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17th December 2009
DAY 01 ARRIVE YANGON
Upon arrival at YANGON airport by MI 518 at 1545, you will be welcomed by your
Asiantour guide and transferred to your hotel. Your journey begins with a visit to one
of the world?s most spectacular monuments, the SHWEDAGON PAGODA.
Overnight stay at Hotel Yangon (Deluxe Room) in Yangon.

27th December 2009
DAY 11 GOLDEN ROCK ? BAGO - YANGON
After breakfast, you will return to YANGON (194 km - 5 hours). Arrive to Yangon, check-in at the hotel.
Afternoon, continue sightseeing in Yangon through Yangon?s colonial-style city center. Stroll through the
BOGYOKE (SCOTTS) MARKET, a compound of hundreds of food, garment, handicraft and gem stores and the
magnificent reclining Buddha CHAUK HTAT GYI.
Overnight stay at Hotel Yangon (Deluxe Room) in Yangon.

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26th December 2009
DAY 10 YANGON - BAGO - GOLDEN ROCK
After breakfast, drive to BAGO (84 km - 11⁄2 hours). Stop en-route by an Allied War Graves cemetery near HTAUK
KYAN and a "Nat" tree shrine.
Sightseeing to the four giant Buddha images at KYAIK PUN PAGODA; the 55-meter long reclining SHWE THA
LYAUNG Buddha, which is among one of the country's most impressive images as well as; a 'Mon' weaving and
handicraft village producing woven bamboo wares and a thousand years old SHWEMAWDAW PAGODA with its spire
taller than the SHWEDAGON PAGODA.
The tour will continue to one of Myanmar's landmarks, famous for its precarious position and religious importance,
KYAIKTIYO the 'Golden Rock' is a huge boulder completely covered by gold leaf and delicately balanced on the
edge of a cliff. To reach the pagoda from KIN PUN base camp a steep 11 km road leads to the upper staging point.
The journey is made in open trucks. The 'upper area' must be traveled by foot, at present,
and the walk is approximately 4 km (1 hour) up a steep path ascending some 500m to the
GOLDEN ROCK on top of the mountain range. If you wish to take a more comfortable
approach, you can sit back and be carried in sedan chairs by four porters. This will incur an
extra cost of approx. On arrival you can enjoy great views over the surrounding jungle and a
beautiful sunset.
Overnight stay at Mountain Top Hotel (Standard Room) in Kyaikhtiyo.

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26th December 2009
DAY 10 YANGON - BAGO - GOLDEN ROCK
After breakfast, drive to BAGO (84 km - 11⁄2 hours). Stop en-route by an Allied War Graves cemetery near HTAUK
KYAN and a "Nat" tree shrine.

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DAY 07 23rd December 2009 MANDALAY / AMARAPURA ? BAGAN (BY FLIGHT)
After breakfast, visit a Kalaga tapestry craftsmen?s shop and one of the most revered religious monuments of
Myanmar, the MAHAMUNI PAGODA. Then transfer to MAHAGANDAYON MONASTERY where more than a thousand
monks live and study. You will have the opportunity to observe the monks having their last meal of the day in
total silence. Continue to 200-year-old U BEIN teak bridge, built in 1782 during the era when Amarapura was the
Royal capital.
Afternoon transfer to airport for flight to Bagan by YH 731 at 1640-1710. Upon arrival to Bagan, transfer to your
hotel.
Overnight stay at Serenity Hotel (Superior Room) in Bagan.
24th December 2009
DAY 08 BAGAN
After breakfast, stroll through the colorful local market and continue the day with
visits to the most significant pagodas and temples of Bagan: including HGNET PYIT
TAUNG PAGODA; SHWEZIGON PAGODA, built by King Anawrahta in the early 11th
century as a religious shrine; HTILOMINLO TEMPLE, noted for its plaster carvings
and ANANDA TEMPLE, with four standing Buddha images.

