Barefoot Amongst the Buddhas:Myanmar 2009

摘要

Our trip was planned as a one week reconnaissance to the Hpa An and Mawlamyine areas in southern Myanmar. Joerg Dreybrodt had made the initial contact at the International Tourist Fair in Berlin, followed by a visit to Yangon in September 2008 during which he went to the Myanmar Tourism Promotion Board to introduce and discuss the project. The vice chairman Mr Phyoe was very interested and saw the opportunity to use cave documentation for further university research and tourism promotion material. The matter was discussed with the minister of tourism and approval was obtained for the cave documentation project. As required by law, we had an official tourist guide, and we also hired a van and driver for the duration of our stay. From Yangon to Hpa An The expedition was set for January 28 to February 4 2009. As Joerg, Helmut Steiner and I arrived at Yangon airport we were met by our guide Min and the van and driver. We immediately drove to the first caving area in Hpa An, not even stopping to change money! We arrived in Hpa An after about six hours and checked out all the hotels in town before choosing a suitable one. We spent four days caving in the Hpa An area, then drove south to Mawlamyine where we had two days of caving and sightseeing.