Our last week in the amazing Myanmar

3 - 11 March 2013

We weren't really expecting much in Mawlamyine, we'd just read there was a cool island to visit and see different local villages and workshops but otherwise we didn't know what to expect. We stayed at Breeze Guesthouse which was basically the young backpacker hub and a great place to meet people. The day we arrived we had an early dinner at the Beer Garden which had an amazing barbecue. You would pick your marinated skewers out of the fridge and they'd barbecue them out the back and serve them with a dish of special sauce that was the true magic of this place. Sam and I tried to figure out what was in it, garlic, chilis, coriander, sugar (the Burmese put sugar in everything) but what made it brown? We wish we could figure it out as it was so god damn delicious! We devoured many different skewers then got up for more and devoured them so fast that we didn't even let the first lot digest and soon we were hobbling back to the guesthouse with very full uncomfortable bellies.

The magic dipping sauce

We went to bed at the ridiculous hour of 7pm in our super hot and uncomfortable $14 room. Our mattresses were those thin lumpy things you get off sun lounges, they weren't even made for beds! And we had one pedestal fan that was on rotate, but we were on single beds across the room so we couldn't stick the fan on one spot and cool us both. It was a nightmare trying to sleep. We had a window that opened up to the stairs and the main reception where all the locals watched a sporting game til 11.30pm yelling and cheering in Burmese at the top of their lungs. We decided we would move to an air con room the next day and 'spoil' ourselves by paying $25.

The next morning we got up reasonably early and set off for Nwa-la-bo Pagoda - a local pilgrimage site in the jungle-cloaked hills to the north of Mawlamyine. It consists of of three sausage-shaped gold boulders piled precariously atop one another and surmounted by a stupa. Basically like the golden rock but less known by tourists. On our way out we ran into two young Australians, a couple visiting from QLD. They were booking themselves into a day tour with a guide from our guesthouse for the next day. Instantly we clicked and I found myself yapping away for about 15mins straight until they revealed they needed bed after being on a night bus.

Sam and I jumped on yet another pick up truck and for 1,000ks ($1.15) each we rode it for 40mins before being dropped at the bottom of the mountain where we had to then ride this massive truck uphill. While we waited for the truck we got stuck into a Sugar cane juice which we had discovered a few days before. The locals were always drinking it in the streets and Sam finally dared to try it. They use this wheel machine to squeeze the juice out of the sugar cane and serve it on ice for 30c - it's amazing! (and addictive). 

Local lady making us sugar can juice

The drive up the hill was bumpy as hell and reminded me of the drive back from that secret beach party on Koh Phangan. It was extremely windy with sharp corners and quite a steep climb with the driver legging it and the passengers flying all over the place in the back. The trip there was definitely the best part as once we reached the top we were saddened to see the boulders were covered in an ugly brown cloth - that's right it was also being painted. Goddammit! At least there was a nice view.

That evening we decided to book the day tour for the next day, which our new QLD friends had booked. It was to a nearby island and was being run by Mr Antony, who worked at the guesthouse but was also a Lonely Planet famous local guide. He has his own box of text in the book talking about Mawlamyine.

Later, after we had watched a few movies on my laptop I went to put it on the dressing table in the corner of the room. It was dark as the lights were already out and so I must've just put it on the edge without realizing which caused it to crash in the worst way to the floor. I tried to catch it as it was falling and made it worse by slamming it into the legs of the table on it's way down. I knew it was a bad fall but when I had a quick look over the outside and inside I assumed all was ok. Boy was I wrong. But I didn't know it yet.

We woke up bright and early ready for our day tour, thinking it was just going to be us and the Aussie couple as when we signed up around 7.30pm they were the only people signed up as well. We soon realized we had a full tour group and were joined by more Aussies, two young girls from NSW and Melbourne, a German girl, an English guy and then two old men, one from Canada and I forget now where the other was from. We got along with everyone straight off the bat. It was nice to make new friends finally as Sam and I really struggle with that.

