A family style buffet lunch at the Golden Myanmar restaurant in Bagan.

Vegetarian Survival Guide to Burma (Myanmar)

Can I emphasize again how wonderful it was to sample the street food stalls throughout the country? The Burmese were friendly and fun throughout every meal, and Ana and I felt immersed in the culture packed into tiny stools, crouching and eating among the locals. This is where the conversations happened, we watched what other people ordered, flocked to the crowded places, and enjoyed the accidental orders when what we got didn’t measure up to what we expected (in fact, there are still at least three or four meals I ate for which I have no name, nor any idea how to re-order it!). Ana ate veg for a lot of our travels (by choice), but meat options abound. If you’re traveling Burma with a meat-eating friend, check out these two food guides: here and here.

In this guide, we’ll cover all the major areas of Burmese cuisine I managed to hunt down and find while I traveled in the country. As well as how to say vegetarian and some quick tips to familiarize with the food culture in Burma.

For the food lists, you can quickly jump to any of the sections:

It’s Always Soup-O’Clock
You’ve Never Tasted Salads Like This Before
Dinner Delights and International Influence
Snacks, Fried Foods, and In-Between Meals
Sweet and Tasty Treats

Wondering how to say vegetarian in Burmese?

Thut thut luh.  

The guidebook used another long-winded expression for vegetarian (something for “I cannot eat meat), but “thut thut luh” translates as “lifeless,” and when used with food it is immediately understood with absolute clarity and applies to all meat and fish. It’s easy to say (have your first guesthouse teach you once you arrive), and I never got served meat or fish when I said it. Also, even in this list of dishes, always order the dish, then specify “thut thut luh” to make sure that they do not add in fish sauce, shrimp paste, etc.

The Simple Rules

Before we get to the photo breakdown and descriptions of delicious vegetarian Burmese eats, here are some things you should know before you go for any travelers in Burma, not just vegetarians!

• Breakfast and lunch are the bigger meals of the day; follow the local custom and eat food earlier in the day, when it’s freshest.
• Hot, fresh street food is safest (even better if it has a long queue!).
• Tap water is not safe, but the large jugs of water in front of many businesses are a unique Burmese kindness and are safe, free, and encouraged if you need a glass; they place the water curbside to help people stay hydrated in the often extreme heat!
• State your case upfront about being vegetarian, they will smile, laugh and easily acquiesce once they understand.
• Rice is the base of most/many meals. Except for in the case of soups, you’ll be served rice with almost every meal.
• Venture our for breakfast. Nearly every guesthouse serves a boring egg and white bread breakfast, the locals are eating a lot better than that if you venture to the street stalls!
• The tea on your table is free. It’s usually a fairly bland/weak Chinese tea and it’s a safe way to hydrate since it’s served hot and sealed inside the tea canisters (be sure your cup is dry though when you start pour it though).

We’re ready to get started with the food! As a disclaimer, I’m not Burmese, so these descriptions and dishes are given to the best of my ability! Once you’re there you can sample and discover many I no-doubt missed on my trip. And, if I got it wrong, or you have an amendment to what I said, let me know so I can fix it!

And now I feel it behooves me to warn you: when you finish reading this photo food guide, you’ll be hungry!

It’s Always Soup-O’Clock

Soup is a wonderful and usually very safe meal throughout Asia because they boil all of the ingredients just before serving the soup piping hot. If your soup is luke-warm, particularly if you are eating at an off time of the day, consider a pass (but pay for it if it’s at your table) and find a boiling-hot soup option.

Shan Tofu Soup (Tohu nuway)

A traditional Shan soup, severed in the morning, but also throughout the day, at Inle Lake, Burma (Myanmar).

I listed this dish first for a reason, I have a full-on obsession with shan tofu soup. The name is a bit misleading, because although it is made with tofu from the Shan region of Burma, the tofu is actually the thick, yellow ingredient in this dish. Ground yellow peas (or chickpeas) are ground and kept liquidy and warm throughout the day. When ordered, they flash boil thin noodles, add the liquid tohu and top with the cooks favorite toppings, including: smashed nuts, sesame seeds, parsley, cabbage, and a huge dose of ground, crunchy chili paste (unless you ask for it not spicy, then it will still come with chili, just not as much :) I love this dish so much I took several visiting travelers to taste it at the Friday morning market in Chiang Mai (I’m looking at you Christine!)

Fish soup (Mohinga)
(Flavorful but only for pescetarians…which I am not, but I tasted it anyway!)

Mohinga, pretty much the National dish of Myanmar, this is a mild fish soup seasoned differently each time, with crunchy additions, thin noodles, and dried fish chunks occasionally added. Not vegetarian, but one for the pescatarians to try. This is often served at bus-stop restaurants and late at night road-side stops!

I consider myself a flexitarian, so I sampled this soup several times throughout Burma from my niece’s dish. Though it’s a common breakfast food, we also ate it all throughout the day at bus stop food stalls. It’s not much to look at, but it is full of flavor and spices. It’s also a great warming dish if you’re traveling up in the cooler north!

