Day 14 Bangkok to Mandalay

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Excitement as we headed off for our very early check-in for our flight to Mandalay, Myanmar. Air Asia now depart for Don Muang and we had stayed at the Amari Don Muang so had only a short walk across the over highway walkway. The airport was already abuzz with people and check-in for our flight had already begun. Everything at the airport was very efficient and relatively painless but they were very thorough in checking we had valid visas for Myanmar. Passing through immigration and then customs was also very quick. Because our flight was in a fairly small plane we waited in the departure lounge for the buses that speed you across the tarmac to deposit you at the bottom of the steps of the plane. The flight took a bit over an hour and I waited in anticipation for a glimpse of Myanmar. As the plane started its descent into Mandalay airport the first thing that was noticeable was the volumes of Payas that could be seen from the air. After the plane landed we were again ushered into buses for the short trip to the airport terminus. The airport is very tiny and it was not very far at all. Immigration was slow but not too bad and the immigration staff was all very friendly and smiling heaps. Baggage collection was very slow and we had heaps of time to exchange US dollars for the Myanmar currency Kyats. We had read that they only accepted pristine notes and that large denomination got a better exchange rate. Neither of these seemed to be true at the currency exchange prior to customs. I didn’t see anyone offer tatty notes but some of the notes certainly looked used and the same exchange was given regardless of denomination. Each person walked away from the booth having offered over a few notes and received a wad in exchange. The largest denomination given out was 5000 kyats.

After clearing customs which like Cambodia was simply handing over a nothing to declare card we exited the terminus to find a taxi…or rather they found us. A friendly young man who was obviously a middle man led us to the prepaid taxi booth and within minutes we found ourselves in a shared van with 4 others heading into the centre of Mandalay to our hotel. One of the other couples was staying at the same hotel so it was a pretty direct rip. Mandalay Airport is about an hour from the centre of the city and the trip gave us a great glimpse into the lives of the local people. Our hotel room at the Silver Swan wasn’t ready when we arrived and we had a half an hour wait while they finished preparing it. But who is going to complain…they offered air-conditioning, free Chinese tea and free Wi-Fi. Once we had dropped our bags off we headed outside to explore and find somewhere for lunch.

At the first place we found to eat the elderly proprietor seemed bemused and pointed for us to go down the street a bit further to another restaurant. We gathered that no one spoke English in the first restaurant and they had no menus in English either. She did it very kind heartedly and we did not feel like we had been told to go away. In fact the one wonderful thing about everyone we have met in Myanmar is that they are very friendly and always smiling and sharing a laugh with us. Eventually we came across another little local restaurant. Oh had chicken soup but I decided to be a bit more daring and ordered a rice and potato salad. It was recommended by the lady who served us and even though it sounded a bit odd I decided to try it. As an introduction to the food of Myanmar it was perfect. It is one of the best things I had tasted, and whoever says Burmese food is bland and uninspiring is eating at the wrong places. In fact there were many little eateries around our hotel that turned out wonderful local food at a very reasonable price.

We spent the afternoon exploring the area around our hotel and becoming orientated. The streets are very dusty and most of the shops are tiny little enterprises selling usually just one type of item. There is also no demarcation of say industrial areas or food areas. Everything is just jumbled in together and bike repair shops can be found next door to mobile phone shops that are next door to tailors.

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