Tag Archives: myanmar

SEA: Day 75 – Hmm… surprise!

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So far, my lookback posts on Myanmar haven’t been too entertaining, in my opinion. I haven’t been too interested in what I was doing there most of the time. It’s not to say I am not grateful for the opportunity to have visited Myanmar, but thinking back, it seems that I’m more interested in active tourist attractions versus going to look at temples. And Myanmar has a lot of temples.

But, now that I’m writing this, I don’t want to have a negative lookback on any day. I did something each day that I decided I would do, and that’s positive enough.

For example, I believe this day was one of my most widely remembered days due to this insta post. Or just watch below cause I figured out how to add videos! Go watch it if you haven’t. People either loved it, hated it, thought i was crazy, or just the last two.

Mya Nan San Kyaw Golden Palace

I’m so excited for learning this basic ability of loading a video via YouTube! Anyways, yes, I ate a fried rat. I’d eat it again, but it wasn’t great. At least I know that if the world ends and i learn to catch rats, I will be able to eat them.

SEA: Day 74 – Markets and Food

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Today was market and food day. Explored nearby markets and ate at random joints. I also ate again at Innlay Hut!

I just had a random thought as I was selecting pictures to post. Look at the top left picture of farming tools below. I originally took that shot cause I thought the machetes were cool. Just now, I realized that this shop owner’s living comes from making and selling these knives. People use them in their daily lives. I took a picture as if it was a souvenir. I am grateful to be able to go to a market as if it was a tourist attraction. I am even more grateful to come to an understanding that markets aren’t a tourist attraction. It represents the community’s daily grind.

SEA: Day 73 – Inle Lake

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Inle Lake, Nyaung Shwe, Myanmar was my favorite of all 4 places I visited. Something about water seems to relax me. When we arrived at 5am, I immediately hired a boat to take me around Inle Lake. This village exists solely because of the lake. It was here that I had a pondering thought. While watching people’s daily lives, I realized that being a tourist in a lot of cities was just witnessing people live their day to day lives. Wouldn’t it be strange if people came to your office and watched what you did? And took pictures?

We cruised around Inle Lake for about 8 hours. I got to watch the sunrise, witnessed fisherman at work, visited tons of small businesses along Inle Lake, visited Shwe Inn Dein Pagoda, Nga Phe Kyaung Monastery, and went through the floating garden. It’s incredible to see how different how people live their lives and how they adapt to the resources around them.

Go eat at Innlay Hut. It’s an Indian restaurant and it is bomb. Kumar is awesome. He loves the 313 and Eminem. Seriously, go eat here.

SEA: Day 72 – Lots But Little

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I’m looking at my calendar and it feels like I did loads this day. I marked it as a travel day, since I’d be hopping another bus tonight to head to Inle Lake. The bus wasn’t until 8pm, so I had the entire day to see more of Bagan. As I wrote yesterday, I was all temple’d out by this point. Not knowing what else to do, I decided to rent an electric motorbike to cruise around town. I grubbed and cafe’d at a few places in the afternoon, cooled off at the hotel lobby (Myanmar was really hot), then had dinner at Sanon.

Sanon is ranked 4th on Tripadvisor as of this writing. They were number 1 when I was there. The food is great, so don’t let the ranking deter you. Sanon is actually a “training restaurant” that teaches local kids to cook. Maybe that’s why the ranking dropped because it’s chefs that are under training? Regardless, I like their mission and I wrote a lengthy post about them on Instagram. I’d go there again to support the establishment’s goal.

SEA: Day 71 – Temple Overload

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Bagan is known for its morning sunrise tours with the hot air balloons in the background. Or you can actually go take a hot air balloon ride. I looked into this but found it too expensive for my taste.

One thing I’ve learned is to look out for tour guides at airports or bus stops. They are either in a taxi or tuk tuk, and know all the tourist sites. It was difficult to plan for Bagan due to the number of temples you could visit. There’s over 2,200 of them. So I let my tour guide decide the next 6 hours.

The most important was where I would watch the sunrise. One of the most popular places to watch the sunrise is Shwesandaw Pagoda. My guide said it tends to be overrun with tourists and could be a better experience in the evening. He suggested I go to Lowka Oushang Temple, where the view would still be good and it’d be less crowded. I think any tall temple would have worked, in my honest opinion. You have to arrive early to get a good spot though. Even at Lowka was a little crowded.

After the sunrise, I got some breakfast and then proceeded to visit 10 temples and Minnathu Village over the next 4 hours. I was pagoda’d out by 11am. Sunrise by far the best. I visited Shwesandaw Pagoda for sunset, which was just as gorgeous.

Another sunrise shot.
Smoking a cheroot.

At Minnathu Village, I got to try a cheroot, a traditional cigar. They are made of tobacco, bark, stems, roots and sundry leaves wrapped in a corn husk. It was good, and surprisingly light, even though my face doesn’t show that.

Anyhow, if you love temples, go to Bagan. You will not regret it.

SEA: Day 70 – Turbo Travel GOgogo

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My life is all about being all-in or nothing. I’m either not even in the car, or 100% pedal to the metal. A workaholic, or on unemployment. It’s fitting that I’d schedule 4 cities in 7 days, 6 nights through Myanmar- Yangon, Bagan, Inle Lake, and Mandalay. During the next 6 nights, I’d spend 3 nights on a bus, and 3 nights in a hotel. I sum up this day really well on Insta. Below’s the post so you don’t have to go to the link, unless you want to see pictures. I’m cheating so much lately by copying and pasting previous posts… but it’s okay. At least I’m writing something! That’s all that matters.

“Day 1 was spent in Yagan. Woke up at 6, landed before noon, and started a day tour of the city with Jo Tom as my guide. I’m sure I got his name wrong but this is what he called himself. Went to Swae Taw Pagoda, Kabar Aye Pagoda, Nga Htat Gyi Pagoda, and Chaukhtatgyi Buddha Temple before lunch. Ate at a random spot Jo Tom picked. Asked for authentic Burmese food. The waiter took the menu away and led me to a food station with many prepped dishes. I picked the ones that looked like meat. Jo Tom’s eyes popped out when he saw how much food the server brought.

Following lunch was a quick trip around Kandawgyi Lake and a picture in front of Karaweik Palace restaurant. It’s a fancy restaurant on the lake and does not open till 6pm. Then visited Botahtaung Pagoda, Sule Pagoda, Yangon City Hall, and finished with the famous Shwedagon Pagoda. I am pagoda’d out.

Shwedagon Pagoda was impressive. I felt like I was on an Indiana Jones set. I’d say this is a good start to the trip! Now waiting for my first overnight bus. I am ready to pass out in air conditioning.”

In the end, I was in the city of Yangon for around 8 hours before I was at the bus stop waiting to head to Bagan. Bus had air conditioning so day ended as a success.

Fav photo of the day.