; and making new friends along the way.

In the hot season in Burma you need to get an early start to avoid the wilting midday heat so in the warm glowing post dawn light we set off on our bicycles along a dusty bone-shaking dirt track out of town. The Intha village Kaung Daing would be our first stop, known for its tofu making and hot springs.

A bike trip at Inle Lake isn’t about the destination though as cycling in any direction out of Nyaungshwe is a fascinating insight into rural life. We rode past small villages of stilted bamboo huts with thatched roofs, their images reflected in the canals they overlooked; women doing laundry in the canal; young boys riding their buffalo to the fields – one sang cheerfully as he led four more buffalo behind him; teenage girls with thanaka smeared faces and straw hats on their way to work carrying colourful textile shoulder bags and swinging their lunch pails; pickup trucks crammed full of people excitedly pointing at us, smiling and waving; and a guy driving a monk on the back of his motorbike calling out good morning to us.

Mostly though the road was quiet, especially as we got nearer the mountains, misty in the distance in the morning light. We passed a few motorbikes and bicycles, one or two pickup trucks, but cars were rare. The agricultural landscape was dry at this time of year with the sky hazy from farmers burning their fields, and the browns and oranges contrasting with the startlingly green rice paddy fields.

The road stretched on, long and straight, following a canal but Inle Lake wasn’t in sight.  When we had almost reached the mountains we turned left onto a blessedly tarmacked road – a relief after the pot holes, and continued on to the hot springs.

The hot springs complex was surprisingly classy, with prices to match, and felt a little out of place in the dusty surroundings. The mixed baths were 6500 kyat ($8) each, a lot for Burma, but after some indecision we instigated our risk policy and went for it. We had the three small pools to ourselves, overlooking the fields with mountains behind us. As we eased into the steaming hot water we were glad we’d made it early enough to appreciate in the cool morning air.

We left the hot springs at the same time as a large group of locals were preparing to leave in their truck. A young girl stared at us curiously and when I snapped a photo it broke the ice and the group came over to us, laughing and smiling. They lined up and obviously wanted me to take their photo. This had happened a few times in Burma and I happily obliged.

Like in India, the Burmese are very serious when photographed.

Then things got funny. One of the girls had a camera too and I was pleased to discover that they were just as curious about us as we were about them, and keen to take our photo too – and they wanted to be in it. The thing is, once a couple of the men had their photo taken with Simon they all wanted in on it, and we had to pose for a dozen photos with each of them. It was very amusing and although we couldn’t communicate more than a few words we found smiles go a long way.

We set off again towards Kaung Daing’s market – one of the five rotating markets attended by hill tribes from across the area. It was less touristy than the one we’d visited at Ywama on our boat trip and even more vibrant and bustling. Women sat on the floor with huge piles of produce in front of them – onions, lentils, dried chillis, dried fish, stacks of Shan poppadoms, household goods, cheroots (Burmese cigars), and much that we couldn’t identify.

Behind the market is a jetty, busy with longtail boats and canoes. It’s the main form of transportation at Inle Lake and locals left the market with their narrow boats piled high with produce.

Rather than going back to Nyaungshwe the way we had come we wanted to do a loop so planned to hire a boat to take us across the lake to the village of Mine Thauk. We didn’t quite know how to go about that so employed our winning technique of standing around looking lost. After a while a young guy approached us and said he could arrange it. We negotiated his price down to 7000 kyat ($8.75) which was more than the 5000 we’d been told to pay, but after all our reading about the problems Burma has suffered, we didn’t have the inclination to negotiate too hard.

Our friendly guide Hojoku was a Botany student earning some extra cash, and he arranged our boat driver, piled our bikes in to the longtail and we set off through the shallow, narrow, reed-filled channels that lead to the lake. Along the way Hojoku quizzed us about our life and why we didn’t have any children – in Burma apparently we’d have five by now.

When we reached Inle Lake’s huge expanse we had another opportunity to witness the impressive one-legged fishermen at work.

On the other side of the lake we reached Mine Thauk, a village that is based both on the water and land. Stilted houses stand in the water – some are ramshackle huts of bamboo, others are solid wood structures, some even with satellite dishes. A long wooden footbridge connects the two sections.

