After a full day exploring Bagan and some of its temples, it was time for Amie and I to head out of the city and spend some time in Myanmar’s countryside.

Thynn showing us the palm sugar.

Our first stop for the day was to a small local palm sugar farm to watch them harvest the sugar and to sample it, of course.

High up in the palm tree.

Amie trying the palm sugar.

It’s not as sweet as our cane sugar in Australia and has a strange nutty aftertaste, but still nice to experience to see how and what they use it for.

Processing the palm sugar.

We then headed to one of Myanmar’s rural villages. Here we visited a village called Shwezidai, home to approximately 450 people.

The Shwezidai way of life.

Village locals so proud to share their home with us.

Without electricity or running water in the village it was like taking a step back in time. They still grow all their own food and live in thatched houses.

It was a really moving experience for both Amie and I to see how simply these people live and yet how happy they appear to be. There was a real sense of community spirit in the village.

We also visited the local school, which was built by foreign aid. Here, Amie, with the help of our guide Thynn, gave each local child a snack.

Amie handing out treats to the local children.

Children enjoying their special treats!

We toured the village for an hour visiting different people’s houses and seeing how they live, their animals and what they were growing.

Children playing.

As we were leaving, we passed a group of girls on their way to the local well to collect water for the day.

Local girls going to the well to collect water.

Such a striking moment of how different their lives are compared to how we live in Australia.

Our last stop of the day was to Mount Popa, a monastery built high up in the mountains.

View of Mt Popa.

Town at the bottom of Mt Popa.

To be honest we didn’t actually visit the monastery itself – rather enjoyed the view of it from a distance given it is perched high on a cliff.

Local monkeys at play around Mt Popa.

It is possible to climb up to the monastery but it’s only accessible by a steep staircase with over 700 steps. If that wasn’t a deterrent in itself, we definitely decided to stay put when we learned that you must climb barefoot, all the while being cheered on by a troupe of monkeys and sidestepping their droppings!

The stunning Mt Popa monastery.

Instead we enjoyed the view and explored the small town at the base of the mountain. Here we were able to shop for local souvenirs, see the monkeys play and have a cool drink, which was a lot less work than climbing up the mountain.

The winding track up to the monastery.