The cheap flights on offer dictated the start and end dates of our trip to Myanmar (Burma). So, instead of our usual leisurely pace it would be a fast paced three week whistlestop tour. We had heard so many issues about travel here that we thought it would be tough. The visas can now be done online, so no problems there, our stook about 4 minutes! You don't need dollars and there is no longer a backstreet system of currency exchange. There are ATMs at the airport and in the main tourist towns that dispense Kyat (chiat), the local currency. We turned up in Yangon, formerly Rangoon, with a loose plan of our three week tour but only our first hotel booked.This time we have included some GPS maps that show where Paul took photos in each of the places we visited.
Day 1 We arrived at night and got a taxi to the hotel. Yangon is known for having honest taxi drivers and we were certainly given a fair price for our hour long drive to downtown. The ride took us past huge ads for Samsung and Coke, so we were worried about just how affected by the west Myanmar had already become. The city was also, however, lit by golden stupas peeping out in all directions from the urban skyline. Our hotel Bo Myat Tun was clean and comfortable and with breakfast was £17.34 per night, which as you know from some of our bargains is a bit more than usual.Staff, room and breakfast were all dandy.
Day 2 With only three nights in Yangon we had to pack it all in. We did a self-walking tour suggested in our Lonely Planet guide. The tour takes you around the historic British built port buildings and through some interesting alleys. We walked down a market street and Paul was in his element with people shots. Ladies wore Thanaka, a yellowish-white cosmetic paste made from ground bark on their faces to protect them from the sun, most men were dressed in sarongs. There was begging, alms collecting and an amazing array of market items being sold - nothing remotely western! The decaying street buildings reminded us of Havana. The port buildings were reminiscent of Liverpool's maritime buildings, so it was a home from home ... er ... almost. Walking down 37th street brought us back to the east, bookstores and teahouses lined the road. We stopped at a teahouse and sat on tiny plastic chairs and used our guide book to order 2 cho bawq - tea with condensed milk. They put plates of samosas and other delights on the table - a bit like Sri Lanka. It would be rude not to! 600 kyat 40p for 4 teas and 4 samosas. We then walked to a nearby park for better views of the surrounding buildings and a nearby golden stupa Sule Paya set on a roundabout lined around the circumference with shops. We then headed towards the train station to make some enquiries about our next destination. On next with a huge walk to Shwedagon Paya, the must see gilded stupa. We popped into a free temple across the road with an amazing tree like design inside. We then crossed the bridge to gain entry to Shwedagon Paya. It was shoes off and $9 each or 8000 kyat to enter - which is a liberty! My only complaint about Myanmar is that they insist you take your shoes and socks off and walk on the filthiest floors imaginable. The floor tiles were burning hot with the sun too! To our horror and Paul's utter disappointment, the stupa or sedi was covered with bamboo scaffolding and cloth and renovation work was under way underneath. The complex was sprawling and we were able to explore lots of other shrines, though. One where worshippers tipped water over a Buddha statue, washing it for good luck - Buddha would turn on his funeral pyre I'm sure. We were offered wet towels to wash our dirty feet on the way out. See photos of this amazing day.
Day 3 was a trip on the Yangon circle line. Doesn't sound that exciting - stuck on a train for 3 hours or more... But this is a people-watching-delight of a train ride. The cost 100 kyat each, 7p, yes 7p for a 32 mile, 3 hour ride round the outskirts of Yangon. Bare wooden boarded floors and padded benches on each side of the carriage, windows were fully open to let in the breeze. We just sat and watched as the carriage filled with colour. There was much banter on board and a constant stream of food and drink sellers piled on and off along the way. The train chugs and sways along warped train tracks, at speed it often feels like the sway has got out of control and it's going to tip over. We passed shacks and villages and track side markets. When it reached a market stop near the top of the loop all hell broke loose! Suddenly bags of veg, herbs and fruits came flying through the windows, passengers scrambled for every conceivable space. Larger bags were being dragged through the doors. After about 30 seconds the carriage was full of produce and people. If you wanted to get off you would have to climb over the sacks. Amazing sight! Clearly it is a race before the train sets off again. Paul snapped away at the melee and I caught a couple of videos. 15 stations later and the produce was back out of the windows and doors at double speed and the floor was strewn with debris and veg juice - eeew! What a crazy train journey - such fun. We ended the day in a new Indian restaurant mmm.. butter chicken and veg jalfrezi.