It was getting hot so we didn’t hang around but took the road back towards Nyaungshwe. We cycled through the quiet rural scenery of bamboo and banana plants to get to our next destination – Red Mountain Estate Vineyards and Winery.

A vineyard in Southeast Asia is strange enough but to come across one in a remote part of Burma was just too bizarre not to go and take a look. In their open sided restaurant with great views over the vineyard and mountains, we ordered some lunch and signed up for the wine tasting at 2000 kyat ($2.50) for four wines. A full glass costs 2500 kyat ($3).

We didn’t have high hopes for the wine – after all we’re in Burma, but we were pleasantly surprised. Now, we know nothing about wine, and a wine expert might disagree, but we enjoyed it and really that’s all that matters. Our favourite was the Late Harvest 2009, a semi-sweet white.

Unfortunately there were no tours while we were there but you are free to wander around behind the scenes at the winery.

It was the perfect end to a rewarding day of contrasts that had taken us from riding past paddy fields, to lazing in hot springs, to browsing a tribal market, and finally tasting Burmese wine.

Practicalities

We stayed at Princess Garden Hotel in Nyaungshwe which we highly recommend, and they provide guests with free bikes. See details in our Planning a Trip to Burma post. Otherwise you can rent them from many hotels and travel agencies in town.

To follow our route head over the bridge by the jetty in Nyaungshwe and follow the road straight on towards the mountains until you reach a left turn which will take you to the hot springs. It took us about 1 – 1.5 hours to reach the hot springs. The market and jetty is about 10 minutes past that, where you can hire a boat to Mine Thauk.

Turn left when you arrive in Mine Thauk and follow the road for about 30 minutes until you see the sign for Red Mountain Estate on the right. Leave your bike at the gate and walk up the very steep hill. Red Mountain is open from 9am to 4pm every day.

It’s about 20 minutes from Red Mountain to Nyaungshwe. Continue along the road you were on before and turn left when you reach the crossroads onto the main road. Our trip took us about six hours in total.

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While staying on Koh Lanta we took a boat trip with Freedom Adventures to explore the nearby Trang islands. We spent the day snorkelling over coral reefs, kayaking through turquoise waters, and relaxing on quiet beaches, all while enjoying the gorgeous craggy limestone scenery.

The highlight was visiting the Emerald Cave. It’s a popular attraction so we waited on our boat outside the entrance of the cave for a quiet moment so we could avoid the large tour groups of Thais, who swam in a row, clinging to the life jacket of the person in front of them. Waiting in this gorgeous location was no hardship though and Simon occupied himself by jumping into the sea from the top of the boat.

Finally it was our turn and we swam inside the entrance to the cave. We saw straight away how the cave got its name – at the entrance where the light shines into the water it glows an emerald green, clear and brilliant.

As we swam further into the cave it became pitch black and the occasional screams of another swimmer somewhere in the darkness added to the eeriness. Simon and I tried to cling to each other so we wouldn’t get lost, but swimming while holding hands is tricky.

We reached the end of the cave and emerged into the bright sunshine to see the astonishing sight of a hidden white sandy beach in a small isolated bay with limestone cliffs towering above.

The beach can only be reached when the tides are low enough, and its isolated location made it a perfect hiding place for pirates’ booty in the past.

We have never been anywhere like it and the swim through a dark cave only added to the adventure. It made the perfect end to a fun day of island hopping.

If you’d like to book your own holiday to Thailand or elsewhere then take a look at easytobook.com for a simple way of booking hotels online.

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We fell in love with scuba diving on our first dive.

We were a few metres under the sea off the coast of India’s remote Andaman Islands and had just finished our training exercises when we came across a turtle. He hovered calmly, chewing away at the coral, entirely unconcerned with our presence, before turning and swimming away, unaware that he had provided us with some of the most magical minutes of our lives.

We were hooked.

We ended up diving 20 times around the world on our year long trip in 2008, but we haven’t had the opportunity since then and had almost forgotten how much we loved exploring the underwater world.

