Warning: This post is LONGGGGGGGGG…
Well, we all know how this trip began… Me.. stuffing money down my pants and passing out at the airport.. my friends scrambling to make their flight… our chance meeting in a enormous airport..
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| Still have the stamp from the club from the night before |
If you are interested in learning more about this country, here is a link. Also, if you want to visit, you need to get avisa ahead of time. All this information is as of Jan 2012. Here is a link to the process to do it in Thailand. The price was raised to about 1360 baht for 1 day service.
Day 1
As we were landing, I was looking out the window and saw some rice paddies and buildings. It was like landing at any other airport. It’s not that I was expecting dragons or something but I guess I was looking for something different.
Well, I got my wish when we got outside. The cars looked like they were from 1980. Is this where cars come to die? The cab cost us $10. (It should be $7 or so btw. Even as I write that, $3 seems so small but in percentage terms the difference is quite large.) The drive was about 30 minutes and the city was peaceful considering it was so early. The buildings were a mix of new and old with most running on the old side.
We got to our hostel and checked in. We got a spacious room with 2 floors and 8 beds for $30. We got there early enough and they offered us breakfast. It was buffet style and we got to have a sample of a lot of different foods.
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| We toasted our bread on coals |
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| A mixmash of food for breakfast - reminded me of chinese food |
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| Fried rice with a mix of stuff inside |
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| Banana Pastry - crispy on the outside, gooey on the inside |
After breakfast, we went up to the top to take in our surroundings. The biggest surprise was the amount of garbage in the alleyways. They used it as a garbage dump. Imagine walking along and getting some beef with broccoli dropped on your head.
Our next mission was to get our airline tickets from our travel agent. The address was on my friend’s dropped phone (He found it when he got back to Thailand btw) so our mission became finding an internet café. When we found one, they told us that they only accept kyats (their national currency) so our mission was changing our money. We had heard that there is a black market for exchanging currency and that it was around 1000 kyats to $1. Well, we were offered 770. Considering, we only needed 500 to use internet we changed $5 at 740 (they offer less for smaller bills). [Aside, they will only accept bills that are near mint condition and the serial number cannot start with CB.] We found the address after about an hour (the internet is that slow) and began our walk to the travel agency.
We walked by a lot of shops. Some sold batteries, some sold remote controls, and some sold fake watches. It was fairly typical of a SE except that the technology seemed to be at least 20 years back. Crossing the road is no different here as well. (They drive on the right side of the road btw).
The place we were going to didn’t seem too far on the map. [Aside: it is never as close as you think it is]. We saw some interesting things though.
This is they public phone system.
After forever, we found the travel agency. No wonder no one knew where this place was. It’s not a huge mall, it’s just a freaking building! Thankfully it had air conditioning and an elevator. We took it to the 7th floor. The agent was very helpful and even took time to lay out an itinerary for our next 4 days. He even offered to walk us through a local market before his class.
At the market, we browsed some good and changed our money at the best rate at 820 to 1. After we strolled through the market, the guide offered to take us to dinner later in china town after his class. We parted ways and started looking for food. We didn’t really know where to eat and wanted to get out of the heat. We found a air conditioned restaurant with tourists and decided to get off our feet. The food that was offered was thai, Chinese, and American. We didn’t really see any local food. We were hungry and tired and just ordered some thai food. One of my friends even took a quick nap.
After lunch, we made our way to Shwedagon. If you want to learn about it, here’s a link. We walked. It was far. [Recurring theme: it is not as close as you think it is]. We took some pictures. When we go to the top, which was also far, we took an hour to finish a lap around the structure, not because it was that big but because we stopped at every opportunity to sit.
We got smart and took a cab back to the hotel. I promptly passed out. They later told me I was snoring and they were regretting that they didn’t bring earplugs. After a 15 minute nap, I awoke to my friends saying that we should go meet our “guide”. We decided to walk it. It was supposed to be only 6 blocks. [It was 6 blocks but it was also an avenue away also [think NYC distances].
When we got to 19th Street (Chinatown), it was very colorful and active. (Not like the walk we just had; walking through street without streetlights is scary no matter how friendly ppl are). We couldn’t find our guide, most likely because we were late an hour. We found a table, sat down and ordered some food.
