Myanmar

It has been 3 exciting and exhausting weeks in Myanmar.  The fast paste, the sleepless nights during night bus rides from one place to another, and stomach aches from terrible local food have been draining.  The excitement of going 100 years back (that’s how we felt after arriving in Myanmar) wore off after the first week or so.  We felt always dirty surrounded by dust, taking off shoes to go into the dirty stores or climb the dirty cement stairs to the top of the Mandalay Hill.  We had stomach aches most of the time.  At some point, I stopped eating dinner, and just drinking a glass of juice without added sugar.  I lost more weight than doing a month of yoga in Thailand.  

Yangon had a few better, but overpriced restaurants to offer with small portions.  At the end, we chose to eat at places like that.  The tourism in Myanmar has a lot of room to grow still.  So far, we get a tourist price for everything, making Myanmar an expensive place to visit.  We had to pay a fee to enter Bagan and Inle Lake zones.  We even paid double for city bus.  It would be interesting to see the reaction of some tourist in US having to pay double for the color of their skin.  For example, our Chinese friend managed to get a lower price sometimes.  Even though we were warned to reserve the hotels and guesthouses few days in advance, we managed to find a place to stay without much difficulty having no reservations.

  

The hotel in Mandalay was the most expensive: $25 per night.  The hotel was the best part about Mandalay.  Even though it is the second biggest city, and we stayed in the center, it was dirty and there was nothing to see, besides more pagodas.  We only stayed 2 nights in Mandalay.

We arrived in Kalaw at 2 am.  We did not get much sleep on the bus, and we did not save on the hotel that night.  Kalaw is the base camp for all the trekking to Inle Lake.  Since we did not get much sleep that night, we decided to stay one more night in Kalaw.  We signed up for 3 day trek to Inle Lake.  We were a great group of 6 people: a Finish couple, a French guy and a Chinese girl.  Our group got a 19 year old arrogant and ignorant guide and 2 quiet assistants.  We also had a cook, but somehow our food was always cold.  Our stomachs did not like the food at all.  The views on the first and second day were nice.  

The most exciting part about the trek was meeting people from different tribes on our way.  We even spent the first night in somebody’s house in the village.  The second night we got to sleep in some building of a monastery.  The walls had gaps, the window could not close, and the blankets were too short and falling apart.  Even though I took 3 of those blankets, it took me awhile to fall asleep because I was freezing.  In the morning we were woken up at 6 am by a cook talking to himself and singing, while preparing breakfast in the building next door.  The cold breakfast was not served until 7:30 am, since our guide was nowhere to be found until then.  He was probably sleeping in a warmer building somewhere. Walking the last day was difficult after the terrible night we had.  We were ready to be done with the trek.

I managed to take a little nap during a boat trip to Inle Lake.  I was so tired, and the sun was warm.  We found a nice guesthouse on the lake.  After taking hot showers and eating, we only wanted to rest.  The rest of the time in Inle Lake we spent in a guesthouse, chatting to our French and Chinese friends from our trek.
Once we arrived in Yangon, it took us another 2 days before I felt rested.  Dangis’ body finally could not handle any more stress, and he got sick after our last night bus ride.  We are ready to leave Myanmar.

Bagan, Myanmar

We arrived at Bagan bus station around 5am on a Friday.  A group of men greeted us with offers to take us to a cheap guesthouse for a nominal fee.  There were also a few horses with carriages parked in the station waiting to take us somewhere to see the sunrise.  We decide to walk around on our own looking for a place to stay.

 

There is something magical about early mornings in Myanmar.  The whole neighborhood was awakening still in the dark.  The restaurants were opening for breakfast.  The wood fires were being lit for cooking.  Some locals were going for the morning stroll.  Others were taking tourists to the guesthouses or to see the sunrise.  Some tourists passed us by on bicycles going to meet the sun on their own.

We found a very basic room with cement floors for $15.  Before going to rest after a sleepless night, we went to have a breakfast in one of the restaurants.  We had some samosas, eggs and tea.  The food was good, but the early morning atmosphere was incredible.  By the time we finished breakfast, it got lighter.  The horses with carriages were also hired by locals to take them places.  In the naturally dim light, the place reminded me of the paintings of famous Lithuanian artist M. K. Ciurlionis.

It always takes us a day to recover after a night bus ride, so we decided to take it easy that day.  After a nap and a lunch, I washed our dirty clothes in bucket in the back yard of our guesthouse.  No more coin operated automatic washing machines on the streets.  The local women were also washing clothes by beating them with a stick.  One girl, wrapped in a sheet, was even washing her hair outside.  She was using a cup to rinse her hair with water, while bending over not to wet the sheet.  The everyday life outside of Yangon takes us back in time.  It is much more exciting to see than the thousands of pagodas, which Bagan is famous for. 

The plan for the next day was to rent a bicycle before the sunrise and ride around the town all day.  But since Dangis got food poisoning eating fried been salad for dinner, the plan changed.  Instead Dangis was sleeping all day, and I was reading and writing. 

