Day 19 - Planes to Phnom Penh

Although only in the air for a total of 2:35 hours, we did spend the better part of the day flying from Rangoon, Burma to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It all went rather effortlessly. Thank you, AirAsia for taking off and landing on time in both instances. The stopover in Bangkok was a little longer than necessary but it is better to have it that way than to not have enough time!

Jay posted three photos on Facebook for today. He was eating breakfast at the airport in Yangon, lunch at the Don Mugang terminal in Bangkok, and dinner in a restaurant in Phnom Penh. I shall just include the photo of my lunch in the airport in Thailand. I first heard of American Fried Rice as a breakfast as a tourist to Thailand in the 1980's. It was generally breakfast.

We made it to the hotel and this seems like a real tourist area. How nice to run be roughing it a little less obviously than in Burma. They're not set up for visitors yet, really!

Day 18 - The Last Gasp

We had breakfast at the buffet, packed our backpacks, and checked out of Hotel 63.  We took a taxi to the hotel we'd reserved before going north in the country.  We will relax today.  We picked up a few cheap clothes from street sellers.

We will try to get to bed tonight at around 9 o'clock.  We need to leave to the airport at around 6 am tomorrow morning. We will take two flights tomorrow.  First we leave for Bangkok at 8:30 and then catch a second flight from there to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Day 17 - Bogyoke Market / Botahtaung Pagoda

Our hotel is a bit out of the way, but I think we were spoilt by the one on 38th Street.  (We'll be returning there tomorrow morning for our final night in Burma as they've been keeping our big, 14-kilogram bag during our entire trip here.). So when we decided to go downtown to the famous market, we called for a taxi.  We had finished one of the best hotel breakfast buffets of our time in Burma.  It seemed reasonable to spend K2,500 ($3) in order to avoid getting sweaty.  Today was a hot one with a high of about 35C.

I was a little disappointed in the market, formerly called Scott Market during colonial days for a British administrator.  It seemed geared entirely for tourists although this country is just awakening to them.  I'm sure ladies could have spend hours choosing souvenirs, but we are travelling light as we still have a month of lugging luggage.  We bought nothing.  By this time it we were ready for lunch and again stopped at our biryani place.   If we frequent a place more than twice on a trip then it becomes referenced as OURS.

We went back to the hotel and later went to a famous Buddhist temple on the river.  Most of Rangoon turns its back on the river with the port and buildings obscuring any view of it.  The temple is located beside a jetty where it is possible to congregate.  The temple is famous as it contains relics of the actual Buddha.  Two traders offered the enlightened Buddha food whereupon he paid them with strands of his hair.  There is a whole chronicle of their return to the kingdom of that time.   The Botahtaung Pagoda also has a connection to Sri Lanka and an ancient gift of an ancient king.  The place was busy and a pleasant area to see as dusk turned to dark.

Day 16 - A Return to Rangoon

I like this city not exactly for what it is, but rather for what what it was and what it could be. I expect other visitors might feel this way too.



What I didn't expect was how cosmopolitan this city of five million would feel after 10 days in other parts of Burma. This former capital passes our "Count-of-Bakeries Economic Development Index."  If case you missed the original explanation, we created a methodology for use in determining a Sri Lankan town's modern development by counting the number and proximity of bakery restaurants and shops.  We are happy to report the index seems to work in Burma too.   Yangon, as it ia now called, seems alive with people and it is less noticeably polluted than the city from we just arrived.  If politics in this nation allows promised changes, I'd very much like to visit here again to see what becomes of it.



Bright and early this morning, our bus pulled to a stop exactly at the promised time of 06:00. We came by taxi directly to Hotel 63 as we booked two days via agoda.com.  This hotel has a beautiful lobby and is full of very friendly and professional staff.  We arrived before 07:00 but they rushed to clean a room for an early check in.  In fact they offered a complementary buffet breakfast for us while we waited.  We hadn't slept well on the bus so it we very welcomed.  The hotel, unfortunately is undergoing some renovation, so although not a problem for average guests, we found our fifth floor noisy.  After an hour, the front desk found a second floor room we could move into.  The only real drawback is the sketchy neighbourhood.  We walked to the center of downtown in just a half hour for dinner, but I expect many tourists might find it uncomfortably daunting.

