Yangon was about 2 hours away in total. First on a small bus and then the rest of the journey was by taxi. I had heard of a few good hostels there but decided to put myself in a hotel to continue relaxing/recovering (as you can tell, the violin was playing constantly in my head, I was feeling very sorry for myself!!). Yangon is like Mandalay in that it's mapped out in a grid like system so easy to navigate. I was just north of Twante canal which connects with the...

I left Inle lake for Bago with the intention of staying a night there before moving to SW Myanmar, then to the SE before hitting Yangon for 3 nights at the end. That was where my flight was from back to Bangkok so that made sense. Bago took about 11 hours to transit to, in a VIP bus. I'd agreed to pay a few dollars extra for this VIP privilege and the lady who sold it to me promised plug sockets (so I could watch DVDs) and I'm sure a meal was also mentioned... ...

Kalaw to Inle Lake (Trek) The bus journey that took us from Bagan to Kalaw was pretty emotional. Not only was I incredibly hungover after the party at the pogoda, I'd had minimal sleep and the route the bus took consisted of small winding roads, up into the mountains. I was genuinely looking around to see if we had equal weight on each side of the bus because I really don't think it would have taken much to tip it over the edge. The driver was clearly a former R...

Bagan is about 180km from Mandalay and we all got a bus down there around lunchtime, arriving there about 4 hours later. It dates back to the 9th century but was raided by those bloody Mongols in the 13th century. Since then the population decreased until it was just basically a village living amongst all the temples. That was up until the 90's when all locals were forced to move to "New Bagan" to ensure that it remained a magnet for tourists and thus a mon...

I arrived just after lunch on Saturday the 6th. My short time in Bangkok allowed me get a wedge of pristine brand new dollars, which is only what the locals will accept, ready for the next 3 weeks or so over here. I read horror stories prior to arriving of ATMs not taking western cards so ensured I was prepared. I had also got an "evisa" and that worked a treat, straight through immigration with no issues. I then tried an ATM to get a little local currency and ...