In the afternoon learn of manufacturing Myanmar?s most treasured handicrafts and visit a lacquer ware
craftsmen?s workshop in nearby MYINKABA village. Later continue to MANUHA TEMPLE, built in Mon style in 1059
and explore the MYINGABA GU BYAUKGYI TEMPLE, a temple known for its famous UNESCO protected mural
paintings. Finish the day of sightseeing by watching sunset over Myanmar?s longest river, Ayeyarwaddy from the
SHWE SAN DAW PAGODA.
Evening stroll through the Ananda Pagoda Festival.
Overnight stay at Serenity Hotel (Superior Room) in Bagan.
25th December 2009
DAY 09 BAGAN ? YANGON (BY FLIGHT)
Breakfast at hotel. Day is free.
Afternoon, transfer to airport for domestic flight to YANGON by Air Bagan W9 109 at 1725-1820.
Overnight stay at Hotel Yangon (Deluxe Room) in Yangon.

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21ST DECEMBER 2009
DAY 05 KENGTUNG - MANDALAY (BY FLIGHT)
After breakfast, venture into town to explore the colorful Kyaing Tong market. See a mixture of different local
folks including ethnic minorities from the surrounding regions dressed in colorful traditional clothes. Then short
visit to the village of Akha Tribe.
Afternoon, transfer to Kyaing Tong airport for a domestic flight to MANDALAY by Yangon Airways YH 738 at 1445-
1625 (via Heho). Upon arrival to MANDALAY, you will be welcomed by your guide in Mandalay and transferred to
your hotel.
Overnight stay at Mandalay City Hotel (Superior room) in Mandalay.
22ND December 2009
DAY 08 MANDALAY / MINGUN
Afternoon, an excursion by boat on the Ayeyarwaddy River to MINGUN, about 11 km (1 hour) upriver from
Mandalay. Visit the unfinished MINGUN PAYA (PAHTODAWGYI PAGODA), which was meant to become the largest
stupa in Myanmar constructed by King Bodaw Paya; one of the world?s largest bells, the 90 ton weighing MINGUN
BELL and HSINBYUME PAYA. Return back to Mandalay.
In the afternoon, experience the sights and sounds of Mandalay including the SHWE INBIN MONASTERY; the
GOLDEN PALACE MONASTERY, a superb example of a traditional wooden building and KUTHODAW PAGODA the
world?s largest book made of marble. Then proceed to MANDALAY HILL for sunset.
Overnight stay at Mandalay City Hotel (Superior room) in Mandalay.
DAY 07 23rd December 2009 MANDALAY / AMARAPURA - BAGAN (BY FLIGHT)
After breakfast, visit a Kalaga tapestry craftsmen?s shop and one of the most revered religious monuments of
Myanmar, the MAHAMUNI PAGODA. Then transfer to MAHAGANDAYON MONASTERY where more than a thousand
monks live and study. You will have the opportunity to observe the monks having their last meal of the day in
total silence. Continue to 200-year-old U BEIN teak bridge, built in 1782 during the era when Amarapura was the
Royal capital.
Afternoon transfer to airport for flight to Bagan by YH 731 at 1640-1710. Upon arrival to Bagan, transfer to your
hotel.
Overnight stay at Serenity Hotel (Superior Room) in Bagan.

Click photo to view album

19TH DECEMBER 2009
DAY 03 PINDAYA - HEHO - KENGTUNG (BY FLIGHT)
After breakfast, drive to Heho airport (60 km - 2 1⁄2 hour) for domestic flight to KENGTUNG by Air Bagan, W9.119
at 1155-1430 (via Mandalay & Tachileik). Upon arrival in Kengtung airport, you will be welcomed by your guide in
Kengtung and transfer to your hotel.
Afternoon, excursion to the sights of KENGTUNG include MAHA MYAT MUNI PAGODA (WAT PHA JAO LUNG) the
most glorious temple of Kyaing Tong; the Khun Shan monastery of WAT ZOM KHAM, the most impressive among all
the Shan temples in the city with the interior walls filled up with gold leaves on lacquer Jatakas. Time permitting
visit a lacquer ware workshop where the unique Shan lacquer wares are produced in a very delicate way.
Overnight stay at Princess Hotel (Superior Room) in Kengtung.
20TH DECEMBER 2009
DAY 04 KENGTUNG
After breakfast drive 1 1⁄2 hours north to the Akha village of WAN PIN. Continue on foot to the villages of the
surrounding region and visit the unique Ahn, Akha and Lahu ethnic minorities in a comfortable pace. The walking
trip can last to 2 to 6 hours depending on the number of villages visited.
Picnic style packed lunch will be served at PIN TAUK waterfall.