Tomorrow is an open day.  I'll tell how we used it in my next blog entry.

Day 15 - So Long, Mandalay!

I awoke knowing that this would be the final time here.  We have been to cities the world over and to some more than once.  I have a feeling though that this may not be simply the final day in Mandalay but the final time as well.   It is nice to have visited because I have a mental map of it, its layout, and its attractions now.  I am very terrain-oriented.  For example, when anywhere in Metro-Vancouver, I can almost, without fail, always point in the direction of my house.  This skill isn't just on while on a street but within any classroom at BCIT, or while at any park.  I used to think this was universal until I discovered that few others had this knack.  Being spacial (and some say spacy) has definite advantages when in vacation in unknown places.  I am sort of hesitant to let Jay out alone when he wants to turn the wrong direction when walking back to a hotel after a meal.  He gets around without my help just fine though.  I think my special spacial skill means I have a more sophisticated mental map of the places we go.  I can "replay" cites in my head.  My Mandalay will soon only exist there.

We used the final hours to take in a little of our area of the city near the Clock Tower.  First, after breakfast, we walked to the train station and back through the well-planned British grid of streets.  After that, it was time to pack and check out of our hotel at noon.  We left the bags by the front desk.  Then, we walked around the closest market area.  Asian markets both appeal and appal.  Burma may be a poor country, but there was too much of everything for sale.   Blankets blended into jeans into stationary into pharmaceuticals into fish heads into sugary sweets into vegetables that many peers will have never seen.   It all occurred this way as this was the direction we walked through covered passages and motorcycle-strewn streets.  We passed elbow to elbow with all manner of society.




An Older Mandalay Market, Lady Monks, Acres of Blankets

Of course we ate both a lunch and a later sidewalk dinner with time in the hotel lobby for rest and Internet access.

At around 7 o'clock we got a taxi and jumped in with our two backpacks to head to the long-distance bus terminal.  We paid an extra couple of buck and are heading back to Rangoon in a super-luxury bus.  It is one of those massive, comfortable, European coaches. This one has just three seats across with 2 aisles.  And as on all night buses in Asia the a/c will be cranked to the max and everyone will be shivering under blankets.

Day 14 - Morning in Amarapura

We paid in advance for our forth night at the hotel and the front desk guy arranged for transport for a half day excursion.  We went in the back of a Jeep.  First we stopped at the Mahamuni Paya.  It is a very venerated temple in Mandalay.  A lot of legends surround a Buddha statue housed here.  Rituals are performed each morning to wash it.  We didn't visit at 4:30 in the morning, so we didn't witness that odd rite.  We did see lots of men applying thin gold leaf squares.  The area around was amazing for the Buddhist artisans creating images from stone and marble.  Some were just a few feet high while there were perhaps twelve.  Also for sale were the metal temple caps peculiar to SE Asian pagodas.  I found it unique that such high volume industry could be carried out for such an artistic endeavour.



We then went to one of the largest monasteries in Burma.   We were right in time to see many of 1,300 monks queue up for lunch.  They form a procession that takes a half hour to complete.  We ran into many tourists snapping photos, so I went away feeling a little like an intruder, perhaps welcomed, but an intruder nevertheless.



We continued to the final site.  The U Being Bridge is made from teak wood and is over 200 years old.  We walked across the 1.2 kilometer span and back.  It was a nice place to spend time.  We got back in time to eat lunch near our hotel.



The afternoon was rest and afforded a bit of Internet time in our hotel's lobby.  In the evening we walked to the night market not far from the Clock Tower.  It wasn't as impressive as many in Asia, but it was worth the effort.  Tomorrow we have a day of leisure and then a night bus back to Rangoon.

Day 13 - A Boat to Mingun

Our schedule was a perfectly paced today.  We got up at around 7:15, had finished breakfast, and charged out the door in a little more than an hour.  We needed to get to the jetty to catch one of the nine o'clock boats.  Two motorcycle drivers taxied us to the river in about 10 minutes.  Special watercraft head up the Irrawaddy River carrying tourists to the village of Mingun.

