Luxury Dump Truck |
One option, which we only saw a few asian men take advantage of, is to be carried up the last 45 min. of the hike up. Apparently they charge by the kilo. |
About half way down in the truck the rain started again and like I mentioned it rains so hard the drops felt a bit like hail hitting me in the face. The monk in front of me opened a huge umbrella and covered a few of us once it really started. Dripping wet and hungry we headed to dinner with the girls. We were going to eat at their hotel's restaurant but seeing as though it was low season it wasn’t open, actually not much was. We picked the cleanest looking of the three that were and had a not so great meal from one of the first cranky Burmese we had met (another being the hotel guy who kept insisting the bugs IN the bed were insects not bed bugs). Before heading back for a hot shower (we hoped) and dry clothes we arranged to meet up in Yangon the next night for dinner. We were all going to splurge on a decent Italian meal.
$0.25 worth of well used currency |
Side Note: A warning for anyone going to Myanmar. There are no bank machines in the whole of Myanmar, and no one that we found took any credit cards so you have to take all that you plan on spending in crisp, new, large doninations of USD funds. They very carefully inspect any bill you try to use and quite often reject a few that you or I would think is fine. A guy we met had one rejected because it had a slight green tinge to it. We also heard of a guy who didn't know about this and had to leave early because he couldn't get them to take anymore of his US cash and he was running out. A few places take the actual US currency but you get dinged in exchange. The best thing to do it try to change as much as possible in Yangon at the market in the jewellery section, where they give you better rates on $100 bills than smaller ones. The reason being they don't trust their banks (for good reason) and their savings consist of US cash stashed away - so $100 bills store easier. The only problem with changing it all in Yangon is that you end up with a huge pile of Myanmar money, since the largest bill they have is worth about $1.25. You can exchange in other cities but you don't get as good of an exchange. To ensure the crispness of the bills we saw a group of hotel employees ironing bills one afternoon. The funny thing is that their bills are a mess, often taped together and tattered and torn to bits.
Susan waiting for the bus |
May 22
We slept in, had the usual free eggs and white toast breakfast from our guesthouse and headed to the bus station to catch our 10:30 am bus back to Yangon. The day before when booking we could pick between two companies that had offices side by side at the tiny bus stop. We picked wrong. The Express left promptly at 10:30, was clean and air conditioned. Ours left at 11:15, was filthy and had no air which meant all the windows were wide open letting in all the wonderful exhaust, dust and dirt. Ah well…..this was our last bus, only about a 5 hour trip and we’d been very lucky so far. As it turns out no one puked.
We checked into a more central guesthouse in Yangon than our first time here. The Motherland 2, where we stayed the first time, has a free airport shuttle but is a bit more expensive for the rooms and is too far from anything to make the free shuttle worth it. We dropped our bags and went in search of internet to get a few things booked and to let our parents know we were all good. I spoiled my dinner with ice-cream – it was nice to be back in a city.
We met the girls and walked to the restaurant and had a nice chat, decent food and I had more ice cream. Hmmmmm… maybe I’m starting to figure out why James has lost 23 pounds since our Korean physical and I’ve only lost 7.
Shwedagon |
May 23
We didn’t have much left on our Yangon to see list. Really just the Shwedagon Paya and a visit to the market. The market ended up being closed Mondays so we decided to walk to the Paya and maybe just wander around a bit. The pagoda is pretty impressive and a must see. You can take an elevator up the back or walk up the steps in the front which is more interesting because it is lined with shops selling all sorts of handicrafts and temple offerings. Once up top I was pleasantly surprised. It was huge! It’s said Shwedagon Paya has been a defining image of Burmese identity for 2500 years and the Burmese revere it. Every good Buddhist in Myanmar tries to make at least one pilgrimage here in their lifetime. The golden top (very shiny in the sun!) is incrusted with more than 5000 diamonds and 2000 other stones. It’s said that once a diamond fell off (a big one) and the person who found it handed it in. Now that’s faith, considering how poor the country is. At the top there are temples of every shape and size and made glass and wood. It’s a very beautiful sight.
