Took a 1.20 hour flight from Bangkok to Yangon. Met three people from my plane going to the same hotel, so the four of us checked in and went out to a late dinner. Afterwards we walked around a bit. It was more than a little creepy in the darkness and I certainly wasn't used to the level of poverty I was seeing. We passed a cat playing with a bat and squatters bathing near fires lit in trash cans in an abandoned building. This place was going to be much different than any place I had ever been. I had a bit of an uneasy feeling and wasn't sure if I was up to travelling Burma alone. Next morning Jeff (great guy from FL, 26, loads of fun, smart) and I found a new guesthouse. The price was right, the owners were nice, and the free breakfasts were great. So what if we had to walk up eight flights of stairs to get to our rooms.

Headed to Shwedagon Paya, built between the 6th and 10th centuries, in the late afternoon. The setting sun made the temple glitter gold and orange. I met a student tour guide who showed me around the temple and explained some of the ceremonies that were taking place as we toured the site. Caught the end of a special ceremony for young girls who were dressed up in their finest clothes and loaded with makeup. The ceremony was so that they could now wear earrings.

Next day Jeff and I took a shabby ferry across the Yangon River to Twante, a village known for producing pottery and weaving textiles. Sampled quail eggs and cane juice that kids on the ferry were selling. Became aware of the ways Burmese people get each other's attention...by clapping loudly and making kissing sounds. I also noticed that Burmese men sing most of the time and have beautiful, melodic voices. Took an overloaded pickup, 20 people in the back, Jeff on top with 5 others, and me up front with the driver and a monk, the 45-minute ride to Twante. Hired two guides with trishaws to tour the town. Watched the pottery-making process in gloomy shacks at Abo and three young girls weaving rugs in their home while their father strutted around giving an occasional order (the first of several instances where it was apparent that men give the orders and do little physical labor while women do the majority of it). A sudden downpour forced us to seek shelter in a monastery; the monks were gracious offering us coconut cookies, which we ate while watching the young monks play in the rain and mud. Checked out a local pagoda and met some local kids who hung out there. They hung around with us and loved having their pictures taken and seeing them appear instantly on our cameras. The tour lasted 3.5 hours and it was great, but there was a misunderstanding with our drivers over how much we owed (the first of several "misunderstandings" relating to fees charged for services in Burma). We settled with our guides but felt bad that the experience ended on a low note.

Back in Yangon we checked out the Chinese barbeque on 19th Street; you select your meat/vegetables/seafood/tofu on skewers and they are brushed with oil and barbequed...delicious! Unfortunately, it didn't agree with Jeff, who was laid up the next day with serious stomach ailments. I took off alone and checked out colonial buildings, bakeries, tea houses, grocery stores, and internet cafes.

Jeff and I decided to head to Pyay, a small town along the Ayeyarwady River. The bus ride wasn't too bad and it only took six hours. Visited Shwesandaw Paya, one of Burma's biggest Buddhist pilgrimmage sites, built in 589 B.C. Walked along the Ayeyarwady River and saw boats ferries being loaded and people swimming. Hiked to Wunchataung Paya (apology pagoda), where people can say 'sorry' for misdeeds. We were there quite a while...apparently Jeff and I had a substantial number of apologies to make between us. Paid 1500 kyat to use the Golden Dragon's pool for the day...so worth it! Met two nice young men who invited us to join them for dinner at an Indian food street vendor stand. They also treated us to ice cream, as one of them owned an ice cream parlor, and then dropped us at the remote train station that our stingy hotel owner was trying to charge us 5000 kyat for. The 12-hour night train to Bagan was a big mistake, should have waited another day for a cheaper and faster bus. Bought cheap bench seats for 14,000 kyat each. No A/C, no air (as we were sitting facing the wrong direction), bugs, people sleeping on every inch of the floor, bright lights that never went out, filthy. The cars rocked so badly that my pack rolled off the overhead rack within a couple minutes of departure and luckily fell between the heads of the two men facing us - only slightly injuring them. Could have seriously hurt them as it was currently weighing about 35 lbs. due to all the souvenirs I can't stop buying. Needless to say, they weren't happy with us. Slept only brief minutes at a time even though I had my eye mask and neck pillow; Jeff had more luck as he was against the window. At one point I found him sitting on the floor with his head on the bench. At 6:00 am I couldn't wait any longer and was forced to use the disgusting toilet. I tried to wash my hands first but when I turned the faucet the handle came off in my hand - spraying a gusher of putrid sink water (the sink was clogged of course with very questionable water) all over my legs and feet. Fell out of the bathroom yelling for help and the unlucky man sitting closest to it fixed it. Never did use the toilet. Luckily I had a few clorox wipes which I used on my hands and legs. Arrived in dusty, sweltering Bagon at 10:00 am with a screaming headache and checked into a decent hotel. Took a 30-minute shower during which I scrubbed my legs and feet for 29 minutes, then slept for 22 hours. When I woke up Jeff wasn't around so I hung out on the hotel balcony contemplating the fact that I might be psychologically scarred for life and considering throwing away the clothes I had been wearing on the train.

