I got really lucky on my way back from Yangon. You see, a taxi from Nyaungshwe to Heho airport costs 8,500 kyats, which I think is simply too much. So I asked every tourist on the road whether they'd like to share a taxi the day after and eventually got a free ride. Back in Yangon I met the monk again whom I had promised to come to his english class.

The thing we the ride to Heho airport was really good luck. I was almost ready to give up since noone seemed to go there the same day as me, when I met this woman from an NGO. And since she had a big pickup and had to bring two Americans to the airport anyhow, she took me along for free. That way I arrived four hours early at the airport but luckily there was room on an earlier flight so I only had to wait for one hour. And once on the plane I even got to sit next to a german model. Now, you have to keep in mind that I hardly met any female western tourists under 40 in Myanmar, so I was very, very happy to sit next to her.

In Yangon I checked into the Okinawa Guesthouse on 32nd street again. This time I even managed to get the price down another dollar to nine dollars. I explained them "No warm water, no ten dollars", which seemed to make sense to them. I met some interesting people there. Among them a girl from Colombia who promised to bring Mr Aung the pictures from our trip in Kalaw. I'm sure she will.

Then I went back to the internet cafe where I had forgotten one of my CDs three weeks earlier and believe it or not - they had kept it! That was a very nice surprise. A student who's trying to learn german by himself also found me again, so I was sortof forced to correct his homework. This guy wants to become a german tour guide but can't afford a teacher. So he tries to learn it using a more then 30 years old book and asked german tourists to help him. I really admire his resolve, but I just didn't care too much for him personally. But it was a good deed.

On the second day I went to the english class as I had promised the friendly monk when I was in Yangon the last time. Over when you promise people something they really expect you to do it. So when I arrived in the street where the classes are held, there was alreay a monk looking out of the window and looking for me. I had told him when I'd probably be back in Yangon so they kept a watch.

The class was really fun. I mean it basically consisted of me showing my photos from home and answering questions, like "How do you break up a romantic relationship". I have to admit that this question blew me out of the water. Besides it's a questionthat I always found hard to answer anyhow. There was one question though, where I'm still pretty proud about my answer. All of a sudden one of the people stood up and asked: "What is your opinion about the people of Myanmar and of the government of Myanmar?" Now, of course I didn't know what the background of this person was and what he was intending with the question. So I said: "I met a lot of the people of Myanmar and think they are really great. But I haven't met any member of your government, so I don't know." That brought a lot of broad grins, so obviously it was a good answer :-).

After class two of the monks and one of the girls (the one with the romantic relationship) invited me for a curry and we had the nicest and most interesting evening, discussing all sorts of things.

The next day I met my monk again and he shwoed me and two Canadians - one of whom had also taught a class - the reclining buddha image in Yangon and the Shwedagon Pagoda. Havinga monk as a guide was really interesting since he explained to us what certain offerings meant and what certain shrines were all about.

I also picked up the stuff I had left with Michael and Eon Young in the Traders Hotel. And again, they invited me for dinner. It was the first time I ate in a Korean restaurant and I really liked it! I expected it to be much like Sushi - but it really is more like a barbeque!