Mild Tomato Noodle Soup (Shan Khao Swé or, Kau Suetho, or something close)

A soupy Shan khao swe in Hpa-an, Burma

Noodles, basic tomato paste, some crunchy fried beans fritters, and hot broth made this Ana’s favorite breakfast. We ate this daily in Hpa-an. At its most basic, it’s tomato sauce and pork, so make sure you order it “thut thut luh“ to get a vegetarian version! It’s often a bit drier when ordered elsewhere in Burma, but the beaming vendor next door to the Soe Brother’s Guesthouse in Hpa-an sold us on this delicious dish for breakfast; I think his conversation and tips went just as far as the soup in starting our day out on the right foot!
Where: Small restaurant with chairs on the street-side counter that is just next door to the Soe Brothers’ Guesthouse in Hpa-An (which is where you should stay if you visit!).

Vegetable Hotpot

Bubbling and boil hotpot dish on the streets of Yangon stuffed with veggies, bamboo hearts, mushroom and tofu!

Hotpot food stalls lined the streets of Yangon in particular, so when we were hungry we would simply walk up to these, point at the delicious veggies and spices, say “thut thut luh,” then they served a tasty steaming hot bowl of tofu, noodles, and fresh vegetables.
Where: All over the streets of Yangon we found long tables with a family working the small fires with bubbling bowls of hot soup and vegetable.

You’ve Never Tasted Salads Like This Before

This is the part of Burmese cuisine that delights me the most. The flavors in Burmese salads are quite unlike the lettuce/leafy salads common in the west. Instead, these salads blend a range of veggies, nuts, and flavors. Combine unique textures. And then hold it all together with oils, tamarind juice, lime, fried garlic, and nutty dressings. Food handling standards are still questionable at times, so this is where it gets trickier to eat safely (since locals may wash fresh veggies in local tap water, or mix the dish with bare hands on the streets). I paid attention to where locals ate, mostly chose salads when at restaurants, and generally lucked out with no one in our group getting massively ill even once). Note that the Burmese word for salad is something along the lines of: thote, thoke, or thouq when written in the Roman alphabet. 

Tea Leaf Salad (Lephet Thote)

A delicious fermented tea leaf salad mixed with tomatoes, ginger, crunchy mung beans, fried garlic, toasted peas, and various other ingredients to flavor!

This is a top five favorite for me and for good reason–it’s spectacular. The base of the dish is fermented tea leaves, which are a very, very strong and unfamiliar flavor at first. But local cooks mild the flavors in the with the addition of nuts, cabbage, tomato, oils, and various other bits and bots (mung beans, ginger, sesame, bean sprouts, and green tomatoes, among other things, have been known to make an appearance in various iterations of this dish. If there is a cross-over item that you may have sampled from Burmese cuisine, it’s probably this one! Of note is the fact that tea leaves are very high in caffeine, so choose wisely the time of day you consume it!
Where: All over the country, try it at restaurants and if it’s not on the menu, simply ask because there’s a good chance that it’s on the Burmese version of the menu. :-)

Pennyworth Salad (Myin Kwa Yuet Thote)

A delicious Pennywort salad; this is the best shot I managed since I was usually too busy inhaling it to grab a proper photo! Ingredients vary but include onions, pennywort, nuts, and oily dressing.

Tart and delicious, my palate delighted at the new combination of flavors in Pennyworth salad. The dish combines the bright green pennywort plant, lime, toasted sesame, turmeric oil, garlic, tomato…the list goes on, once again, according to local flavor preference. This is a favorite of mine–please seek it out and give it a taste. If you haven’t tried pennywort before (and I certainly hadn’t thought it any more than a weed in my garden) then you owe yourself a taste!

Shan Tofu Salad (Tohu Thote)

Shan tofu salad in Nyaung Shwe, near Inle Lake in the Shan region of Burma. A delicious yellow tofu, sliced and complimented with cabbage, nutty sauce, and spicy chili paste.

Think of this as an inverted tohu nway Shan soup. It’s the same yellow tofu, but instead of liquid and soupy, the tofu sets firm, and is then sliced and garnished with cabbage, spicy chili paste, pickled veggies, and nuts/seeds/parsley. Really anything the local cook prefers is an accent flavor.
Where: Inle Lake is the Shan region of Burma so this is where you can most easily find the dish. Ana and I also hunted down several Shan restaurants near the ET Hotel in Mandalay.

Ginger Salad (Gyin Thote)

A tasty treat, but not one for which I have a photo. Imagine it much like the rest of the salads in Burma, it’s shredded ginger and the ingredients added to it depend on the region and your cook’s taste-buds! If you’re keen to try this one at home, here’s a tasty sounding Burmese ginger salad recipe.

Tomato Salad (Karyanchintheet Thote)

A huge plate of tomato salad, great for adding fresh flavor to a dish of rice

I have a love affair with tomatoes, it goes back about a decade (before that we were fierce enemies) and now we’ll never part ways. For that reason, I adore this Burmese salad. It usually consists of tomatoes, onions, crunchy peanuts, sesame, and oily dressing of some sort. And that’s it. It’s so good with a bowlful of rice and worked well as a compliment to many of the warm foods I tried.

Seaweed Salad

A tangy seaweed salad with a bit of a crunch from the lightly cooked seaweed

This was, admittedly, not my favorite. Though I was on the fence when I first tried it, by the end of my time in Burma I appreciated the tart, tangy salad as a compliment to the rest of my food. Give it a try, since it’s a favorite of my friend. I’m told it’s trickier to find, but we sampled this throughout central Burma, in Bagan and Inle Lake.

