14 - 21 Feb 2013
Week 1 in Burma is done and dusted, 3 more to go. We need to watch our days more then we have needed to so far,as we are limited to strictly 27days only. It's actually beginning to stress us out as there is so much we want to see and do in this amazingly unique country and so little time to do it all in!
We arrived at midday after a majorly stressful morning trying to leave Bangkok. Everything seemed to be working out perfectly at first,we had booked our airport mini bus the night before for 150 baht ($4.60) each which picked us up directly from our guesthouse. The drive was much quicker then we were told and we arrived at the airport at 8.45am when our plane wasn't leaving til 11.35am. Wow - heaps of time to change our money into US $ ready for Burma, even time to eat! Boy were we wrong. We walked up and down the check in area trying to find Air Asia. Eventually we asked a security guy and he said 'Wrong airport, go to the info desk." WHAT! We started to freak out. Luckily there was an Air Asia info desk where the lovely staff told us they had in fact moved to the other international airport since October 2012 which was 1hr away. We raced downstairs to the taxi rank and agreed to the astronomical fare of 700baht ($22) and we were off at 9.25am. There was so much traffic on the way that we got stuck barely moving for ages. I don't think I've ever felt so stressed in my life. Considering we had almost $3000 worth of Thai Baht on us ready to change into US $ and we didn't even know if we'd have the time to do it. We literally thought we were fucked as Myanmar would only accept US$ for exchange into their local currency.
We made it by 10.10am and jumped in the massive line for check in. I decided to go exchange all our money while Sam waited in line. Just as well because the two Thai ladies handling all our money took forever. They were checking each US note to make sure there were no folds, tears, markings or anything as Myanmar will not accept the smallest imperfection. I"m grateful they were so thorough, but I was panicking as I looked back at the check in lane trying to see where Sam was at. In the end we made it with 5mins to spare running through customs only to get to our gate and see they hadn't even started boarding - the flight was delayed by 20mins! Yes! So we even had time to stuff our face with some airport Maccas and were soon relaxed again sitting on our breezy 1hr flight to Yangon.
Yangon airport customs was the most chilled out customs I have ever come across. The staff were so smiley and friendly and the whole thing took about 5mins - piece of cake! Already our day was looking up :)
The taxi ride to the city center was long and hot. We had the windows down but it was the middle of the day after all and the sun was beating down, I think it was about 40c or something crazy. We looked out the windows the whole way, excited like children heading to Disneyland. Burma was already totally different to what we were expecting.
Men were wearing skirts just like the women, the roads were bitchumen and seemed to be looked after very well and the streets were super clean while the buildings were well constructed. Definitely not what I was expecting for such a poor country. We also noticed that our taxi driver was on the right side of the car while we were driving on the right side of the road, so we started looking at other cars and sure enough they were all the same! How strange! Burma driving is like nowhere else. It seemed extremely dangerous when the driver wanted to overtake and he could not see out on his left - the side he needed to overtake. So he just had to nudge his way out and hope for the best.
We were lucky enough to find a room free at the pricey but lovely Cherry Guesthouse for $38. Of course we couldn't afford that but everywhere else was already booked out. We'd heard finding accommodation was going to be a problem here because the tourism was overtaking the country's ability to cater for it.
We went for an afternoon walk to check out the city and were more interested in watching the people over the stupas and town buildings. The men were all dressed in skirts of course and everyone was super friendly, constantly smiling at us and wanting to talk to us to find out where we were from. There was no hidden agenda like I found often with Thai's.
We bought some fried chicken from this lovely lady in the street and we didn't understand the money yet so it was confusing in how much we had to pay and what the change was. Sam gave over a 5000Ks note which we had no idea what it's value was yet and the guy helping the lady started talking and it seemed like he needed more money so Sam tried to give him more but he shook his head then ended up giving Sam like 3000ks back and some smaller notes. I mean how amazing, these people are incredibly poor and we are clueless tourists they could've ripped us off but they made sure we got our right change back. The locals here are the most honest, trusting people I've ever met in the whole world.
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| Local fried chicken lady - her sauce was yum! |
We jumped online when we got back to our room and discovered 5000Ks was about $5. So our chicken which was 1400ks was only $1.40! The chicken was so good as well, the sauce they gave us especially. Sam got this desert pancake thing from another guy in the street, it had condensed milk and egg and tasted AMAZING. I think we are going to love the food here!
