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Published: December 8th 2010
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Hello all, still in Asia -- have you enjoyed the rest from my posts? Spent the last three weeks in Myanmar and what a spectacular country, well spectacular minus the dictatorship blocking my email and travel blog sites. In spite of the frustrations of blocked access, Myanmar is an amazing country and worthwhile to visit. I'll try to keep my blog short and be mindful of the pictures as I know you all have busy lives, especially at this holiday time of year.
I arrived in Yangon on November 17th via the airport with zero issues, even with the required declaration of my electronics (camera and netbook), the officials didn't even look at my declaration card. Had a few rough days after that, ended up getting very sick so not a lot of time in Yangon before I had to make my way to Mandalay (I'd booked my bus ticket almost immediately upon my arrival in Yangon).
Spent a couple days in Mandalay visiting sites in the city and some great places outside the city. A little place called Inwa with some ruins and a two hour ride in the worst horse cart on the planet. Great horse, nice
driver just awful roads and no suspension on the horse cart 😊 Then to this little place that had U Bein's bridge which is the world's longest teak bridge, 1.2 kms and is 200 years old. Still used and the 1060 teak posts see a lot of foot and bicycle traffic during the day. Went to a temple called Paliek that houses three gigantic Burmese pythons, no safety glass or cage, just right there beside a Buddha -- I even touched them. Who needs safety measures, right?
After Mandalay and outlying area, I moved onto Bagan and what a cool place that is! At it's peak, the area contained more than 4400 pagodas and temples. All are in various states of ruin, some still in fairly great shape. Rented a bicycle for three days and explored the sites. Not only is Bagan incredibly hot, almost desert-like, but riding a bike in that heat over some crummy roads and sandy roads, just about did me in! But after the awful horse cart time in Inwa, I thought I'd rather explore on bike, tough riding at times but worth it. After spending four nights there, I moved onto Kalaw.
The
bus ride to Kalaw required a zen-like state of mind. First, there is only one bus per day from Bagan to Kalaw, second, it's the local bus with no air con and it's not even a bus but a mini bus and lastly, it leaves at 4:00 am! Oh but it got better, the 'road' was one of the worst I had ever travelled. I'm sure we left pieces of the bus behind at times going over gigantic pot holes, huge rocks and creek beds. I got to experience this for over 10 hours, I continually said in my head that it is the journey, not the destination. But I was luckier than another tourist across from me. I had a Burmese woman sleep on my shoulder (zero idea how the locals sleep while being bounced around), but she didn't vomit in my lap like the man who was sleeping on his shoulder did (poor guys, both of them).
Arrived in Kalaw to a two day trek to Inle Lake. Yes, I could have taken the crap bus another 45 minutes to Inle but I thought I'd join a trek and walk for a few days and man, it
was worth it! I was told that I'd be trekking with a man named Rambo, something incredibly poetic about trekking through the Burmese jungle with a man named Rambo. Actually, the guide I did get, Harri, was amazing and we really weren't trekking through the jungle, more of a long walk along the hillsides, met some amazing tribespeople and saw some incredible scenery. Spent the overnight part in a monastary and was awoken at 4:00 am with the sound of the novice monks chanting their morning prayers. Then breakfast at 6:00 am in the mist of the monastery with a blessing from the head monk for each person.
After that second day of the trek, we arrived at Inle Lake. I say 'we' as in the 12 other people that I'd spent the previous two days with. You can really get to know someone when you're walking for hours and hours along the hillsides, a few of us explored Inle together over the next couple of days. I spent three days at Inle Lake going to some of the villages and experiencing just how incredible Burmese people are.
And lastly, I had to endure a 16 hour overnight
bus ride back to Yangon to catch my flight to Kuala Lumpur. Again, the only bus that was going to Yangon and it took 16 hours arriving at 6 am the day of my flight. Spent that day visiting what I'd missed while I was sick, mostly the Shwedagon Pagoda before I hit the airport for my flight that was leaving.
I've tried to keep the pics to a minimum, just the highlights. My only wish is to have a picture that could capture the spirit of the people. And another wish would be to have the ability to sum up how great Myanmar is, words fail me, only to say that it is a country that should not be missed. Thanks for the time, enjoy the pics and I'll post again soon.
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Linda Knaus
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Hey Cheryl: So VERY glad to receive your post. We were starting to worry about you a bit when we hadn't heard from you for so long. I guess we sometimes forget that all of our modern conveniences aren't accessable everywhere. Sounds like you are having an absolutely amazing trip. Enjoy every day !! take care, linda