On Koh Lanta in Thailand’s Andaman Sea we were determined to get back under the water despite being terrified that we’d completely forgotten how to dive. Maybe it would all come back to us but that’s not something we wanted to risk finding out in the ocean 18 metres below the surface.

We needed some help.

Scubafish are one of the most respected dive operators on the island and were conveniently located near our villa at Kantiang Bay. First impressions were good—groups are no bigger than four people per dive master and, not only do they warn against feeding fish or touching anything underwater, but they actively engage in conservation projects like releasing clownfish and organising underwater clean up events.

So we booked a refresher dive with them.

We were used to diving with basic dive operators, where we have to set up our own gear and lug it out to the boat (and diving gear is heavy!). The boats themselves were invariably small and we usually had to enter the water by throwing ourselves backwards over the side. We’d also had some negative experiences with dive masters that we didn’t feel confident with and who engaged in unethical practices.

There was none of that here. Scubafish are by far the most professional diving operator we have dived with.

Their medium sized boat is big enough to have a toilet and plenty of space to spread out. They take care of everything for you and their prices include all that you might need for a good day’s diving—dive gear, pick up/drop off at your hotel, water and soft drinks, a chocolate croissant breakfast, lunch, and towels.

We were the only two in our group with our dive instructor Sara. On the boat out to the dive site she gave us a short quiz to refresh our knowledge, went through setting up our gear, and briefed us on the dive. We covered the exercises we’d be doing and, more importantly, looked at photos of the fish we might see. By this point we were rather nervous but her reassuring manner gave us confidence.

When we arrived at the Koh Haa dive site it couldn’t have been more inviting – crystal clear turquoise water surrounded by craggy limestone islands.

Getting ready for the dive

We geared up, staggered clumsily under the weight to the end of the boat (there is no elegant way to walk in flippers) and stepped in. Soon we were going under and trying not to freak out at the unnatural feeling of breathing underwater.

Sara guided us to a sandy patch and we knelt down to begin our refresher exercises: testing our buoyancy; removing and recovering our regulator (yes, our air source!); and allowing water to enter our mask so we could practice clearing it. It was all going so well until that last one. For some reason I just couldn’t get the water out.

After a few attempts I had a minor panic, and like a newbie diver my first instinct was to get to the surface. Sara kept me calm though and talked me through it (which was an impressive feat underwater). All along she was supportive and encouraging – giving us high fives when we successfully completed a task.

It didn’t take long to finish the exercises and soon we were on to the fun part – exploring Koh Haa’s lagoon. The visibility was incredible—more than 30 metres—and there was lots to see.

During the exercises we were focused on the act of diving, all too conscious of the most unnerving fact we were breathing underwater, but when we swam around our focus shifted to the otherworldly place we were now a part of. At that point, it was easy to relax and enjoy the ride.

We saw thousands of fish – small and large, of all colours. From Nemo the clownfish, to the cute puffy porcupine fish, hundreds of angelfish, and powderblue surgeonfish. We also saw a two metre long sea snake and a moray eel poking out of its coral hideaway.

One of the many highlights was swimming through a school of dozens of silvery barracuda and watching in amazement as they began to circle us.

Dive 2

Diving is hungry work. After the first dive, we took a break for a hot lunch aboard the boat.

There are a number of dive sites at Koh Haa so it was a short trip around the corner for our next one at Haa 1, which as it turned out was even better than our first.

The big-ticket items are always fun, but there is just as much beauty in the small things. Sara encouraged us to stop, be still and look in one place to discover tiny hidden creatures like the vibrant nudibranch and bright blue sea slugs.

The highlight of our second dive was swimming through a narrow cavern called The Chimney. We entered the dark cave, pitch black at first but as we swam up through the passageway and looked up, the entrance was illuminated by light, glowing blue and with the silhouettes of hundreds of fish above us.

Simon leaving The Chimney

When we travel we seek the exotic, for experiences different from what we know. You can’t really get more different than life under the sea and we highly recommend giving diving a try—it’s a whole new way of exploring a place.

All photos are by Natasha Lambelin from Liquid Lense, the underwater photography specialists who offer photos of your dive and courses where you can learn to take your own dive photos.