The actual tour was quite odd and I don't really know if I would ever recommend it. Mr Antony was super nice to us but he wasn't that way with our whole tour group I found out and he also acted a little strange. We saw a nice lake, made lotus flower necklaces, saw local workshops for rubber, school writing boards and were even fed a massive feast. About 10am we were taken to this monk celebration with a crowd of locals and fed really interesting but delicious treats. First we each got a glass of pink milky tea with nuts that tasted like melted ice cream. It was very sweet and tasty but so rich that it filled me up. We then got pickled tea leaf with spicy nuts and Sam LOVED that. He ate two small bowls of that. We were then each given a gift of Ovaltine - that's right, a jar of Ovaltine... wtf? Mr Antony then made everyone uncomfortable by giving us envelopes to put donations in and when the two Aussie girls refused he instantly disliked them and made some rude comments to them when the rest of us weren't listening. I know because Gem, one of the girls told us. While this was all going on, the locals were surrounding us, watching our every move. So you had to donate even if you didn't want to.There was also a guy with a massive camera shoving it in our face and Mr Antony telling us to smile and sit up straight when it was on us. Again, making us super uncomfortable.

The sweet ice cream tasting tea

Mr Antony giving Jane (one of the Aussie girls) her gift of Ovaltine

The pickled tea leaf and spicy nuts that Sam fell in love with

After filling us up on sweet treats, pushing us to donate and shoving a massive camera in our faces, we went outside to a huge table of food. Way way too much food. We all had full bellies from the morning tea and now we had to eat lunch? At 10.30am mind you. We all looked at each other in disbelief and panic because none of us wanted it. There were bowls and bowls of Oily Burmese curries with flies all over them - enough food to feed about 20, way too much for the 8 of us. No one was hungry except the couple from QLD and they dug in, but the rest of us took tiny bits onto our plates not wanting any of it. On top of all this we were surrounded by locals watching us eat. Uncomfortable much? Mr Antony was unfortunately sitting with Sam and I and everytime we finished the tiny bit of food on our plate he'd go and scoop more on. There was this disgusting oily fish which he went to put on my plate. I repeatedly said "No No No No No' over and over as he was scooping it and then put it on my rice but thankfully he took it off as he got the message with my constant No's! I later ate some meat on the rice that fish had been on and almost threw up. It was foul.

Being watched and videoed while we ate

Enough food to feed an army

By lunchtime it seemed Mr Antony had run out of places to take us and was just making it up as he went along. It was boring and super hot and we all just wanted to go home. Luckily we were all getting along so well which made the day worth our $15 each. That night when we got back we all went to a pub for beers. Except for the two old guys and our couple from QLD as Kelly, the girl, had been vomiting since we left the island. It turned out to be food poisoning as she spent the next 48hrs in hell. Quite funny as her and her boyfriend Andrew were the only ones who got stuck into the food.


Beers turned into dinner and we all ended up going home a little drunk and happy after a great day and evening of socialising. Just what the Dr ordered :) The girls (who we all guessed were lesbians) and Rich (the English guy) along with Sam and I, made plans to meet at 9am the next morning and spend the day. We ended up getting bicycles and spent the morning riding around the town. We even visited the local markets.

We went to lunch at this upper class restaurant on the water which Rich recommended and proceeded to spend the entire afternoon there. It was really nice chatting, eating, drinking, chatting, eating, drinking... I think we ordered almost everything off that menu. Sam and I had found new friends :) We took them to the Beer Garden for their amazing barbecue for dinner where Sam and Rich proceeded to get very very drunk. The girls got a night bus back to Yangon and said their goodbyes when Andrew (from QLD) ran into us as he was sneaking out for dinner while Kelly was still stuck at the hotel feeling sorry for herself. I got stuck into the beers to join the boys and soon we were all drunk, except Andrew who went home to his sick girl. Rich, Sam and I then proceeded to ride our bicycles home at 11.30pm drunk. Sam and Rich were particularly wasted and I was sure they'd stack as they raced like maniacs all the way home. It was hilarious!

Sam and Rich getting stuck into their beers!

Drunk riding home

The next day Sam was sick and spent the whole day in bed while I caught up photo editing on my laptop. That night we went to dinner at the up market place on the water with Andrew, Kelly and Rich. I had booked Sam and I a boat to our next destination 'Hpa-an' for the next morning which Kelly and Andrew had also booked. So it was our goodbye to Rich for now.


