It doesn't have to be Iguacu...

Many people told me, that I should not be disappointed about the Niagara Falls and they might not live up with the expectations... Well, I totally disagree! After having seen the Iguacu Falls in Argentina/Brazil, they are still incredible and are totally worth a visit. The difference however is, that it is sooooo touristic! There is such a high number of luxury resorts and other hotels on both, the american and the canadian side!

Niagara Falls consists of two falls, one smaller fall, which is 100% in the US and the larger horseshoe falls. For a closeup it is good to visit the american side and to go down to the bottom, where the water is pouring down on you at the Caves of the Winds.

From the Canadian side, you'll get the better view, especially on the horseshoe falls, which mainly means mist coming up from the falls:

50 stars and 13 stripes

After a 30h journey over the northpole I arrived in Boston and met my parents in the hotel. The next morning we hit the Freedom trail, a two miles long path on which all of Bostons important sights are located, which lead to the declaration of independence.

In the afternoon we checked out the campus of Harvard university, which is just a few minutes north of Boston downtown. Hardard is one of the best and one of the most expensive universities worldwide. This is also reflected in the splendor of the campus. Just look at their library:

Overall Boston is actually much nicer than what I had in mind and I am curious, of what else is waiting on the trip over to the westcoast...

Hong Kong; Last destination in Southeast Asia

The last stopover in southeast Asia was in Hong Kong. It was pretty much like I expected: crazy city, very fast lifestyle and shopping, shopping, shopping. I have seen people queing up in front of a Louis Vuitton store! And of course Hong Kong has a nice skyline...

But as I had to find out before, to get good views, don't come during rainy season. It was mostly cloudy, which made the trip to the Peak dispensable (Hong Kong Island's hill, which provides the best view over Hong Kong). But one more reason to come to Hong Kong is the food and I am not talking about McDonalds and TGI Fridays, which are found on every corner, but about the exciting mixture of all Asia's fantastic food... Delicious!

Back to shopping malls and 7eleven...

I arrived in Kuala Lumpur (KL), the capital of Malaysia and as expected there were McDonalds and 7elevens on every corner, unlike in Myanmar, where such things don't exist due to the embargos. KL is home of the Petronas Towers, which used to be the world's highest building from 1999 until 2004, when the Taipeh 101 was completed.

Considering that KL's population is only 1.5 million, it has a quite impressive skyline and I was wondering how all these useless Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton stores in all these shopping centres in KL can make money?! For a great view over the skyline it is best to go up to the observation deck of the Menara KL, the television tower of KL.

The Golden Rock

In the early afternoon I took a train from Mandalay to Bago and the ride was about 14 hours. For the adventure spirit I booked ordinary class and I had so much fun for the first 8 hours. The train and the tracks are in terrible condition and the ordinary class is packed full of people. The train is going way too fast for the quality of the tracks and is therefore jumping up and down such that I sometimes hit my head on the ceiling, when flying around in the train... I guess it's a burmese style rollercoaster and a miracle that the train didn't derail (although it often does). It was absolutely great and a must do experience in Myanmar!

In the early morning the nightmare was over and I took some more highly questionable motorized vehicles to reach the Golden Rock. A rock with a little pagoda on top is fully covered in gold and located on the top of a mountain there is supposed to be an amazing view, but lucky me, it was so misty, I could baredly see the Golden Rock.

The rock has not just a thin layer of gold, since you can easily make big carves in it with your fingernail, which means the gold it at least 1cm strong... I don't want to know how much gold is on this rock. It was therefore already quite impressive, even without the view...

Meet the Moustache Brothers

Hundreds of monks are supposed to cross U Beins Bridge in one of Mandalay's southern subburbs. I went there, but I guess I was too late to see the "Monk Parade". U Bein bridge is with it's 1.6 km still the longest Teak bridge.

When climbing Mandalay hill to visit the pagoda on top of the hill, I was all of a sudden surrounded by locals who wanted to practise their english. Eventually I didn’t pay too much attention to the pagoda and the sunset over the city of Mandalay and the Palace (which was both impressive afterall), but it was so nice to talk to all these burmese students. I spent about 3 hours up at the hill and almost forgot to head back into the center to see the show of the Moustache Brothers.

 

These guys are activists in Myanmar mainly making jokes about the military government. All oft hem were arrested for their show at least once, but since it has become kind of a tourist attraction, they are now more or less tolerated. The show is held in the garage/kitchen of their house in mandalay and they provide some 20 plastic chairs for the audience, which creates kind of a familiar atmosphere.

Next morning 4 am was the time to visit Mahamuni Paya, where a team of monks lovingly washes an polishes a golden Buddha image and a lot of people in front of it praying. In the afternoon it was time to take the train south to Bago…

Trek from Kalaw to Inle Lake

The town of Kalaw is about 65km before Inle Lake and took 3 days to reach the lake. The trek is through hills and jungle, along the rice fields of local villages. The first night we came across a little town with a train  station, where hundreds of locals sell their crops in the train.

The first night we spent at a family in a village. They provided very delicious food, a floor to sleep on and a lovely shower, which was basically a bucket of cold water in the grass. The second day we passed more villages and rice fields, before reaching a monastry in the afternoon, where we spent the second night. In this monastry were five young monks tought by the head of the monastry.

Finally we reached Inle Lake and we took a boat to bring us across the lake, where fishing is the main business of locals.