Thanks to Sara and all the wonderful folks at Scubafish, who provided us with this excellent day’s diving.

Have you tried diving? Leave a comment and let us know about your experiences.

Related posts:

1. April Update: Burma, Beaches & A New Business
2. Luxury on Koh Lanta: Baan KanTiang See Villa Resort
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We were a little concerned at first. Baan KanTiang See Villa Resort is located a 30 minute drive down Koh Lanta’s west coast, near the south of the island and far away from the island’s hub of restaurants and shops. We felt even more isolated as we drove up and up a very steep hill at Kantiang Bay to get to the resort.

As soon as we reached the resort our first response was “wow” and we realised the location was perfect after all, with stunning views of jungle-covered hills leading into a golden curve of palm tree lined sand and green-blue sea. We didn’t want to be anywhere else.

After a welcome drink we were taken to our villa and as we approached couldn’t believe the whole place was just for us. As we walked inside it was another “wow” moment when we saw the astonishing sea views from the spacious living room.

We knew instantly that Baan KanTiang See was somewhere special and as we explored our villa we fell in love even more and knew that it was going to be very hard to leave.

The Villas

Sunset at Baan KanTiang See

There are only eight villas at Baan KanTiang See so it’s a peaceful, intimate resort with a shared infinity pool (more on that later). You feel close to nature with flower-filled gardens, the sounds of birds and cicadas, and monkeys playing on your terrace in the early morning.

Living Room

The villas are very large with two double bedrooms and two bathrooms. The spacious open plan living room and kitchen are bright and airy with double height ceilings and glass doors leading on to the terrace with sea views. The décor is simple and elegant with terracotta floor tiles and asian touches in the artwork and low table with cushioned seating. The couch/day bed is massive and covered with cushions – just how we like it. There is certainly no shortage of places to lounge and the terrace provides plenty more options.

There’s also a flat screen TV and the fastest WiFi we’ve had in Thailand. There’s no A/C in the living areas (there is in the bedrooms) but there are two good fans. The glass doors open the full width of the room and with the hilltop breeze the heat is not usually a problem, but we were there in the hot season and A/C would have been nice in the afternoons. Still, the heat was an excuse to jump in the infinity pool!

Kitchen

The kitchen is huge with lots of worktop space and cupboards, a real gas hob (it’s usually electric in Thailand), coffee maker, blender, rice cooker, microwave, toaster and plenty of pots, pans and plates. The only thing missing is an oven but these aren’t common in Thailand.

We also appreciated that some basic supplies and food were provided including washing up liquid and sponges, condiments, coffee, soft drinks and a beer, and a loaf of bread, eggs and ham for breakfast. There’s also a big container of filtered water which the staff replace when needed – we loved not having to worry about drinking water.

If you don’t feel like cooking the resort provides a home delivery menu from some of the local restaurants and you can just call reception to order.

Bedrooms

The bedrooms are stylish with high ceilings, a very comfortable double bed (with lots of pillows), wardrobe and day seat. The stand out feature is the view. You can lie in bed and look out at the sea or the stars at night. The lightweight bamboo blinds provide enough privacy but also enable you to see out. The sun wakes you naturally in the morning and we loved waking up to that view.

The bedroom glass doors lead directly on to the terrace. The second bedroom has the same amenities and view, plus an ensuite, and the room is accessed from the other end of the terrace so feels quite private.

Bathroom

The main bathroom is made up of three separate rooms – the central sink area with lots of storage, the toilet, and the large outdoor shower where you can enjoy views of the trees and hills as you shower. We loved the choice of two shower heads – a big rain shower head and a detachable one that’s useful for washing sandy feet.

Terrace

The terrace is one of the things we loved most about Baan KanTiang See. At 78 m2 it’s bigger than most hotel rooms and runs the length of the villa with access from both bedrooms and the living room. There are plenty of seating areas to choose from – comfy padded sunbeds, reclining chairs, full length floor cushions, and a large dining table seating six people.

As the WiFi reaches the terrace we found this the perfect digital nomad office.

Facilities

The helpful reception staff can arrange laundry, book trips and transport, and order food.