We each paid 5,000 kats (less than $6) for the round-trip journey.  Being out on the river was a nice change of pace.  Our boat had fewer than 20 people but it was large enough to carry far more. The upper level deck was open and the lower level had plastic, lawn chairs.   It is probably good that they do not overcrowd the wooden vessels as ours didn't provide many luxury appointments, such as say ... life jackets!   It took nearly an hour to go the 11 kilometers upstream.



We pulled up to the steep bank and walked a plank onto the dusty shoreline.  Ahead of us lay the village and its sites.  We had three hours to do as we pleased before the departure back to Mandalay at 1:00 pm.  A proposed itinerary was on a sign once in the village.  There were several pagodas that were interesting but the village is especially known for the colossal mistake that wasn't.  King Bodawpata in the 1800s planned on making the world's largest pagoda.  Now sits just the immense ruins of its base.  (This is a story I will definitely follow up on when I have robust Internet and a bit of free time.). The world's second largest bell is now housed in a building made especially for it and not in the King's ruined scheme.


I am standing in the doorway to this side right under the crack.

We walked around unguided in both a monastery and an old folks' home.  The weather was perfect and the sky azure.  We ate lunch before getting back on the boat for the trip back.



Later, we had a bit of Net time in our lobby and I uploaded a few entries that had been languishing on my tablet.  We just got back from dinner of chapthi and chicken from a street Indian food vendor.  We have a list of final things we want to do in Mandalay tomorrow.   We've decided to spend one more night and head back to Rangoon a few days early.

Day 12 - Climbing Mandalay Hill

We didn't get up too early as one of the first things we had to do was find the CB Bank and hit their ATM with a MasterCard.  It has only been a matter of months one could use any credit card in the country.  The hotel's breakfast was nothing to write home about but the view from the 4th (really 5th) was a nice way to start the morning.  The streets here are very very dusty.  It mixes with the exhaust fumes and can sometimes make a rather unpleasant haze.

After getting a new transfusion of cash, we walked down to the south edge of the moat.  We waited for something to come by to take us to the base of Mandalay Hill.  In this case it was a pickup driver who must have run some errands and wanted to make a little extra money.  Actually, the is the type of situation the tourists should search for.  It's hard to travel here and not have a good chunk of one money make it's way into undemocratic coffers.  If one has chances to put the cash into the hands of citizens then direct families can benefit.

We decided against 'cheating' and taking a vehicle up the mountain choosing instead to walk the hundreds of steps.  Lots of sellers and a number of pagodas  lined the way and it was a very leisurely one hour hike up and perhaps 45 minutes down.   We then walked in the area to the Kuthodaw Pagoda.  It contains hundreds of stone pages of holy text each housed in its own small protective temple.  The area for all of these white structures in pretty huge; hence, it is often called the world's largest book.



We stopped by a roadside restaurant to a Myanmar lunch, meaning basically rice and lots of bowls of small curries, a salad, and soup.  We returned to the base of our original climb and arranged for a taxi back to the hotel.  I needed a nap.

In the evening we wanted to check out the pier on the Irrawaddy River.  We may want to take a boat trip from there tomorrow morning.  The front desk clerk said we could walk in 15 minutes.  I don't know what his energy drink is, or what type of running shoes he owns, but it took us 45 minutes each way.  I am having a little stomach trouble, so I won't have any dinner tonight.

Day 11 - The Road to Mandalay

Some titles seem to practically write themselves, don't they?  Let me add that the road was a little rough in places. 

This morning we had to wake up a little early.  The hotel was good enough to serve us breakfast at 6:45, so we could catch a little bus at 7:30.  The first two to two and a half hour is down a spectacular winding road.  Hairpin curves assure all passengers of a view no matter on which side of the bus they sit.  The remaining 5 hours of the trip was rather uneventful.  We sat behind a German couple with two school-aged kids.  Another German guy sat up front.  The remainder of the people were Burmese.  Oh and the last four or five rows of seats were removed for cargo.

We travelled over a lot of road which we under construction, but not quite what I was used to.  It seems as if much road work is still done by hand.  Ladies, children and men carried around differing sizes of rock in baskets.  They raked the layers smooth and poured tar onto the finest, topmost surface.  That must be how roads, with pick and shovel, were made one hundred years ago.  I wondered whether the workers might ever have a chance to ride on a modern expressway.

