Yangon, 28 & 29th November
Royal Guesthouse, 7USD twin room with shared bathroom
Arriving in Yangon airport I am shocked to land at a super cool, super new airport terminal with air conditioning cranked up to the MAAAAAXXXX. I was expecting an old bamboo shed, but as ever the Lonely Planet is either wrong or out of date!
Reading through the web and LP, I am determined not to stay in the Motherland Inn Guesthouse, as everybody stays there and I believe it is best to spread the wealth to other places.
I end up staying in the Motherland Inn Guesthouse...
There are three of their employees waiting at the airport as they have done their homework and know the arrival time of the flight from Bangkok. politely approaching the two or three tourists that were on the flight. They were so nice and professional, I could not say No to them (Plus there was a free taxi from the airport to the guesthouse which saved me 7000Kyats!)
Anyhooo, I get my first glimpse of the men in their Longyi, which seems strange at first but, now I feel strange in my trousers and jeans and they look normal to me...
Chilling out on the 28th and walking around downtown, I get so many stares that I feel as I am the first tourist they have ever seen. I start to smile back and immediately get a smile and "HELLO, Where you go??" from people. When I reply "Minglabaa" (hello in Burmese) I get a big smile or outright laughter from them hee hee, always good to get a laugh from the locals.
Over the next couple of days I do the touristy stuff, the impressive Shwedagon Pagoda, the almost bare and expensive National Museum @ 5USD, Sule Pagoda in the centre of town, Kandawagyi Lake, the Independence monument, the Strand Road with the British embassy and Strand Hotel in colonial style buildings.
Shwedagon Pagoda: you may recall seeing this in the news, its the huge bell sized Buddhist temple which is said to contain a Buddha relic (a tooth of his I believe) and covered in gold. This is really impressive and I spend about 3 or 4 hours walking around, taking photos, admiring the beauty of this place during sunset and dodging the friendly looking English speaking old timers that pretend to be your friend and try to act as a guide for a few dollars...
On the 29th, I head to the huge Kandawagyi Lake which is surrounded by a nice park and costs 1000Kyat for foreigners to get in (most places of interest, parks, monuments or anything remotely interesting has an entrance fee for foreigners!) I find this park really nice and serene, but am a bit embarrassed as it is littered with loved up couples (I counted about 15) hiding behind their umbrellas doing whatever couples do (nothing too explicit I have to add) with me walking past. I hop into a taxi which must be at least 40 years old and head to the National Museum, which is a waste of time for me and 5USD into the coffers of the junta which I feel guilty about afterwards...
To cheer myself up, I head to JJ Bar & Club in the evening and win a beer drinking competition. Well, I came second actually out of ten, at downing a 1 liter jug of beer as quickly as possible. The prize? 10,000Kyats worth of JJ vouchers which can be used for entrance fees or to buy beer! wheay!!
On the 30th, my mind tells me to start my Burma adventure and after staring at a map of Burma for half an hour, I decide to head to Pyay north of Yangon...
Pyay, 30th November
Bus from Yangon to Pyay 11,000Kyats, 6+half hours .....km. Dep 15:30 arrive 22:00hrs.
Pa Ga Ban Guesthouse single room, shared bathroom 4USD
The bus ride was not so bad, the road was not too good, but I would not say that it was like a freshly ploughed field either. Just bumpy. I will discover the ploughed field roads later in my journey (my poor back and bum-cheeks) I arrive late on the 30th and find that low and behold there is still a night market where I eat my fill for 1000Kyats (curry and rice) and head to my mosquito infested guesthouse, which is probably one of the worst that I have stayed in during my travels. The mosquito net around the bed limits the number of bites I get to around 5.
Anyhooo, Pyay, pronounced (Piii-yeee), is a small town with only one tourist - me - wondering around like a headless chicken. Again, once I get a stare from locals, I use my two or three catchphrases (Hello, How are you, I love Myanmar) and knock up a conversation with some of them. They are sooooo uber friendly and welcoming it is unbelievable. First in the market, then at the pancake vendor, then at the tea shop I make some friends, take some photos of people and generally have a laugh at them laughing at me - all in good humor of course..
In the afternoon, I hop onto a tuk-tuk and go to see the old town about 5km outside town, which turns out to be a disappointment. But all is not lost as the road there passes through some villages and I get lots of people waving hello and shouting 'Bye Bye', lots of great photos and a nice ride in the country side.
I decide to leave on the 1st December and pay a whopping 20,000Kyats for a ticket to Bagan...
Bagan, 1st December
Bus from Pyay to Bagan 20,000Kyat, 9+half hours, ....km: Dep 21:30 arrive 06:30hours
Eden Gueshouse, twin room with TV, aircon, bathroom 6USD
Did I mention the ploughed field roads. Yes, ok I found them, but being a tough-nut traveller, I still manage to sleep on the bus. This is despite the ploughed field and 2 other problems making the journey - unforgettable shall we say
First of all, Burmese people love to crank up the AIR CON TO THE MAXXXXX, even though the bus is at a high altitude (1000meters) and it is pretty cold at night. Women, children, men are all sitting in their seats on the bus with woolly hats, a sweater and jacket, plus a blanket in some cases!! Damn its cold. Luckily I have a blanket and i use the blanket to cover myself from head to toe...
Secondly, as you all know, they love to PACK THE BUS FULL of passengers. The driver of a bus leaving with one empty seat is summarily shot by the military junta (I assume). Well, you should also know that there are seats which have been welded into the isle which passes through the middle of the bus. These seats fold out so that every row has 4 people plus the additional seat in the isle making it 5 people squished up in a row! Yes, you guessed it, I had one of these seats. It's like being in a straight jacket as you cant move your legs or arms.. I am not joking when I say it was comfortable. The bumpy road and the seat, I can take, but the freezing cold - brrrrrrrr, that was tough...
Anyhooo, I arrive in Bagan in the morning at 06:30hours and hop into a horse drawn cart! to look for a guesthouse. Horse drawn carts are popular as Bagan is famous for many temples spread out over a huge area, which are accessible with horse carts...
After checking into Eden Guesthouse and paying the 10Dollars entrance fee (again going into the coffers of the junta I believe) I rent a bike and hit the road towards all the temples dotted around the city.
Temples for 1 day: This was difficult as all the touristy tit-tat sellers, restaurants, guesthouse, horse drawn carts are empty, there are no tourists. Some even say 'please buy something sirrrr, we have no customers!' A lot of people have cancelled their flights and the people are really suffering this year. It breaks my heart to see this and it makes it hard to really enjoy this fantastic country...
The temples are nice, but one day of temples is enough for me so I decide to leave the next morning.
For Photos:
Yangon:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73466&l=46c2c&id=672660622
Pyay:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=76495&l=e798d&id=672660622
Bagan:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=76505&l=b3391&id=672660622
Burma's Flag
Map of Burma