Taw Kyat Taung Pagoda near Loikaw

Though not far away from Northern Thailand's tourist hotspots by linear distance, Loikaw sees only a handful of foreigners visiting a year: With the border to Thailand closed, this undiscovered backwater is a long distance away from Myanmar's tourist destinations. It took me a day to get here from Inle Lake and on the way back, I spent 16 hours in a bumpy, packed bus to get to Yangon. But the long trip was worth it to get a glimpse of this rural part of Myanmar that is home to beautiful temples like this one. With no tourist infrastructure in place and no option to rent a motorbike, I relied on hitchhiking to explore the region around Loikaw. It was an amazing experience and I met so many incredibly nice people!