Our boat was $2 cheaper then Andrew and Kelly's and we soon discovered why. It was an old skinny and low boat that had hard wood slates for sitting on, not shade and about 40mins into the trip it started to flood. Our bags and feet got soaked and I started to think we were actually going to sink as they turned around and said we had to go back and change boats. Would we even make it back? Luckily another boat came to the rescue, which just so happened to be Andrew and Kelly's boat! This is how we found out they were in complete luxury for their extra $2 a ticket. Their boat was bigger and was raised higher, they had proper seats and full shade. I guess sometimes it's worth paying that little bit extra - especially as we were sinking and they weren't! We loaded two of our passengers off to their boat and continued on with no more trouble. I guess we were just overloaded. The boat trip took 2.5hrs in total as we sailed through the beautiful countryside of south Myanmar. As we got closer to Hpa-an it started looking a little Thai as beautiful islands and mountains surrounded us.

When we arrived at Hpa-an we discovered all the young backpackers on our boat were heading to the same guesthouse as us so we stupidly followed them the 40min walk there in the middle of the day in 40+ degree heat. I was dying with all my luggage and when we finally did get there I looked into the mirror to see my massive beetroot face and clothes soaking in sweat. I felt and looked like I had just run a marathon.

We met up with Andrew and Kelly for dinner at Lonely Planets top choice, which said it had the best Myanmar cuisine in the whole country. It was not wrong. The food was AMAZING! It was the typical curries except less oil, more meat and better quality food with amazing spices and sides to add to your dish. We ended up eating there for all our meals in Hpa-an!

We spent only 2 nights in this small, sleepy town as we were running out of days and still wanted to see the Golden rock before flying out of Myanmar. We spent our full day on a tour with Kelly and Andrew which cost us each only $5! It turned out to be an incredible day as the scenery was just divine. We drove through beautiful countryside surrounded by mountains and luscious greenery as we visited cave after cave, each more impressive then the next. The most famous and biggest cave of all had a beautiful lake on the other side with locals waiting to paddle us back through a different part of the cave. It was so cool. We also visited a rock in the middle of a lake with a famous mountain behind and millions of buddha statues lining across a field. The whole day was just amazing, the scenery the best we had seen so far in Myanmar.

Andrew on the boat behind us after going through the biggest cave

The wall outside one of the caves

Beautiful countryside

That night the four of us ate dinner at the same restaurant yet again, enjoying our last night as travel companions as we were off to the Golden Rock the next morning and they were heading North, just beginning their month in Myanmar. It was sad to say goodbye as I felt like I got along with them more then anyone and really enjoyed their down to earth company. That's the tough thing about travel though, as you meet amazing people and then you have to say goodbye. It never lasts forever.

So off we were on yet another pick up truck (this would be our final one) to Kinpun, a small town near the famous Golden Rock. We had been told they finally finished painting and it was ready to see. I knew it was going to be overrated, but still, I wanted to go. I'm glad we did because Kinpun was actually a pleasant town to stay 2 nights in. We spent our time mostly relaxing, eating and even drinking a new beer - Mandalay. We only had a couple each and were quite drunk. I'm not sure if it's the beer or the fact we were in the mountains.

The rock itself really was overrated, but the trip up the mountain was an adventure! We went to this large warehouse type area at 6am which had metal stairs and landings set up ready to load people into the massive trucks. There were about 10 different stairs as there is more then just one truck at a time. We innocently jumped in line behind one of the staircases which was filled with locals. Hardly a single tourist in sight. It wasn't long before the trucks came along and what we saw next was insanity. Locals went crazy. People were climbing up all sides of the truck even though it was super high. The stair case ended up not being the only way to get on it seemed and even though we were only a few people behind in the line we ended up struggling to get a seat. It was pure mania. The people were like ants all scrambling on bumping each other out of the way, pushing and shoving, desperate to get a seat. Every single truck was this way. We somehow managed to squish in the side but Sam was being pinned against the railing in pain.

