Next stop Myanmar
Myanmar – a country which was often in the news recently, a country that counts as one of the poorest countries in Asia (GDP per capita of 1’374 US$), a country that is famous for their stunning landscapes and pagodas which more and more attracts tourists around the world. This country never left my mind since I first spotted it during my travels in 2009 and sadly decided not to go during that time even as I had a VISA.
Second chance for me and so Alisha & I decided to visit Myanmar and its beauty for a few days. Our current planning didn’t allow us more than a few days but we didn’t want to miss it. You can now argue that with the events going there you support the government and their political decisions but I’ve learnt otherwise during my travels, the only ones who suffer are the normal people who were working hard to build something new and are depended on the tourism. More about that later.
We were looking for a flight connection from our previous stay Luang Prabang, Laos. We found one via Bangkok to Yangon.
Yangon
We arrived quite late in Yangon around 10pm. The immigration process was easy. Finally, waiting in the arrival hall looking for an ATM and trying to figure out how we are reaching our first stay is for us already one of the standard processes. I am looking for an ATM and Alisha figures out the transport situation. During this time, we met another tourist who was just as lost as we were but we found out that we had to go in the same direction. After Alisha bargained the taxi price, the three of us were on our way to our first stay called Grand United Hotel. We were really tired from our trip and just happy to finally fall into our bed.
Hotel selection
Next morning we had to get up before 12pm as we had to check-out. We just booked for one night with the idea of extending if it is worth it. The windows we supposedly had were just a tease and therefore it was clear for us to change the room/hotel anyway. With a closer look at the booking platforms we found out that the hotels always advertise a cheap room first which has no window and all other rooms were mostly more expensive. So yeah, another way or trick to get the attention of the tourists. Anyway, now we know it 🙂
We decided to move to a hotel called City Star hotel which is a bit more central and therefore better for us. We took a Grab taxi to our new hotel. Grab is available in Yangon surprisingly which always saves us the energy to deal with the local taxi drivers. Once arrived at the hotel we checked-in and got our room on the 3th floor. The room was smelling horrible and the bed sheets looked like used. Anyway, in this room we definitely don’t stay. After mentioning it at the reception we got another room on a higher floor. To be honest the smell was still there but at least it was cleaner. It must be said that the hotel/room wasn’t cheap. Looks like Myanmar or Yangon is expensive on the hotel end so hopefully the food will be on a cheaper end.
Time to explore
We decided to visit the first pagoda called Sule Pagoda which was just a few food steps away. It wasn’t that long until a friendly local approached us that he will show us the pagoda and that he doesn’t want any money and that he will do that for free for us…. blablabla. As my mom always told me, there is nothing for free in life. Of course, we knew that this cannot be but hey we just don’t give anything at the end, easy! He walked us through the Pagoda, explained us a lot and was quite good. Finally, we came to an end. Now listen, he was actually working together with a monk. What happened was that at the final buddha statue in a little room the monk joined us and he opened a little verse book with 5’000 Kyat in there. I put 1000 Kyat in there and surprisingly he said for happiness and wealth this is not enough at least 5’000 Kyat. I was perplexed and did the mistake of opening my wallet and followed his advice. He even had the courage to say this is per person. After all this awkward moments, the monk even gave me a handshake breaking all my pre-conceived idea that monks never touch another human being. Anyway, lesson learned and to be honest this is the FIRST time we fall into a tourist trap.
Nevertheless, we didn’t give up and our next stop was the famous Shwedagon pagoda. It was much bigger, nicer and more tourists around which made us more confident.
Beside of that, we didn’t see much more as to be honest the most tourist attractions were pagodas and after two we had enough of it for the moment. Another fact is that the city was quite dirty and the infrastructure to just go for a walk was not there as it was more dangerous than fun. Anyway, we found an arcade where we had some fun by playing video games 🙂
Food, which is another but as important topic. Next to our hotel was a good Indian restaurant called Vedge which was first choice by Alisha. Indeed, it was a good restaurant with great food. Nevertheless, we wanted to try some local food. That’s where we found the LinkAge restaurant which was within walking distance to our hotel. Yangon has Grab taxi which makes it easy to get from A to B but we were tired and wanted to go somewhere close.
The LinkAge restaurant & art gallery serves delicious Burmese food prepared by “Burmese Youth” full of hope. They are a social enterprise, a training restaurant. It is a bit like a Swiss apprenticeship or let’s say it felt like it. The food was good and the staff was friendly. Overall, a good pick, thank you TripAdvisor 🙂
Next stop: Bagan
Yangon was not really our dream destination but we anyway knew that we will not stay too long. Therefore, we were looking for options. My dad recently just visited Myanmar for a month, therefore he was the right person to ask for advise. His referrals were Inle lake, Ngapali beach and Bagan. We decided to go to Bagan. We booked the flights and at the next day we were flying with a local airline towards Bagan.
