Sant Miquel del Fai

On a trip we went today by car with Laura's parents and aunt to Sant Miguel del Fai, about 40 km from Barcelona. There we visited an old church in a cave (about 1000 AD), an hermitage, caves and a waterfall.
The church and Priory House are located in the middle of a rock face, built by water over centuries. From there we had a wonderful view over the valley and a big waterfall. The weather was sonny and quite warm, perfect to go walking around.

The entrance to Sant Miquel del Fai, high above a valley. The most impressive building is the Priory House (16th century) on the edge of the rocks. The church inside a cave is the oldest part.

The view towards the Priory House, the valley and the waterfall.

2 nice but small caves are possible to visit, one with water inside, the other one quite narrow, it's necessary to wear a helmet.

Flims, Vals

After Christmas and the 3 kings, we made a trip to Switzlerland mid january to visit family and friends, go skiing and relax in spas.

We spent 2 days in Flims, Laax, Falera. On one day we went skiing, enjoying the snow and the sun.

On the other day we went walking to Falera and then back to Laax and Flims. Snow had already gone long time ago, so instead of walking through a white landscape all was green.

On the last day we made a trip to Vals, a small village in the mountains, famous for the mineral water and the spa.

Ko Chang

After coming back from Myanmar, we directly took a minibus from the airport and then a ferry to get to the island of Ko Chang (more or less close to the Cambodian boarder). Unfortunately the weather wasn't very good, often cloudy and the first day it even rained a bit. We only had 3 days, the last one's on our journey, to enjoy the nice, sandy beach and tasty Thai food. The water was warm and the sea quiet, last but not least it had some palm trees which offered shade to relax.

Lonely Beach on Ko Chang Island

The bungalow where we stayed the first night.

Well, that's it, the last chapter and photos of our trip to Dubai, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and India where we enjoyed incredible 9 months!

Inle Lake

After the trekking we spent 3 days in Nyaungshwe to explore from there the region of the Inle Lake. This lake is quite big, however it depends on the water level, often it is a mix of channels and floating gardens and so it's difficult to see the difference between the real lake and the main land.
In the region around the lake live a lot of different ethnic groups. Already during the trekking tour we had the chance to see some of them and here on the lake we made two daily expeditions where we could see more. Roads nearly don't exist around the lake, so the only way to travel is by boat. There's a lot of traffic, speed boats carrying tourists and locals from one end to the other, fishing boats and many other one's with local people shipping people and food from and to the market sites.
Inle Lake is one of the most popular places for tourists in Myanmar, we saw some, but not a lot, the region is big and offer many places to visit. The daily markets are very famous and an interesting visit to see people and food, there are normally 2 different markets every day, a big one on land and another floating. As well many villages with stilt houses, traditional handicrafts they show to tourists and last but not least some temples can be seen in this amazing region.

The panorama of the area seen from a viewpoint in Inthein, the real lake is quite far away.


Driving by boat across the lake the through a lot of channels and water ways offer great viewsof the landscape; mountains, villages, floating gardens, etc.


Villages are on the main land around the lake but also inside along channels and built on stilts.


Leaving the lake behind, channels continue to other places.


The famous markets which are held always on another place in a 5-day circuit. People are coming from far, different ethnical groups in their tradional clothes, and many tourists have a look around to see this colourful event.


Special ceremonies and the Long-neck people (as in Thailand) draw attention to tourists.


And finally people on water in their boats, fishing, carrying goods, etc. are the a real Myanmar highlight. Despite tourism, it's still tradition as many years ago.

Finally some of the temples and stupas which can be seen in the area.

Sunset