Hard to tell from this picture but people are going crazy trying to get a seat

Packed in like Sardines we were as we raced up the mountain, stopping a million times along the way for monks to sing prayers and collect donations from the locals. It was also freezing cold which we weren't expecting, I had a thin flannel but Sam was in a thin t-shirt the poor boy. He cried in pain the whole way wanted it to be over. Every fast corner we took people were thrown from one side to the next and unfortunately as Sam was wedged into the railing he only got further ingrained in it with everyone's weight.

We finally reached the top, had some breakfast from a local on the side of the road and proceeded to be unimpressed with all the fuss of the Golden Rock. We were very high up in the mountains so the view was beautiful at least. As our last adventure in Myanmar it was certainly not our favourite but we did enjoy the town of Kinpun and the crazy truck up the mountain - then of course back down. This time we fought like all the others to get a seat as we knew how it worked and got seats in the middle thinking it would be better then being jammed into the railing. Wrooong! There was nothing to hold in the middle so as you're jammed into locals you go flying all over the place with them as the truck flew down and around the corners. Then a lady behind me decided to stick something extremely sharp into my back that felt like a knife and I was in pure agony desperate for the ride to end.

Breakfast on the mountain

Ready for the trip back down the mountain

The next day we were on a bus to Yangon and flying out the day after that. 27 days in total in this incredibly unique country. I strongly urge everyone to go :)

Experiencing the magic at Inle Lake then relaxing on our very own Burmese paradise - Ngwe Saung Beach

22 Feb - 2 March 2013

We caught another pick up truck back to Mandalay from Pyi Oo Lwin. This time it was way more uncomfortable as it was the middle of the day by the time we got going and were driving back down out of the mountains into the heat, the seats were hard wood unlike our first one which had padded seats. The tray roof was way lower and we kept whacking our heads, backs and shoulder blades on the metal poles on every bump. I developed a headache which got worse by the minute; by half way I was feeling incredibly sick. I had to spend the last hr with my head between my knees trying not to vomit. It was super packed with locals too so we were so squished and uncomfortable the entire ride. Finally we reached Mandalay by 2pm and I  jumped out in the stinking hot busy street ready to vomit. The traiffc, noise, pollution and heat made it worse. All these locals on the side of the street were so nice and quickly got me a seat in the shade of a shop, gave me some sniffing stuff that's meant to help with nausea and the lady who owned the small shop was trying to give me refresher towel saying it was for free. Again we were being treated with genuine kindness. After a few minutes of trying to vomit, we got some scooter taxi guys to take us to the bus station so we could see if there was a bus to Inle lake that night.  Lucky for us there was one for 7pm! But we had to wait 4hrs and the bus station was dusty, dirty, noisy and nowhere to sit down. I was still feeling like shit so we decided to head to an airconditioned restaurant with couches to wait the time out. I eventually felt better once we'd moved on.

The overnight bus to Inle Lake left at 7.30pm and arrived at 4am. We got no sleep what so ever as it was so uncomfortable. We thought we were going to another town where we'd arrived at 7am then changeover buses there to Insle Lake so we'd arrive in the day time. We had no idea our bus went direct to Inle Lake. We hadn't organised any accomodation beforehand as usual and this was the first time we regretted it. Well it's not like we could anyway as we had no idea til we booked our bus ticket the afternoon before that we were even coming that day. Anyway, our trishaw taxis rode us around at 4am from guesthouse to guesthouse trying to find us a room. Every single place was booked out. It looked bad, real bad. Finally we had to settle for a hotel for $50 a night. Waaaay out of our price range but we had no choice. We settled there after an hr of riding around having no luck. Plus it was freeeeeeeezing!! The temperature was 14c and felt like a freezing Darwin dry season morning. We were not prepared, wearing light trekking pants and thongs. The hotel said we had to wait in the lobby til 8am when our room would be ready and the lobby was not indoors, so we had to wait 3hrs freezing our arses off. About 6.30am more staff got up and saw us uncomfortably cold, so they got us some blankets and pillows then even made us a comfy warm bed on the floor. That was much better. Except the lobby was also the restaurant where the guests came for breakfast so we were lying in the corner on blankets and pillows while they were eating around us. It was so embarrasing that I hid my head completely undercover.

