Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Itinerary, Hotel Reviews and Tips

Good... maybe now you are also inspired to visit this magic land or already planning to go so let me share a few tips: 

Itinerary

This is what I did in 3 weeks. If you want the cost, please reach out to me!



Hotel Reviews

Mandalay: Rich Queen Guesthouse
Very nice staff, super helpful! The place it's perfect for the 20 USD that it costed, good bed and shower though the water was only cold. Wifi.
Location is a bit far out of the main center but it's ok as you will do everything by motorbike. 

Bagan-Nyaun U: Thante Hotel
Nice hotel, beautiful swimming pool and rooms are big and provide towels, shampoo, etc.
Location is not good as it's far from the ''restaurant street'' in the ''city'' and to go out alone in the dark streets it's ab it scary/dangerous as there are no lights, just the ones from the cars :)
I'd not recommend this place if you are travelling alone, but it can work very nice for groups and couples as the swimming pool are it's really beautiful!
For solo travelers either stay at the places that are walking distance from the city or in Old/New Bagan that is closer to the temples and felt there were more restaurants.
Best place to eat is the vegetarian Moon Cafe: Be Good to Animals in Old Bagan.



Pindaya: Inle Inn Pindaya
Great place!! Amazing hot water shower! Amazing bed with a bed heater that is really needed  during the cold nights :) The staff is extremely helpful and speak perfect English! The breakfast was delicious. The only downside is that at night (9PM) and early morning, there are some noises and music coming from outside, from local/religious celebrations but this is normal across all places. I'd stay here again.



Kalaw: Eastern Paradise Motel
Location is a bit out of the main market area and the time I was there I was the only person. Rooms are a bit basic and have a green carpet which is a bit shocking :), the two girls at reception didn't speak English.  It was too expensive for the 30 USD that it costed.

Inle/Nyaung Shwe: May Guest House
This is a nice value for money guesthouse, with nice rooms, a beautiful place to have breakfast in the garden, great staff. The only issue is that the walls are really thin, as  the LP said... and so you hear everything going on next door...

Inle/Nyaung Shwe: Golden Empress Hotel
This is a beautiful place to stay :)  location, breakfast and the room itself were perfect. The staff its very nice and helpful. This was one of my favorite hotels of the whole trip and would definitely recommend and come back.



Kinpun: Sea Sar Guest House
Very good place for a base camp type of accommodation. The 20 USD room I got had a nice bed and hot shower. Good basic accommodation  good breakfast and perfect location, just next to the start of the hike or the ''roller coaster'' trucks.
The downside was that the buses and cars with locals arrived as of 4 AM, so expect an early wake up! :)

Hpa-An: Parami Hotel
Very expensive for what they offer but the other options in town are really, really bad... still, the room was huge, had a good AC and hot shower was also good. The breakfast was nice and you get a nice view from the terrace. They should clean it up and make it there the breakfast room :)

Mawlamyine: Sandalwood Hotel
Super good choice! Excellent value for money (20 USD) Great room and absolutely great service. They helped me to sort out the bus to Yangon and arrange early check-in with no problem. Also super helpful while I was sick. The breakfast here was not good but I'd recommend this place.

Yangon: The Loft
Very, very nice place. The style and decoration is of a real loft. The rooms are big, bed was the best of the whole trip, the shower is amazing and you have all you need, including nice L'occitane creams and shampoo :) The breakfast was also very good and location is perfect,  behind the mess of the old Yangon. There was a little garden which was a bit unused, would be nice to have breakfast there.



Hotel Bookings

I did most of the bookings online before going to avoid having too much cash. All my reservations were taken and  had no problems.
In some places it was empty so it would have been easy to get accommodation on the spot, other places and after Christmas it gets busier.

When to go

The best months are Dec-Feb as it's winter (gets to 30/32 degrees!) and its easy to travel and there is no rain! Avoid going during the monsoon rains: end May/beg June and can go till September/October. It can get super hot between Feb and May.

You need a visa, tourist Visa is for 28 days and you can get it online. You will need to upload a passport style picture. Have it ready. Cost: 50 USD.
 http://evisa.moip.gov.mm/