The next day we walked around a bit further then we had the day before to check out some major city buildings and temples. Every local we passed always gave us the biggest smile and most even saying Hello. They always seemed super happy we were in their country. I noticed that a lot of men had filthy red teeth when they smiled which we soon found out was the result of this tobacco they put in leaves and chew. They spit it out all over the place as well which is a bit gross.
We ended up booking a bus ticket to Bagan for the next morning then decided to head to the famous Shwedagon Paya for the afternoon and evening as it glitters bright gold in the heat of the day, then after sunset it turns a crimson gold and orange. To the people of Myanmar it is the most sacred of all Buddhist sites, one that all Myanmar Buddhists hope to visit at least once in their lifetime.
This place was pure magic. You pay a small fee of 4,500Ks (US$5) which unfortunately goes to the govt, but sometimes in Myanmar you just can't avoid that. The temple was massive. It took us about an hr just to walk around the entire thing.
Locals were on their knees praying and monks were climbing all over the towering stupa. It wasn't like anything I'd ever seen before. It was magnificent! They dressed me in a wrap around skirt and light jacket to cover my skin so I was sweltering hot while the sun was still up and had to keep resting to cool down.
Our bus ride to Bagan the next day was long but super comfy. We were expecting something like we had in Nepal, but there was so much leg room, free bottle water and even pillows! Our taxi driver who took us to the bus station was driving insane, overtaking other cars on the wrong side of the road and being beeped at by everyone. He decided to overtake two massive buses on the wrong side of the road when he realized he had to turn right into the bus station and so he slammed on the breaks and tried to turn around on the complete other side of the road!! So he blocked all oncoming traffic who were going nuts at him as he struggled to turn around in the middle of everyone. Another driver got out with a metal crow bar and it looked like he was about to attack! They were all yelling Burmese at each other and eventually the crow bar dude got back in his car and we got out of there.
We were the only tourists on the bus which we thought was very strange when we were heading to the main tourist hot spot in all of Burma. The roads were filled with potholes making the ride extremely bumpy and the scenery stayed the same the entire way, dirt and trees. It was pretty boring.
We arrived in Bagan at 5pm and were bombarded with tuk tuk drivers wanting to take us to our guesthouse. Their tuk tuks were bicycles with two seats for passengers (they called them Trishaws) and did not look like I could fit with all my baggage! They ended up tying everything on but it was still quite amusing. The town was really cool, like something from a western movie. The streets were lined with red dust and there were temples in the middle of shops and local homes, it was all so surreal.
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| Trishaw driver taking us to our guesthouse |
Unfortunately the guesthouse we were heading to was booked out but the one next door had one room for $25 which was out of our budget but at 5pm in a main tourist hotspot we wouldn't be able find much better. The room was big, the bed was comfy but the bathroom and the floors were disgusting. There was this awful smell coming from the floor mats which we ended up throwing out of the room. Everything was covered in dirt and mould. I felt gross and had to wear shoes just walking around the room. I guess in such a dusty town it'd be hard to keep things clean.
We found the food considerably overly priced compared to Yangon and it wasn't anything special. A mix of Chinese and Indian curries along with the local Myanmar oily curries. We spent a whole day, renting a horse and cart to take us round the temples and went photo crazy. The temples of Bagan really are out of this world and everyone should see them in their lifetime. It's the reason Sam and I came to Burma in the first place because I saw a picture of them in a South East Asian Lonely Planet of the top things you must do and I was hooked instantly. I was a bit sad to see that the tourism had affected Myanmar more then ever here. You did get hassled by all sorts of locals trying to get you to buy the same things they all sold. Some of them were so persistent it drove you insane. We simply kept politely declining them and enjoyed the place, while ignoring the feeling of being in a tourist trap.
We were able to climb some of the temples and get a view of the whole desert plain which gave you a real sense of how big the area is. There are temples stretched further then the eye can see - too many to visit all in one day! I loved how the tips poked out of the trees and how different all the sizes were. The day was exhausting as there were just too many to see but Sam and I had great fun walking around them, taking photos and talking to the locals. We met 3 girls who spoke amazing English. They were so interested in us, and wanted us to take photos with them.
