12th of April, Yangon

Final day of my Myanmar visit. So sad to leave, especially when you have a look at the temperature back home. When I got up, it showed -6 in Stockholm.

I’m very pleased with the hotel, I can definitely recommend it (Amata Resort & Spa). Clean, nice staff, good food and of course the best thing, located by the beach. Barbara, the supervisor was not the laughing type, but she sure had everything under control:-)

Anyway, after checkout I was taken to the airport for a flight to Yangon. There I was met up by the guide and a driver. This time with a minibus with seats for at least 10 persons. But now I’m used to being alone in huge transportation vehicles!

First, we went to the amazing Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon. It’s huge! 100 meters high and with a circumference of 400 meters. It was under renovation as it is every 5th year. Wind and rain are not being kind to the gold-plated pagoda. The whole area surrounding the pagoda is beautiful, and I think a visit to Myanmar must include a visit to this place. Otherwise Yangon is a big city (6 million inhabitants), and is similar to many other big cities in Asia.

Then we continued to China town and then to the city center. It’s very visible that the Myanmar once was a colony in the British Empire, a lot of the buildings are very English looking. One funny observation, even though the British ruled until 1948, they drive on the right side of the road, but a majority of the cars have the steering wheel on the right side. The reason for that is that most cars are bought second hand from Japan.

We tried to visit a market place but it was almost closed down completely. The Myanmar New Year is starting this weekend, and it lasts for five days, and most people are travelling home to celebrate and therefore everything closes down a bit earlier than normally.

Back to the airport to check in for my flight to Bangkok. I had checked in online, as usual and the check in took only a couple of minutes. But the line for the those who hadn’t checked in online was really long. I can’t understand why people don’t check in online, but I don’t mind, makes my check in much faster. Got on the plane and ended up in Bangkok for the second time this trip. Have booked a room in a hotel really close to the airport, and tomorrow the shuttle bus leaves at 05.45!

Thank you for following me on this trip, and my final words are: If you have a chance, go to Myanmar, and if you do, don’t miss out going to Bagan! That was the highlight of my trip

11th of April, Ngapali

My final day in Ngapali. It’s a bit sad, I really enjoyed staying here. Very calm and quiet and also very friendly people. I’ve never felt worried, it seems people here are keen to keep the few tourists feel welcome.

I took a long walk today, all the way to the other end of the beach. My guess is that it’s about 4 kilometers long.

I know it’s a bit cumbersome to get here, but if you’re planning to go to Thailand, try Myanmar and Ngapali instead. It will cost you half a day both ways, but it’s worth it. You will enjoy the way Phuket was 30 years ago (I was actually there in 1989).

It didn’t feel okay to walk up from the beach the last time, knowing that I have to wait at least two months before I’m able to enjoy a swim in the sea back home. And then we still are talking 10-15 degrees lower water temperature.

Tonight I’ll enjoy Happy Hour in the bar, since it’s my last evening in Myanmar. Nope, not planning to get drunk.

Tomorrow I will fly to Yangon for a quick tour of the city before I fly back to Bangkok in the evening. I have booked a hotel just by the airport, since my Saturday flight is at 09.05 in the morning. My last post on my Myanmar blog will obviously be tomorrow.

As some of you know, this was a very unusual trip for me. Everything pre-booked and guided tours almost every day. But it has worked out really well, and I’m very pleased with the travel agent that arranged everything (www.myanmartravel.com) and with the agent that has been so helpful all the way, Hue Nguyen.

9th of April, Ngapali

I started to have a strange feeling in my stomach, but nothing really seriously bad. But the appetite was gone. Pickup at the hotel at 08.15 for a short drive to the airport and as always a lot of help from my guide. I got checked in and had to wait an hour for boarding. On the first leg of the flight, we were 5 passengers, but after a stop the number grew to maybe 15. The flight went well, and honestly speaking, flying with smaller and not so technically advanced airplanes feels rather comforting these days. At least the pilot is in full control.

As expected, someone was waiting for me at the airport and I was taken to the hotel. A very nice hotel, situated just by the shore of Ngapali beach. From what I understand, the name Ngapali was given by an Italian, and the pronunciation is the same as for Napoli (Naples). I got a room really close to the beach, with a “partial” sea view, very nice!