Rented bikes the next day and Jeff and I rode to as many temples as we could cover in the 110 degree heat (forgot my hat - big mistake) and ate at a great vegetarian place (had eggplant curry over rice). Another bad headache, fever, and ever-present stomach ailments kept me in bed for two days so I finally broke out the z-pack and immodium, which helped. Koko, our hotel manager, kept me supplied with ice packs until the fever broke. What a sweetie.

Took a 6-hour bus to Mandalay and then last minute squeezed into an over-loaded cab to the hotel that some snotty Belgians from the bus had already hailed just to piss them off. Met a nice couple, Cindy and Johan from Holland , at the hotel. The four of us shared a cab the next day and went to 2,000-year old Mahamuni Paya. So much votary (paper thin gold) has been placed on the Buddha that it's entirely covered by a six-inch thick layer of gold. Saw gold pounders and stone carvers at work. Checked out Amarapura to walk the world's longest teak foot bridge and watch monks and commuters cross over Taungthaman Lake. Went to Inwa by longboat and rented a horse cart to view the temples. Climbed to the top of 760 ft. Mandalay Hill, which took about 45 minutes of barefoot climbing, but which provided an amazing view of surrounding temples. Missed Cindy and Johan as they left early the next morning but it was so nice sharing two days with them. Gathered a lot of valuable information from them as they've been everywhere!

Took a shared, crowded taxi the three hours to Pyin Oo Lwin, a quaint mountain town at 4500 ft. founded by the British in 1896 to escape the heat of Mandalay. Cheap rooms were hard to find so we splurged on a $25 room with HBO, A/C, and its own western-style (no squat toilet) bathroom. Jeff left the next day for Bago for a 10-day meditation. I wanted to go, but couldn't commit to that long as my flight was sooner than his. Ran into Ben from the hotel in Pyay just as I was saying goodbye to Jeff. Nice guy, 19, from San Francisco, just finishing a gap year before starting college in NYC. Great sense of humor, we laughed a lot. We hung out the next day at Kandawgwi Gardens- a botanical garden with tranquil lakes and lots of wildlife. Came upon a big buck deer only ten feet from us; it just stared at us and continued eating. I've never been so close to a wild animal that big.

Took the 6-hour train to Hsipaw with Ben. Beautiful scenery along the way. Slowed to a creaky crawl across a high bridge spanning the Gokteik Viaduct. A bit scary as the bridge was built in 1901 and the train was another ancient "rocker." Found a decent guesthouse. Hired a guide, Chris, through our guesthouse and took an 8-mile day hike through beautiful lush meadows to waterfalls and rock pools. While there, we met a Baptist minister, his son, and their friend from Yangon. We swam for a while and hiked back to the minister's church/home where his wife prepared a wonderful meal of rice, curried fish, shredded pork, marinated tomatoes, noodle soup, dumplings, and watermelon. They were so sweet and hospitable. Hiked down to the Dokhtawady River, stopping along the way at a monastery, and watched some water buffalo soaking in the river. They were very curious about us and came fairly close but we kept our distance as we suspected they could be temperamental (and they have very large horns).

Ben took off on a 3-day trek to visit local villages, so I headed back to Yangon alone. The 15-hour night bus ride was freezing as usual even though I was bundled up in arcticwear and wrapped in two bus blankets. I wonder what the drivers think when they see all of their passengers wearing coats, hats, gloves, and blankets over their heads in the middle of summer? Halfway there the woman next to me brought her eight-year-old son to sit crunched between us. I offered to trade places with him (in sign language) but she didn't show me where his seat was and I didn't realize he never had a seat and had been sitting on his father's lap behind us until it was too late. She apparently thought I meant that I didn't care if he sat with us. He made himself at home between us and offered me a pack of sunflower seeds...great trade...a tablespoon of seeds in exchange for the entire left half of my body being sat on by a 50-lb. kid and eventually going numb. Got off at the last toilet stop before Yangon, a huge, gaudy, florescent, monstrosity of a complex in the middle of nowhere called "Pioneer Food Park." 20 people were at the main entrance yelling instructions all at once where to go to pee, eat, shop, wash, smoke, etc. at the herd of people getting off of each bus. Used the toilet quickly and went to stand near an air vent in the ground shooting out warm air, trying to thaw out, not more than 25 ft. from the bus door. People started getting on the bus but I mistakenly thought I was still standing among some of my bus mates, so I wasn't too concerned. It started to back up a bit, but I thought he was repositioning to make room for other buses. Just as I started to make my way to the door, the driver slammed it and gunned it out of the parking lot! No shout to get on, flash of lights, honking horn, which is what drivers generally do and what my driver had done on all previous stops. I ran yelling and waving after him like an idiot but he was hauling ass. I swear he left me on purpose, possibly, it occured to me later, because of the "it's freezing in here" gesture I had made as I got off. Bus drivers, in every country I've been to so far (with the exception of Australia and they're just sarcastic) are a surly, macho bunch of a******s. I was seriously scared and plenty pissed off at the same time. What the hell? The woman next to me said nothing about me being missing? Probably glad her son had his own seat now! No one said anything to the driver? They had to have seen me as I was approaching the bus, plus no one gets off at Pioneer Food Park as it's not a terminal to switch buses. Headcounts are nonexistant in Myanmar and I gather that drivers really don't care if everyone is on the bus or not!

