2016: Myanmar and Canada

Originally this trip was across Canada from West to East, the first 6 weeks spent touring the best snowboarding resorts in the Rockies, then heading across the snow locked country to the Atlantic coast. Instead it starts in Myanmar. 

It is an interesting time to visit, well it should be: They have just had the first democratic elections for some fifty years and have voted out the army led government that has been in place for decades. Its a time of change and optimism and I hope to experience that in the country.

It replaces the snowboarding elements of the Canada visit: Alexa’s hip injury and subsequent surgery means snowboarding is out of the question for this year however we couldn’t cancel it all, some of the excursions such as “Winter bushcraft with Ray Mears” may not run again for several years. So we’ll begin Canada in the middle, in Winnipeg and head east to Toronto arriving in March.

My initial sketch of the route shows we intended to also make it to Baffin island, but it isn't possible at this time of year, we'll save it for when the ice breaks up one summer.

The kit we're taking to Canada is extensive, its been a stream on constant deliveries and returns for some months - there doesn't seem to be one single shop that sells everything and buying online, then returning it has been a miserable experience. Most of this is for the week of outside living with Ray Mears. We'll be camped on Red Lake, a short flight and a long snowmobile ride across a frozen lake to a patch of ice that will be home. I'm actually hoping its going to be cold after such extensive shopping, and the forecasts looked promising over Christmas:

But that is all some weeks away, tomorrow - 4th January - we fly East to Bangkok and then back to Yangon (formally Rangoon), we've started on the antimalarials, the inoculations are injected, crisp dollar bills obtained, the visa approved. We're aiming to reach these places...