Mingalabar,

After we left India we spent 6 relaxed days in Bangkok. We reorganized our backpacks, sent each a 5kg package home (time to get rid of some unnecessary weight and to create more space for new things) and enjoyed the luxuries of a big city. However, we also had to get things organized for our Myanmar trip. We got the 28 day visa within 2 days (it was really busy at the embassy and all of them will visit the country within the next 30 days), booked our return flight to Yangon and got some big, shiny and "crisp" US Dollar notes. This was the beginning of our 3 weeks adventure to Myanmar.

When you ask people at home about Myanmar, some might not even be able to point it out on the map or others might know it under its former name "Burma". Either way nobody really knows a lot about Myanmar which shares its borders with 5 neighbouring countries (India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand). Since the country opened its borders to the first travelers in early 2013 many things have changed. The somewhat corrupt government (you will hardly find a Burmese who talks openly about the country's political situations) is supporting progress and development. Once you get here you will notice quickly that this is not a poor country, the roads are in good conditions, A/C buses connect all tourist towns, food is available on every corner and the number of golden pagodas is endless. ATM machines, WiFi, Guest Houses (with breakfast, towels and hot showers) and all the things travelers need are increasing rapidly.

In our 3 weeks we were just able to cover the top tourist sites plus a couple of other places. We started out in Yangon, the unofficial capital (officially it is Nay Pyi Taw since 2008) and realized straight away that especially compared to India it is extremely expensive here. They either pay in US Dollar or their local currency "Kyat" (1000kyat equals approx. 1$). Double rooms including continental breakfast start at 20$ per night in simple Guest Houses (smaller, less touristy towns have rooms for as low as 12$). Since we had another day in Yangon before flying out, we only covered the main attractions in the first 2 days. Together with Andrew from Melbourne who stayed in the same dorm room, we took the "Circle Line", a 3 hour train through Yangon and the villages around, did a walking tour through the downtown area and visited Shwedagon Pagoda which is with 99.36 meters the second highest pagoda (the biggest one, Shwemawdaw Pagoda in Bago is 14 meters higher) and the most famous one in Myanmar.

An overnight bus brought us from Yangon to Bagan. Turned up air con in the buses (everyone sits in there with blankets, jackets and hats etc.) and arriving at 3:30am take away the fun of overnight trips. We have been told that Burmese bus drivers like to escape the heat of the day and leave at 6:00 or 7:00pm and arrive at the final stop at an excruciating hour. So we ended up with Andrew on a horse cart at 3:00am driving around town trying to find a guest house; but these Burmese are prepared, expected us already and since we couldn't get into the room until 7:30am they made a fire for us outside. We spent 3 nights in Bagan and explored the thousands of temples and pagodas (we didn't even see half of them) on bicycles, E-bikes and on foot! Though tourism is picking up quickly, it is not too difficult to find yourself a temple/pagoda and escape the afternoon heat. It actually is something really special when you can sit on top of a pagoda with a book and enjoy the peaceful surrounding without any disruption. There are some ruins which require an entrance ticket (the top 5 temple) but basically there are no limits. Rule is that you can climb on top of any pagoda or any temple which has a dark staircase that leads you to the top. We felt like explorers and enjoyed our days immensely. Look at the photos, they probably describe it the best!

For our journey to Mandalay we picked a fast-boat which took nearly 11 hours. Apart from an amazing sunrise, it was a rather relaxing than exciting trip. Mandalay is completely different than Yangon, a real business city. We only spent one day wandering around and up a hill for a view over the city. For the next day we booked a motorbike tour to visit the 3 ancient cities: Amarapura, Inwa and Sagaing! Amarapura or more specifically the world's longest teak bridge called "U-Bein" which is 1.2km long was our personal favourite. At 200 years old, the bridge sees lots of life along its 1060 teak posts, with monks and fishers commuting to and fro and we enjoyed both sunrise and sunset there.

Trekking was not really on our list of things to do so we skipped on a couple of hill stations and went straight away with an overnight bus to Inle Lake. One could say that Inle Lake is a bit of a tourist scamp because when you stay in Nyaung Schwe where just everyone seems to stay it is a bit tough to get to the actual lake without renting a bike or paying for a boat. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the little town with its charming cafes immensely. For Sabrina's birthday we did a boat tour on Inle Lake. It is quite something to see entire villages on the lake. People live there with proper houses, schools, shops and floating fields where they grow vegetables; they also work on the lake whether it is in a factory like the ones we visited or as fishermen to support their families. It really is fascinating and everyone is so friendly. We finished the amazing day with a celebratory dinner and dessert!

From Inle Lake we once again took an overnight bus and went back south to Bago which typically does not get a lot of attention from travelers. We spent a day exploring monasteries and more pagodas and temples before we took a bus to Kinpun, the base to get to the Golden Rock! Since the Golden Rock is one of the most important pilgrimage places in Myanmar and Burmese believe that if you make the journey to the top 3 times in your life you will have special luck, we decided to hike up the 11km to the top. This walk was worth all the effort and sweat because we passed villages along the way, watched locals in their daily life and were surrounded by beautiful nature. The structure of the Golden Rock is a small pagoda (7.3 metres) built on the top of a granite boulder covered with gold leaves pasted on by devotees. According to legend, the Golden Rock itself is precariously perched on a strand of the Buddha's hair. The balancing rock seems to defy gravity, as it perpetually appears to be on the verge of rolling down the hill. Standing in front of it and watching the Buddhists around you pray definitely leaves a strong impression. For the way down though we took the pick-up truck which was much quicker and a lot bumpier.

Off the typical tourist map were our last 2 stops, Hpa-An which was with its exciting caves and beautiful landscape a nice change to the typical pagodas and temples; and Mawlamyine where we relaxed a day on Shampoo Island.

Our time in Myanmar went by quickly and we got very mixed impressions from this still so unknown country! Myanmar has many interesting cultural and historical sites, wonderful nature and beautiful and super friendly people. In ways it is completely different from other Buddhist countries we visited before, especially if you look at the behaviour of monks here. For us (many co-travelers agreed with us) the only big disappointment was the food which was very Indian and Chinese but too much on the oily and greasy side (though the overnight bus system needs definitely improvement as well). We are glad to have come to Myanmar at exactly this time before tourism will influence this country too much!

Cheerio,

Ann & Sabrina