Some helpful parking lot attendants who spoke no English but did recognize "Yangon," found me another bus going there. I paid the driver 5000 kyat and two kind men gave up their seat up front so I could sit behind the driver. The two men, who spoke a bit of English, checked my ticket and assured me that my bus/pack would be found at the Yangon bus station. I spent the next three freezing hours trying to keep warm, worrying if I would ever see my pack again (I had my daypack with all of my valuables with me), and wondering if it's safe for the driver of a huge double-decker bus on dark, potholed, busy, two-laned highways to drive with no shoes. Arrived at the squalid bus depot, that resembled a dirty shantytown with hundreds of buses, at 6:00 am. The nice man on my bus found me an official-looking guy in a uniform, who in turn, found me a kid on a bike who told me to hop on the back. He biked me at least half a mile across the depot and deposited me at the office of my bus company. Thank goodness I still had my ticket stub, as there are hundreds of bus companies. No bus, no driver but my pack was sitting in a corner. Took a taxi to Chan Myaye Guesthouse, my old standby, and was able to eat breakfast and check in early. Took a shower and slept fitfully the rest of the day and night. Didn't leave Chan Myaye for two days until my flight back to Bangkok. Ordered food in, read, and watched TV for the remainder.

Myanmar wasn't easy and it was my biggest challenge so far. It was a frustrating country of multiple daily power outages, painfully slow internet service, rough and dirty modes of transport, serious language barriers, no cell phone, ATM, or credit card services, and the unmistakable ever-present feeling of the watchful eye of the Burmese government. But it was also a land of graceful, unspoiled beauty and the most patient, helpful, sweet, shy, and strikingly handsome people I have ever met. The one common denominator that they all seemed to share at this particular moment in Burmese history is a renewed, if still a bit cautious, hopefullness.

Foods I've been craving

3-inch thick pastrami on rye with brown mustard and a kosher dill pickle - a reuben sandwich would work also

Really good chocolate - Swiss or Belgian would suffice

Trader Joe's Greek honey yogurt with granola on top

Banana split with gobs of hot fudge and nuts

Double Double with a chocolate shake

Footlong Hebrew National hot dog with mustard, ketchup, relish, onions

Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey

Travel Tips

Fruit makes a bad travel snack unless you eat it immediately. It weighs too much (even dried fruit) and bad things happen if you forget about it. Better to stick with lightweight foods such as cookies, chips, seeds/grains.

When aggressive souvenir sellers, who have heard every excuse possible not to buy their wares won't leave you alone, the simple solution (which took me forever to figure out) is to make direct eye contact with them and a firm "no" - very effective.

Never leave anything on busses even for short toilet breaks, the bus is locked, or the driver assures you it's safe. Lost my trusty neck pillow on the Yangon-bound bus.

Q-Tips and meds deteriorate apparently. Meds become powder/crumbly if kept in zip-lock bags and Q-Tips become loose/unravelled at the ends poking one sharply in the ear. Ouch!

Travel towels can be used as blankets when sleeping in freezing dorms by putting them inside one's sleep sheet. They offer an instant layer of warmth due to being synthetic. Large or extra large sizes are best.

Eating Alone

I'm not good at eating alone in restaurants, never have been. Some people, I've noticed, really don't seem to mind it at all. Bringing a book helps a little but I usually have a tough time concentrating as I'm sure people are thinking either "boy am i glad I have someone to eat with" or "poor thing, bummer she doesn't have anyone to eat with". I usually gobble down my food as quickly as possible and split. Occasionally, I'll try and sit next to a silent, bored-looking couple in hopes that they'll either take pity on me or think that I may potentially liven up their eating experience by inviting me to join them, but they never do. Of course I've only asked a solo eater to join me a couple of times so there... I will make an effort in the future though.