We spent half the day sleeping and then the afternoon trying to find cheaper accommodation for the next night. No luck, every single guesthouse was booked for days and days more. We eventually decided to just stay 2 nights at this $50 hotel, get a boat for the day to see the lake then leave the following day. We still have plenty to see in Burma anyway.  I was walking down the main street trying to find Sam as we had been separated earlier when this really nice local guy stopped me. He pretty much sold me on his services with his excellent English and very informative itinerary of the lake. I couldn't make a decision without Sam so I told him I needed to find my boyfriend first and we would decide together. This guy was so persistent that he said he'd follow me. I was thinking it was pretty funny as Sam could be anywhere. I was walking and he was on a scooter so he couldn't exactly stay at my pace. Anyway he disappeared up ahead which made me think he'd given up on me. I walked for maybe another minute or two when I see Sam in the distance talking to a guy on a scooter - it was the same guy! He had pinned Sam down and knew that he was my boyfriend! I have no idea as I didn't explain his appearance at all. He just stopped and asked if he was from Australia and that his girlfriend is behind looking for him. It was quite amusing. So off again he went on his services and he was so damn convincing that we both decided to hire him and his boat for the next day for only 30,000Ks ($33).

We were picked up at 7.30am by trishaw taxi and taken down to the boat dock then proceeded to have the most amazing day we'd had in Burma so far. It was spectacular. First we visited a morning local market that was just chaos. We hardly saw a single tourist, just locals everywhere selling all sorts of herbs & spices, fruits, strange foods, basically anything and everything. Sam and I both went crazy with photos as it was like no markets we had ever seen before. We really felt like we were mixed in with the locals of Burma and not in a tourist hot spot. Our guide even gave us breakfast at a little teashop there where we had Burmese baked treats and tea. They put condensed milk in their tea which makes it really sweet and is quite addictive! it's funny because 5 months ago I never drank coffee or tea and now all of a sudden I drink tea and I'm actually starting to really get into it.

Our Burmese morning tea paid for by our guide

I had been pestering Sam since we got to Burma that he should get a man skirt and wear it while we're in the country. I thought it would be so much fun and I wanted to seem him in one! He didn't really say no, so I thought I would eventually convince him, until this day when our guide needed to pee as we were leaving the market. He went off the path to the side like men do, but then he went into a squat like women do! Sam caught him at it and after that he noticed men squatting to pee all the time. We realized it's because of the skirt - so that idea went out the window completely. I would never see my man in a skirt because he would never resort to squatting while peeing! Men are such babies sometimes right? lol. Squatting isn't the worst thing is it ladies?

Men in skirts leaving the markets

Next we sailed straight through the middle of the lake and saw what we were both looking forward to the most - the local fishermen and their very unique way of paddling. They wrap one leg around the paddle and do a circular paddle motion while pulling fishing nets out. I got some good close ups with my SLR but the photos don't show exactly how they moved in reality. Burma has so many things about it that are unique to anywhere else in the world and this was just another thing. Watching the fisherman was so much fun and very bizarre. Our guide got the boat driver to circle up close to one so we could really see.

We reached a floating fisherman village mid morning. The bamboo houses were built on stilts out of the water and there were locals going about their morning duties, always smiling and waving at us as we passed through. It was amazing. Our $30 for the day got us further then most people go and we went all the way down to the end of the lake, eying off the millions of floating villages on the way. Our guide was very informative, telling us about the different villages, where they specialized in (silk, pottery, fishing etc). Some were really very poor and you could tell by the way the bamboo houses were barely standing up out of the water - they looked like they were going to fall apart any second. Those poor villages had no electricity or education, so the kids didn't go to school. The other villages that were doing better had power lines built up out of the water providing them with power and there were floating schools around. Our guide also told us as we passed a poor village that it's doing much better since they were educated a few months ago on crops and that they can grow crops all year round instead of just one season like they were - already they are a lot less poor then before.

