Blogs from Burma, Asia - page 136

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Asia » Burma » Yangon Region » Yangon December 15th 2005

I feel like Maria in The Sound of Music as she dances up the lane to her new job with the VonTrapp's, "...it's such a good feeling to know you're alive..." I was one of few Westerners aboard the flight last night from Bangkok. Strange, I thought, watching my neighbour eat his curried prawns with a spoon in one hand and a fork in the other, coming at his food from east and west. I looked around the cabin. Everybody was eating like this. Yangon International is quiet, receiving ten international flights each day from Bangkok, Calcutta or Singapore and ten more domestic flights connecting the provinces. The taxi driver obliged my request. We took a detour into the city via Shwedagon Paya, its golden spires shone brightly behind the silhouettes of palm trees. Two large ... read more
YeMinKway, on the banks of Kandawgyi Shwe
Shwedagon Paya at dusk
Shwedagon Paya, sunset

Asia » Burma » Yangon Region » Yangon December 11th 2005

Have spent 3 nights at the '3 Seasons Hotel' and Win Bo will arrange my flight north to Mandalay, probably for Wednesday. Have had meals in streets around the guesthouse, i.e. the Lashio Lay Shan Restaurant was quite good, i.e. 2 chicken servings/one masala and other spicy, plus a fried veg serving, plus rice, and large servings, plus a large Tiger beer, and all for 3900Kyat. For a splurge, one afternoon, walked down to the 50th Street Bar & Grill, at 9-13 50th Street, toward Merchant St end, for a quite good pizza plus 2 Tiger draughts, all for $12 (but converted to Kyat for me). Note: regarding meals, the breakfast at '3 Seasons' is huge, i.e. either an eggs/toast breakfast with 4 kinds of fruit and a honey-pancake, or a Burmese-style chicken/coconut milk soup breakfast, ... read more

Asia » Burma » Yangon Region » Yangon December 9th 2005

Flew with Bangkok Airways from Bangkok to Yangon. $5 'fixed' taxi into city shared with young American lad, and went to 'The Haven Inn' at 216 Bo Myat Tun St but, guesthouse was full so owner took me to their second guesthouse, a couple blocks away. The 'Three Seasons Hotel' is at 83-85 52nd Street; a single (twin bed) air-con room (necessary!) with shower for $12 night. Very clean with spotless teak floors and surroundings. Win Lo is houseboy & very helpful, plus Ms. Hla Hla is manager and changes $US at 1100Kyat/$, a reasonable rate. 1st full day of Friday, caught taxi for 1500Kyat to the Shwedagon Paya to spend morning touring site. Entry cost 7500Kyat and the guide, Nay Lin Pxeng charged $5 for his extensive tour of pagoda; note well worth the $5 ... read more

Asia » Burma » Southern Burma » Mergui Archipelago December 4th 2005

In Myanmar it is an established guidebook fact that you can actually avoid paying entrance fees without incurring the wrath of fellow travellers for being a hairy-tight-ass! For here in Myanmar, you are depriving an evil tyrannical power of money, ever so slightly weakening him and thus contributing to his ultimate downfall...or NOT! And so it was, as I roamed around Shwedagon Pagoda, the most sacred pagoda in the world in the first shards of morning light, enthusiastically avoiding the $5US admittance fee I had my first shart! Shart: when one farts and a little piece of s__t comes out. There's no doubt that Shwedagon is a spectacular Pagoda, However if you’ve just been on a Pagoda pilgrimage tour through Thailand and Myanmar, and have seen these phallic symbols competing for prominence on every hill top ... read more
That's an order!
Colonial architecture, Rangoon.
Schwedagon Pagoda

Asia » Burma » Yangon Region » Yangon November 21st 2005

Current capital of Myanmar, bustling port town on the flat plains alongside the Yangon River. The Myanmar regime was in the process of moving the capital to a secret alternative destination when I arrived, possibly the 5 mile column of army vehicles that were heading away from Yangon as our luxury bus made it's way towards the city was related to this move. Possibly. Or it could have been another inexplicable military movement, redeployment or reinforcement. This blog entry will be short. I spent an entire day in Yangon, problems with the travelblog server meant that I had to get back to Bangkok as quickly as possible. One day to change my ticket and visit Shwedagon Paya, one of the most holy sites in the entire Buddhist world. Shwedagon Paya is impressive, beautiful and gaudy, covered ... read more
Entrance to Shwedagon Paya
Stairs at Shwedagon Paya
Zedi at Shwedagon Paya

