Blogs from Burma, Asia - page 6

A relaxing 2 day cruise on the RV Kindat Pandaw downstream on the Ayeyarwady River transported us from Mandalay to Bagan - famous for the 3800 Buddhist Temples and Stupas in the area. On arriving in Bagan the vistas were amazing with numerous brick-built Stupas, with many different shapes, tall and thin, short and squat, bell-shaped or pointed, scattered apparently randomly across the countryside. As we slowly made our way along narrow sandy tracks on a horse and carriage we watched Stupa after Stupa pass serenely by and occasionally a special dazzling golden pagoda would be spotted in the distance. We would stop at occasional temples where 13th Century Buddha Statues would be found within small central chambers. In addition to the culture we also visited a local village, colourful markets, a lacquerware workshop, watched hot-air ... read more

The wandering road to Mandalay was certainly long and winding, from Newcastle via Heathrow & Singapore and we then followed the road into Mandalay 24 hrs later. Mandalay, in the central region of Myanmar, was a typical bustling Asian city. We were spending three nights in the city, prior to joining a small group tour entitled “Discover Burma” - a tour around the major tourist sights of Myanmar. After an easy day recovering from the time difference and flight we booked a photographic tour around the non-tourist sights of the city. In the early morning we visited a local flower market, where great mounds of chrysanthemums, in a rainbow of colours, were stacked on stalls and motorcycles beneath large shady trees. The local sellers were welcoming and friendly and were happy for us to take photographs! ... read more

Sunday 21st January 2018 Early start this morning as the alarm gets us going at just after 6am. Shower, dressed and finish packing before taking our bags downstairs and dropping them off in reception. Then back to the rooftop for a spot of breakfast whilst we await our JJ Express pick up ready to start our journey to Nyaung Schwe the closest town to Inle Lake. What a lovely morning and we were able to watch the balloons ? rising over Bagan and also look down onto the Main Street and see the monks walking along with their food pots calling in at different places for a food donation. Our guesthouse had set up a pot outside on a small table ready to offer food to any of the monks that called. Gaining merit and doing ... read more

Wednesday 17th January 2018 Alarm goes off at 5:30am and by 6:15am we were sat in the breakfast room having some tea and toast whilst awaiting our transport to the bus station. At exactly 6:30am our taxi arrived and we loaded up and headed off out of the city to the Aung Mingalar Bus Station. It’s rush hour so you can never tell how long a journey may take, fortunately it was a traffic flowing day. Arriving at the bus station we were so pleased we asked to be dropped off at our bus companies office....it is a massive place and we would never have found it on our own. Retrieved our tickets and went to the check in counter - that’s when things got a little bit concerning. ? It seems that our company JJ ... read more

4 hours into an 8-hour bus journey from Dawei to Mawlamyine and the bus stops for 20 mins with the engine off for no apparent reason. The bus is full, we are seated in the middle at the very back in the last available seats. We understand (from muddled language barrier conversations), that locals prefer not to book these seats, as it’s difficult to get off the bus. For us, these seats are luxury considering the hideously cramped 12 hour journeys we regularly endure on racing minibuses winding around country roads, with our fellow passengers reclining their seats into our knees, puking into little plastic bags and falling asleep with their heads on our shoulders. Whilst I’m on it, I should mention the ear piercingly loud music (a random variation of bad western pop covers to ... read more