I soon found my way down to the beach, with a towel and a book! The water was warm (probably +30 degrees), but with waves coming in all the time the water was not that clear closest to the beach. I had a lunch (fried rice with Ngapali seafood) but I wasn’t able to finish the meal, my tummy was not in his best mood. Some more sunbathing and some time to relax in the room before dinner. Once again I found myself the only guest in a huge restaurant. The food was good, but for the first time I wasn’t able to finish a bottle of beer. So back to my room and then straight to bed. Today I feel a bit better, so it’s going in the right direction. But still, coffee is not top of mind. I decided to do nothing during my visit here, not go for any boat trips etc. From what I understand there are nice beaches to go to, snorkeling and so on, but no. I’ve got two more books to read, that will be my focus! Took some pictures, not the best ones I’ve taken, but at least it shows what it looks like here.

8th of April, Bagan

Today was the day that I would be able to drive myself! Time for Electric scooter! Works really nice, does some 35 km/h.

First stop however was to buy a cap, forgot to bring one from home. Then we had several stops at temples and scenic places (and there are a lot of them here). Then we went to the Ananda temple. By far the finest and most well-kept temple of Bagan. Two of the Buddhas are from 11th century. This temple has recently been renovated, and when cleaning white paint inside they found even more paintings, most of the describing the life of Buddha.

Lunch at a local restaurant, and then time for a rest by the pool! Much appreciated!

At 16.00 we were off again with our E-scooters, and this time I went on a horse and cart ride. First, I thought it was a bit touristic, but I realized soon that many of the places would have been impossible to get to by scooter. We were going through deep soft sand. I was taken to some really good photo shoot places, so it was definitely worth it. And the driver could speak English and that made the ride even better.

Finally, we drove to a little hill in the fields to watch the sunset. It was a bit cloudy, but finally the sun broke through the clouds, at least for a little while.

Tomorrow morning, I leave Bagan for the coast. But I must say, Bagan is probably the most astonishing place I’ve ever been to. It’s unbelievable how many temples and pagodas there are here. And imagine, the people used the brick to build temples, but they themselves lived in houses made of bamboo. And most of them still do. So I really recommend a visit to Myanmar, and especially Bagan.

7th of April Bagan

A really good breakfast, and then off at 9 from the hotel. First we went to the Nyang U Market. A very special feeling, crowded with people and I was the only non Asian person. Here you can buy all the food you need. Farmers and fishermen comes here every morning to sell their products. Not sure the healt authority in Sweden would approve of the way the fish and the meat is handled. But when it comes to vegetables and fruit, I wouldn’t mind having the same market (and same prices) in Stockholm. We also found a tailor, I needed to shorten my new Fjällräven trousers. Took 20 minutes and the cost was about 70 Eurocent!

We then took off to the Shwezigon Pagoda. Once again an amazing Pagoda, this one totally covered with gold. I had a superb lunch in a restaurant, very touristic but still extremely good food and very reasonable prices. It was me and 50 Chinese tourists. After the lunch, I was dropped off at the hotel for a couple of hours of rest (by the pool)!

At 16.00 we went to Bagan House, a genuine Bagan Lacquer factory. These items are made from a foundation of either bamboo or teak wood. The bamboo is used to make round objects. All material used is coming from nature. As the boring tourist I am, I didn’t buy anything, but I really liked the look of some of the items they sold.

Then we went to the area where there are pagodas and temples everywhere. There are more than 2.200 of them in this area. All of them were once plastered, but wind and rain has taken all that away, so now it’s only brick buildings. For those who wonders, a Pagoda is solid with no open space inside, a temple has open space inside. In most of the temples there are four Buddha statues facing East, West, South and North.

Now we drove down to the shores of the Irrawaddy River and took a boat (me alone on a big boat again:-)) Then we awaited the sunset, that is supposed to be something special here (or it’s just a tourist trap). It was rather nice, so some if the pictures are shown below.

Then it was time to drive back to the hotel, and to have a dinner (all alone again) in the restaurant. Tomorrow the sightseeing will be done by Electric scooter. The guide was a bit worried and asked if I’ve driven a scooter before. Had to show him a picture of my bike. No worries any more:-)

6th of April, part two

Day started good, with a breakfast on the roof top restaurant (10th floor). At 9 I was picked up and we went down to the Irrawaddy River where a boat was waiting for us. My guess is that the boat easily could have taken on like 20 passengers, but now I was the only one. The trip on the river took about an hour, and then we ended up in Mingun. In Mingun there is a ruin that are the remains of a massive construction project begun by King Bodawpaya in 1790 which was intentionally left unfinished. Earthquakes and snakes has closed down the possibility to go to the top. Then we had a visit to the Mingun Bell that used to be the largest ringing bell until 2000 when a bigger bell was was constructed in China. The bell weighs 90 ton…

Then a visit to the Hsinbyume temple, recently repainted, so it’s really shining white.