Fermented Bean Paste (Pone Yay Gyi)

A ground bean and onion paste with a very potent flavor ; it's delicious mixed in with your rice and other dishes!

Pone Yay Gyi is a bit regional. You can definitely find this dish in the Bagan area. It’s a thick, salty dish made from fermented soy beans usually. It’s a delicious condiment to sample with other dishes, or mix into your rice for an extra jolt of flavor.

Dinner Delights and an International Influence

Burma is blessed with a huge range of cultural influences based on its history and location. The Chinese influence is strong in the northern border regions, and many dishes and customs flowed into the rest of Burma. This is the case with Indian food and culture as well. Yangon is a haven for Indian food lovers, Mandalay as well, and small restaurants and influences can even be found in small towns all over the country. Then, beyond these influences from other countries, Burma is home to a range of ethnic minority groups with their own customs, language, and foods. In short, this list of foods is so long because the country is rich with flavors and international cuisine influences.

Stir-fried Chinese Noodles

Stir-fried Chinese noodles, basic but tasty and an easy vegetarian dish when the menu tended toward the meaty

Pretty standard fare in the tourist spots, we ordered this as a good filler that was tasty, filled with veggies, and pleasing to both the kiddos (Ana and I traveled with mom and daughter GotPassport while we were in Bagan and Inle Lake).

Noodles, Made to Order with Wide Range of Ingredients

Delicious Shan food at a street stall near Nyaung Shwe, on Inle Lake, Burma (Myanmar).

Noodles are a staple in the Myanmar diet, right under rice as the main source of food. The Burmese severed us boiled noodles, fried noodles, noodles in salads, noodles with crunchy toppings. In short, noodles abound and the toppings and varieties about. This one is particularly tasty with fried garlic, sesame, and other seasonings.

Street-Side Chapati and Dhal

A too-hot-to-hold fresh chapati served with dhal from a street stand in Mandalay.

I converted Ana to what I hope will be a lifetime affair with Indian food after our travels in Burma. Mandalay was the best spot for a our street-side chapati stands. For about 20 cents we were able to get one piping hot chapati and one small dish of Indian food; on offer were: curries, dhal, vegetable, and a potato dish. We’d pick out six and go to town enjoying the flavors and fresh chapati bread.
Where: No doubt the best stand we tasted was almost directly across from the ET Hotel (29A 83rd, Between 23-24) in Mandalay.

Indian Thali, Dosa, and Biryani

A freshly made Indian dosa with warm dahl and a cool coconut paste in Yangon at the New Delhi Restaurant.

Indian restaurants and options abound throughout Burma and they have the wide range of typical fare. There were dozens of restaurants in Yangon and an unlimited vegetarian thali ran about US $2 most places, with veg biryani, restaurants, dosas, and just about anything you love available on the menu. We found the best Indian food in Yangon and Mandalay, which is really no surprise since these are the two major cities. And it works out since some of the major other tourists spots you’ll likely hit have other regional vegetarian delights.
Where: New Delhi Restaurant (262, Anawrahta St) in Yangon. Thinking we would outsmart the guidebook, we asked a lot of locals for the best Indian restaurant, and they all pointed to this touristy (but so cheap) hot-spot. Down about 10 doors is a fantastic biryani restaurant as well with vegetarian biryani (though they run out by mid-afternoon!).

Snacks, Fried Foods, and In-Between Meals

The Burmese like to snack from what I could tell! There was a huge range of deep-fried, pan-fried, and street-side snacks available all throughout the day. From the simple sweet or savory pancakes on the streets of Yangon, to the more complex  flavors in samosas, we never lacked for food options.

Deep Fried Veggies and Beans

Deep fried veggies, served with breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even just a snack

These deep-fried snacks were offered with nearly every meal and were frying on the side of the road throughout the evening. The bean ones were my favorites actually, and look out for deep-fried yellow tofu at the same stalls, it abounds throughout Burma!

Fried Dough Sweet or Savory (Paleada)

Order this one as you'd like it. We most often ate them with banana, though they are just as tasty if you opt for sugar, or even the savory one with beans!

Stands serving these have a range of options and pointing can work well. This resembles the roti stands evidenced throughout other places in Southeast Asia, but has more options. Ana and her friend M campaigned for one of these sweet treats each night, and though not the healthiest dessert on the planet, we loaded our dessert with bananas and everyone in the group enjoyed a few slices. The savory one stuffed with beans and fried up was a tasty dinner and makes a good option for any picky eaters (which we weren’t but Ana wanted a change-up from the soups and salads one night!)
Where: The night market in Nyaung Shwe (Inle Lake) had a wonderful stand, fast service and all the Shan soup stands are just next door!

Beans and Red Rice (Kauk Nyin Paung)

Never served to me when I was on my own, this was actually the Burmese breakfast served at our hotel (Westerners got eggs by default!).

I doubt I ever would have found this simple breakfast dish if A wasn’t with me. She was served Kauk Nyin Paung  for breakfast one day, while Ana and I were served yet another helping of eggs. Her’s looked a lot tastier, so from that point on, when possible, we opted for this dish! And as a bonus, A spotted a vendor from our early morning bus too; once we knew the dish was out there, we were able to pay closer attention and find it on our own!

