12/03/2014

Got picked up by minibus with a load of other tourists. Got my boarding pass with Air Asia which was printed on a receipt piece of paper that you'd get from a shop lol. Arrived in Yangon and bought some local currency with my dollar. Walked out of the airport and found a local bus stand, got the bus in for 200k when the taxi was quoted at 7000k. Now that's one hell of a saving! Got off and was really impressed. There was a massive white colonial style building, a pristine park which massive spire monument in the middle with an impressive water fountains which shot up into the air and a modern office building sat just next to it. There was some American lady doing a documentary on the side of the street too. Another thing I noticed was that all the women, and some of the blokes slap this thick paste on their face which is cream in colour. It's what the locals use as sun screen which is also meant to be good for the skin, but it also has a beauty thing about it.

Found my guesthouse which was really nice. It had an awesome air conditioned attic dorm which was full of character, free wifi and breakfast for $10. Got the best street food I've ever tasted for $1. On the night I got some street food and got talking to a local lad called Khoto, 23. He was a canny lad and spoke good English, he took me to a local chai place after and paid. He agreed to show me around his village tomorrow and since I had nothing to do I agreed. I'd heard this from many travellers and it was common for locals to be super hospitable and invite you into their homes as they country only opened its doors to tourists in 2010.

13/03/2014

Met Khoto at 7:30am and low behold he was there at the moment waiting, this time with his father who had come to meet me. He had brought me two bananas for breakfast and a bottle of water. We took the ferry across the river and Khoto rented a motor for us to explore. We went to a local market which was super local and you'd never have known it was there. This place sold every. We walked through the meat section and man did it stink, absolutely repugnant. We got some food before going to a few monasteries and seen a massive Buddha, where he told me lots about Buddhism, before taking me to his house where his folks had made the biggest slap up meal for me known to man, and they kept just loading the food on. There was even an awesome desert. Khoto then starting talking to me about how his roof always leaks in the monsoon season and asked if I would like to make a donation to repair it. The second I heard this knew I'd booked a one way ticket to scam central. I offered some money but he said it was too little and that it was ok. He then said we were had the motorbike for the day was going to $30. When he said this I absolutely freaked and couldn't believe it. I knew it was all dodge and it would never be that much at all, and maybe the motorbike wasn't even rented at all, they just parked it next to the shop. I settled on $20 and we went back to the jetty. Where somehow again his dad had beat us to it, so god knows how he got there! We didn't even need to rent one in the first place. Khoto talked the hind legs off a donkey but now was deadly silent and when we boarded the ferry he walked off upstairs, I followed and when we got off again him and his dad didn't say a word and just walked off. They eventually walked into a bank and that was no, no bye or nothing. What a w***er ey!!! They'd probs go looking about Yangon again to find someone else to replay the whole stunt on. Was kind of gutted but I still had an awesome day and seen some mint stuff, I guess it was only $20 but its still never a nice feeling considering I hate spending money.

14/03/2014

Wrote blogg all day.

15/03/2014

Read my book and waited for Jonas and his brother Jannik to arrive. Jannik had massive dreaslocks and had a bulls ring in his nose with really pale skin. The guy was an ex vegan and both were veggies. We looked around for some food to eat and passed millions of street vendors. It was really difficult as they were being really picky as to what to eat. Checked into a cheaper dorm on the night for only $4. A real weird dorm which had loads of wood and boxes in the corner and had a tiny arch as a door which you needed to half yourselves in height to get through. There I met a really intelligent Danish girl and an Israeli guy. She had a massive full watermelon for 100k which is about 6p which we all tucked into and shared whilst chatting about loads of stuff.

16/03/2014

Visited the giant golden Pagoda with the lads. Unfortunately we couldn't sneak in and had to pay the entrance fee. However was well worth the money, as it was truly spectacular. We went on the evening meaning the light was perfect, and the thing glowed. We returned and had a few beers on the night outside the guesthouse, 30p for a beer, not bad! Whilst chatting about couch surfing a Finnish guy eavesdropped and joined in said he was once travelling with a girl who had couchsurfed solo in AFGHANISTAN! Now that is travelling!!!!!!! We seen some rats as we drank, honestly like small dogs with bald tails. They were so fat.

17/03/2014

Got a local bus to the station, where the tickets were no cheaper, there was apparently no 'local way' of getting there and we stumped up $10 in a nice aircon bus to get to Mandalay. The bus had neck cushions, blankets free water and even a tooth brush and tooth paste for you in the back of the seat.