Day 4 We took a cheap taxi to get an early bus from the northern bus station. The bus workers were great carrying our bags for us to the bus and directing us as to where to go and what to do. It was a comfortable air con bus with reclining seats. 4800 kyat each (£3.20) but it was a 5 hour, 288km journey. Our next destination was to a small town called Taungoo a half way stop on the way to Mandalay. The journey was mainly along a good highway with views across flat plains of rice fields. We saw poor towns along the way and farming with oxen. The bus staff asked us where we were staying and dropped us off at the end of our lane - great service!
Myanmar beauty guesthouse gave us a basic bungalow overlooking the fields. We headed back out to the highway to look for a restaurant, not cheap! That night there was a wedding in the nearby rural village pumping out techno until 12am then resuming at 4.30am it was incredibly loud, there was no way we could have slept through it even with our earplugs in.
Day 5 Breakfast was a showcase of around 15 plates of Myanmar specialities, samosas, fruit, rice cake dishes of every variety. We were also given unlimited pancakes and cups of tea. Nice start to the day! The guesthouse owner Dr Chan Aye also did tours to long neck villages and to the elephant working camps, where captured elephants work for four hours each day shifting teak wood. It was a hot dusty walk along the main road into Taungoo town. We checked on booking tickets at the railway station. We were escorted to the stationmaster's office who took down our details and wrote them in a book. He then said we just need to turn up on the day and buy the tickets. We went for a wander around the town, we were stopped constantly by people saying hello or 'Mingalaba'. We also posed for photos and Paul's height was a source of amusement for some women that we met. We made two stops at a coffee shop and at a tea shop - not the same samosas like in Yangon though. People watching was great from the Chinese teahouse, Paul took some great reportage shots. We then did a bit of shopping Paul bought a new hat and I bought a new rucksack. In the whole town there were perhaps one or two other tourists. We then visited the market and sat at a tiny local stall to eat samosas, while the stall owner took photos of us hi swife adeptly made dishes in bowls. We then headed out of town across the river, where we had read that there was a checkpoint that tourists cannot pass. At the end of the river bridge was the checkpoint hut, it was manned so we turned back. Although Myanmar is now open to tourism there are restrictions placed on some areas, especially the tribal regions. This night's sleep was better, thankfully.
Day 6 We had been advised to visit the rural village across the field from our guesthouse (where the wedding had been). We trundled across the field and were greeted almost at every doorway of the village with a 'Mingalaba' (hello). Kids posed for photos and three young Buddhist monks accompanied us on our walk. We spotted two women sitting on their front porch making cigars - see photos. The village was mainly wooden stilted huts but with an occasional concrete building each with their own cattle, pigs and chickens. We also watched as a local woman weighed the morning's catch of fish from the nearby river. There were prawns and many different types of fish. The town then opened out into veg and rice fields and some lovely rural working scenes. There were also meadows of flowers. The walk then looped back into Taungoo where we looked in on some of the town's temples.
Day 7 Now a piece by Paul about the mysterious hill-station of Than Daung Gyi..
I researched any unusual places we could drop-in on in the Taungoo area. One such place was Than Daung Gyi, a disused Victorian 'hill-station' at around elevation 1470m. The most recent report I read (Myanmar Times Sept 2013) effectively said it was a no-no, as the journalist had serious trouble most notably at 'checkpoints' which appear at strategic locations throughout Myanmar usually manned by Army or local 'police'. I put it to the back of my mind. That was until we met Dr. Chan Aye (joint owner of the Myanmar Beauty GH). Chan had photos of the area on the restaurant walls and we chatted about some improvement he could make to generate more revenue and some ideas about 'post-processing' his photos. He was most interested and receptive and asked if I had heard of Than Daung Gyi. I told him I had and had considered going there but it was too risky. He then surprised me by offering to take us the next day at 03.30am to see the sunrise there! I was gob-smacked. I told him we probably would and would confirm later, he agreed. He also said it would be 'his treat' as he had visited during the day but always wanted to do a sunrise photo shoot. We confimed later that day and he arranged copies of our passports/visas for any 'checkpoints'. We were also being joined by 2 journalists from Spain, on holiday in Myanmar. Next morning at 03.30 we set off with Dr Chan Aye, our 2 journalists and 3 of his staff in the doctor's minivan. It was dark and cool and everyone was wrapped up - except me - in just my T-shirt. We weaved our way through Taungoo and up past the villages until we reached the 1st checkpoint. It was thankfully unmanned!We weaved our way higher up into the hills. It was quiet on the roads, but many people and businesses were setting up for the day. It took us around 1hr 15m to get there, without incident or visa checks. We could see a buddha lit up on one hill and a giant neon (christian) cross on the highest hill. Battle