Tea Leaf Salad (Lephet Thote)

The Burmese tea leaf salad, served with fermented tea leaves, fried mung beans and other various crunchy nuts and seeds, and ginger.

Not to be confused with the actual salad that comes out mixed together, this one has just three ingredients and is served as a snack/dessert, rather than a full part of the meal. The fermented tea leaves are very tart and strong, so mix to taste with the other ingredients when it’s served to you this way!

Sour Plums

A vendor relaxes with the paper, knowing the sour plum fans will seek him out when they're ready for a mid-morning treat!

These very, very sour plums bake out in the sun and heat, so opt for them early in the day if you’re keen to sample. The flavor is a bit more potent than I can handle, but they’re quite popular with the locals!

Fried Other Things

Indian samosas abound in Yangon. Deep fried donut-sticks were particularly easy to hunt down in Mandalay, and basically, when the craving for deep-fried struck, there were no shortage of offerings on the streets in the big cities.

Sweet and Tasty Treats

My wicked sweet tooth was beyond happy with the quick sweet options. I love portion control and that was easy in Burma since they opt for a small bite of jaggery candy, or a bowl of sweet jelly rather than a huge piece of pie/cake/ice cream like we would in the west! And when all else fails, find the fruit!

Sugarcane and Jaggery Candies Chunks

Where can you find these treats? Look for roadside stands and little jars on your table with light brown solid chunks. Then sample away, like the Chinese tea, they’re free if they’re on the table! Also, I found a home compound making the sweet sugarcane treats outside of Inle Lake, so keep your eyes on the lookout!

Sugarcane Juice with Lime

A popular treat all over, the pressed sugarcane juice with lime is sweet and refreshing, but be careful if it's served with ice; choose a popular stand with clean ice storage!

Sugarcane juice is available all over the streets of Burma. The vendor feeds sugarcane stalks through the juicing contraption, and Burma’s version of the juice comes with a generous squeeze of lime! Be warned though, this is a street treat, so avoid the ice and choose a vendor with a generally clean machine and stall!

Jellied Sweets and Coconut Milk
I’m a big fan of dessert but I steer well clear of all jellied desserts for some reason. They’re quite popular all over Southeast Asia, often served chopped, shredded, or cubed and with ice, coconut milk, tapioca, or a variety of other sweet concoctions. You don’t lack on options if you like this type of dessert!

Plentiful Fruit

Young boys sell watermelon on the streets of Yangon's Chinatown

Like most of Southeast Asia, Burma has a huge supply of fresh fruit on every corner and it’s the healthiest way to end a meal. Ana and I stocked up on bananas and clementines before a bus ride and snacked on yellow watermelon for a fun spin on a familiar treat! Fresh avocado is also fantastic in the Inle Lake region.

An Ending Note on Burma’s Vegetarian and Food Tips

To use a trite expression, I could wax poetic all day about the delicious food I ate in Burma. Thank you to the mom GotPassport (and her cooking recipe site) for her tips, advice, and guidance before, and on the ground throughout my trip to Burma with my niece. Without her translating and introducing me to some of these dishes, I would have blindly passed through regions of Burma oblivious to some of the local flavors, foods, and customs.

A street food vendor right on the sidewalks and in the midst of Yangon's busy foot and car traffic! He'd doing it all right: clean work surface, 10 minute wait he's so busy, and fresh and piping hot treats made-to-order.

Being vegetarian means that I am sometimes much more conservative on my food choices than meat eaters, out of fear mostly. But that’s silly to some extent. Yes, there is sometimes a huge language gap in Myanmar. That gap is sometimes scary, but once I was armed with my term “thut thut luh” I felt pretty confident to tackle the menu with a bit more gusto than I might usually. And it paid off.

Enjoy the dishes, and let me know what I missed so I can keep a running tally of the foods I still need to try! (And so others can try them too). If I got something wrong, please let me know and I’ll make the corrections.

Now it’s your turn, that was a pretty exhaustive list, which one looks most interesting/tasty/unique to your visual taste-buds?

This travel story first appeared on the A Little Adrift round the world travel blog, thanks for following the journey.

I stressed, I worried with my friends at weekly dinners about glitches we might encounter, and I planned out my speech to the immigration officials about our six month adventure homeschooling throughout Southeast Asia. I had it all scripted at the passport counter: They would raise an eyebrow at how very unconventional we are by leaving on this trip. I would laugh and talk about my years of traveling and writing. Ana would pitch in a happy “yay!” for good measure. The officials would look at the paperwork signed by her parents, ask her a few questions, then stamp us on our way.

The documents I took with us to legally travel around the world with my niece Ana, a minor child not my own.

The reality?

No one ever questioned us. Not one single question. I flew out of the United States on an international flight to Thailand, via South Korea, and no one blinked an eye when I passed over the passport for a child who:

• Does not share my last name.
• Is quite obviously a minor at just 11 years-old.
• Has a passing resemblance to me (eye color and race is about it).
• Is leaving her country of residence.
• Was sullen and pretty unhappy when we first left.
• Is not my child.

I have crossed international borders and entered and exited five countries with my niece (the US, Thailand, Laos, Burma, and Cambodia), and never once did anyone check to make sure I had the right to travel with her.

