Dalama Adventures Tale of two corporate types ditching their jobs and traveling the world for 14 months... check out all photos, blogs & interesting tid bits at http://www.dalama.net

We sat, fully awake, yet exhausted and wishing we could sleep, until the first crows of the roosters woke up the villagers where we had stopped.  All the men, in their macho strength egos, got out of the bus to literally "push" the bus to jump start it rolling down the hill- now that was a sight.  Darrin too, took his place among the local Burmese guys, exerting his strength, but the bus just wouldn't start.  While some of the men ran off to find a battery for the bus, others tinkered with the engine.  I bonded with the few women passengers who communicated with me in sign language.  We were all relieved to finally finally have an outhouse to use, rather than the fully exposed road side (which the local women were all much better prepared for than I, with their longyis - sarong type skirt) which allowed them to squat in dignity, roadside, not fully exposed to the busload of men hovering above us.  I asked Rock-star boy to bust out his guitar; his eyes lit up and the other members of his boy band gathered round.  Soon all the kids and women in the village had gathered around, and we were all singing a catchy Burmese tune, all of them belting out the words at the top of their lungs.  Little kids danced, older men and women lit up cigars, and everyone was enjoying the early morning moment together, as if we had known each other for ages.  The bus finally revved up, after several tries again to kick start it, and we cruised up the mountainous pathway until we got behind a slow, overloaded logging truck full of teakwood, and then the bus stalled.  We finally realized our drivers goal was to get the bus from point A to point B, without any outside help, or calling in a new bus.  This went on for 7 more hours.    Note:  the bus company's name was Hein Express - so if you are contemplating a Burmese bus, give that one a miss!  We finally rolled into Kalaw just after 1:00 p.m., just 25 hours from when we had started our journey yesterday, and 8 hours overdue our arrival time.

Our persistence and commitment to come to Kalaw was kindly rewarded.  The town, a small remnant of the old British settlement days, was quaint, quiet, and full of small town charm, old architecture and friendly smiley people who were intrigued to see foreigners.  We met up with a Danish woman, Liv, who is 19 years old, and touring the world on her own for the past year, having just graduated from high school.  Her parents took she and her sister traveling across the world as she was growing up, from a very young age - she's got the travel bug.  She was working on some NGO volunteer work during her month in Myanmar, and was such an inspiration.  She professed how much she loves her life, and credits her parents as providing the best upbringing - they gave them "experiences' rather than "material things."  She brings with her the most amazing global mindset and outlook on life, we were so grateful to have met her.