Blogs from Bagan, Mandalay Region, Burma, Asia - page 2

Woke to a dance ceremony outside the hotel 6am with music and a dancer being blasted through a mega phone and money collected was bought out for it, called it the Kaban Festival and the money collected goes towards new robes for the Monks. They had the money still stuck on the boards put into utes and with a escort of Police they left for the Monastery. We picked up our washing, 50c an item on average. Lym and Coca took us to a big Market where Mick bought a shirt and chiming bells. We then stopped at Sugar cane plantation, we were given a traditional welcome with snacks and green tea provided. We watched a man climbing the palm trea to get palm oil and an ox crushing nuts. They also used the palm sugar ... read more

Pouring rain today, T2 picked us up at 8am to take us to Heho airport, 1hr drive, interesting on dirt roads. OHS is not something that exists here saw road workers working on steep cliffs with a Jack hammer and no support at all. Arrived in plenty of time for our flight, very wet which is unusual for this time of the year. Said goodbye to T2. Our plane K7 - 264 was supposed to leave at 10.20am, with no power for most of the time. Flight left 40 minutes late and we arrived at Hotel Royal Bagan after Lym and the driver Coco picked us up, called at the bank for change and Lym will pick us up in an hour giving us time to settle in. Stupa 1 Gubyaukgyi with amazing Mural Paintings, done ... read more

Yangon's main bus station has one of the most interesting setups that I've ever seen of a bus station. First of all, it's not really a bus 'station' but more of a bus town. A town that taxi drivers have to pay to get into and that contains streets of transport companies who transport both cargo and passengers. Between all these company shopfronts are of course, restaurants and Indian-style general stalls selling snacks. The layout is all rather confusing and traffic jams are bad inside Transport Town, which is why perhaps, we were told to leave the B&B so early to catch our bus. Our taxi driver had to make sure he dropped us off at the right 'address' - there's no way that any tourist could've found this place on their own. The air-con on ... read more

All flights within Myanmar are operated by Burmese airlines. At last count there are eight Burmese airlines, which is rather a lot for a country only 581 mile wide, and 1275 from north to south. They all have similar prices, so it’s just a question of picking the airline that flies to where you want to go, and choosing the departure time that fits in your schedule. Yangon Airport is new and clean, with some distinctly Western touches, like the Gloria Jean’s Coffee counter, and a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet. What isn’t just like every other airport is watching Buddhist monks get patted down by airport security. When you fly with a Burmese airline, you check in at the ticket counter and in addition to your boarding pass you get a sticker to put on your ... read more

Bagan is the must see place for everyone that comes to Myanmar, it is quite incredible and so different, over 3,000 pagodas, stupors and temples are studded through the plains of Bagan. It is the worlds largest archeological site and was established in the 11th century. The Indian government is now helping them strip some of the pagodas back to show the original paintings below the layers of lime plaster. There is a lot of renovation work to be done around here. A couple of the pagodas we visited had some bamboo scaffolding around them as there was some damage from an earthquake here in August. We took an ox cart ride this morning with all the oxen and carts done up in their ceremonial gear, through the dusty countryside winding in and out of different ... read more