What to pack
  • Pristine dollar or euro bills as  they don't change the ones that are used. You can change at Mandalay and Yangon airports, good rates, no need to do it in the city. There are some ATMs in the cities but you need to have cash with you all the time.
  • Flip flops and sandals. Most of the time you will be barefoot so if you bring shoes with laces it is a bit of pain to do them and undo them and you lose a lot of time! 
  • Trousers that cover your knees, this is mandatory for every temple/pagoda but also in general to be polite. For women I would say just buy the cotton ''hippy/clown'' pants they sell there for 2/3 USD... they are comfy, fresh and you feel good with that..only there, but it fits with the environment :)
  • T-shirts that cover your shoulders, no strapless or t-shirts with no shoulder cover. In some places they won;t let you in even if you cover with a pareo, you need to cover!
  • A hat! it can get very hot and the sun very strong!
  • A flash light or two. Useful to have one for your head and one for your hand, remember in many places there is no electricity so you will l need this.
  • As in any Asian country you probably get food poisoning, so bring some mineral/sugar salts, ibuprofen or paracetamol and something for vomit and diarrhea.
  • In December in some places its really cold during the early morning and evening, can get to 3/4 degrees, so bring a jacket and sweater.
  • For hiking: normal shoes would do but you would feel better with hiking shoes. If you are not a freak of dust you don't even need a sleeping bag... but maybe a silk blanket or something to put between the sheets you will get could be nice. Bring a towel, soap, flip flops
  • Ear plugs, I wish I had them... in many places you will get the typical religious noises of late night and early morning, even in villages or more there, so these will be very helpful :)
  • Anti mosquito spray, eveni f in winter there are no mosquitos is good to have.
Air tickets
I bought two of them with oway.com.mm and all worked well. The last one I bought in an agency in Inle, this is more expensive as they take a commission.

The best airlines to use are Air Bagan and KBZ.

Enjoy :) and let me know if I can help! :)



Yangon... the end or... to be continued...

Good morning! I had plain toast and tea for breakfast, yummy! :) soon ready to go and explore this city in one day, let's see what I find! :)

... and Indeed, Yangon has too many cars,jajajaj I guess now Im getting used to it?!?!?! The old Yangon or city centre or Chinese area it's an absolute mess! Cool to see people selling whatever you can imagine, but when feeling sick the noise and the smell were not the best!








I started the day by walking to the Shwedagon Pagoda and it is truly the biggest one in Myanmar and a very, very, very peaceful place I really like :) It was early morning so there were not so many people and the sun was just up so the light was sweet and tender. This was the firs time that before I entered they made me cover truly up to my toes and so got a longyi, a nice green ones with happy balloons, nice :)




After the Pagoda I was curious to check the People's Park so walked  around there, very nice, so quite and peaceful. A great contrast with the rest of the city :) From here the views on the Pagoda were beautiful as well. I had a nice relaxing walk in there :)






And despite feeling sick I kept walking and walking, while normal people take the taxi I always feel walking is the best way to see the city :) I passed by the National Museum and all the way down to the city centre were I was stuck between cars and taxis that would stop any minute to offer me a ride: '' no thanks, I want to walk''... they thought I was crazy! 

Went through the main market, its huuuuuuuge, but really had not energies to wonder there, so pass by the Sule Pagoda, which is in the intersection of many streets and then found a very western park, with the independence monument and some other very european places like the bank, city hall, former immigration department.




While sitting in this park to rest a bit, a girl next to me started talking. She was from Myanmar but living in Singapore for the last 6 years. She was very young but got a good opportunity to go there and teach. She was visiting Myanmar and telling me how much she prefers to live in Singapore where she has more opportunities. She was waiting for a friend that never showed up and as the battery of her was empty I walked with her to the port. I wanted to walk and she was taking the ferry to her family place in Twante.

From there I walked all the way to the Botataung Paya/Pagoda, a less tourist one. I though it was going to be a nice walk next to the water, but actually you cannot sea the river! The Pagoda was nice, but actually full of tourist, I guess we all go there thinking is not so touristic and we made it touristic :) I pop out to see the water and then time to go back! I was so tired.... I decided to take these bikes where someone bike you to the Strand Hotel as I read it was nice, fresh place to relax. The ride was fuuuun! in this ''bike'' among the big trucks! and the rest at the nice hotel worth it :)





By then I think my body started to tell me to stop... I don't know how I managed to walk so much with so little energy. It's just a mindset :) but I truly had no more energies to go out and celebrate the new year. It's 6:30 PM and I am falling asleep and I cannot eat more than plain rice... but I feel good, it's ok. Its been magic, so I will finish 2014 with all these amazing memories and go to sleep very early! :)

And I woke up very early and feeling good! :) HAPPY NEW YEAR Everyone! :):):) Life is wonderful!! Live the moment & smile a lot!!!! Smile makes people and yourself happier, no matter what's going on in your life right! 

I started the day by doing something I like: walk! So I went to the Kandawgyi Lake/Park to see the sunrise and it was so beautiful!! So nice to see all the locals walking, dancing and doing the early morning exersices. I really like that about asian culture! The sun was coming up and the reflection in the lake and in this beautiful monument/restaurant/place was very nice! A very peaceful place and a beautiful way to start the new year :) I walked for a while and just enjoy the quite of the early morning :)



And I went back to the hotel and finally had food! the yogurt and muesli were delicious! Now I am hearing to music and getting ready for the way back with a 1,5 day stop over in Bangkok.