Asia » Burma » Southern Burma » Kawthaung November 20th 2005

An early rise in the morning and off I was to make my first visa run to Myanmar (Burma). Visas in Thailand need to be renewed every 30 days to avoid steep fines. My two friends, Hayden and Cynthia, had made this trip once before, so having them as companions was a true asset. The road from Khao Lak to Ranong, Thailand is about 180 kilometers (112 miles) and the road is no different than any other road here: two lanes and filled with scooters and slow-moving trucks. As we set off on our day trip, the light traffic allowed us to enjoy the beautiful surroundings of tropical hillsides and majestic mist-covered peaks. It was what you always expected to see in Thailand. The drive lasted nearly three hours, buzzing past scooters laden with two, three ... read more
A Ride For My Brothers
Downtown Victoria Point
Our New Friend 'Win'

Asia » Burma » Mandalay Region » Mandalay November 18th 2005

Impressions. City streets filled with the bustling of everyday Burmese life, is this the 2000's or the 1970's? Looking around at the traffic, people, roads, shops it could be either. The only giveaways the occasional electrical store selling DVD players and PA systems. This is an Asian city in concentrate. The essense of south-east asia squeezed and compressed into this little bustling city, given a twist of India and pushed forward in time 40 years. Mandalay lacks the glistening skyscrapers, well dressed mobile tooting middle class, and large shiney SUV's of most other South East Asian cities. The city streets are laid out in a grid system, blocks and numerically numbered streets. It makes it simple to navigate, easy to get lost as the streets and chaos all blurs into one. Little three wheeled turquoise Mazda ... read more
VW Splitty, Mandalay
The Bus Breaks Down
More Rust Than Bus

Asia » Burma » Mandalay Region » Inle Lake November 15th 2005

The journey from Bagan to Inle was another bus based nightmare, 16 hours on a “mini-bus”. A “mini-bus” in Myanmar is not what the rest of the world would call a “mini-bus” - it's basically a bus where everything has been halved in size, including the space for the passengers, tie that in with 40 years of abuse on Myanmar's terrible roads, and add in a broken seat in front where the entire weight of the passenger is supported by my knee, and this becomes my worst ever bus journey. I emerge from the bus temporarily crippled, some how negotiate a taxi from the bus stop, to the village of Nyaungshwe 11km away. The Remember Inn is our base for the 4 days we stay in and around Inle, it wins the “second best breakfast” in ... read more
Welcome to Lake Inle
Giving Flowers
Proud Father

Asia » Burma » Yangon Region » Yangon November 14th 2005

Myanmar has three happiest days in their life days in their lifetime. Wedding day, the last day of the monk hood and releasing from jail”. Of these occasions, today I would like to present you about the Myanmar wedding ceremony. First of all, my presentation will not cover the complete sample of all of our ethnic groups due to the time limitation. Anyway, I will try to express the common and prominent type of Myanmar wedding ceremony as much as I can. A Myanmar girl has three occasions of Mingalar , Auspiciousness, in her life as a baby when she is given a name, then in her puberty, having her ears bored so that she may adorn herself with family jewels. The last and most important is her wedding day and aptly enough a wedding is ... read more
Wedding ceremony
Myanmar Wedding ceremony

Asia » Burma » Western Burma » Thandwe November 12th 2005

The arctic zephyr plays sweetly across my hot and clammy skin, momentarily transporting me from hot and dusty Mandalay to a cooling mountain meadow. I stand in bliss as the air conditioner artificially aids my body’s sweaty-messy attempts at natural temperature regulation. We’d arrived in the late afternoon after a day’s travelling down from the cooling hills into the steamy plains. Then after only a short AC fix we reentered the furnace, the body once again preparing for battle as beads of sweat appeared almost instantaneously and quickly formed a defensive layer of moisture. After commandeering a cycle rickshaw we were on our way around the Royal Palace’s 4sq. km moat, to catch the sunset atop Mandalay Hill. At the foot of the hill we shed our shoes and began frantically dashing up the 700 plus ... read more
Fishing on Ngapali Beach
Bagan at dawn
U Bien Bridge (the cliche shot)




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