Arriving at a new place in the middle of a night is never nice. For one thing you are still half asleep and for another you feel much disoriented about where you are and what you are doing there. It is also a time when your common sense may be switched off for a while and you are more likely to agree on some room or rickshaw or simply any other fare that normally you would not. We had no choice though if we wanted to save some time and not to overnight in Yangon. We really, really did not want to take a night bus (not a sleeper bus) but that way we could save some money on accommodation and some time on getting into Bagan. We were rushed out of a bus and some ... read more

We entered the country that is still buried somewhere in the 80s Ah Burma...finally...after so many months on the road we were finally about to experience it. We must admit that the beginning of our tour around Burma has come in exactly the right time. As much as we loved those a few past months in Cambodia, Laos and northern Thailand, we also found them...well, quite similar. It is true that we did not find Vietnam amazing at first because of many things that happened during our stay there but at least it was different to its neighbouring countries. Now we can appreciate this fact. Yet Burma, we were more than certain would have been quite something extraordinary hence our big excitement. Of course there is this problematic issue of money when you travel to Myanmar ... read more

It took us around two days and 3 changes of a bus to get to Chang Mai from Nong Khiaw in Laos but we did not have time to stop on the way for longer. We had only 10 days to get to Bangkok for our flight to Burma so we had to distribute our time wisely. We met some nice Ukrainian guys on a bus to Chang Rai and we had a blast talking about our neighbouring countries and other visited places. Shame that they were staying in Chang Rai and we were just swapping buses there. Buses in Thailand are a luxury when compared with Laos and actually cost the same price. Everything seemed so modern straight away. 7Eleven on every corner, western brands everywhere, highways etc. We even got cookies and water from ... read more

* hundreds of kilometres of dirty roads in central Laos, done usually by motorbike within 3-4 days are commonly called 'The Loop' You probably know situations when you feel that you ought to do something just because a lot of people do it or/and just because you are already in some particular place so why not? Well this was one of those times I guess when we struggled with a decision whether to do some journey or not. From Pakse we headed to Takheak where we hoped to get more information about how to get to Kong Lo village – place where famous 7.5 km long cave is located. It was a very long journey (11h) by painstakingly slow buses operating on Lao time. The bus was a funny thing we must admit. It looked like ... read more

Entering into the country where time goes a lot slower!!! We had to overnight in Kratie again when on the way to Laos and this time we opted for a very cheap 4$ per night room. It was basic but clean so no complains. Seems that Kratie offers cheapest food as well as rooms in Cambodia. We could have gone the same day to Laos but afternoon buses arrive late in the evening at the border and we did not want to pay even higher 'stamping fee' for our crossing. To be honest this whole fee process is a joke. Everybody knows it is illegal payment/bribe for doing nothing but yet no-one complains. People just pay and the worst thing is that last year it was 1$ on each side (from what I have read on ... read more