With trying to save money and make the most of our time, Amelia and I decided on another night bus to reach our next destination - Mandalay. Again, we arrived way before the ETA and were dropped in the middle of the city. This time we did actually have a hotel booked, but we were pretty sure at 3am it was quite possibly before an acceptable check in time. However, we had a back up! With the memory of our early arrival in Kalaw lingering heavily in our minds, we c...

During the past year travelling around SEA we have been fortunate enough to not experience any bad episodes of dreaded bed bugs. However our luck was out and during the night Chris and I were both eaten alive by bed bugs at 'Aquarius Inn'. Throughout the night we were both awake scratching like crazy, we were literally sleeping in a bed bug's nest - it was horrendous! Bed bugs bite in a row and we both had a line of bites from one shoulder to the othe...

Pretty much every time Amelia and I take a night bus we ask ourselves "why?!". We never really get any sleep, and nine times out of ten the bus arrives at stupid-o'clock in the morning, leaving us stranded for a few hours until we wait for places to open. But travelling at night has its advantages - firstly it saves time and secondly it saves money (as you don't have to pay for accommodation). However, the latter benefit didn't exactly come to fruitio...

Chris and I awoke with a plan to catch the bus to Bago, which the hostel would be paying for as compensation for messing us around with the room. However, when we found out it would cost nearly $10 to reach the bus station (1 hour away), when the bus ticket to Bago (2 hours away) should only cost a couple of dollars each, we immediately began searching for an alternative. The manager who spoke very good English was not very forthcoming, so along with our own rese...

Myanmar (previously known as Burma) only lifted its boycott on tourism 4-5 years ago. Until that point it was almost off limits. Along our travels we'd spoken to a few people that'd been and they'd reconfirmed our thoughts - that it's definitely the place to go before things change. However, with it being an expensive country to travel (compared with the rest of SEA), we were unsure if our budget would stretch. Fortunately, with our relatively wel...