Mae Sot is a fascinating place. It’s a town in western Thailand that hugs the border with Burma and has a culture that is distinctively Burmese. The best restaurants in town are Burmese, which sell tea leaf salad, tomato salad and fragrant curries. Women in longyis swirl thanaka on their faces to protect their skin from the hot sun. And somewhere on the streets you can usually hear the ‘tak, tak, tak’ sound of boys playing cane ball.  It’s estimated up to 70 per cent of the 120,000 pe...

Old Bagan revolves around sunrise and sun set. It’s when thousands of 12^th century pagodas are basked in a warm orange light, providing a perfect photo opportunity for snap happy visitors. At 3:30 a.m., the streets of Nyaung Oo, the town just outside of Old Bagan which is dotted with more affordable guest houses, are pitch black and the only people awake are those just arriving off the night bus from Inle Lake. Half asleep, Paul and I revel in the novelty of loading our ba...