Myanmar, my mysterious neighbourhood

I never forget the day that I first visited Myanmar. It was in the end of 2009 that I and my friends decided to visit this uncanny neighborhood. We were extremely excited about this trip since we really want to explore, see and experience Myanmar.

Our plan was to travel 3 major cities of Myanmar including Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan.

The arrangement of this trip was not easy. Since, Myanmar was a closed-country. We couldn’t find an appropriate website to book bus ticket or domestic flight. However, we believed that we can manage it once we were there.

We arrived there in late morning. On that day, the weather was not too hot because it was winter season. We decided to exchange our money from dollar into kyat at the airport because the exchange rate was much different from others.

For those who are unfamiliar with Myanmar, most of the business here only accept crisp and clean dollar note. Thus, we already checked all the notes in advance. Unfortunately, Myanmar standard was highly strict. Finally, we were refused to exchange 250$ in total!

We took a cab to downtown to book for a bus ticket from Yangon-Mandalay -Bagan and a flight back from Bagan-Yangon. Then the second shocked situation happened because we could not find a flight ticket from Bagan! The tour agencies informed us that they were all booked. However, they insisted us to have a look at other agencies.

Despite the unexpected experience, we moved to our next destination, the Botataung Pagoda. We were also looking for any tour agency by the way.

Botataung Pagoda is well known for its Buddha relic and the sacred god statue. The pagoda where the relic is stored, is shimmering in golden yellow both outside and inside.

Close to the pagoda is the sacred god statue. He is standing with his right hand pointing and his left holding a cane. There are stories that he will grant those who worship him what they wish in an instant. One of my friend wished that we could find a plane tickets.

After Botataung Pagoda, we found a couple of tour agencies and asked about the flight tickets. We were about to give up. Suddenly, a miracle happened as the last travel agency found the tickets for us. It was a memorable moment with full of happiness. The friend immediately said thank you the Botataung-god.

All the issues passed. We still had a couple of hours to walk around Yangon. Then we took a cab to the bus station which located out of the city and headed towards to Mandalay.

The trip has just started!