of the faiths! We parked up and set off up a plethora of dark steps leading up to the aforementioned neon cross, which took another 10 minutes. It was cool at 05.00am at 1470m and still dark. We heard chanting and were surprised when around 8 locals exited the hill-top prayer room and wished us a happy day, in English, of course! We milled around as the half-light ushered the day in and Dr Chan Eye set up his Canon kit. I grabbed my D300 and tooks some F1.8 35mm shots and then set it to 3xHDR on my 16-300mm Tamron to give me some leeway on passable shots. As the sun rose, we could see the mist inbetween the hills and the sun was just stuttering through the fairly thick, but slightly unbroken cloud on the horizon. I managed some passable HDR exposures and some other panoramic shots, regrettably the sun did not rise as hoped for. We could see the area now, few houses, tight, narrow valleys and folds of hills, very pleasant. Dr Chan Aye took a few portrait shots of his staff, too. Around 07.15 we headed down, I sneaked a few more unusual shots on the way. The hill-station had, we believe, been abandoned before it was finished and so did not have the history of, say, Shimla, in India, or other British stations. We set off back and I asked Dr Chan Aye to stop on several occasions to get some awesome valley shots as the sun peeped out fully and reflected off the valley mist. We weaved our way down-hill and back to Taungoo, having seen a lovely, if subdued, sunrise with our kind host Dr Chan Aye. It was yet another moment to savour and a 'first' in so many ways. I am sure we will see more of Than Daung Gyi and the many other hidden gems in this very friendly and mysterious country.
Back to Sheryl now ... After our early morning adventure it was time to take our train to Mandalay. We arrived at Taungoo Station (a rural concrete building) at 11am to catch the 12:20. We bought our upper class tickets for 5,300 kyat each (£3.53) for a 384km, 9 hour journey. A bit like the Yangon circle line train it chugged and swayed, but it was a great journey. We were in comfortable reclining seats and the windows were open to the cool breeze. We bought samosas and tea and coffee from the hop-on-hop-off sellers and watched the rural and town life pass by. Paul was snapping away the whole time. People came and said hello and introduced themselves and one guy gave us some homemade sweet cakes. An hour or so along and we passed Nay Pyi Taw - how many readers know that this is the capital of Myanmar. I certainly thought Yangon was the capital, but in 2005 the government decided to move the capital north and build it from scratch in the centre of the country. Some say it was a fear of invasion that prompted the move, others believe an astrologer gave the tip off, official reports state that Yangon was overdeveloped and was no longer a viable location for a capital. Perhaps, however, it is because it triggered the lucrative £4 billion building and development contracts going indirectly to dodgy officials and that the new location enables secret economic deals to take place away from the public eye. Anyway, a decade later and the result is a weird ghost town. eight lane highways lie empty, government workers are segregated into male, female and married couple residential blocks; they apparently had to move home with only a couple of days notice from Yangon. The town is organised into zones - residential, hotels, military secret bunkers etc. They have newly built pagodas, a zoo, conference centres and many 5 star hotels. As we passed it we saw a sprawling nothingness, a single motorbike buzzed along the otherwise empty 6 lane highway. Rumour also has it that after this year's general election the capital may be relocated again! Our journey continued on the railroad to Mandalay with mainly rural scenes and the occasional glimpse of real poverty and ramshackle villages. It was evening before we arrived in the concrete jungle that is now Manadalay.
Day 8 We were staying at Dreamland Guesthouse for $25 USD per night. They only had an en-suite for 3 of the 4 days, so we would have to move rooms to a shared bathroom affair. Breakfast vouchers were given to us for the cafe opposite, which gave us the chance to enjoy authentic Burmese breakfast dining. We were shoulder to shoulder with the locals. I had Shan noodles and Paul had a Roti. With only 3 full days in Mandalay, we hired a bicycle each, £1 a day, and cycled up to the Royal Palace. The entire site is 4 square miles in area, it is walled and surrounded by a moat. We entered the east gate and bought a $10, 5 day pass each to all of the Mandalay Heritage sites. We then cycled the remaining couple of kilometres inside the walls to the palace buildings. Along the way, there seemed to be army barracks and other residences, weird for a tourist attraction. Unfortunately it then started to pour down so we sought refuge in a teahouse near the palace. A few cups later and it started to cheer up and we headed in. Shoes off again, grubby floors again!! The complex is a 1990s reconstruction but it has been nicely done to resemble the original from the 1850s. The buildings are red lacquered timber and not dissimilar to the Forbidden city, Beijing or the Palace in Hue, Vietnam. The main bits of interest were a multi-tiered gilded pagoda, a helter skelter looking watch tower and the grand halls. One of the information signs said that the King had two servants constantly at hand to dispense water and betel nut - even the King was a Betel-head! Betel nut chewing is a really big thing in Myanmar, red toothed grins greet you everywhere.