Local mum and son waving to us

Floating village

When we reached the very end of the lake about midday, we got out at this rice paddock and walked through a bamboo forest to a local village specializing in pottery. It was just us and the locals. I couldn't believe how lucky we were to be visiting this village where no other tourists go! I went crazy again taking photos as we walked through, admiring them at their work and then we actually went inside and upstairs of a locals home to sit down on their bamboo floor and have tea with them. I wanted to take photos so bad, but I felt kind of rude being in their home and all. I did take one of this mum and her child but it's a little blurry.
They had these amazing dried beans that were real crunchy and so delish! We hung out with them for about half an hr before heading back to the boat. On the way we passed these local boys playing this common Burmese game where they kick the ball up in the air with the side of their feet around in a circle. Next second our guide is in on it playing with them and he was excellent at it!

Dried bean chips!

Sitting in a locals house

We stopped at a few more places on the way back up the lake, jewelry workshop, cigar workshop (where we were greeted with  tea and these delish sweet rice crackers!). We had lunch at a floating restaurant where we found a new favourite Burmese dish - green tomato salad! It was AMAZING!! Both Sam and I don't understand the people who said Burmese food was awful because we are loving it so much! (except for the organs of course lol). One stop we walked into another local house and these young girls poured water over Sam then all giggled like crazy - haha it was so strange! They were giggling and smiling at us nonstop of course while asking us how we were and where we were from.

We got back  to town about 5pm and thanked our guy greatly, telling him how happy we were with our day. I'm glad we went with a local guy instead of booking through one of the many travel agents as we had the most amazing experience. Even though Inle Lake is one of the main tourist hot spots of Burma we couldn't tell while out on the lake! Our guy kept us away from the general tourist places and showed us the real Burma - and we fucking loved it!!

The next day we decided to book a bus to Yangon then head West to a small town called Pathein before continuing to the West coast and lapping up some beach time. We waited at our hotel in Inle Lake for the taxi to pick us up between 4 and 5 for our 5pm bus to Yangon. Yes another over nighter - joy. At 4.30pm when we still hadn't been picked up I asked our hotel staff if they could call and find out where they are, but the lady told us not to worry as our hotel was the last point of pick up and they'd get here soon. As we'd had a similar experience in Bagan waiting for our bus to Mandalay we didn't worry too much about it and it wasn't til about 20 past 5 that we knew something was very wrong as the bus would've left by now and they hadn't stopped to get us on the way out.

Sam went down to the travel agent we booked the ticket through. He was gone for about 20mins and when he finally returned he was followed by two local guys in car who pulled up quite abruptly in our driveway. Sam yelled at me "grab your stuff, we're literally chasing the bus down'. Apparently the lady who booked our ticket had called the bus company and went off at them in Burmese. She was going nuts over the phone apparently. Turned out the bus company had mixed up our dates and thought we were going on the next day and so they sent over two locals in a sedan and got them to chase down the bus with us. They were driving insane! Sam and I were laughing at the whole situation, thinking we could very well die trying to reach this bus. We finally caught up to it about 10 past 6 as they were waiting on the side of the road for us and then it was a long uncomfortable ride all the way to Yangon, arriving in at 4am. We decided to keep traveling so we waited for a 7am bus to Pathein. While waiting Sam went wandering for food and found this old Burmese lady sitting on tiny plastic stool with a table of different noodles and buckets of different sauces. He basically picked his noodle then she put a scoop of everything from every bucket in and mixed it up with nuts and cabbage. He came back raving about how awesome it was so I was determined to try it to. Off I went and WOW! It was so funny because I was sitting on this tiny plastic stool with other locals while more locals stood up around and they were all staring at me and laughing as I was eating this amazingly tasty noodle dish. One guy asked me if it was good and I gave him the thumbs up - it was soooo god damn good! We keep finding these amazing new dishes - when will it end! Oh and when she said that would be 200Ks I was shocked - 20c for a big bowl of yummy, spicy, crunchy tasty noodle dish!

