Tues 14th November: Pinlaung – Loikaw

Today we awoke to cool grey skies and a wet road. But before long we were heading along at a brisk pace towards our evening destination of Loikaw in the Karen hills - off the beaten track and seldom visited by tourists. On the way at a morning stop we encountered a very friendly road-building gang (road improvements are happening everywhere in Myanmar!) and a few of us joined in a game on cane ball which everyone felt was great fun!

After riding through amazing mountainous scenery for several hours we arrived at the village of Pekhone, inhabited by the Padaung people. Here we visited a larger RHC and the neighbouring Hospital as part of our research.

After getting going again we descended the mountains with an amazing view of our next region: Inle Lake.

From here we made an impromptu visit to an RHC which was curtailed as the nurse had to accompany a patient to hospital. And then we Travelled out to see our 3rd RHC of the day just south of Pekon. 

In Loikaw we visited the Taung Kwe Pagoda, perched precariously on a stunning rock formation with magnificent views of the surrounding area. The rock formation is said to be the origin of the town’s name which means ‘Island of Mountains’ in Shan. So all in all another tough day but rewarding day.