Drive back to Kyaing Tong in the afternoon. Stop en-route at the Li-Shan village of WAN KWAN to sample the local
?fire water? rice wine favored by all the mountain tribes of the region and the village of Palaung Tribe, WAN
PAUK.
Overnight stay at Princess Hotel (Superior Room) in Kengtung.
Note :
- Please discuss sightseeing program with your guide for your convenience.
- Please don?t touch the symbols on the entrance to animist village.
21ST DECEMBER 2009
DAY 05 KENGTUNG - MANDALAY (BY FLIGHT)
After breakfast, venture into town to explore the colorful Kyaing Tong market. See a mixture of different local
folks including ethnic minorities from the surrounding regions dressed in colorful traditional clothes. Then short
visit to the village of Akha Tribe.
Afternoon, transfer to Kyaing Tong airport for a domestic flight to MANDALAY by Yangon Airways YH 738 at 1445-
1625 (via Heho). Upon arrival to MANDALAY, you will be welcomed by your guide in Mandalay and transferred to
your hotel.
Overnight stay at Mandalay City Hotel (Superior room) in Mandalay.

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18TH DECEMBER 2009
DAY 02 YANGON - HEHO (BY FLIGHT) - INLE LAKE
After breakfast, transferred you to airport by Asiantour?s assistance for flight to
Heho by Air Bagan W9 141 at 0630-0845 (via Bagan). Upon arrival in Heho
Airport, you will be welcomed by your guide in Shan State (Inle Lake and
Pindaya) and drive (25km - 1 hour) to Nyaung Shwe Jetty for boat ride to Inle
Lake. Excursion by boat on the Inle Lake will include sights of the famous leg
rowers, typical floating gardens, local methods of fishing, village life and
magnificent scenery. You will visit the PHAUNGDAW OO PAGODA, one of the
most sacred shrines in Myanmar, dating back to the 18th century; the NGA PHE KYAUNG MONASTERY, famous for
its jumping cats trained by monks and the weaving village of INPAWKHON.
Overnight stay at Sky Lake Hotel (Superior Room) in Inle Lake.
19TH DECEMBER 2009
DAY 03 PINDAYA - HEHO - KENGTUNG (BY FLIGHT)
After breakfast, drive to Heho airport (60 km - 2 1/2 hour) for domestic flight to KENGTUNG by Air Bagan, W9.119
at 1155-1430 (via Mandalay & Tachileik). Upon arrival in Kengtung airport, you will be welcomed by your guide in
Kengtung and transfer to your hotel.
Afternoon, excursion to the sights of KENGTUNG include MAHA MYAT MUNI PAGODA (WAT PHA JAO LUNG) the
most glorious temple of Kyaing Tong; the Khun Shan monastery of WAT ZOM KHAM, the most impressive among all
the Shan temples in the city with the interior walls filled up with gold leaves on lacquer Jatakas. Time permitting
visit a lacquer ware workshop where the unique Shan lacquer wares are produced in a very delicate way.
Overnight stay at Princess Hotel (Superior Room) in Kengtung.

Click photo to view album

St Petersburg Sept 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

We hope this sharing finds you well. It has been a while since we last wrote our update (May 2009). We would like to share with you what we have been up to in 2009, and as always, we also want to hear from you, what's been keeping you excited, busy, happy or sad, please drop us a few lines if you have time.

Some highlights of our year 2009:
- 2009 Travel: Reduced travel time (but not number of trips and countries visited)

- Numerous speaking / training engagements at University, Conference, Corporate training, Association and Clubs;

- Rented a tiny piece of farm land to grow vegetables;

- Eat more vegetarian meals, more meals at home and vegetarian cooking class

- Joined 2 associations (Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong, Internet Professional Association - iProA) and founded 2 (Chinese Business Angel Network - Hong Kong, Independent Professional Association);

- Organized an English contest in Hong Kong (part of the national English contest);

- Deeply involved in Cambridge alumni matters as always;

- Despite the fact that most peers are married by now, still played Best man's role at some friends' wedding

- Becoming rather addicted to Facebook (and loving it! Look me up search "leglessbird")

- Made many new friends

- Advising an ISP/IDC/MSS company and a online affiliated marketing company

We are going to explore Myanmar (formerly Burma) in December and make a brief stop in Singapore.

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2010!

Best regards,
Irene and Dominic

What we have been up to in 2009

TRAVEL Egypt, Jordan and Qatar - Dec 2008 - Jan 2009: Already mentioned in our last update, our first proper trip to the Middle-East and loved it, despite roughness of using sleeping bags in open area during winter time for 4 of the nights.