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| The 3 girls fascinated with my camera |
Our day ended with sunset on top of one of the temples. It was obviously a known sunset spot because it filled up with tourists pretty quick. There were locals down the bottom selling drinks and snacks and the young girls even ran us up some beer! Poor things were puffing from going up and down the steep staircase. It was such a beautiful sight to see the colour of the sun wash over the red brick temples as it got lower and lower and I was in pure heaven. What a peaceful place and what a magnificent view!
We got up at 5am the next morning for the sunrise. Sam was extremely difficult to drag out of bed but once he was up we were off on our $1.50 for the day bicycles. It was quite amusing at the start as both bikes were fucked and it was hard to get the balance. My bike was worse as the whole front end was leaning right. I couldn't even stay on for 1 sec. I'd jump on and the whole front would shake out of control and veer me straight into the dirt. It was frustrating!! Especially as we were trying to ride in the thick dirt and these bikes
had flimsy thin tyres made for the road, not off road. I was ready to give up. There was no way it was working. Finally I got my back pack for my tripid and camera so they were out of the basket allowing me to get more control of the balance, it was still difficult and with a bit of wobbling here and there we were off!
This time on the bitumen as we didn't have a clue where to go for sunrise so we were following other bike riders and a horse and cart.
Sam was too impatient and took off like lighting, ahead of everyone we were following so he missed them when they turned a left corner. I yelled out but by the time he reached the corner they were out of sight. We lost them. We did find two bike riders and followed them but ended up at a small tower that had a worse view then when we watched the sunset. It was definitely not the sunrise location. Oh well, we still stayed there for an hr and watched the sun rise. There were so many clouds that it disappeared as soon as it rose but I still got some semi nice shots.
Sam decided to ride my bike to see what I was complaining about and he crashed instantly! He tried a few times and just kept going right and crashing again and again. I could not stop laughing. I knew my bike was more fucked then his! I needed him to ride it to see as he was complaining about his bike to so I thought they were just like that. Turns out mine was totally worse and barely ride-able. I felt better after watching him struggle with it, knowing I wasn't alone afterall!
We didn't really do anything for the rest of that day in Bagan. Just slept, enjoyed the peacefully quiet town and organized a bus to Mandalay for the next morning. After 3 nights we were ready to move on.
We were told we would be picked up in front of our guesthouse at 7.30am for our bus departure of 8.30am. But 8am there was still no sign so our guesthouse reception called them up and they said they were on there way. Bagan is a very small town so we were expecting them in minutes. They didn't arrive til 8.20am and we were still picking people up on the way which made the bus late, not leaving til 8.45am and the bus even stopped a few times on the way our of town picking up other tourists from their guesthouse direct.
The trip was only 5hrs and when we arrived we shared a taxi with two Americans who helped us find a local
pick up truck which was heading to the small town of Pyi Oo Lwin. We had no intention of staying in Mandalay, we just had to pass through there to get to this other town. Lonely Planet had reccommended it. Mandalay was a big city with so much traffic and it was nice to pass right on through. Although jumping in the back of a pick up truck with locals was a totally different experience altogether! It only cost us 1,500Ks ($1.50) each for the 2.5hr trip to Pyi oo Lwin.
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| In the pick-up with locals |
We stopped at a local roadside restaurant for a break about half way. We stood out like dogs balls. I don't think they get many tourists through there as they could not stop staring at us! Finally after they were all swapping nervous glances at each other (obviously none could speak English), a young boy came up and asked if we wanted tea or coffee. Sam got a beer and then I pointed to some watermelon in the drinks fridge to ask for some and this lady smiled and ran off, returning with a huge bowl of freshly chopped watermelon. When I tried to pay she shook her head. It must have been their own personal watermelon and they didn't even sell it, but she was so kind to share some with me. I was stoked. Again and again we are shown how genuine and kind the local Burmese are.
