Blogs from Burma, Asia - page 4

We all travel for different reasons. Some of us are attracted to famous places, and sights. Others are attracted to food and culture. And yet others want to get away from crowds, find quiet corners of the world, and just relax. Turn off all of the electronics, veg out, so to speak, and just enjoy nature and solitude. But those places are harder to find. On my last trip to eastern Europe, we found both Poland (Warsaw) and Hungary (Budapest) to be relatively quiet, uncrowded, with lots of locals enjoying themselves, especially in the evenings. Going further out, places like Botswana, Antelope Canyon (AZ), Nepal, southern Chile, Medellin (Columbia), and some of our National Parks, provide a break from people, noise, high rises, and commercialism. I am decidedly in the middle, having seen and visited the ... read more

BAGAN Although the bus to Bagan was a large coach with recliner type seats, I could not reach the foot rests and kept slipping off the seat. Thanks to the chilly air conditioner I shivered through most of the evening. I transferred to a small van when we reached Bagan. We passed a dozen lit pagodas in the next fifteen minutes. I arrived at my hotel after midnight. I was so happy to have a bed to stretch out on. I slept late, had a good breakfast and sat outside under an awning to use the computer and skype. A driver took me to a small settlement to find an ATM and buy some fruit and bread. On our way I saw tourists on bicycles, motor scooters and on foot. There were sprawling fenced hotels rubbing ... read more

RANGOON IN THE RAIN I loved my hotel in Rangoon, The Great Feel Hotel. I shared my photos with Mo Mo (pronounced with long o’s – it means rain) the young lady at the desk. She introduced me to Ko To, her boyfriend. The door to my room on the third floor is carved wood. There is no elevator. I made seven or eight trips a day up and down those stairs. The room has a very attractive walnut bedroom set with a cute vanity and mirror. The bathroom is spacious and I loved to soak in the deep bathtub which I filled to the brim. It was such a luxury. I sent my clothes to the laundry and I took a teapot to my room after meals. I enjoyed pampering myself. When I asked about ... read more

MYANMAR Myanmar is the country that was still on my bucket list after being turned away in 2014 because I had failed to get a visa. I made sure I had the proper forms this time and I passed through immigration without a hitch. I didn’t have much in the way of expectations. I knew nothing about the country except that the names had all changed with a new government some years back. The old names were like magic to me…Burma, Rangoon and Mandalay. From the movies I thought of smoke filled drawing rooms, billiard tables, artistic exotically dressed dancers, porters and travel trunks. But there was also a long sea coast so I was excited about diving, too. I read that it was best to take a liveaboard because dive sites were far apart. Reality ... read more

Woolly says – We’d reached our last day in Myanmar and in the interests of keeping cool I had decided that today would be a day of indoor activities. First stop, the National Museum which was founded in 1952 with its premises at what was once the Jubilee Hall, in 1970 the museum was moved to a more spacious building and its current location. As Zoe was paying for the tickets I’d kept a keen eye on the bag checking area and had quickly realised that bags were going into lockers and no one was carrying anything other than there phones, before anyone could notice or question my presence in the ‘no mammoth’ rule which usually comes with the ‘no bag’ rule I scooted under the desk and into the first gallery. Having deposited ... read more