Once we got to the Mandalay bus cation area, we pooled resources with the previously mentioned passengers and jumped in the rear of a truck to come downtown.  It was about a twenty minute ride and we each paid about $2.  We knew of some hotel in the area around the Clock Tower.   In Mandalay's center the original 1850's palace sits surrounded by a moat.  We got out at the Nylon Hotel as the family had reservations.  Jay and I walked around for about a half hour and ended up back at the Nylon where we are now paying $30 a night.  Burma ain't cheap!

Jay near the south side of the moat of the Mandalay Palace.

We had dinner at some place once featured in Lonely Planet.  Unfortunately, the staff sits on its laurels.  By the time the meal finally got to the table, I was ready to order another 640 ml beer.  I've discovered the local stout is named ABC.  To Bed early?

Day 10 - The Pindaya Caves

I want a cell phone with a thermometer.  It was so hard getting out from under all the covers this morning because of the cold.   I cannot really say what the temperature may have been.  8C?  Only after Jay had plugged in the immersion heater and made 3-in-one coffees, did I rise.  This room corner room with windows on the south and east was perfect because as soon as the sun was up, it was warming me up.  During the day it probably got up to 25C.

Our hotel provided a breakfast.  We didn't have much local currency remaining, not even enough for our day's plans.  We went to the one and only bank in  Kalaw and found the exchange closed on weekends.  We were going to walk back to our hotel to see what rates it'd give when we saw a shop selling among other items, bus tickets.  We already knew we want to head to Mandalay tomorrow.  Sure enough, he was able to get us on a 7:30 morning small bus.

We also asked about going 40 kilometers to the town of Pindaya and the famous temple caves.  It seems as if it is only possible by taxi, 1.5 hours each way, for a total of about $40.  (One really has the driver for the day as he waits as long as needed.).  However our ticket guy said he had arranged one for a tourist yesterday who might be willing to share.  It turned out perfectly.  We didn't make it back to the hotel but went along with a Russian tourist.  He lectures a few months a year and writes economic textbooks in order to fund nearly full-time travel. 

The Pindaya Caves are filled with thousand and thousands of Buddhist images.  They come from all over the world and most are fairly recent additions.  Necertheless, it is a spectacular to witness.  If you look up the caves on Wikipedia, you will be able to see a local legend which involves a princess and a giant spider as well.

We sort of ended up skipping lunch and got back at 3:45.   We were able to settle our bill directly in US dollars with the older guy who got our travel organized.  He was of Nepali heritage as his grandparents had come here.  He told of days before the 1961 government takeover when every shop in town was owned by Indian businessmen.  The businesses were appropriated and most left to return to their former country empty handed.  By chance we ate our lunch/dinner at an Indian restaurant next door.  The owners looked Indian but spoke Burmese only. 

We're back in the hotel.  It is getting dark and therefore cold again too.

Day 9 - Heading Up to Kalaw

We really didn't know what heading to Kalaw would entail.  Yesterday after spending the day seeing the temples of old Bagan, we talked to a girl selling bus tickets.  We said we were interested in seeing the Pindaya Caves.  On our map we showed the area and busses from there come to Inlay Lake.  Kalaw looked like it we close.  We haven't been bring along guide books for years.  We use them with initial planning and now depend on the Internet to fill in the nitty gritty details ax we travel.  We'll we've been without reliable access for a few days.  (Is this how a member of the Borg felt when disconnected from the Collective?)

I was dark when my phone alarm went off.  There was no power again.  We had not seen more than six hours of consecutive power in Bagan.  The breakfast wasn't ready at 7:00 so we just had coffee and took 5 slices of their bread and a couple of bananas.  The bus which stops right in front hotel was supposed to arrive at 7:30 but was a half hour later, so we may have had time for a more proper start to the day after all.

Most of the seats in the bus were full of fellow tourists.  We spent about 4 hours with a relatively dry, flat climate.  It was reminiscent of northern Florida while later mountains came into view.  The bus stopped for lunch at a typical roadside stop.  The final two hours was switchback turn after turn.  One can find this type of highway in many places, I just hadn't expected to see it today.