Shwedagon |
Once down we decided to walk to the lake nearby that ended up being surrounded by a beautiful park…that we saw from the sidewalk on the other side of the fence surrounding the park. They were charging foreigners $2.50 USD to go in. Yikes! For a walk around a lake? Walking around the park we ended up going past Kandawgyi Palace Hotel that we had booked and paid for last September but never got to use. It was a beautiful luxury teak hotel that had a lobby that most of the guest houses we’ve been staying in could fit into whole. We also popped into a grocery store for a cold drink and James found Dill Pickle Pringles!!! The only place ever outside Canada I’ve ever seen Dill Pickle! As I type the second tube sits unopened calling my name.
It was turning out to be a pretty lazy day so we decided to walk to a restaurant expats love. It was crazy overpriced but had frozen margaritas on the menu so we stayed. What do I miss from home? My margarita blender! We enjoyed the walk home through the packed busy streets. It was about 10 pm and the streets were still packed as if it were mid-day. Food stalls with the tiny plastic tables and chairs filled with chatting people, families with hyper kids running around, miscellaneous tables set up selling books, sunglasses, lighters, wicker baskets, t-shirts…..cabs, bikes, cats and soooo many stray dogs. With so much going on and me trying to take it all in I’m amazed I’m not neck deep in one of the side walk holes.
May 24
We got up early to get to the market that opens at 8 am so we could check out and catch a movie before our flight. Once at the market we realized that it might start to kinda open at 8 but really doesn't get going until almost 9:30. Yikes! So far the shopping has been small laquerware shops full of stuff you can get all over SEA, key holders with arms of sand paintings or misc masks and jewellery that look like it's all been imported from Thailand or China. This market in Yangon, Bogyoke Aung San Market, is said to be the place to get the good stuff. After hanging around and working up a good sweat while just standing in the shade we did get to do a good session. Jade, gems, and natural stones are plenty and supposedly all Myanmar natural materials and handmade. We picked up a few things and made it back in time for one last shower but as we were walking down the 3 flights of stairs my stomach suddenly started to turn. James figures it was an allergy to my backpack that I hadn't needed to carry for over 2 weeks because it was in storage. All I knew was that it came on fast and was violent. James asked for our room key back and I hid in our room while he went to check our flight status. By the time he got back I was a bit better but gutted because we'd missed the movie. I decided that my sore belly could use some ice cream!
About 3:30 we caught our cab to the airport for our flight to KL. I rolled down the window and tried to absorb all of Myanmar that I could one more time.
I am sitting in the Yangon airport as I write this and as if on cue it’s 4 pm and raining pretty good outside which makes me smile. It rained almost every day about the same time and after a few days we adjusted our schedules to miss it and weren’t bothered much by it. The same as the power outages (that happened every day and night every few hours) that we just got used to. The beaten up cab with the plastic vinyl coating inside of a palmed fringe beach that brought us to the airport, the buses older than me, the sidewalks with holes deeper than the Lake……Myanmar may be rough around the edges but it makes up for it with it’s beautiful sights and friendly people.
I’m a bit sad to go, excited to get to Borneo, but I’ve really enjoyed our time here. I’m glad we had a few extra days (lasts years trip only had 14 days planned in Myanmar) so we could have some down time and not so much pressure to move quickly, in a country that does not. I’d say we’ve seen all we wanted to and if we had more time it’d be to spend one more day in Bagan staring at the temples or maybe one more afternoon of riding bikes in the country side around Inle Lake.
Most memorable: The view from our room in Bagan. A serene day boating on Inle Lake. Evil beggar monkeys at Mount. Popa.Our walk over the U Bein’s Bridge. The friendly, waving people of Myanmar.
Myanmar Travel Hints: Plan a few extra days for downtime. Spend less time in Yangon and more in Bagan or Lake Inle. Take the slow boat from Mandalay to Bagan. Ear plugs are a must for the buses that play music/tv at full blast day and night.
PS – The 2 hours 15 minutes while in the airport the power went out 3 times meaning the whole place was in darkness for about 30 seconds to a minute until the generator kicked on.