Not bad Myanmar, not bad at all

After a brief but stressful stint in Bangkok, I would finally travel to Myanmar. I first talked to visitors about this exotic destination some 6 years ago and have talked to many more since then. One thing what all those talks had in common was that I never heard any negative reviews of the country so I couldn’t wait to see it for myself. With the move to Bangkok I had vowed that I would visit my last two remaining unseen countries in South East Asia. The Philippines now off the list it was now time to board a plane to Myanmar.

I am very much a fan of the “no-plan” plan, some people really enjoy planning a trip before the go somewhere and say that this is half the fun of the trip. I am not such a person, I don’t like arranging and preparing things before I go somewhere. Myanmar however requires just that, if you want don’t want to get stuck somewhere with no money. A visa was easily acquired but the whole money thing gave me plenty of stress. I would have to withdraw Thai baht first and then convert that into brand new crisp dollars. So after thoughtful consideration I came up with a number in my head with what I hoped I’d be able to travel for 4 weeks without running out of money. Withdrawing the money turned out to be a bitch but this could be partially devoted to me being less than very intelligent at times. With the new dollars now in my possession I have the task of making sure the dollars don’t fold, crease or are otherwise corrupted for they would become worthless in Myanmar.

An early flight from Bangkok’s former number one airport Don Muang always makes me feel a little nostalgic and takes me back to when I first landed here in 2004. My flight left on time which was a nice surprise after having 6 delayed flights to/from and within the Philippines. Met some nice Canadians girls on the plane who were as poorly organised as I was which made me feel a little better.
The first surprise at the airport was an ATM that would accept international cards, so much for stressing about that. Having been told horror stories about hostel prices that would easily be $30 to $40 I was happy to find a hostel with a private room and two double beds for $10.

The trusty travel bible had suggested I go on a walking tour through Yangon I as a good follower I did just that. Yangon had many colonial buildings in different levels of decay but made for a nice city. There’s plenty of stupas / zedis / pagodas (all the same thing, it’s the big golden pylon) and other houses of worship: churches, mosques, Chinese temples, Hindu temples and a synagogue. I found it a very pleasant walk and was thoroughly enjoying sampling the street food snacks along the way. I was afraid of high prices but was delighted to find out it was quite cheap.

You are never far away from a pagoda but when in Yangon there’s one that the big daddy of them all; Shwedagon Paya. This pagoda is centrally located and can be seen from many places in the city, yet I had failed to see any of it so far. The book spoke highly of it and I was trying to keep my hopes down so not to be disappointed. After ascending the long stairway to the top I was blown away by the spectacle that is the Shwedagon Paya. The way it was glistening in the sun was simply awe inspiring, nice to have another travel moment where you’re immensely impressed by something which is supposed to do just that.

On the second day I continued paying homage to all the important pagodas and was already starting to get a little templed out. There was a giant reclining Buddha that would easily top wat pho for size. I also met up with three lovely Italian ladies and was happy to get some info about the north of the country. Myanmar is a lot more low key when it comes to travellers, where you can’t seem to get away from them in Thailand and other such countries I would be happy to see some fellow travellers here to get some info. The traveller type is also a bit different, not so much the party hard, sleep in and avoid culture at all costs but very curious people who want to find out what’s really going on this country (I shall have to do my best to fit in, ha ha). Through the ladies I met more people and we had a lovely typical Burmese dinner together followed by western cocktails in a western hotel.

A 6 hour bus ride was needed to reach my next destination. Before going to Myanmar I only knew about Yangon, Bagan, the name Mandalay and the golden rock. I had seen photos in Thailand promoting trips to this golden rock and it looked quite good on those photos. The weather gods were unfortunately not on our side that day and we had to ride a roofless truck for an hour through the rain to get to a very misty summit. It did clear up long enough to take some pictures but I feel like I didn’t get the spiritual feeling that many others did when they visited this “marvel of nature / religion”. You’re basically looking at a giant boulder that looks like it could roll of the mountain at any moment but magically stays in place because (according to Buddhist beliefs) of a very well placed Buddha hair that keeps everything balanced. Sure it was nice, but I would have enjoyed it better with sun and beautiful vistas.

I am currently in Mawlamyine, what has formed the base for some daytrips. I visited Ogre island but couldn’t find any Ogres, I did have a good time though but felt that the name of the island was very misleading. Naturally I had to see some more pagodas and was astounded to find an even more gigantic lying Buddha. It would be described as nice nor beautiful but man, it’s big (560 ft). Inside are displays of something I really couldn’t understand. They seemed like religious tableaus but they some were very weird to say the least. Think of Schwarzenegger like muscled devils that were piercing unfortunate souls, a scene that could’ve come straight out of an erotic movie and many other weird stuff. Not sure what feeling I should have left with but I was laughing my ass of the entire time.
To make sure I wouldn’t get to lazy I climbed a carst mountain with some pagodas on top and enjoyed the view. Myanmars landscape is glowing green and dotted with gold pagodas which has a very pleasant feeling to it.

So far so good and I for one can’t wait what else this country has in store for me.