Day 9 After spending most of the night on the toilet, I wasn't exactly in the best state to do some sightseeing. Today we would have to move to a room with a shared bathroom too. Shared bathroom, for those not in the know means 1 bathroom between anything up to 10 rooms.Paul had to go it alone and hire a bike for the day. He cycled south of the city through the backstreets of Mandalay, grabbing some people shots. He then cycled to the Taungthaman lake and popped into some temples along the way. Mandalay centre is a bit too developed but a short ride out has you reaching the Ayeyarwaddy river, where you are within easy reach of smaller, more traditional settlements. Everywhere there are temples, pagodas and stupas galore. There are also plenty of Buddhist monks and nuns to photograph. It was a mad 15 km cycle ride done in 3 hours with lots of stops, as Paul nips through junctions, traffic an ddown lanes like a local, clearly I normally slow him down.
Day 10 Our last full day in Mandalay and I was feeling better, so we hired a moped for $10 and headed to the three big tourist places south of town. Inwa, Sagaing and the U Bein bridge. First stop was the photogenic U Bein bridge; a curving teak footbridge that winds its way across Taungthaman lake. As it was the dry season the water level was so low that the land banks below the bridge were being used to plant vegetables. We stopped to watch the people action around, fishermen getting their boats ready, a group of guys playing a board game for money which involved throwing small shells the right way up to advance. Most tourists got out of their vans took a few shots of the bridge and then left. We walked across the bridge and enjoyed saying hello to the locals and Paul got some people and landscape shots. There were several shelters built along the bridge where we could stop in the shade and watch the food and souvernir sellers. Next we headed across the river an dits huge iron bridge, to Sagaing. Compared to Mandalay's flat landscape, Sagaing is built over many green hills. Each hill is dotted with shimmering white and gold stupas, statues and pagodas. There are long dragon staircases up to many of the pagodas. Essentially there are too many to visit, even if you were there for a week. We decided to survey the town for a bit, stop for a few samosas and cups of sweet tea, then try and find the highest ones with great views around. We drove up to several stupas and then spotted higher ones that we must get to. The views across the river and across Sagaing were lovely, the cool breezes on the hills were refreshing and literally no-one around!. Shoes off and dirty floors again though! Our next stop was Inwa. Inwa, once a Royal capital is now a rural area dotted with a few ruins. We took a small local ferry-boat across to it, where we were greeted by tens of horses and carts which take you 10kms around the area (or so we were told). We decided to walk it and stumbled on a quick shortcut along a path not churned up by the carts. We knew we were on the right track as one of the cart drivers warned us that it was closed. It led to Maha Aungmye Bonzan a royal monastery temple built in 1822 from brick covered with white stucco. It was an ornate four tiered structure. I decided to walk round and enjoy it from the outside and it was shoes off to walk in two inches of dirt. Nice photos by Paul of it. We also visited a newish temple next to it, then it was a short walk to the leaning tower of Inwa. Wrecked by earthquakes, this tower is all that remains of the Royal palace, you can no longer climb to the top as it looks ready to collapse. We apparently missed the atmospheric teak monastery which is also in Inwa, but that is the cost of being a cheapskate and not taking the horse and cart tour. We then raced back into town to stuff ourselves with pizza before heading to Mandalay hill to catch the sunset. Swarming with tourists we drove the bike up to near the top of the hill, thus avoiding the shoeless 1729 steps on the south side of the hill. Our combo ticket didn't cover this attraction, so it was $1, 1000 kyat each to enter. Shoes off and up the escalators to the hilltop temple complex for stunning views across Mandalay town, the river and hills beyond. Paul squeezed in to a space at the edge to take some photos, he was then chatted up by a french tourist who was taking a real shine to him. He eventually panicked and called me over to introduce me (rescue him). He's just asked me to point out that it was a female tourist. The sunset was a lovely end to our stay in Mandalay.