The only resort facility that really matters to us is the pool and Baan KanTiang See has an amazing one. The infinity pool is shared with the other villas but we usually had it to ourselves. It was wonderfully relaxing swimming towards the sea and gazing out at more incredible views. We passed many blissful hours here.

We also liked the seating area in the pool where you could cool down and read a book or turn on the jets to transform it to the “jacuzzi seat”. There are deckchairs by the pool but no sunbeds – you have these on your terrace though.

Area

Crazy sunset at Baan KanTiang See

Despite our initial concerns we loved the location of the villas. It feels very natural surrounded by jungle-covered hills and of course those amazing sea views.

It’s a 10 minute walk down the hill to the beach and village. Kantiang Bay is one of the best beaches on Koh Lanta – a 2km stretch of golden sand that is never crowded.

Kantiang Bay

The village has a few restaurants and shops including a 7 Eleven and our favourite restaurant on the island – Drunken Sailors, which does tasty Thai food, sandwiches, burgers, smoothies and coffee. It’s very vegetarian-friendly. There are a few bars on the beach but this isn’t the place to come for partying.

There are plenty of opportunities for day trips if you can tear yourself away from the villa. We organised an excellent day scuba diving with Scubafish who are based at Kantiang Bay, and we went island hopping, kayaking, snorkelling, and swimming through the Emerald Cave on the 4 Island boat trip with Freedom Adventures who are also locally based. Most tour operators will pick you up from Baan KanTiang See.

Kayaking at Koh Ngai on our 4 Island trip

Other trips we recommend if you rent a scooter or car (or arrange a taxi) are to the even quieter Waterfall Beach south of Kantiang Bay and to the National Park at the southern tip of the island for hikes, a lighthouse, and an empty beach.

We do recommend having your own transport as it will enable you to explore the island and the walk up the hill to the villas is very steep – not fun in the heat of the day. The resort rents automatic scooters for 300 baht a day, but we negotiated a weekly rental with a travel agent in the village for 1000 baht.

Take a Tour

Watch this video for a tour of our villa at Baan KanTiang See.

Summary

We loved Baan KanTiang See – it’s a truly special place where you feel at home in a tropical location. The villas are spacious, very comfortable and we couldn’t get enough of that “wow” view.

Highs

• Huge, comfortable villas.
• Gorgeous sea view from every room.
• Peaceful setting.
• Massive terraces with generous seating.
• Beautiful infinity pool.
• Well-equipped kitchens.
• Fast WiFi.
• Friendly staff.
• Monkeys!

Lows

• Steep hill to get here.
• No hand towels were provided although bath and pool towels were.
• It’s not on the beach.
• No A/C in the living area.

Recommended for: Families and couples looking for a relaxing retreat without giving up home comforts. It’s also very digital nomad friendly with plenty of comfortable places to work and fast WiFi.

Location

Baan KanTiang See Villa Resort is located at Kantiang Bay on the southwest coast of Koh Lanta. You can reach Koh Lanta in 2-3 hours from Krabi by private or shared minibus or ferry. You can get to Krabi by overnight bus or short flight from Bangkok.

Cost

A villa costs from 3000 baht ($96) in the off season (May-October) which for a family or two couples is a bargain. The villas can accommodate up to eight people (maximum four adults) with extra mattresses available.

For more information see Kantiang.se or the Baan KanTiang See Facebook page.

Thank you to the lovely staff at Baan KanTiang See who provided our villa.

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One of the things we liked most about Kuala Lumpur was the different neighbourhoods. We headed to Brickfields for cheap tasty Indian dosas and thalis; to Chinatown for the chaotic markets; and to Kampung Baru to see one of the city’s most traditional neighbourhoods.

We walked from the Petronas Towers through the commercial business district of highrise offices and hotels, along multi-lane highways, empty on a Sunday morning, until we emerged in the quiet Malaysian neighbourhood of Kampung Baru. We felt like we’d left the city and entered a rural village.

Instead of highrises we found colourful one storey wooden houses on stilts, in quiet leafy streets full of banana plants and vibrant tropical flowers.