This fact disturbs me. A lot. So much, in fact, I will likely keep her passport locked up in my parent’s bank safe once we return because if I can so easily leave with her, what’s to stop anyone else from leaving the US with her?

I remember reading about some new laws in the US, about both parents having to show consent for a minor to leave the country as a way to stop custody disputes from ending poorly. I never paid much attention to this sort of news, since it had little relevancy to me, but I always assumed those people traveling with children were at least lightly questioned, particularly if they were not traveling as a happy little nuclear family, with mom, dad, kids and perfectly matching last names.

Clearly I was wrong though, because no one gives two hoots.

Okay, to be fair, the very last month, when we crossed into Cambodia overland from Thailand, one official working on our Cambodian visas walked over and asked if Ana was my daughter. I thought, “thank god!” but responded, “no, she’s my niece.”

And with that he turned and walked away, then came back moments later with our passports (and our shiny new Cambodian visas inside), and gave us a large smile as he shooed us on our way.

Ana and the GotPassport.org family get ready to board our Air Bagan flight from Chiang Mai to Yangon, Burma.

When we sent away to the Burmese embassy for our visas, I even tried to give them my paperwork, and the woman said “we just need your passports, nothing else.”

Here’s the thing, I’m not much of an alarmist, so when we first left the US and immigration gave us surly, uncurious permission to board our international flight, I chalked it up to a fluke. And honestly I was still recovering from the final days of packing stress, so it didn’t phase me much. Then, as we began crossing borders via bus, boat, plane, and train…it hit me that no one is asking questions and caring about the situation. I printed out paperwork in triplicate and stashed it in three different bags, yet just yesterday I unpacked it here at home, and it is still as crisp and unused as the day I pulled it from my printer seven months ago.

Frankly, I don’t know if this is normal. I had assumptions going into this trip that crossing borders would be a chore, but a necessary one to ensure the safety of our children. I wanted this to be the case to justify my faith in our system.

After 6 months on the road, my niece and I packed and ready for the airport after a delicious street food pit-stop in Bangkok, just before our final flight home-ward bound!

Before I left, I had planned to write a post along the lines of “here’s what you need to travel with a minor not your own.” Instead, I’ll note that this is what I brought with me and have never once used:

• Official copy of the minor’s birth certificate.
• Parental Permission to Travel Outside the US with a Minor (notarized)
• Temporary Guardianship and Medical Authorization (notarized)

In case you also feel a need for over preparedness, those are links to view blank versions of the files I used, linked to a shared Google document; I modified the documents from other sources I found online and tweaked for them international travel and my unique situation. I am not a lawyer, nor do I have any superpowers to create official documents. In fact, I designed these for my specifics, so use at your own risk, ask your lawyer to look over them, and all that jazz. In other news, I had each of the notarized ones done twice, one for each parent, and the Guardianship document in particular is unique because of the length of our travels, and how young my niece was during our trip. I felt better for having it, but might not have done one for a shorter trip…really comes down to a personal judgment call and research on the current laws before you leave!

As for the rest of it, I just had to blog about it because even now as I try to adjust my expectations and assumptions, it still strikes me as odd that if I have a kid’s passport in my hand it’s that easy to simply disappear off the grid.

What’s your take on this? All I have is my experience to hold this against, but have you ever been questioned when traveling with your own minors or someone elses’ ? Do you think the border controls are too lax? Am I overreacting here?

This travel story first appeared on the A Little Adrift round the world travel blog, thanks for following the journey.

Oh, wait! That’s what it feels like over here now; the monsoon rains are weeks away from hitting and the air gets heavier with each word that materializes on my computer screen. Well and so, we’re prepared for another Florida summer after avoiding any signs of winter for the past six months.

Ana and I rode an old bamboo train in the outskirts of Battambang, Cambodia; these are used on the old train tracks and locals transport food and goods back and forth between towns, and through the rural rice paddies!

Right now, we’re camped out at a lovely guesthouse just outside of Kampot, Cambodia with wide open spaces, lush mango trees and plenty of jungle-gym equipment to keep Ana occupied. I’ve forced Ana to act as my tour guide over the past month, it gets her much more involved in our trip that way, and this afternoon she planned us a kayaking trip on the lower Mekong River.

Last week, we ogled at the pretty Apsara dancers, watched a Cambodian circus, saw the marvels of Angkor Wat, and generally took our last month on the road as a complete indulgence. She’s behind on her school work and I find myself spending hours merely answering emails and putting out fires between our sightseeing and epic games of Scrabble (we’re big fans of the game, and Ana’s challenged me to a winner-takes-all-the-glory re-match tonight). My site here is so behind on stories and photos I find myself continually beating myself up over the delays. It’s not that I haven’t written, I have scores of posts and stories, but to take the time to pen them, edit them, then edit and add photos meant hours of Ana sitting in a hotel room watching TV, or playing around on her computer rather than travel.

The beautiful Apsara dancers at a show in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

So, from the absence of stories and updates, one might accurately note that we’re enjoying what time we have left in complete abandon of such nonsensical things as a schedule (besides that pesky flight home out of Bangkok airport!) and enjoying our time together.

