Border Town Fun

None of these pics are that great...but bear with....

We packed up the car with lunches and headed to the waterfalls near the border of Myanmar. 

We bring everyone here. It is a nice hike. We had never been when it was so crowded. When we left, Josiah had to get out and help direct traffic (tell people where to go with the common language of hand gestures). All the stories you may or may not hear about regarding 24 hours stuck in traffic in this country is no exaggeration!

We ran into this cute guy riding in style. 

 Once at the falls we ate our PB & J, though the kids opted for noodles too.

Last time we did this I used an ergo for Gabrielle on the way back.
This time she walked the whole way except for just a short section where Josiah put her on his shoulders. She never complained!

While we were so close, and playing the tourist, we decided to visit "One Village, Two Countries" where you can step foot into Burma (Myanmar).

Over the fence...


And everyone (except G) did the zipline across the river.
Once we watched a few folks do this we thought it okay. Until we realized that you build a lot of momentum on the way back and the two workers were stopping everyone before they hit the pads surrounding the tree base. We warned Josiah to brace himself because we weren't sure the guys could catch him. They barely did.

 The real story of the day is that we asked the Burmese guard if we could go in a little further and snap some photos. He was so kind, and asked Josiah where he was from. When Josiah told him, he replied "Your country is famous," shook hands eagerly and welcomed us into his. Think Barney Fife-ish, but not even a gun. Contrast him with the man and woman soldier that hurried toward us from the Chinese line. With their big weapons, bullet -proof vests and sharp uniforms they asked us what we were doing!? The woman started to listen but the man would have none of it, 'you cannot go any farther'. We smiled and of course obeyed the folks with the guns!

This was actually no big deal, but we came up with all kinds of embellishments to add to Josiah's retelling if sensing the need to add to the adventure.

And we couldn't leave without PaoluDa, a Burmese sweet drink that we LOVE.

These two were fast friends! (both the babies of their families, they clicked well)

We met up with some friends that live in this town and then headed home, with kids in their own beds by 10 p.m. It was a long, but incredible day.