At the very top, we came to this city.  Wouldn't you know, it was a hill station of the British.  Is this why it reminds me of our recent stay in Ella, Sri Lanka.  We have a nice hotel with view from the room.  We will figure out what we're doing as we do it.  Eventually we will make it to Mandalay.

Day 8 - Bouncing Around Old Bagan

Click this image to open a larger one on Flickr.

Wow.  These people were very pious or had a whole lot of extra time on their hands.  Imagine 3500 temples ranging from house to cathedral-sized all in a 20 kilometer valley.  It was an amazing day going around this area by horse and wagon.  We left after breakfast at the hotel at little before nine.  We went to temple after temple each of which would've been amazing enough on its own.  Put them all within sight of each other and it was a bit overwhelming.  We chose not to stay until dusk and went back to the hotel by four thirty in the late afternoon.

Day 7 - Beginning in New Bagan

A guy shouted loudly at around 4:00 that we were in Bagan.  Stunned and nearly frozen, we stumbled outside.  Of course, it was dark and seemed cold at, probably, 14C.  It was a little disorienting figuring out what we should do.  We had not reserved any place but wanted to rely on people at the station.  There were at least two other tourist couples with nothing more than guide books.

The first inclination was to take it easy.  There was no need to jump into any arrangement right away.  Even if we didn't make arrangements for a few hours it'd be lighter later.  Some guys with horses and wagons were waiting out in the cool, dark air.  We walked to the end and had coffees at a little outdoor shop.  We also warmed up to one particular guy and arranged to hop on his wagon and we'd check out various guest houses for a fee of about K4,000.  We stopped at at least three places until we found one to our liking.  It is called, The Golden Pot. It was still dark and cold.  We made arrangements for him to pick us up for a day in the Bagan valley of temples on Wednesday morning.

Rooms here are a textbook case in supply and demand.  They should sell for around $15 to $25 considering their typical Asian standards.  There are, however, an onslaught of willing tourists nowadays who have pushed up the prices from $25 to $40.  The accommodation  really isn't worth the money charged, but what is one to do?  I surely cannot blame the owners for charging what the market will bear.

We were short on sleep and did so from 5 to 11 o'clock.  Later, we walked around the new town.  The market is huge and must rely on the surrounding communities for business.  We ate lunch and napped again.

After finally figuring out to get hot water for showers we ate at a restaurant where was a tickle of Internet, enough so I updated my status on Facebook and wished my sister a happy birthday if I continue without access in Myanmar.

Already time for sleep again.  You bet!

Day 6 - The Day of the Night Bus

How can I sleep so soundly for so many hours?  It worked out okay as we needed to wait around after checking out at noon.  Today there was little in the way of preparation for the night bus.  We walked around downtown Rangoon and did pick up a few snacks for tonight's trip.  We also ate at a different biriyani place for lunch.   Most meals cost us about $2 each and 650 ml bottles of beer are around $1.50.

We waited in the cool of the hotel lobby until nearly 3:00 pm and called for a taxi to take us to the long distance bus station.  It took about an hour to get there and'ws more like a bus city.  Luckily the driver took us right in to the company on which we were riding.  We waited an hour before we could board.  Sellers of various sorts try to convince the crowds to buy fruits, books, sunglasses, watches, corn, cold drinks, medicine, newspapers, and even little girls' dresses.  We didn't help this station economy at all.

The bus left promptly at 6:00.  The bus isn't a luxury one but it sure has a/c that works.  It stopped for a half hour at about 9 pm.  I have on shorts and I'm absolutely freezing.  Smart passengers brought along thick, heavy parkas and blankets.

Day 5 - The Circular Train

We needed to figure out how we were going to get to Bagan.  As soon as we moved to our new hotel, we set out for the train station.  Jay had read that the bus companies' sell tickets near it.  Surely enough, we found a number across from the front side of the enormous station.  I don't know the building's construction date but it was from the era when energies went into grand transportation hubs that resemble cathedrals.  We were stuck as to whether to take an 8 am bus or a night bus leaving at 6 pm.  For the morning one, we'd miss the scenery but would need to get up at 5 o'clock as the station is an hour outside of town.  We selected to go tomorrow evening.  At least, we'll save the expense of one night in a hotel.