After dinner, we went back to our hotel and promptly passed out. [This is also a recurring theme]
Day 2
We woke up at 4:30am. [recurring theme #3] We were worries that the security at the airport would be strict but it is a joke. You walk through a gate. You beep. They wave a metal detector around your body. You still beep. Then, they tell you that you are good to go. Huh? That was ridiculous! I could bring anything through that security check. Mental note for next time. Anyway, we found ourselves with a lot of time and was glad to find that they were serving food.
We landed in Bagan at 7 excited for our day. There is a $10 fee for the archealogical site upon landing. We made our way outside to find a cab and saw a small show.
We got to our hotel in about 20-30 minutes (that seems to be a common distance for our hotels)
We had a couple of options on touring Bagan: cab ($35), horse carriage ($15), and bike ($9). We opted for the bike, not because we are cheap but we felt it would be more of an adventure.
We started our adventure by going to the morning market. There were a lot of locals buying fruit, vegetables, and meat.
When we were getting our bikes to leave, some bikes next to us fell. As I was picking up the fallen bikes, we get surrounded by a bunch of kids saying, “no problem” repeatedly. They start asking us, “where you from”, we replied “United States”. They get excited and almost in unison say, “we love America”. After they ride with us for a while, they ask us“Do you want postcards?” At this point, I’m wondering if they placed their bikes in a way as to get them to fall when we were getting ready to leave. Almost like a signal to start the selling process.
The adventure started a little bumpy. The map showed 30 or so significant temples in a 32 km2 area. We got the hotel concierge to circle the most important ones, but we were having difficulty them. After we somehow passed the first couple, we were able to arrive at our first temple.
We ended up spending much more time outside the temple than inside of it. The vendors use kids to push postcards, a copy of Burmese Days, and laquer goods. I got a sense at their language capabilities as they said said hi in 6 different languages until they saw me respond. They all say that they “have their own business for a long time”, that they need money for school, and that you are the first customer and will bring them luck. One of them managed to get me to buy some postcards. She started at 10 for 4000. I ended up giving her 4000 for 20.
We went around to a couple more temples and stopped for lunch. We tried to get something considered local and I’m not sure we succeeded but what we were eating seemed to have an Indian influence.
We left lunch and went on to visit a few more temples. The best part of this adventure began when we started taking side roads to the temples. We biked through dirt roads, sandy roads, and grass fields with an amazing panorama of temples rising in every which direction.
At about 5pm we made our way to the final temple. This was more of a vantage point to view the sunset. Before climbing the steeps steps to the 5th level, we befriended some local entrepreneurs. They were up to their usual tricks of trying different languages on you, whipping out postcards that had children’s drawings (they claimed they made them), and saying that their prices were the best (they definitely were not). When talking to a guy that sold some paintings we found out they they sell about 2 pieces a week. They wanted $10 dollars at a initial price which I’m guessing get bargained down to $5 to $7, which puts their weekly sales at $12. I’m not sure what their profit margin is but I’m not sure how they even have enough money to eat. It was interesting seeing things from their perspective, we almost felt like they let us in a little to their world. When tour buses or horse carriages would show up, someone rang a bell and they would all run off to attempt some sales. When it seemed like the top floor would start getting crowded, we wished them luck and made our way to the top ourselves.
Coming back was interesting. We knew the tour buses would be catching up to our dinky bikes. We had a 15 minute ride back with a quickly darkening sky. We made it about half way, when these giant tour buses overtook us. This was especially alarming when the lanes became very thin that only one car could get through.
We made it back and showered/took a dip in the pool. We were tired and decided to have dinner/nap in the hotel. It was more food that reminded us of American Chinese food. At this point, I’m not sure if they make this stuff for tourists or if this was their actual local food.
After dinner, we turned in because we had another early flight the next day.
Day 3
The trip to Heho airport was uneventful. They only thing that was different is that we knew the security was shoddy and brought our water bottles and food through security. I didn’t even bother emptying my pockets. Getting to Lake Inle was another story. The cabs wanted 25000?! Even if it was an hour away, we were getting ripped off. Dam monopolies. We ended up sharing an open air cab at 5000 each with two French medical students in the last year of their 9 year program. During the ride, I tried to stand up on the back of the vehicle like the locals and ended up getting my hat blown off. I wrote it off but the driver promptly stopped and retrieved it for me. What good service! I also almost got left at a gas station. What not good service.
