I'm going to refer to the counrry as Burma, not Myanmar. It's been a good but somewhat tiring 27 days in Burma. The visa is good for 28 days, thought I'd give myself a one day cushion. It's been tough getting internet access, sometimes spotty, other times not at all. write more later
It's now later(Thursday Nov. 13). I've been back in Bangkok for a couple of days, had time to relax, enjoy air conditioning, pizza, cold beer and Oreo cookies. Ahh, the little pleasures of life.
I was able to see quite a bit of Burma and visited most of the top sites. I traveled by foot, bicycle, car taxi, motorbike taxi, boat, train, electric scooter, tuk tuk, and lots of buses. Started in Yangon and worked my way north to Bago, Inle Lake(Nyaungshwe), Kalaw, Mandalay, Hsipaw, and Pyin Oo Lwin. From there I rode the all night bus(15hours) to the southern part of Burma. Spent time in Mawlamyine and Hpa-an before returning to Yangon and flying to Bangkok. I moved along pretty quick, exept for spending six days in Nyaungshwe. I accomplished my goal of visiting Burma before McDonalds arrived, my way of saying before too much outside influence. There is difinately a change going on. Most obvious in men trading their skirts(I don't remember the proper name, you will see them in photos) for pants. I met a lot of good and humble people and enjoyed beautiful scenery. I had very little contact with government people other than asking police for directions or the use of a cell phone when my scooter pooped out. On the not so good side, the men chew two different products, one in the jaw area that doesn't seem to create a big problem, the other stuff they place between the lower gum and teeth. This creates a massive amount of red spit that stains sidewalks or anything else it lands on. It also rots out their teeth by the time they are in their 30's.Other issues include lots of litter, electric outages, sewage problems, unsafe drinking water and LOTS of stray dogs. Don't let the few negatives dissuade you from visiting. If you have an interest in experiencing a country before McDonald's gets there, I strongly recommend you get to Burma soon.
Burma was one of the countries I was most looking forward to visiting. I am thankful that I had the opportunity, it was a memorable experience. I took a bunch of pictures, I hope you enjoy them.