It feels a world away from Kuala Lumpur’s centre but you only have to look up to see the Petronas Towers looming above – a reminder that this is a city of contrasts.

If you’d like to visit Malaysia too and are looking for cheap holiday deals then take a look at icelolly.com, a holiday price comparison site.

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Inle Lake was our favourite part of Burma and one of its most famous attractions. The huge lake in Shan State is 22km long and 11km wide and is surrounded by mountains. As magnificent as the scenery is what we loved most was seeing how life is lived on and around the water. The lake and mountains were beautiful but it was the one-legged fishermen, the colourful tribal markets, the stilted wooden houses, and the impressive floating gardens that kept us at Inle Lake longer than we planned.

The best way to explore Inle Lake is by boat – we rented a motorised canoe with a couple of teenage drivers and set off in the golden early morning light for a full day of exploration.

Fishermen

The most memorable sight of any trip to Inle is the fishermen who balance on one leg on the end of their canoes and use the other leg to paddle the boat, leaving their hands free to cast their nets.

It’s not just fishermen on the lake. Wooden longtail boats with engines or paddled canoes are the transport used by everyone who lives on the lake. We saw boats overflowing with goods from the market, farmers tending to their floating vegetable patches from their canoes, and men collecting piles of seaweed from the lake to use as fertiliser.

Another technique fishermen use is to hit the water with their paddle to scare the fish into their nets below the water.

Villages

Ywama, Inle Lake

The villages of Inle Lake are wonderfully picturesque. Stilted houses of teak and bamboo line the banks of the lake, and the narrow canals that feed into it. Some villages are even built on the water and access is by boat only. Maing Thauk village is a mixture of the two – the water-based section is linked to the land by a long wooden bridge.

Some homes are simple huts, while others are multi-story structures of sturdy teak and come complete with satellite dishes.

Life is carried out on the banks of the lake and rivers – this is where children play, people bathe, do their laundry, and wash everything from buffaloes to motorbikes.

Markets

Ywama market

There is a rotating system of five markets in the Inle Lake area when the surrounding hill tribes come to sell and buy produce. We visited the floating market at Ywama, which although is one of the more touristy markets we found it easy to move beyond the souvenir stands to the more interesting food section where locals shopped for fruit, vegetables and lots of fried snacks – we couldn’t resist sampling Burmese doughnuts and pancakes.

Women with thanaka smeared faces sat on the floor with their produce laid out before them – colourful piles of onions, tomatoes, chillies, dried fish, blocks of soft Shan tofu, and huge stacks of Shan poppadoms.

Shan poppadoms, Ywama market

Craft Workshops

One of the more touristy, but interesting aspects of an Inle Lake boat tour are the visits to craft workshops. We saw silver jewellery, paper, and lotus and silk fabrics being made. There are attached shops of course and although we were shown around there was no hard sell. It would be a good place to buy souvenirs so make sure you take enough cash – dollars and kyat are accepted.

Paper making, Inle Lake

The paper making was particularly interesting. Teenage girls pounded the tree bark threads in water for 25 minutes before stretching it, adding real flowers and letting it dry in the sun for two hours. The paper is used to make colourful umbrellas.

Temples

Phaungdaw Oo Paya

We definitely recommend you include the village of Inthein on your Inle Lake itinerary. We loved the boat trip down the narrow waterways to reach the village under bamboo bridges and through mini-dams built from straw.

The main attraction of Inthein is the hilltop temple Shwe Inn Thein Paya with 1054 pagodas. Some have been reconstructed in shimmering gold and others lean precariously, crumbling in the vegetation.

Shwe Inn Thein Paya, Inthein

The holiest temple on Inle Lake is Phaungdaw Oo which is always busy with local pilgrims visiting the five ancient Buddha images. To attain merit Buddhists apply gold leaf to the statues and they have become so round that they are now unrecognisable.

For tourists the most well-known temple is the Jumping Cat Monastery where cats have been trained to jump through hoops. It’s a little bizarre but the old wooden monastery is worth a visit for the many Buddha images and we also found a tasty fried Shan tofu stall out the back.

