SWEET KARMA (Kalaw, Myanmar)

We arrived by VIP bus at 3am into sleepy Kalaw (VIP means you get an utterly freezing 16 degrees C aircon inside whilst it’s 36C outside, at night! - we’ll probably get the flu). Kalaw is the last post before hiking 3 days to Lake Inle. It’s cooler here - sweet relief from the crazy hot days and nights in Yangon. We were met at the bus stop by a tout who took us to a recommended hotel, but didn’t seem to get a kick back from the staff - we were at a loss as to whether to tip him?

Traffic jam on winding mountain pass to Bagan

We awoke at 9am for the included breakfast - which to our delight was coffee & pancakes! After finishing, I returned to the kitchen with cash to request extra coffees. I requested them with NO sugar. She didn’t take the cash, but pointed me back to my table. It was perhaps with the same blinkered view many Westerners have of Asian people “all looking the same”,  that she’d apparently forgotten my face from before, despite serving me at the very same table only minutes earlier. She reappeared with coffee…AND round two of pancakes - a second free inclusive breakfast as if we'd never eaten, BUT with sugar in the coffee.

Maybe she doesn’t think all Farang look the same? Maybe she suffers from amnesia?…well that'd be Karma for forgetting we don’t take sugar.

Our hotel has tapeworms on the bathroom floor…and I’m starting to sneeze…maybe we should’ve tipped the tout?