On Sunday we woke up around 5am ready to explore.  We rode the bicycles to the spot where the sunrise is supposed to be the most beautiful in the area.  We climbed one of the pagodas still in the dark and waited.  A lot of other tourists came also.  It started getting lighter, the sun peaked a little and went into the cloud.  The sky got red.  The view was spectacular.  Many small pagodas were becoming visible with soft lines, then brighter.  The air balloons with people passes us by.  It was the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen.  Soon the guy came selling paintings.

It was time for breakfast.  Dangis was very hungry after not eating a previous day.  The breakfast in our guesthouse was simple, but good.  The service was great.  The little girl came to ask us our preferences for drink and eggs as soon as we sat down.  The other little girl started frying eggs in a pan on ashes right away.

After breakfast we took our bicycles of the tourist path.  For some distances we had to walk our bicycles through the sand.  We passed people’s houses.  Most of them were woven from leaves, some were built from bricks.  The spaces were open.  We could see inside most of people’s houses.  The kids were playing outside by themselves.  It is very dry in Myanmar.  It seems like it is drowning in dust.  Sand everywhere.  So it is surprising to also see a lot of vegetable gardens.

After lunch we just rode our bicycle around town passing its many pagodas.  We were exhausted at the end of the day.  We could spend a month or more trying to see all the pagodas in the area, but one day was enough for us.

On Monday morning we left for Mandalay.  We bought bus tickets from the guesthouse manager the previous day.  The bus stopped to pick us up from the guesthouse on time.  And the manager even came out to make sure we got on the right bus.      

Golden Rock, Myanmar

Golden Rock Kyaiktiyo is situated on a cliff of the mountain located 5 hours away from Yangon.  Golden Rock is a holy place for Buddhists.  Hundreds of pilgrims come to the site every day.  The trucks continuously pick-up people to the top of the mountain.  The 40 minute truck ride was fun.  Dangis called it a roller-coaster without safety.  Once we arrived at the top, there were hundreds of people waiting to go down the mountain.  Some of them surrounded our truck and started climbing aboard before us leaving.  It was a challenge to climb out of the truck through all the people and no steps.  The sea of people moved towards the rock.  Once, we entered the ‘no shoes’ area, some people were lounging on the floor in the shade.  Others were burning candles and praying.  Some men were standing in short line to touch the rock.  Only men are allowed to touch the rock.  Dangis joked that the women would probably push the rock of the cliff, if they were allowed.  Once Dangis got close to the rock, he saw men gluing sheets of gold to the rock. 

After taking some pictures of the rock, we went for a walk around the top of the mountain.  All the paths through the mountain were a market.  Besides souvenirs, the sculls, blood and brains of the animals were sold.  The market reminded a witch market in La Paz, Bolivia.  After a few hours walking through the market, we finally made back to the Golden Rock.  We decided to come back down the mountain the same evening with one of the last trucks, even though the Golden Rock was supposed to be beautifully illuminated at night.  We found a guesthouse in the town.  There were so many people everywhere, but locals did not stay in guesthouses.  We saw some of them sleeping on the floor of the bus station.  I believe there were a lot of camp places like that for the visitors to spend the night.  There were only 3 guesthouses and 1 expensive hotel.  The whole town got quiet after 9 pm to rise at 5:30 am the next morning.  The trucks were sending hundreds of pilgrims to the top of the mountain again.  We had a simple breakfast with a Polish tourist playing a guitar and harmonica at the same time.  The locals were taking pictures of him.  Here in Myanmar, it sometimes feels that locals take as many pictures of us, as we of them.  

Yangon, Myanmar

We arrived at the Yangon international airport in the morning with little sleep.  The main building of the airport was old, but inside of it was renovated and very clean.  There were no lines at the immigration or customs.  There were ATM inside.  We learned that ATM’s appeared only in the beginning of 2013.  Previously there was a real problem for people getting their money out of their accounts.  In some places, clean and straight dollars are accepted.  We paid $4 for a shared 30-minute taxi ride to the downtown of Yangon.  It was very interesting to see a lot of men wearing skirts and a lot of girls wearing yellow make-up on their cheeks (a natural sunscreen from a tree bark).  We instantly felt that we are in a different country.  There were no motorbikes on the streets.  People riding bicycles or people being ridden in bicycle taxis was a more common view.

We arrived at Roxana’s apartment on the 11^th floor.  We found Roxana on the couchsurfing.com.  She lives and works in the beautiful apartment in downtown.  Her father and her son also live with her.  Roxana also has two girls working in her travel agency and one man working for her personally.  The man served us breakfast, took care of her son and did family’s laundry.  Roxana had another apartment about 40 minutes walking distance.  It was free for a moment and she let us stay there.  The apartment was very simple.  It had a big empty living room with a balcony.  The bedroom was built inside the living room.  The bedroom walls had windows to 3 directions: outside and the living room.  No windows had nets, but the mosquito net was covering the rollout beds in the bedroom.  There was an electric table-top stove in the kitchen and a little refrigerator.  The bathroom had a squat toilet and a bucket, which could be filled up from the tap.  The shower and the water reserve was in the other room.