After buying our tickets, it was about a quarter to noon.  We crossed back to the station and purchased tickets to the 3-hour "circle train" we'd read about.  It is a local route for commuters.  It is very cheap for locals but takes the stated time to loop a short 40 something kilometers.  We, as tourists, paid eight times the fare of a local; we paid exactly one dollar!  One surely does get a slap in the face on how many near the former capital must live.  This is probably the poorest country we've ever visited and it showed in the way that many people have to live.  I kept thinking how much of life is simply an accident of birth.  Cleanliness in theory doesn't have to correlate with wealth, but on the ground, it seems to work out that way.  I felt a little depressed but the folks we witnessed weren't.  In fact there was a whole lot more laughter and smiling faces on this train than I'd see in a hundred trips doing to downtown Vancouver on the Skytrain.  So, who is to judge?

It was nearly 3:00 pm by the time we go back to the Yangon Station, so we went back to the hotel to rest.  Just being close to the center area of this city is fun. So much happens on the sidewalks and the streets!  After dark, the lights make it even more fascinating.  Finding a place to eat dinner was an adventure in its own right.

We won't be rushed tomorrow as we won't need to take a taxi to the bus station until 3:30 pm or so.

Day 4 - I Heart Rangoon

Our hotel has a buffet breakfast and we ate our fill by 9:30.  We walked out without a sure plan for the day.  I had noticed on the map we are in the northeastern part of the  grid of downtown streets so we walked towards the river.  What a busy and vibrant place for a Sunday morning!  The sidewalks were full of entrepreneurs selling market items.  We walked and walked.  We gawked and gawked.



After about 2.5 kilometers we ran into the Sule Pagoda in the middle of Maha Bandoola Street.  It was a taste of what we'd see later in the day.  Rather than running north in the country right away, we decided to stay in the city another day.  Therefore, we checked on a few hotels we'd written down.  While on a side street we discovered the Aung Tha Pyay Hotel on 38th Street.  We're going to stay here tomorrow night.

We ate at a real biryani restaurant that had better than we had in Sri Lanka and returned to the MGM for a nap.

At around 4:00 we went out again for a chance to see Shwedagon Pagoda.  It was not far.  If your truly interested in learning about what we witnessed this afternoon, I suggest you Google it.  It was nearly beyond explanation as we stayed to see it after day turned to darkness.  Eiffel Tower, did that.  Taj Mahal, ditto.  This, I'd venture ranks right up with those.



We are back at the hotel now, after eating dinner in a cheap, nearby restaurant where I had my first ever Myanmar beer.  There's a lot comforting about the universality in the taste of a bottle of that beverage.

Day 3 - Hopping up to Burma

Getting to Burma today proved effortless.  (Myanmar was the name changed during the years of military rule, so I will continue with the prior name in this blog.). We checked out of our hotel in Bangkok at around 11:30 am and waited curbside for a taxi. AsiaAir now flies out of Bangkok's former airport and as it is Saturday, the roads weren't bad at all.

We got to the terminal before the three-hour, pre-flight limit and needed to wait a bit.  It made for a perfect time for lunch.  The restaurant on the left from the road side was amazingly unorganized but the food was okay if a bit more than we'd been spending on street-food during our time in Bangkok.



Check in was a breeze and I really wonder why AirAsia is so adamant about trying to get people to get boarding passes online.  We did and ended up sitting one row apart by the aisles.  The flight was one hour and fifteen minutes.  We landed a few minutes before our expected time of 5:05 pm.

In order to visit this country one needs to bring very fresh US dollars.  It was only in the fall that MasterCard inked an agreement with a bank here.  We found a machine right in the airport, so I made a cash withdraw of 200,000 kyats (around $230).  Then we paid around $8 for a 45-minute taxi ride to our hotel.  As in Sri Lanka it got dark around 6:15 pm.

We ate at a cheap restaurant nearby.

Our hotel is called the MGM but it surely ain't Grande.  Beware of the superior rooms on floor 10.  A loud karaoke bar is on the eleventh floor.  We saw how loud it was going to be until two in the morning and changed to a standard room four floor down.  It is much quieter.  I'm quite tired considering I did little if anything physical today.