I’ve been so inspired over the past several months.  Having a giggling 11-year-old to point elements of my trip that never before excited me reignited some wonder. And it’s had challenges; I’m not as cool as a cucumber when dealing with touts and haggling after bickering with Ana in our room about wearing sunscreen and hats. Psuedo-solo-parenting and traveling are a tricky combination and something I occasionally fail at, but she’s still alive, so I figure that’s a win, right? ;-)

Ana throws frangipani in the air after collecting the fallen blossoms from the floor of Wat Banan near Battambang, Cambodia (and, ::cough, cough:: I won the hat debate :)

Yes, there is more to say. But for now, for now I have a mere 14 days with my sweet little niece before we rejoin our family, and I think I’ll soak it in, I just wanted to let you know that we’re here, we’re traveling, we’re taking time to watch the last sunlight fade from the sky each day, and we’ll both have more to say once the adventure ends and we’re camped out at home thinking back on our SEA trip.

A pretty sunset on the lower Mekong River from Kampot, Cambodia.

This travel story first appeared on the A Little Adrift round the world travel blog, thanks for following the journey.

Hours before the night market clogs the main tourist street in Luang Prabang, Vat Ho Pha Bang shines against the ultramarine sky and purple bougainvillea within the pristine National Museum complex. The city retains a rural and small-town feel despite it's place in history as a royal capital in the 8th century, and an active trading hub on the Silk Road for many succeeding centuries. Now, it's a UNESCO world heritage city, but no longer the capital of Laos, which I think is a very key reason the city has remained small despite globalism and tourism.

The city is a world heritage site, and on this trip Ana and I spent simple days watching, observing, and talking about history and how it may have shaped the town, what it might have felt like when Laotian kings walked the streets. I find myself slowing down a lot more with Ana in tow, instead of spending the evenings with a beer at the bowling alley (hugely popular with the backpackers in the city back in 2009), we found a coffee shop on the river; the shop’s well-worn cushions and knee-high, woven bamboo tables were cozy and comfortable as we sipped our tart, icy lime drinks. We people watched for a bit while the boats hummed on the river below, then wrote in our journals of the days sights, me encouraging Ana to draw pictures, note specific moments and feelings. And  I realized as we sat there, me espousing the best ways to document a journey and reflect on experiences, how little time I personally take to reflect offline, in a handwritten journal. Ana was quick to point out that I was a hypocrite for making her document her personal thoughts and journey when I so rarely stopped the clatter of my fingers jetting over the keyboard to put pen to paper…even though I know that’s how I think best, I just feel so caught up in what I still need to do-plan-work on that I rarely step away from the computer without conscious effort.

And so, I made more of an effort to unplug, I mostly stopped blogging for a bit (more on that at some point) and since Ana and I found ourselves in Luang Prabang for several extra days, I found I still loved visiting this pretty little city. And I still love the temples, smiles, and food. The people, monks, and tourists. All these combine into a city with charm, heritage, and personality that I knew I loved, but needed a reminder to stop and enjoy.

Tiny stools jut onto the sidewalks in the misty hours of dawn as locals sip a steaming soup adorned with herbs and spices before they took their tuk-tuks and mottos for a full day of work. Though western breakfast shops bracketed this tiny soup-stand with croissants and lattes, it was just as easy to hunker down with the locals, point and smile at the soup, and within minutes be happily slurping down fragrant broth and noodles.

My breakfast was complete only after purchasing a 5,000 kip (about 60 cent) fruit shake from the corner stalls displaying colorful cups of pre-chopped mixed fruit ready blend into a condensed milk, ice, and fruit concoction that defies logic on its tastiness! Smoothies are my go-to snack in Southeast Asia, and as we had our shake blended, numerous mottos zipped up to the stand to also grab a blended beverage before zooming on their way!

With some poppy traditional music blaring from the truck speakers, these kids were happily clapping, singing, and shouting out hellos. I suspect this was a parade of sorts, or class trip perhaps, since several truck-beds passed by in the late morning with the cheery children, all of whom were giddy with excitement to wave to us as we paused and watched them gently roll down the road, the driver careful not to jolt the truck too much!

With a freedom distinctly uncommon in the United States, this little girl independently toddled down the street on her mothers high heels, stopping at nearby vendors, grabbing her morning snacks and hugs before heading back to the shop where her mother sold fair-trade crafts and scarves.

One of the things I love about Luang Prabang are the family compounds that also act as guesthouses. In many cases, each guesthouse is also the home for several generations of Laotians. This grandfather on my street stoked the early morning fires, cooked breakfast and minded his grandchildren while the middle generation took care of us tourists, cleaned the guestrooms, and generally ran the business; every member of the family feeling useful and needed to balance the dynamics.

The night market walking street comes alive with long buffets of food. Vegetarian buffets were present even back in 2009, and for just over a dollar US we piled our bowl with a variety of flavorful vegetarian dishes. Nearby skewers of meat appeased the omnivores (including Ana), and buckets of cold drinks, snacks and treats were all sold with the quiet soft-sell and placid smiles from vendors.

Freshly grilled fish was easy to find, and while not something I personally eat, it fascinates me to see the fully recognizable fish skewered and prettily presented for eating. I find food in the US is often purposely packaged to disassociate itself from the animal it actually is, while culturally in Asia, they often consume and enjoy nearly every part of the animal!

