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Published: April 7th 2013
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Locals
Lovely people Leaving Cambodia for a 2nd time was agian hard just like the first time . It was great to see my begger mates and I took them all swimming in the brothers tuc tuc , It was a great day out and cost my about 20$ to make this family happy .They all swam in the swimmingpool in their clothes which made me smile ! I declined a swimm due to the murkey looking pool water , I never botherd with all the important jabs before I set off and did nt fancy getting some nasty disease.
Again they took me to the airport and again it was so nice to have this farewell .
I was a bit nervous or excited about my next flight to Burma. To get to Burma was a nightmare, it is only a year ago and has apparantly changed a lot for the better since then . I got a contact for accomodation through a forum and started e.-mailing this family headed by Auntie S. I wont mention her name as it might effect her for the worse . I got about 3 mails with pics attached of trees, gardens , family and
Bridge
The most unsafest bridge in the world , but over it we did go ! other such non relevant issues before eventually I got an address to get to the accommodation together with a false address to give to Immigration.Now when I arrived she explained that the e mails going out of the country get checked and she was operating illegaly due to high taxes on people offering accomodation and to offer accommodation they have to have a license which she never had , so to it was a bit of a bluff incase they got checked and saw that she was offering a place to stay illegaly.
BUt first I had to get a visa , so I emailed the Burmese embassy who told me I could only get my visa in my home country or at a push go to Thailand and hand in my passport there at the British embassy in BKK which would take up to 3 days .This was not a possibility so I emailed Air Asia who fly there once a week to see if they would let my board without a visa , they would not as they themselves would get into trouble. I then got advice to mail the Burmese airline Myanmar airways ( if you
Unloading
The are actually unloading a dredger with buckets by hand ! No diggers and cranes here ! google them you will see they have one of the worst saftey records in the airline business ) so I did and they said no problem but if I got refused entry then it was at my own cost ! Ok no problem off I was going to Burma with 2 addresses one correct one false ,no visa on one of the worst airlines in the world !
I got 2000US$ from an ATM in Cambodia to change in Burma, outside you cannot exchange to their currency and in Burma there are no ATM´s and no credit card facilities.I was also correctly told that the US bills have to be in 100% pristine condition or they will be rejected or de-valued. this proved to be true and half got rejected for having a little crease or looking 2nd hand , amazing each bill got inspeceted by the dealers on the street , you dont go to banks there its all done on the streets by guys with sachels full of cash !
I landed after a good flight , even forgot their poor track record but was a little worried about the visa issue . Proving ignorant was
How to have fun
Without a playstation, iPhone, laptop or anything but the basics. my plan and it worked , the strict looking immigration officer whisked me off for a little chat ( 2nd interegation within 6 months ) and when he realised I was not press or a spy he was ok about it and they are the most friendly of people despite their strickt looking exterior , I thnk they like the Brits anyway .Problem was I had forgotten which address was the correct one and which one was the bluff one , I knew I should have written on the bits of papaer , so it was a 50 /50 guess but luck was on my side and I arrived at the correct address , went to pay the taxi driver in US$ and he of course rejected my 10$ bill and couldnt change the 100 or 50 $ bills ! .Lucky the house maid Amy paid it for me and said she would wait for the money .
Aunty S came out and it was like meeting a long lost family member ! Her english was ok and she was so excited to have me as a guest , I had an istant good feeling about this place and
History
In my hands I felt at home . She made me dump my stuff inthe room and whisked me off with her to meet her friends at a local food hall ! all as a guest , no rip off just pure hospitality !
She arranged for me to go an a bike ride with some friends the next day , all for nothing and I got all the food I could eat at the accomodation , the maids just came with food fruit drinks anything , all basic but so nice and refreshing .it was so so hot here !
She adopted me like a long lost son and it was good , the house was huge and they had maids who did everything , 3 girls 2 about 20 and the boss about 35years old , it was like going back in time here , amazing !
The bike ride was early the next day , I was knackerd but it was fine , good to get going early because of the heat ! So off we went on the back of a truck with bikes , We got dropped off and a little Burmese guy led the
RIP
The fallen led to rest way through the most lost in time villages , it was bloody hot and I was drenched in sweat the sun was burning , it must have been 40°+ but this was good .People strarring at me like I was an alien and a smile gets a thousand smiles back !
Back to the house and into the shower , the aircon on full blast for a few minutes to cool down ! Amy came with tea and fruit and a smile which was wonderfull , they bow their heads in repect , this made me a little uncomfortable ! Electricity is touch and go in Burma , it is on and off all the time but Aunty S. had a generator which kicked in all the time, this was a relief !
The next day I went to the war cemetry. My Granddad was here during the 2nd world war , he never died here but I really wanted to go here. It was an amazingly well maintained cementry, perfect in every sence , this was thier sign of respect for the fallen and it was most touching , to walk in here after the somewhat chaos
Looking good
and wishing I had a motorbike not a push bike of Yangon was like going into another world. The maintainance guy came to me ( I was alone in there ) all smiles asked me my nationality and this made him even more happier , he showed me a dusty old original graves book logged by the British forces after the war , this was a piece of history in my hands and he walked off leaving it with me to look through , amazing !
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