The first day we had a good rest before going out to dinner.  On the way to downtown, we passed a beautiful Pagoda (a Buddhist monument) on the lake, as well as a child shitting on the sidewalk.  The dinner was served by boys in those long traditional skirts.  The dinner and the service were great.  We noticed that everybody in the restaurant drink tea.  The thermos with tea was on each table.  Some people drink their tea from the plates (my guess, the tea cools of faster this way).  Some people were eating their rise dishes with no utensils.  Burmese food is influenced by Indians and Chinese.  A lot of times the Burmese dish is cold, which can be mixed with warm rice.

The second day we took a circular train around Yangon.  The ride was 3 hours.  Dangis and I sat on the steps, so we could better see what was happening outside.  The windows and doors were always open.  Mostly locals were on the train.  There was a women with a naked boy who was sleeping on the dirty floor for a while.  Later a lot of people came on board with different greens, which some of them are grown in the water like rice.  People outside of Yangon live poorly, in the houses weaved from leaves or tree barks.  Locals seemed very warm and friendly.  A lot of kids and adults waved at us passing by their homes.  We also noticed that some girls have their heads shaved.  Maybe that way they don’t need to wash their hair and brush.  Or maybe that way they get rid of lice.  Or maybe that is a tradition.  We saw some girl monks with shaved heads and pink outfits.  There are a lot of monks overall in the country.

Also, we noticed that a lot of men and even some men have read teeth from chewing tobacco.  The tobacco is being sold everywhere on the streets, packaged in leaves.  There are a lot of streets in Yangon that have people selling all kinds of things, from clothes to food to painting supplies. 

In the evening, we went to the biggest Schwedagon pagoda.  I have never seen so much gold in one place.  It is ironic, that a country with so much precious stones is so poor.  The atmosphere in the pagoda is very uplifting.  I was wondering how anyone can meditate with so many people wondering around.  But as soon as I closed my eyes, I could feel very strong and good energy with the bells and children singing in the background.  On the way to our apartment from the pagoda, we entered a little street with no tourists.  We decided to eat at a little family restaurant.  The son was called to translate that we would like something with no meat or fish.  We were served the meal we ordered plus vegetables, soup and tea.  Everybody was watching us eat.  As soon as we finished the soup, they brought us a second cup each.  They brought us more vegetables, since they noticed we liked them.  The whole experience was great.  We felt like movie stars a few time with people watching us and taking pictures of us.

After we got back to the apartment, another couple of couchsurfers from Israeli arrived.  They had to sleep in a tent in the living room. 
The third day all of us stopped by the Roxana’s place.  She offered us breakfast again and even gave us a private tour of the downtown.  We learned a lot about Burmese culture from her.  We tried some local foods on the streets.  When we got back to her place, she helped us make plans for the upcoming days.  It is not easy getting information about travel in Myanmar.  This way we spent all day with Roxana and our new Israeli friends.  We learned that Roxana is a Muslim.  Her husband is a Budhist.  Her father went to a missionary school.  During our 3 days in Yangon, we saw a mosque, synagogue, catholic and Lutheran churches and Hindu temple besides Buddhist temples and pagodas.  Yangon appears to be very cosmopolitan city.     

Later we went to an art gallery Pansodan where we met our friend from yoga classes in Samui.  Yasemin is from Germany, but she works in Yangon.  It is always great to meet people in different countries.  After Yasemin had to run, we stayed longer to have some food, drinks and talk to other foreigners.  The gallery owners (Burmese and his Canadian wife) have a gathering on Tuesday nights for everybody.  We had so much fun.  I loved Yangon.  I was not really ready to leave it.  The next morning we left to see Golden Rock.

Samui Island, Thailand

Samui is an island in the Gulf of Thailand.  We were planning to stay there for few days before going to Myanmar.  But we met Denis and Dasha, and all our plans changed.  Denis and Dasha are from Russia, they moved to the island few months ago.  They accepted our couchsurfing request.  They even let us sleep on their bed, while they slept on the floor in the living room.  Denis and Dasha had plans to go to India for a couple of months, so we rented their house for a month.  We also rented a scooter and bought monthly yoga passes at Absolut Sanctuary retreat.

    

Every day we went to yoga twice.  In the morning, there was a meditation session just before the beginner class.  Alicia from Spain was teaching the morning class.  The afternoon class was taught by Jana from Germany.  We loved the whole yoga experience.  We could feel much better after each class.  We were becoming more flexible, stronger and more peaceful.  We even stopped eating meat.  We were stopping at the market almost every day to buy fresh fruit: bananas, papayas, mangos, watermelons, pineapples, dragon fruits and langoustines.  We made our favorite shake from bananas, papayas and coconut milk, which we drank almost every day.  We ate a lot of eggs, too.  It was a joy to have a kitchen.  Thai food has way too much sugar for my taste.  They add it to every dish.  While in Samui, we even stopped drinking coffee.  We were waking up at 6AM on our own, so we did not really need it anymore.


The life in Samui was simple and very enjoyable.  Every place has different effect on people.  Samui made us healthier and happier.