UK, Greenland, Denmark and SwedenFeb 2009: Also mentioned in our last update, the trip to the freezer! Great journey especially the night stayed in the Ice-hotel in Sweden.

Australia2009: A family trip to Sydney where we also spent a few days in the country side

Japan - June 2009: While we are not travelling as much this year, we couldn't resist going abroad for Irene's birthday in June, we decided to go somewhere where not a lot of planning is required, we picked Nagoya as we got to know this place well enough during our language trip last year. We went to a very nice French restaurant in the Nagoya station tower called "Paul Brocuse" by the famous French chef. We also had a great time hiking on the country side from "Magome" to "Tsumago", and our still limited Japanese proved to be useful during this trip.

Macau - June 2009: We went to Macau also in June with The French Alumni Association visiting the French Chamber of Commerce there and tried out some French restaurants, plus wine tasting at Alliance Francais, a nice weekend visit.

Russia, Latvia, Estonia and Finland - Sept - Oct 2009: We have always wanted to visit Russia and the Baltic States. Irene has been planning the itinerary for weeks but needed to find a 2-week window. That window came near the end of Sept, the weather was starting to get cold but still bearable, though some people would argue you have to visit during the winter to get the true taste of Russia, we preferred our first visit under more humane weather condition. We actually visited 4 countries on this trip, Russia (St Petereburg, Moscow), Latvia (Riga), Estonia (Tallinn) and Finland (Helsinki). Contrary to our prior impression, it was actually not difficult to get by in Russia on your own (no need to join group tour) and it was also generally quite safe to do so. The Baltic states are all very beautiful, the people are friendly and have a high living standard. While Helsinki is also very modern and beautiful, we didn't find it very exciting. This completes our visits to all five countries of FINDS (Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden). Modern day Russia is not what I had expected from years of stereotyping by US production of films and "news" on Russia and former USSR, it was surprisingly easy to navigate our ways in the streets of Moscow, St Petersburg and their metro without knowing any Russians (though it would have been useful).

FINE DINNING A friend has recommended an excellent vegetarian restaurants in Happy Valley called "o veg" "素苗" and we like it so much that we now go there 2-3 times a week and even order extra for take-away. There is no menu, everyone gets the same 3-course set, it is western style cooking using vegetables of many different colours, the chef even grows some of the vegetables from his own farm. Good healty food at an affordable price. We talked about the idea of a small function called "Wine and Dine with Leglessbird" for quite some time and finally started it in June, which basically is a lunch/dinner event for catching up with good friends while trying out great restaurants, and we hope to do this on a regular basis. We have been reminded that we actually emphasis more on the "Dine" part and not the "Wine" part. ASSOCIATIONS I have joined two associations Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong - serving the community especially on education related matters

Internet Professional Association (iProA) - represents the interests of the internet professionals and aims to serve the community through promoting technology, applications and education in Hong Kong and to reduce the gap in Digital-Divide. and founded two

Chinese Business Angel Network (Hong Kong) - A network to provide early stage venture investment

Independent Professional Association - The World Of Knowledge Worker. To foster a community for independent professional to provide support to each other such as training, networking and service CAMBRIDGE

Vice Chancellor's visit and Cambridge/PolyU Joint seminar (click on photos to read more) Mentorship programs: During July and August, I have been hosting four Cambridge Mentorship Seminars under The Friends of Cambridge University, co-organized with the student societies of Cambridge University, namely CUCS and CUHKCAS. The seminar topics were "CV writing and Interview workshop", " Doing charity work while travelling", "Management Consulting" and "Banking & Finance". The seminars were well received by the students and the recent graduates. (Read more) Cambridge conference: Organized by CUHKCAS and took place at HKU, the "Reflection" conference had an excellent list of speakers that include Dr David Li, Mr. Wong Yan Lung, Mrs Anson Chan, Mr Alan Leong, Dr. Louis Cheung and more. They talked about the 1st 60 years of PRC and Hong Kong's positioning. Freshers' dinner: I was invited to speak at the Cambridge University Freshers' dinner organized by CUHKCAS, I enjoyed talking to the freshers and the current students about the fun side of living in Cambridge and the purposes of studying at Cambridge, top of the list: To have the BEST time of your life! I also challenged the students to out-do my list of all the fun things I did during my time in Cambridge...Read more