After just three mornings of a habitual coffee to start my day, the vendor would smile and wave as I approached. On the fourth day he beat me to the punchline and happily parroted out my precise coffee order, remembering my explicit instructions "noooooo sugar," which pegs me as so un-Asian since they adore adding condensed milk and sugar syrup to just about every single drink they serve.

The calls for service from the tuk-tuk drivers pelt out into the day like a woodpecker making his home in a new tree. Every time we passed one of these shared taxis, the driver was quick to list out all the possible tourist activities for the day, and though it could have gotten annoying, I rather like the consistency of their chant, quite unchanged from the one I heard recited several years ago on the very same street corner.

Colorful paper fans glowed from the rattan mats lining sidewalks of Luang Prabang's night market. The bright pigments do a fantastic job of drawing the tourists closer to the variety of wares. Like bees to a brightly colored flower, my niece and I followed the magnetizing draw of crafts and conversation humming on the city's crowded street and dug through the kitsch to find quirky coins and beads for Ana to make into bracelets.

From Mount Phousi, the highest hill in the center of Luang Prabang, Ana and I watch the sunset over the hills and rivers encircling the world heritage city center. We visited in late November, just as the region's rainy season finished, and the reward was a landscapes so verdant it could inspire poetry in those more inclined to flowery words than myself. Low-slung streets, shining golden temples, tall palms and quiet river waters make this city an enduring riddle that seems both supremely touristy and yet unchanged throughout the past hundreds of years since construction of the first temple. The city has seen much history, but is so humble.

I find myself oddly drawn here, and Ana asked me if I wanted to maybe live in Luang Prabang, to become an occasional expat in the city I waxed poetic about even before we arrived and I surprised her by answering ”no.” No, I don’t want to live in Luang Prabang. I love the lazy sunsets enjoyed at the confluence of the Nam Khan and Mekong, the ability to spend several days biking around the streets, eating crusty warm baguettes (a remnant of the French influence), and visiting temples and waterfalls. The city is compelling, but no, I don’t actually want to live there, a visit every few years is enough for now.

This travel story first appeared on the A Little Adrift round the world travel blog, thanks for following the journey.

In honor of this day, and because Ana and I just finished a homeschool unit on the water cycle (and because I saw this beautiful photoessay on Boston’s Big Picture), I offer up three facts about “Water and Food Security,” this year’s theme, and a water themed photoessay from various countries I’ve visited.

World Water Facts

•  We drink between 2-3 litres of water per day, but we use 3,000 litres per day when considering water used in food production.
• Meat production is a huge culprit for hidden water waste. 1 kilogram of beef takes 15,000 litres.
• Reducing the amount of food you waste and throw away is one of the easier ways to reduce your water consumption.

Photoessay of Types of Water Around the World

Cleansing water: two women on Inle Lake in Myanmar bath right on the canal thoroughfare, taking not only food from the river, but the mechanics of daily life as well.

Mountain Waters: High in the Himalayan Mountain range, the clear, gushing streams harness energy, help process foods, and offer life to the communities living off the land in rural parts of Nepal.

Life-giving water: a Tharu boy from southern Nepal fishes for food, or maybe just for fun, in the placid river.

Stark Waters: The dry, barren earth and gray mountain range stand in contrast to the deep river I viewed out my bus window when making my way through rural Croatia.

Convenient water: glancing over the low wall around the temple compound, I spotted this young monk filling buckets as monks cleaned and washed all the white temple walls.

Epic Waters: Clouds shadows create a vast, open and almost lonely space from Connor Pass, on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. The turbulent Atlantic waters in the distant are a severe contrast to the serene valley and peaceful lakes.

Sacred Water: The Harmandir Sahib, also called the Golden Temple, houses the most holy text in Sikhism. The temple complex and water dominate the center of Amritsar, India. All religions are welcome to come worship God in the temple, and many people take a dip in the shallow, cleansing waters around the holy temple.

Busy Water: Sydney Harbor in Australia bustles with activity as boats, both large and small, zip right by the Sydney Opera House. The boats are likely rushing to avoid the storm that rolled in 10 minutes later and let leash a torrential downpour of rain.

Mythical Waters: Pretending I am Nessie the Loch Ness Monster, I strike a ridiculous pose in Fort Augustus, Scotland. Part of me secretly hoped I'd see Nessie in this photo when I looked at the image ;-)

Salty Water: The Dead Sea is one of the saltiest bodies of water on earth. Life cannot flourish in the water and when standing on the shores, earth's lowest spot on land, pretty white salt crystals cover the rocks and tint the water an impossible shade of aqua-green as it laps at the knobby rock surface.

Misty Water: Morning dew sits over the tree canopy in the Bokeo Nature Reserve in Northern Laos, the sun is just rising and hasn't yet burned off the water so the forest looks mystical, like the setting for a fairy tale.

Fun Water: Snorkelers in Key West Florida float over the shallow reefs, seeking out coral fans and colorful reef fish in the variegated coastal waters.

Pretty Waters: Australia's Great Ocean Road is a slowly changing seascape of beauty. As the strong Southern Ocean waves erode the limestone stacks, the views will continuously change as time passes; my pretty views back in 2009 will be long forgotten by 2509.

Historical Water: The Neretva river flowing under Stari Most, a bridge in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has witnessed history and tragedy unfold. Stari Most stood in Mostar for 427 years before it was bombed and destroyed in the Croat-Bosniak War in the early 1990s. After the war ended, UNESCO and international organizations worked with the government to accurately build and reconstruct the bridge that stands today.