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| Enjoying free watermelon from a local's personal stash |
The second hour was climbing up into the windy mountains and when We arrived in Pyi Oo Lwin around 4.30pm and noticed how significantly cooler it was then anywhere we'd gone to yet and the sun was still out. These scooter taxi guys collected us from the side of the road and managed to drop us at our hotel
with all our baggage. I was freaking out at first as I have too much and didn't understand how it would work getting on the back of a scooter with it all. I almost fell straight to the ground just trying to get on as my big bag weighed so much and threw me off balance. The scooters friend had to catch me or I would've been roadkill for sure.
We found a cheap guesthouse in the Lonely planet for $16 a night and had plenty of availability. The town was so small and untouched by tourism that we figured most tourists didn't make the effort here. Such a pity as we had such a peaceful couple of days. Except for sleeping as our room was right next to construction which went on til 10.30pm and started by 7.30am. We also had windows with bright lights shining in from outside. Sam struggled to sleep the most as he didn't get much either night whereas I only slept badly the second night. Pyi Oo Lwin was freezing at night and it really felt like we were back in Nepal. We fond this amazing street side local outside restaurant with kid plastic chairs and had the most amazing rice salad ever! It became both our favourite meal so far in Burma. It was so delish! And it also cost us 500KS (50c)!
We spent our full day in Pyi Oo Lwin visiting the famous botanical gardens which I could believe are, as the Lonely Planet says, the most manicured gardens in all of South East Asia. We spent a couple of hrs walking around and taking photos. It was the only thing to do in this town.
At one point I sat down alone on this park bench to read Lonely Planet while Sam went off on his own taking photos. I was sitting there quietly, enjoying the sun when 5 young Burmese guys all came up to me and started talking to me, telling me how beautiful I was and that could I pose in some photos with them. Harmless enough right? haha! Well this actually went on for some time, all 5 of them wanted individual photos with me and would yell at each other if someone else tried to jump in on the photo. They were getting me to do different poses and stand in different angles, it was hilarious! When one of them thought of another photo idea then they would all want the same one with me so I just had to smile and keep taking photos with these random guys. When they were finally satisfied one of them took the initiative over the other shy guys with lesser English and started chatting to me about anything and everything. Turns out they were all up from Mandalay to see the gardens and were going back that afternoon because it was National Shin Day. One of the boys was from Chin State and because right now there is real fighting going on there he had escaped to freedom. It was actually quite interesting. They ended up giving me their emails and phone numbers and said I had to contact them if I was going to pass through Mandalay. One guy even gave me his email on the back of a passport sized photos of himself! Ha!
Oh man I love the Burmese - they are so friendly and happy all the time.
That night we hit up the local night markets which really are 'local'. We did not see any other tourists around. Well we hardly saw more then 2 tourists the whole time we were in Pyi Oo Lwin! It's such a quiet place. Sam found these amazing little pizza type things at the first stall we walked pass which seriously tasted AMAZING! They were crispy with fresh ingredients on top and amazing spices and pocket size so you could eat them so easily. I then ate this really oily bean pancake type thing which was quite boring and so over the top oily. We've found Burmese food in general is extremely oily, you kind of just deal with it and try not to scrape the end up where all the oil sits. But this pancake thing was the oiliest thing so far and my hands were shining and gross afterwards. Sam then got us to sit down and try this little lady who was chopping up meat parts. It looked super suspect and we had no idea what we were biting into at first but Sam knew straight away it was offal - blood clots and organs of animals. It was the most foul thing I'd ever put in my mouth. I did give it a try but almost vomited from it. The texture as well as the taste was just plain awful. So I ended up leaving half my plate while Sam finished all his. He was still hungry (that killed my appetite!) so he ordered this pasta meat dish from another place - once again not having a clue what it was. Turned out to be more offal mixed with noodles and he barely ate a quarter of it - gross! We checked out a beer brewery after that which the Lonely Planet recommended as it served anti-aging beer with Spirulina. We got there and the place was dead. Not a single soul other then the staff. Still we enjoyed our 50c draught beer before calling it a night.
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| Sam with his offal noodle soup dish |
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| Our disgusting dish of animal organs - looks good at first right? |
We only spent two lovely, relaxing days in Pyi Oo Lwin before making the tough decision to head down to Inle Lake instead of continuing up North to the mountains. We would totally recommend this town to anyone who is interested in hanging with the locals, experimenting with food and taking in the colonial style buildings. I'll now leave you with some shots of the town.