Floating Gardens

Floating Gardens, Inle Lake

Every aspect of life is lived on Inle Lake and we were most impressed by the floating gardens. There are huge expanses of tomato and cucumber fields growing on mounds of soil floating on the lake. Farmers canoe between the rows to water the crops (an easy task here!) and add seaweed fertliser straight from the lake.

Collecting seaweed for fertiliser

Practicalities

The main base for visiting Inle Lake is the small, relaxed town of Nyaungshwe. We recommend the Princess Garden Hotel – you can find more details in our Planning a Trip to Burma post.

We rented a wooden longtail boat with padded chairs for 17,000 kyat ($21) for a day including Inthein. Boats can seat up to five or more people. You can arrange trips with your hotel or any of the travel agencies in town.

It’s cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon so make sure you take a thick sweater or blanket, suncream and a hat.

No related posts.

On the tranquil island of Koh Jum, the most stressful moment of the day is choosing whether to have a pineapple or a watermelon shake for breakfast. It is a place of calm, where the only excitement is being woken up by monkeys clambering over the roof.

For the first few days, we didn’t even know there was a road out of our secluded curve of sand at Ting Rai Bay.

We then found out that, not only was there a road hidden in the jungle high up the hill beyond our bungalow, but that our guesthouse rented Honda Dreams to use on said road, we were naturally very eager to explore.

I wasn’t worried. There was no reason to be—after all, Simon has five months of riding experience from our time in Chiang Mai, including a mammoth road trip to Burma.

Sure, the bike was a manual and all of the time had been spent on automatics, but how bad could it be? He’s like the Charlie Boorman of mopeds.

So we set off.

The first thing we noticed was that ‘road’ was an optimistic label, like describing politicians as ‘public servants’. The smooth, tarmac ribbon that the word usually conjures up was nowhere to be seen and in its place was this thin, rutted, rocky strip of orange dirt, lying there in mild embarrassment under the hot island sun.

Had an earthquake come along looking to wreak havoc, it would have taken one look at this poor excuse for a trail, concluded that there was no work left to do and headed to the beach for a little snorkelling.

One of the better sections of road

The photos really don't do the awfulness justice...

The going was slow. Weaving in and out of the pot holes and around the loose stones wasn’t that much of a problem—it was the gaping canyons with their own delicate ecosystems that were tricky to avoid.

We were grateful that there was no one else around—driving on the right side of the road up here meant driving on whichever side of the road didn’t currently have a huge crater across it.

Just as Simon was getting the hang of moving through these impressive geological artefacts, we turned a corner and were faced with a precariously steep hill with a descent at a gradient that was well in to double and possibly even triple digits.

I wisely hopped off and walked down.

Simon foolishly insisted on continuing, struggling with gear changes as gravity became more and more insistent that he come and meet the valley floor.

When I met him at the bottom, he was unscathed and glowing with the overconfidence of someone who had gambled his life on the fact he was more skilled than the Laws of Physics and, as I got back on, I thought I heard him mutter the words ‘God’, ‘King’ and ‘immortal’.

We carried on through the dense jungle. The huge crevices remained but at least on the flatter sections we could enjoy the scenery somewhat.

After 20 minutes of precipitous drops and inclines Simon turned to me and said that I shouldn’t panic or worry or anything but that the brakes on our beat up old bike didn’t work so well.

It was therefore a relief when we reached a flat section that was without canyons, craters or holes of any kind. In any other country, this massive improvement would have moved this track designation up from ‘What Road?’ to ‘Really Bad Road’.

To us at that point, it was the M6.

We took a brief but welcome detour down a side track to Coconut Beach and walked along the deserted stretch of sand in the far north of the island, where Mount Pu loomed over decaying fishing boats.

Back on the “main road” things got busier as we rounded the northern Koh Pu end of the island towards Baan Koh Pu – one of the three villages on Koh Jum. There aren’t any cars on the island but we passed mopeds and tuk tuks – the local version of a taxi consisting of a motorbike with a sidecar for passengers.

Four young boys crammed on the back of a moped shouted and waved at us. It seems Simon wasn’t the only one giving physics the finger.

The outskirts of the village were quiet and pretty with wooden stilted huts spaced out between banana plants and flowering trees—the Suburbia of undeveloped Thai islands.

