I’ve been traveling almost constantly for weeks. I’m back home for a few days after a great launch parties for Enchanting Myanmar at Monument Books and The Strand in Yangon, followed by two weeks motorcycling around northern Thailand.

While in Chiang Rai I was lucky enough to witness a fascinating spirit ceremony for the wife of a Yao man killed in a tragic road accident. The ceremony to lay his spirit to rest was held at the side of the road where the accident happened.

The complex event which went on for several hours involved a pig sacrifice, offerings of rice and rice whisky, and the reading of Chinese script.

All involved where extremely welcoming and kindly tolerated my intrusive lens.

I head to off on more travels soon but will try and make a couple of posts before I do.

I’m pleased to be able to tell you that ‘Enchanting Myanmar’ is out now in Asia Books and all good bookshops in Thailand. You can also order on Amazon. I am very happy with this one and consider it to be the best in the series so far. And of course it is being released at an exciting time for the country and for travellers. We’ll be holding a book launch in Yangon in late November.

Here’s a quick preview:

In 1898, in “Letters from the East” Rudyard Kipling, recounting his journey by steamer sailing up the Irrawaddy Delta to Rangoon, wrote “Then, a golden mystery upheaved itself on the horizon…a shape that was neither Muslim dome nor Hindu temple spire…the golden dome said: “This is Burma, and it will be quite unlike any land you know about.” The celebrated English novelist and poet was describing his first view of one of the region’s most sacred Buddhist sites and a highlight of any visit to the country, the Shwedagon Paya, a magnificent 99-m (325-ft) gilded stupa crowning Singuttara Hill.

Today, over a century since Kipling’s observations, the country now known as Myanmar is the last frontier of discovery for cultural travellers in South-East Asia. An intriguing land of shimmering temple spires and archaeological wonders, extraordinary ethnic diversity, astonishing natural beauty, and warm and welcoming people, this ‘golden land’ still remains unlike any other.

 The gateway to Myanmar is the former capital, Yangon (known to the British as Rangoon). Here, the faded glory of imposing British architecture garners the admiration of visitors but is also a pertinent reminder of a more enduring colonial-era legacy – a turbulent history. Yet the youthful population now looks forward and on the city’s bustling streets there is a palpable sense of optimism. Today’s Yangon is a city of contrast. Buildings of red-brick and crumbling stucco are fronted by billboards advertising the latest ‘must-have’ gadgets while Buddhist mantras of non-attachment are whispered within the confines of sacred temples; muscular SUVs with blacked-out windows roll past ageing trishaws laden with smiling ladies cradling fresh produce from the market; street vendors sell posters of Aung San and his daughter Aung San Suu Kyi while rhetoric in the state newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, declares the ‘people’s desires’. Unchanged yet looking to the future, chaotic with pockets of calm, deeply complex yet often starkly black and white, Yangon’s heady cocktail is as refreshing as it is intoxicating.