Drone in Myanmar
This part unfortunately needs its own section. As you know, I am carrying a Mavic Pro Platinum drone with me and this never created any issues during our travels so far. Unfortunately, this time it created a problem. The security clearance stopped me after my hand luggage scan before the gates. She opened my bag and I knew directly what she is looking for. Coincidentally there was already a foreign couple waiting, from the UK as we found out during our talk, who ran into the same issue. It made me a bit more relaxed that I am not the only one. With a little English, I’ve got told that drones in Myanmar are forbidden. Anyway, never heard about that or even read about it. Actually, it was mentioned that it is legal, albeit unclear. Nevertheless, I had to answer multiple questions, my passport and drone got photographed by 50 different private mobile phones. This was not the only uncomfortable part. More and more “officials” came and surrounded us. The guy from the UK was first and after providing flight tickets and explanations with hand and feet, he had to leave his drone with the police as he will fly out over Yangon in a few days again and be able to pick the drone up in Yangon.
Anyway, our plan was to leave Myanmar via Mandalay but we didn’t book our flights even if it was required. So how do I explain this officials that I cannot leave my drone here and don’t even have documents to prove that. As my thoughts were spinning what else could happen now, the officials were waving us through after Alisha made them clear that we will fly out of Mandalay. It looked like they didn’t have any processes in place as they were talking with each other for minutes after every time we said something to them.
One thing I must mention, they were always friendly and respectful, so it could have been worse. Overall, good ending as I still had my drone. Later that day after some research, I found out that some foreign journalists flew around with the drone in government areas and were insisting even after they got caught that they are “allowed” to use it. Ou man, these journalists needed to make the life of tourist drone carriers harder everywhere. So far so good! We arrived on time in the late afternoon in Bagan with a stopover in Heho.
Arrival in Bagan
We checked in at the Bagan View hotel in New Bagan. A recently opened hotel which looked pretty new and you were still able to smell the fragrance of “new” in the room. It was a pretty big room with a nice bath room and rain shower. The little town was small and it was quiet. This was exactly what we were looking for after the days in Yangon.
The hotel had electro scooter for rent, don’t ask me why electro that’s THE thing in Bagan, and so we rented one for an hour or two to get a quick dinner before we went to bed as we had to get up early in the morning.
Bicycle morning tour
We decided to book a guided tour for Bagan and have chosen the morning bicycle tour organized by Grasshopper Adventures. Therefore, we had to get up at 6.30am to be present at their store at 7.30am. As we arrived, the guide Yeye is already waiting and welcomes us to the tour. We got a quick introduction about the bikes and off we go! We were the only customers for that trip mainly as the season is ending in Bagan. Anyway, it was pleasant weather, not too hot or too cold. Yeye said it will stay like this until 10am/11am. He explained to us the route and as we were following him, we drove through sandy streets, passed multiple pagodas and temples and stopped at amazing view points. He explained us everything in detail or answered every question we had. It was a great trip with an awesome guide. We can highly recommend a morning bike trip in Bagan and again thanks Yeye for taking us on the trip. You can see a video of our trip here.
Bike tour by Grasshopper tours
After the trip we went back to our hotel and rented again an electro scooter to get around on our own. We visited another temple but mainly we just drove around new & old Bagan. After a few hours we were hungry and it was anyway time to get dinner. The previous night we tried the Kyaw Kitchen restaurant and so today we went to the 7 Sisters restaurant. Both locations had pretty good local food and we were happy with it.
Back in the hotel, we planned our next days and that means taking a bus from Bagan to Mandalay. The journey will start the next day at 1pm.
Bagan to Mandalay
We slept-in and checked out on time. We went quickly for lunch around the edge before we got ready to get picked up at the hotel for the transfer to the bus stop. It was an usual coach but as soon as we entered the bus it felt like a 1st class coach. The seats were huge and spacious and you could flip the seats back more than usual. So, overall that should be a pretty comfortable ride. A bit wrong to be honest. The street conditions were bad and the coach was more or less vibrating the whole ride. Anyway, I always see it from that angle, it could have been worse.
Bus to Mandalay
Once arrived in Mandalay, we walked to our hotel just 500m away from the bus stop. We checked in at the Yadanarbon hotel in Mandalay just for one night. We stayed for a day longer in Bagan and therefore we didn’t really have time for Mandalay. Anyway, we’ve got told that spending that day in Bagan is better spent in Bagan than in Mandalay. Mandalay looked like another big crowded city and as we had already enough of Yangon, we were happy that we spent more time in Bagan than in Mandalay.
Off we go – India is calling
At the next morning, we were once more on the way to the airport. This time our final destination Mumbai, India. We flew over Bangkok with an usual layover of 3-4 hours and arrived safely in Mumbai at midnight 1am.
More about that soon!! 🙂
Cheers,
Ueli
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