Finally, like a small stretch of shiny black gold glistening in the sunlight, we reached tarmac. Finally, we could get out of second gear!

It was the road leading to Baan Koh Pu, a fishing village that is the most interesting of the three villages on the island.  It is a predominantly Muslim area and we passed a small modern green mosque just outside the village.

A crowded tumble of ramshackle wooden stilted houses with roofs of palm leaves or rusting corrugated iron lined the seafront.  Front porches piled high with fishing nets, and at least one, often many, hanging caged birds. The locals swung lazily in hammocks—hiding from work, the heat or both.

The one road between the houses was narrow and congested with parked motorbikes. Longtail fishing boats bobbed in the sea and litter had washed up on the sand. It was a genuine working fishing village, rough around the edges, and all the more appealing because of it.

Standing incongruously in the middle of this strip of skewed huts was one large, well built building with tinted windows and air conditioning units. It was the local mini mart. Outside on the path in the blistering sun, we quickly came up with a list of household items that we urgently ‘needed’ and stepped inside to enjoy the blissfully cool air.

The rest of the trip down the eastern side of the island was much easier. We passed Baan Ting Rai a small collection of shops and local restaurants and finally the Chinese village of Baan Koh Jum at the southern tip. This is the most tourist-orientated part of the island with a few tour agencies and the long stretch of sand at Andaman Beach attracting most of the visitors, although being near the end of the season we didn’t actually see any.

We followed a sandy track down to Andaman Beach in search of lunch but the resorts and restaurants were deserted and we had the 4km long beach to ourselves. Flagging in the midday sun we finally found a restaurant open at the fancy Koh Jum Villa Resort. Suitably refreshed we waded out into the bathwater warm sea and enjoyed our private beach.

Andaman Beach, Koh Jum

We returned to our resort by a different road from the south, but as soon as we passed Ting Rai village the road quickly deteriorated and we were back bumping and sliding along, rocks clanging loudly against the bike.

On the downhill sections I bounced up and down, sliding further and further into Simon, who was sliding further and further into the handlebars.

Then, after a particularly hairy patch that brought us down to sea level, we turned to face a steep ascent—the brother of the descent we had faced earlier that day.

Gravity, it seems, does not like losing.

Simon started the climb, realised that he was in the wrong gear a moment too late and struggled to change down while maintaining forward momentum.

I listened with an increasing sense of despair as the engine coughed, spluttered…and  died.

The bike began to roll backwards.

I hopped off and we tried to wrestle control, which was like trying to control a bull by yanking on its horns (if that bull was inert; a quarter of the size of an actual bull but with the same mass; and was on wheels).

The importance of good brakes became painfully apparent. I stood behind the bike, pushing with everything I had to stop it rolling any further, while Simon tried to kick start the bike on the deeply rutted track.

At a 45º angle.

Wearing sandals.

There was shouting. There was swearing. Then the bike began to slide downhill again.

I was losing my grip. Just when I thought I was about to lose hold, I heard the engine fire and the weight ease, although that could have just been my relief. Simon drove it to the top of the hill and waited as I walked up.

I tentatively got back on—he had that glow again.

We arrived back at the resort exhausted, drenched in sweat and desperately thirsty.

“So,” Simon said. “Pineapple or Watermelon?”

Simon before

Simon after

On Koh Jum we stayed at the Ting Rai Bay Resort – for more details see our full review.

Related posts:

1. Escaping It All At Ting Rai Bay, Koh Jum
2. Photo of the Week: Mopeding Around Chiang Mai
3. Photo of the Week: Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai

Last weekend we visited Kuala Lumpur on a visa run from Thailand. We have been to Malaysia before but never visited the capital and Simon has always wanted to see the famous twin towers. They didn’t disappoint – especially lit up at night. For an excellent view treat yourself to a drink at the Traders Hotel skybar.

Related posts:

1. Photo of the Week: Magic Kingdom at Night
2. Photo of the Week: Moonrise at Tolombon
3. Photo of the Week: Rock Star Photo Shoot at The Black House, Chiang Rai