It was new years eve and we thought it would be a small celebration this time around. But our hotel generously planned a free dinner for all the guests staying over. Around 8pm we walked into the courtyard to find tables set up and a long table with soup, beef, chicken, rice and vegetables.  It was all much more than we expected and really an awesome gesture by the hotel. We ate and chatted with the other people staying in the hotel. By chance we started talking to a girl from Canada, in fact she was from Barrie! And her sister went to Waterloo… in the Environment Faculty…and Alyx knew who she was! What are the odds of this, while visiting Myanmar of all places? It was one of those “Oh do you know Pete in Edmonton?” moments. She and her boyfriend had even taught English in Korea for 3 years before moving to Cambodia to teach. It was interesting to hear their experiences in Asia and share our experiences in Myanmar. Later, we went looking for something to do before the countdown. All we could find were hotels holding some celebrations and a group of locals hosting an impromptu dance party in the garage of an auto repair shop. Back in the hotel we rang in the new year looking off the balcony while the people in town set off fireworks and shouted out. Then all of a sudden it was 2015! This was new years was definitely different from anything before. It was low key, but not forgettable by any means. For the days after I only remembered it was new years when someone would mention ‘Happy new years’, other than that it was so easy to forget.

We crashed hard again that night and prepped for our more unplanned day that was next. Bikes and a map were going to be our tools.