Blogs from Mandalay Region, Burma, Asia - page 3

Many people think Yangon/Rangoon is the capital of Myanmar/Burma. Well, it used to be but in 2005 the administrative capital of the country was moved to a brand new city, Nay Pyi Taw. But for our friend Joe, who is working there at the moment, we probably wouldn't have bothered visiting. This is especially so after reading the handful of blogs that are out there where the bloggers found a deserted city devoid of much interest to the casual traveller. After spending 4 nights there, we beg to differ! It's not difficult to see where the myth of an empty city comes from as it is incredibly vast in relation to its population, and many government and military workers divide their time between work here and family elsewhere. When you stand in the middle of a ... read more

Bagan is truly breathtaking. There's no doubting what an amazing place it is. However, the problem with an amazing place is the crowds it attracts, and Bagan is no exception. It's not difficult to escape them though, and we managed to do so with remarkable ease. Our journey from Mandalay took three and a half hours thanks to our lovely lady driver. I wish she had given me a card so that I could share her details! The alternatives were a long day on a boat or a long day on a bus, and we just wanted to get there. The big advantages of a private transfer were being able to stop whenever we wanted, being dropped off directly at our hotel, and avoiding the US$25 tourist entry ticket (read tax!) which you'll pay if you ... read more

After travelling in rather more remote parts of Myanmar, it was quite a shock to the system to find ourselves in very heavy traffic. Mandalay at rush hour is complete gridlock and we were not really sure we liked it at first. We were dropped off at our hotel, url=https://www.booking.com/hotel/mm/8.es.html?label=gen173rf-1BCAsolQFCAThIM1gDaEaIAQGYAQrCAQp3aW5kb3dzIDEwyAEM2AEB6AEBkgIBeaICDXIuc3J2dHJjay5jb22oAgM;sid=3b65adcceeb66182b43724a9d65ca3f1;dist=0&sb_price_type=total&type=total&Hotel 8, and we were quite happy with our choice. It was a bit on the noisy side, but in such a big and bustling city we couldn't have expected otherwise. We had been told that after about 8pm the city went to sleep and we were quite surprised to find this was not very far from the truth. The main problem was the mosques. It was impossible to escape the call to prayer! The people working in the alleywa... read more

See differently that ONE sky Roses are red , sky is blue Every time I see , a similar u For example , The sky is blue. is it? I mean is it only blue ?. I have seen so many colors of that one sky .I am quite sure its not same every time. Each one has given me separate feeling , sometimes a kick of energy , sometimes a deep thought , simply different colors with different emotions. And it is spontaneous too. I think that is why, It is very difficult to give an exact word to your thoughts but some times it is easy to express if you capture that thought of the moment , yes….sometimes a photograph works. Bagan, Myanmar . Bagan was formerly known as 'Pagan' was the capital of ... read more

Planning a trip to Myanmar was like opening a box of chocolates. Where to start? With so much to see, it’s deliciously daunting, even with advice from a friend who’s been living there a while, though he readily admitted, “If a place is interesting, and has an airport within two hours’ drive, then I’ve probably visited. If it doesn’t, then I haven’t.” Right there is the second challenge: logistics. Roads aren’t great (66 km/41 miles in two hours is reasonable going, I was to discover within the first week), and, despite talk of improvements, the railways don’t appear to have been updated since they were first introduced in the 1870s. (I’ve seen references to the maximum speed being 24 kph/15 mph: they’re not going to rival the Shinkansen any time soon.) Even with the best part ... read more