Pathein didn't really have anything to do but it was nice to just relax in cheap accommodation and enjoy the town. We spent two nights there and visited their umbrella workshop where I was almost pressured to buy one of their beautifully coloured parasols. We then spent the rest of the afternoon drinking Draught Myanmar beer at their local pub. We got scooters there and when I jumped off I went the wrong way catching the exhaust with my leg which shocked me into a stumble and I almost fell over. It hurt like hell. As time slowly passed while we had beer after beer my burn got worse and soon it was a massive blister that Sam had to pop for me back at the room and I got some burn cream to stop it getting infected.

My nasty burn from the scooter exhaust

Pretty parasols

The next day we headed towards the bus station by the river to catch one of the several buses bound for Ngwe Saung Beach. We were expecting to catch the 11am one for 4,000Ks ($4.60) but our taxi trishaw riders took us to a very over packed local bus that only cost us 2,500Ks ($2.80). It was insanely full. Sam and I went to jump on and there were locals all packed in every spare space of the aisle and the front of the bus. There was no way in what so ever and we thought we'd be standing there on the front steps the whole trip until two lovely girls in the front seat got up and made us sit in their seat while they sat uncomfortably on the floor with the rest of the locals all packed in. I was like 'What about you?" But she just smiled and sat down. It was an insanely uncomfortable ride as there were 3 of us in a 2 person seat along with lots of shit all piled under our feet. I lost feeling in  my feet and legs. As uncomfortable as it was I had fun and enjoyed the experience for what it was.

Packed local bus - there is no aisle anymore!

The lovely girl who gave up her seat for us

We arrived at Ngwe Saung about 12.30pm and decided to eat at one of the local stalls before heading to our hotel.  No one spoke English and the lady just pointed to noodles so we said yes. Neither Sam or I know what was in it, but it tasted good and only cost us 300Ks (30c) - bargain!

Our room was a beach bungalow literally 15meters from the beach itself. It was very spacious and clean with air con and a fridge. We were happy. Well we were paying $40 a night as unfortunately that was the only place left available. We hit the beach straight away to cool down after our sweaty and squished bus ride there.  The waves were pretty decent so you could actually body surf and the hotel had tubes they lent out to guests for free. There was hardly anyone around considering every accomodation was booked out. The sun lounges on the beach under dead palm tree shades were free, we had to fight for that sort of thing at Koh Lanta!

We spent our three days there lazing around, drinking beer and the local Burmese whiskey, eating amazing seafood and basically doing jack shit. It was nice.  We got pretty wasted on our last day drinking Grand Royal - Burmese whisky and had a blast playing in the waves in tubes. We then each got a $15 lobster which were huge and soooo damn delicious! It was my first time eating lobster and I was super fucking impressed. Too bad it's so expensive back home.

The next day we were sad to be leaving our little Burmese paradise but if we were to see more of Burma we had to move on. We got a day bus to Yangon, stayed overnight there then got the next day bus to Mawlamyine a town as far South as you can go without a special permit.

Touchdown in Myanmar - The great temples of Bagan and the cool hillstation Pyi Oo Lwin

 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sam with his offal noodle soup dish

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.

Myanmar - the home of Burmese people

I'm back after a whole month of blog lacking, as I said could very well happen while in Myanmar. The internet there was almost impossible to find and when you did it was ridiculously slow that you'd waste 20mins of your life just trying to open on email and reply. In the end Sam and I only used it for the necessities and I just updated my blog on my laptop ready to blast everyone with all my posts when in a country with REAL WiFi again. Here we are - Sihanoukville, Cambodia and we are paying a measly $15 for a massive clean room with private bathroom, air con and WiFi. I can tell I am going to like it in this country a lot!

But anyway, one country at a time. Our month in Myanmar went by so fast and was quite exhausting as we were only ever in one place for 2 or 3 nights at a time. Trying to cover everything in 4 weeks is no easy task! We caught many long buses and had to make real tough decisions like should we go up further North into the mountains or spend more time South seeing the coast and the beautiful countryside. Even though we finished our 4 weeks there utterly exhausted and ready for a month of sleep we don't regret a single thing and we have so many beautiful memories of this unique country we call Myanmar - home to the most genuine and kind people you will ever meet in the world.

Enjoy the following blog entries - I enjoyed writing them :)