Prince Philip Scholarship: The Prince Philip Scholarship presentation took place at the beginning of Sept and I was invited as the guest of honour. We have one scholar this year going to Clare college to read Medicine. And I was happy to share about my time as a student in Cambridge and what I learned from that wonderful experience...Read more

CUCS Hong Kong dinner: The annual dinner organized by CUCS took place at the Football Club. Professor Rossie Young was the guest of honour this year, and she shared her very interesting experience during her research in Cambridge in the 1960s...Read more WORK Continue to work on the web/telephone distance learning venture (formed partnership with Xi'an Jiaotong University this year and Beijing Renmin University) and a few location-free consulting projects.

Bank of East Asia International English Contest (Hong Kong) I'm chairing an organizing committee of the Hong Kong chapter of The International English Contest, it is part of the China International English Contest supported by The ministry of foreign affairs of China and the British Embassy, and the Hong Kong competition is sponsored by Bank of East Asia, Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong, Cambridge University Press and many other supporting units.

The contest aims to motivate students to promote Chinese culture to foreigners, hence using English as the communication language to help friends from other countries to appreciate our country, our culture and our people's way of life. The winners from the Hong Kong contest will be competing in a national final in Beijing with other students from all over China and the winners of the national final will be going to Britain on a culture exchange program including visits to Cambridge and London.

The Hon. Sir Ti-Liang Yang kindly agreed to be our head of judge panel. Students demonstrated very high standard of English and general knowledge of Chinese Culture. Photo highlight: Press conference:21 Sept; Round 1: 7 Nov; Semi-Finals: 21 Nov and Finals: 12 Dec 2009 (photos to come). Dominic is advising a company in the ISP (Internet Service Provider), IDC (Internet Data Centre), MNS (Managed Network Service) and MSS (Managed Security Service) which has good infrastructure and relationship in Asia also a fast link connecting Europe and Asia. He is also advising another startup which is in the online affiliated marketing business, connecting advertisers, online merchants, customer survey to customers and target audience through an extensive network of online publishers, such performance based model is gaining momentum in Asia, and is preferred by advertisers over just exposure (as in banner) or click through. He also has been involved in starting a new diploma course with HKU Space. Dominic spoke at the Cyberport Venture Captial Forum 2009 conference co-organized by Cyberport and various other organization. (Photos)

"Click on your business" Kornerstone training on IT cost saving (Photos and Read more)

Tolo Harbour business support group is organized by Chinese University to provide a platform for ventures and investors to come together...Read More

LEISURE Due to the hot weather and occasional heavy rain on the weekends, we had not been doing any hiking at all... Travel talk: Discovering Nepal. October to April is the best period to visit Nepal, we held a travel sharing session on Nepal in August to show friends about our trip in Nepal and we invited Bonnie, a friend and a keen traveller who has lived in Nepal for over 4 years to share her experience of the exciting country. She also talked about Tibet, yet another interesting destination.

A dinner event hosted by the Bauhinia Foundation We attended a dinner event at the Bankers' club hosted by Bauhinia Foundation targeting graduates and students from overseas universities...read more

Happy Farm We rented a tiny piece of land within a farm to grow our own vegetable (with the help of the warm owner, of course!). We are very excited about this...read more

Book recommendation Book: Four-hour work week I really like this book! It is about attitude change towards the work-life balance and pursuing passions and life goals It is about time-management, do things efficiently and effectively, not do work for work sake. It is about freeing yourself from a lot of unneccessary constraint such as your boss, an office, even a particular location and a lot of the time-wasting/zero value generating activities. Read more

Restaurant recommendation o-veg 素苗 A nice vegetarian restaurant in Happy Valley 9 Shing Woo Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong 跑馬地成和道9號1樓 +852 2893 3037 Read More

Movie recommendation http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286537/ A revealing documentary about the food supply in the States (perhaps soon elsewhere too), highly concentrated food supply, genetically modified crops, hormone assisted growth in packed farm, the truth about processed food, packaged food on the shelves of Supermarket, control of seed supply. Read more

Took place at Hong Kong University. Thanks to all the generous sponsors: Bank of East Asia, Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Knog Express, Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong, Hong Kong University, Cambridge University Press, Gowell Software Limited and our guests (list to come)

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