We got to Queen Inn. This hotel is run by a family with mum running the operations. She has been in business for 18 years and started with a few small huts and now have a lot more houses. She just made it into the latest Lonely Planet guide. What we really liked about this place was that it was by the canal and we got the bottom floor of a small bungalow for $30. After 10 minutes of checking in, we set off on our water taxi tour of Lake Inle.
The tour of Lake Inle was a good combination of cool breeze, warm sun, and the locals going about their business. One of the more intriguing things about this lake is that they use their leg to do a lot of the rowing.
Our tour lasted until 5:30. We saw the local market, fabric weaving, cat temple, a local village, and natural hot springs.
We took a late stroll around the town before turning back to our hotel for dinner by mum.
This was when I realized that one of my cameras was missing. Lesson 1 for travelling, Don’t bring too much shit. Not just for packing reasons but it’s hard to manage when you are trying to get familiar with your surroundings, not get hit by moving vehicles, communicate through hand gestures, and wake up at dusk day in and day out. Anyway, we searched the room and came up with nothing. We asked mum to call the taxi driver. Nothing. We walked the path from the boat to the hotel. Nothing. Defeated, I just went back to eating dinner. Looks like no more panorama pictures for you guys! Then, the driver shows up. He came to help me look. How nice of him. After explaining that I may have tied my camera to the life jackets, he offered to take me to his home to help him search.
I got into the boat as he drove me down the canal. It was a bit chilly but then I saw the most amazing sight. As the lights of the city faded away, the stars in the sky took its place. The myriad of stars completely visible, seemingly in all directions. It was like I was in a planetarium but in real life. After 5 minutes, we parked at a dock and by dock I mean a few pieces of wood put together in a suspect way. When I walked into his home, I didn’t know what to expect. It was a wooden structure 2 stories tall. He explained that his whole family lives there, all together under one roof. When I got inside, it was pitch dark. The driver said something and all the lights turned on. The ground was uncovered and in front of me was a family of 7 of all different ages sitting on a straw mat 10 feet by 10 feet. Their faces were all smiling looking up at me as I got adjusted to my surroundings. I was directed to the corner where there was a pile of life jackets. We went through them one by one but found no camera attached.
I went back. Gazing at the stars. When we got to the dock, they further showed me their commitment. They went into the river where we docked! With their pants pulled up, they walked around the river trying to feel for my camera with their feet. No camera. =(
I finished my beer went inside and promptly passed out.
Day 4
630am wake up. It was almost like sleeping in! One thing I should mention. Sleeping by the river sounds like a good idea but there are motor boats passing with increasing frequency starting very early in the morning.
After fighting the sound of boats and the light through the windows, we finally got up. We were greeted by banana pancakes with honey from Mum. After breakfast, she pulled me aside and showed me a canon dslr that they said they found yesterday. They are really going all out to convince me that they did everything they could to find my camera. Shortly afterwards, we check out and Mum gives us parting gifts. I opted for a red house to help remember this moment (even though I lost my camera).
There was something interesting that happened on the flight back to Rangon. This flight had business class! Hah! So, what kind of treatment do they get that’s different from us? An addition of a croissant to their cheese sandwich, a head cover that says “premier”, and a different shuttle to the gate 30 feet away. We were lucky enough to get on the special shuttle because room ran out on the crappy shuttle.
We decided to go into the city with the extra time that we had. This was the time to finish shopping, mail our postcards, change our money back, and eat some local food. We managed to accomplish all of our goals but not how we imagined. We started by buying some things. We ended up getting some jewelry and longhi’s. Next was sending postcards. OMFG. Why does it seem like you say post office 100x and then when they finally get it, they say the same words, “post office”, back to you. That was exactly what I said! Why did you not get it the first 99 times?! After venturing down the labyrinth of local shops and construction, we ended at the 3rd floor of a local shopping building. How the hell is anyone supposed to find this place?
We got another surprise when we got there. The postage went up from 50 kyats to 500 kyats.. Eh.. wtf?
We would have never have found the place if it wasn’t for the help of a lady that had a restaurant downstairs. We repaid her by eating lunch at her shop. (or trying to anyway. We ended up going to the wrong place but my friend bought some egg rolls off her because we felt bad).
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