This morning as dawn breaks, I take a stroll along the beach towards the small pagoda built into a rock outcrop. A little girl, the sister of the boy who I chatted to last night, runs up to me with a bucket full of shells she has collected. We look up into the sky and across from the moon, an aircraft flies overhead. A different world and maybe a much more complex one to the simplicity of life here. I meet her Mum, sitting near the pagoda selling sticky rice...

It is a Myanmar tradition to take time away each year to work and relax - a retreat. This year my partner organisation is going to Chaung Thar on the Bay of Bengal coast. It's a laid back place used by locals and I really like the feel of this location by the sea. We are hiring a bungalow and we sleep three to a room. Its strategic planning and my morning session goes really well and it feels good to be helping through the use of my knowledge and skills. This ...

An hour or so out of Yangon lies the Moeyungyi wetlands created in 1904 and covering an area of 40 square miles. it is quite ocular with local visitors and the tourist brochure says that there are just 150 feet reign visitors each year. There are 17 villages in the area which rely on rice cultivation and fishing for their livelihoods. We take a trip across the lake and see many species of birds, butterflies and there are herds of buffalo too.

After a days VSO training on the subject of social inclusion and gender, it's appropriate to see a local women's group celebrating the IWD Akhaya is where I spent four months and they are a leading movement here in Myanmar for advancing issues which affect women. They are running an event at Peoples Park with Shwedagon as a backdrop. There are activities, talks, music and theatre and it's an upbeat atmosphere. Young girls and teenagers speak from the stage abo...

A few hours drive from Bagan lies Mount Popa, a significant site of pilgrimage in Myanmar. An extinct volcano, Mount Popa rises 1500 metres above sea level and there is a large pagoda complex built on top. Additionally, this is a site for worshippers of the 37 great Nats. These spirits are human in form and many met violent deaths. They predate Buddhism and this is the main centre for such devotion with a separate building housing these iconic figures. As Jane...