Food & Water = Life. Without water, we have no food.

It wasn’t until I left the confines of the United States that I began to witness the wealth and resource disparity present on our planet. And by disparities, I mean disparities in all terms of wealth. After traveling, I began to appreciate my education more because I saw how hard so many others worked for theirs. My food was plentiful, and I never knew hunger. I had a shower every night, and clean tap water flowing out of my faucet. I spent summers running through my sprinklers, then cooling off with a glass of lemonade flavored Kool-Aid.

I never knew how much I had at my disposal. Water is a shared resource, and though renewable, clean water is increasingly taxed out by our usage.

Thank you for reading this far about the waters I’ve seen throughout my years of traveling. As a part of World Water Day 2012, I’d like to end by noting that the two easiest ways to help the global water shortages are to conserve water usage and eliminate food waste. Ana and I are working on being particularly conscious of our food and water use this week as we consider how our personal choices affect the planet as a whole :)

Cheers,

~S

This travel story first appeared on the A Little Adrift round the world travel blog, thanks for following the journey.

Men fish the shallow waters of Inle Lake from long, flat wooden boats at Inle Lake in Burma (Myanmar).

This epiphany carried over to the present, and into my days navigating the marshy waters, thin canals and open expanse of rippling waters on Inle Lake in Burma last month. The most iconic photos of Inle Lake picture the fishermen, their conical nets resting on long wooden boats as the men paddle with one leg wrapped like a vine around the wooden oar digging into the placid lake waters. It’s a beautiful, practical custom that, in all its “foreignness” to the Western eye, pulled my focus as I marveled at the old-school nets in place of a modern fishing pole, the lazy motion of leg-led rowing and not a boat motor. The male fishermen stand on the bow of the boat so they can see down to the lake floor, and their legs are a powerful way to more easily row through the marshy weeds that grow nearly to the surface since Inle Lake averages just seven feet deep.

Looking deep into the weeds and water grass, the fishermen on Inle Lake fish for both trade, and for their dinner!

But that’s just one tiny, indelible piece of life on Inle Lake.

The super productive ecosystem around this shallow 44.9 square mile lake created a separate lake culture, different from the Bamar majority in Burma, and even different from the Shan minority group, even though Inle Lake is within Burma’s Shan State. Instead, an Intha culture and language grew, specific to Inle, where the lake and its ecosystem have allowed the culture to thrive.

A tall wooden stilt house sits over the canal waters, laundry drying in the sun and boats stored underneath!

The villages embraced their creativity over the years in order to make this lake environment their home. Myths even surround the founding of the culture–some believe a former king banished part of the Royal Army from Burmese land, and to keep their word they created moved onto water! Floating land created from dried and hardened weeds and floating hyacinth secure the floating huts and bamboo villages to one fixed spot.

No joke, floating land.

Dense vegetation on the floating gardens, in particular, stop-light red tomatoes grow well in this ecosystem.

And once the Intha mastered the floating land, then agriculture became a cinch—after all, they have an endless supply of water. So, as our driver navigated the canal waters, I watched farmers slosh around their cultivated square farms of land, marveling that oxen and humans both easily traipsed around the water farms.

Some farms are kept on much thinner land, and miles of fragrant tomato plants tumbled over each other on the lakes surface, beautiful birds dipping into the canals near the gardens when they spotted fish from above. So, now you’re wondering, okay, they have stilt houses, floating land for farming, and gardens, but why doesn’t it all just float away?

I puzzled over this mystery, I even spent time musing out loud about hundreds of 10 foot tall bamboo sticks poking out from the lake in every direction. Ah, the sea of khaki colored bamboo affix a garden to the lake surface. Then, the gardens are tended, sold, and moved if need be in the future.

The tall sticks hold the floating gardens in place on Inle Lake, Burma (Myanmar).

Genius!

The entire lake sustains a purpose-built community around the ecosystem.

Fishing.

Crops.

A worker tends to his floating garden on Inle Lake, Burma (Myanmar).

Animals.

A giant water buffalo is out for his late afternoon snack and a stroll in Inle Lake, Burma (Myanmar).

Temples.

Temples floating on the shallow surface of Inle Lake

And the seagulls.

Feeding the seagulls was a highlight of the trip. Over the past five months I watched Ana guffaw with laughter at random moments, and smile with patience and curiosity as locals explained the inner workings of something to her, and even frown with concern at the treatment of street animals.

And the seagulls on Inle Lake brought sheer joy. She abandoned all thought of being a serious preteen and she and her friend M (from GotPassport.org) threw chunks of deep-fried dough with childish abandon. The birds swooped down to pluck chunks out of their hands and noisily fought over bits flung into the air. And as the sun set over Inle Lake, we cozied into our warm blankets and all enjoyed the bite of cool in the air and the squawk of birds tailing our speeding longboat.

Warm blankets and a content smile accompanied a spectacular sunset :)

Far from subtle, behind us a maze of saffron and pumpkin exploded into the sky nearest the setting sun, while a quiet rose tint settled on the surrounding mountains and we jetted back into the small town center for fresh dinner and a warm bed.

This travel story first appeared on the A Little Adrift round the world travel blog, thanks for following the journey.