Myanmar (aka Burma)
Minglabah. Neither of us really knew what to expect here and maybe we picked the wrong month to visit. Myanmar was hot, incredibly hot at 38C, it was dusty, so dusty and a smoky haze lay over the country the whole time we were here. We both got sick, the runs and the worst heavy colds in year, we had cold showers, and more oily fried rice than we care to remember.
On a positive note, the Burmese people were incredibly honest, friendly and welcoming, bus transport wasn't as bad as we expected and everywhere in the country there were golden pagodas, temples and tea plantations.
Highlights of the trip were:
- Four day trek (100km) through hill villages, staying nights in monasteries and not seeing any other foreigners.
- Lake Inle - massive calming lake where we witnessed ancient fishing method and floating farm.
- Golden Rock in Kyiathiyo - a massive boulder covered in gold leaves in which thousands of Burmese pay pilgrimage to every day.
- Thousands of pagodas in Bagan.
- Tasty Myanmar Beer.
Lowlights:
- A boat cruise to Mandalay which took 17 hours to do 150km due to breakdowns.
- Dust, smoke and heat.
- The food, the most memorable being rice served with fried potatoes and potatoes crisps.
- Being vomited on route to Golden Rock.
- Super slow Wifi and internet.
- Cold, Flu, Cough and diarrhoea.
All in all, an interesting 23 days were spent here.
We are sure during cooler months, it's a different country, but to us it was unforgiving and flying to Hong Kong was a flight we ran to.
STOPS: Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay, Pyin Oo Lwin, Hsipaw, Shan Villages, Kalaw, Lake Inle, Kyiathiyo
Date: 26/02/2015 to 23/03/2015 (25 days)