Finally a boat trip back to Mandalay, this time 10 minutes quicker due to the current in the river.

Mandalay Palace was next stop and yet many more fantastic buildings. After that, a visit to Mahamuni Buddha Temple. According to the guide, this Buddha statue is actually alive, since Buddha himself transferred some of his power to this statue. Pilgrims coming here buy and attach golden leaves and the Buddha is gradually growing in size. Only the face remain as it was originally. On the way to the airport, we stopped by a temple build with Jade. Quite a difference to all the golden temples and pagodas so far.

A lunch at the airport (rather late) and then time for checkin. It was a very very long time ago since I had a manually written boardingcard, a luggage tag attached with a rubber band, and then a sticker to put on my clothes that showed my destination. But everything worked out fine, a 25 minutes flight from Mandalay to Bagan and I was picked up at the airport. Never before have I gotten my luggage carried manually from the plane and delivered to me. But that was the way it worked here in Bagan. After a 20 minutes’ drive I arrived at my hotel. Room is really good and the dinner was perfect. Only thing was that I was the only dinner guest at this large hotel. Myanmar is suffering from the conflicts in the country, that has significantly decreased the number of tourists coming here.

Soon time to go to bed, tour start at 09.00 tomorrow morning!

6th of April, Mandalay

Today I’ll go on a boattrip to Mingun, famed for its huge and incomplete Pahtodawgyi Pagoda, Mingun Bell the 90 tons ringing bell and the
white temple Hsinbyume. Then in the afternoon, I’ll visit Mandalay Palace and Shwenandaw Monastery before I head out to the airport

5th of April, Mandalay

A one-and-a-half hour flight from Bangkok to Mandalay with Bangkok Airways. Warm lunch served and beer and wine. Imagine that in Europe in monkey class:-)

No problems at immigration and soon I had passed customs. Outside, my guide Mr Win Zaw was waiting for me. I bought a sim card with 30 GB of data for 3 Euro, and also withdraw some money from an ATM. Did a withdrawal of 150.000 Kyot, equivalent of 100 Euro. Temperature was around 38 degrees, but the limousine had a good AC. First we went to Inwa, situated on the banks of the Irrawaddy River. Once a royal capital, but now a quiet rural oasis. After a short boat trip we took a horse cart to get around. First we went to a teak wood monastery, and then the first brick monastery Maha Aungmyay Bonzan Kyaung. Once completing the visit to Inwa, we went by car to the Mahagandayon monastery. Located in Amarapura, 11 kilometers far from south of Mandalay city, Mahagandayon Monastery is the most prominent monastic college in Myanmar. Here is the accommodation of thousands of monks to study Buddhism within and without Myanmar. Then my trip continued to Ubein Wodden Bridge, the longest teakwood bridge of its type. I didn’t have the patience to wait for the sunset (supposed to be special there), but maybe next time….

Then we went to the hotel, located in the city of Mandalay. Quite a contrast to the city of Bangkok, quite similar to Phnom Penh. I asked the guide for a suggestion of an Myanmar restaurant. He arranged for a taxi from the hotel to the restaurant MinGaLaBar, that serves Myanmar food. It was a 20 minutes drive, and the taxi waited outside of the restaurant and then drove me back home. Total cost 9 Euro!

The dinner was fantastic. I ordered a starter (Fried tofu with a spicy peanut sauce) and a main course. Included was also a a number of dishes and a soup before the main course. Then some kind of dessert was also included. To drink I got a Mandalay (beer). And when the bill came, the total cost was 7 Euro including everything! If you are passing by Mandalay, please try out this restaurant!!

Tomorrow I’ll will take a boat to Mingun with a famous pagoda and then a visit to Mandalay Palace and finally fly off to Bagan

Upcoming plans for Myanmar

So finally, on my way. Currently at the airport in Bangkok waiting for my flight to Mandalay. My plan for my visit to Myanmar is as follows:

• Mandalay for 1,5 day
• Bagan for 2,5 days
• Ngapali for 2,5 days
• Yangon for 1 day

Then I fly back to Bangkok (where I stored all unnecessary luggage) before I fly back to Sweden on the 13th of April.

This trip is pretty unusual for me, I have prebooked everything (guides, driver, hotels etc). My view was that in a country that is not very modern, with limited internet access etc, it might be good to have everything sorted out beforehand. Cost more but it might be worth it. I’ll give a verdict once the trip is over.

More to come….