It's time to say good bye to this magic land, wonderful people! It's been an intense, surprising, magic, absolutely amazing and rewarding experience to visit and experience this country. I love Myanmar and its people, they have lots to offer! and there is a lot more to see... so I will certainly come back! :) 

Thanks Myanmar!!!! 

Bus ride to Yangon & a few hours in Yangon

I slept lots, woke up a bit better and took the 8:30 AM bus to Yangon. Probably the best I could do, as I was still extremely tired and I slept 4/5 hours out of the 7 of the bus ride. By the way, the bus is really good, super comfy and can sleep so well! really a VIP bus :)

I arrived to Yangon bus station and this is actually pretty far, it took about 45 mins/ one hour to get to the hotel by taxi. And here the taxis are shared! No air con, super hot and I had to share with 3 more people... normally I like this but not this day.. I just wanted to get as quickly as possible to the hotel! jajaj And OMG! I confirm my first impression. Its extremely full, full, full of cars! wow! I had the impression there were more than in Bs. As and then getting to the city we just got completely stuck, even walking is difficult! jajaj



I check in in this beautiful hotel, my Christmas gift, good one, as I used the bed more than in any other place :) I needed air so I went for a very short walk and to get some ''yummy'' plain rice for dinner and some plain crackers...



And this was this day... sick, really I have no energies, but was good to catch up some sleep and read my book and enjoy this super good bed!jajaja

Till tomorrow...

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Mawlamyine

And I made it to Mawlamyine and it's a rare place... I don't get the '' Colonial walk'' as it's described in the book... I walked all of it! The morning around the market was extremely busy, it seems all the shops are wholesalers type of shops as we are very close to the port, so a lot pass though here. Noise and movement everywhere and the people, adults and kids are not as friendly as in the other parts of the country... let's see then how they are in Yangon...



 I went up the Pagoda and the views are really beautiful! The river, the mountains on the back, palm trees around. I went to a second Pagoda and was even more beautiful than the firts one, full of tiny mirrors everywhere, but as many other sites, it was under renovation.




Today is a bit the opposite from the great day and constant excitement from yesterday, still nice, but different.

I decided to take the night VIP bus to Yangon as there is no point to waist 7h s of the day tomorrow in a bus. I will now enjoy my Papaya juice and go for a 2 hs boat tour around the river and sunset. Cheers! :)

ha! for some reason I need to check why here and in Hpa-An it's full of Indians and I've seen a few Hindu temples. It surprises me as here we are almost touching Thailand and really on the other side of India...


After the juice, I kept walking around the river and went back to check at the hotel and take a bit of rest, its really, really hot! Seems thats why the ''city'' is a bit dead. But I canot get still, so I took my book and went to look for a place to eat. I ended in Grandfather and Grandmother, a place where the part of the money goes to places to take care of old people :) I took veggies, what else?!?! and some refreshing lime juice :) loved it!

Somehow a bit after this I started feeling not so great, but I kept going :) I was determined to do the boat ride... I had a big boat all for me as clearly there was no one! jajaj just fun, every time I go on a boat or a motorbike I get this good feeling :) Open my harms and shout, life is good! :) so happy.. despite not feeling so well I did enjoy the ride, the kids saying hi from the different islands, the changes in color in the sky, the reflection in the many pagodas in land, the water, the birds, the fishermen :)




Back on land... I had to hurry up to go back to the hotel, jajaj I passed by a group of men playing some sort of football, forgot the name, very popular here :)


and yes... well... either the papaya juice or the lime one were not a good idea... they got me a wonderful food poisoning with 38,5 degrees of fever and all the rest that goes with it. I felt I was losing myself, agrrr horrible! I had to cancel the night bus, wow! I really had no energy to even pick up the phone to ask for toilet paper and water.. well I managed at the end and with lots of effort! jajaj so.... time to sleep, really sleep....


Monday, December 29, 2014

Hpa-An.. simply beautiful!

Hpa-An is not the most beautiful place ever but the surroundings are! just AMAZING, beautiful, stunning, from another world!




What a surprise to find this stunning landscapes in Myanmar: rice fields that are greener than anywhere else, lime stone rocks, caves and beautiful people. Here is far less touristic than in any other place. The kids just run out of the houses to say good bye and two people helped us when we were confused on which way to go. They took their motorbikes and say '' just follow us'' with a big smile!

The caves were all beautiful but the best was one in which at the end there was a small opening in the middle of the other side of the mountain and the view from this ''window''  was really very special. It was like the time suddenly stopped! The sun going down, the rice fields next to the water, the mountains on the back, some birds around, all green, tropic, some butterflies around the plants... really '' Wow!'' One of those moments when you realised of the moment you're living, everything else stops! and I was, ok, I'm just out of the whole of a cave, looking at this amazing natural wonder! I'm so so happy! What else can I ask for! '' Live in the moment''. life is beautiful, nature is beautiful! I feel so grateful for this life and I treasure every moment, specially this one! :)








We continued exploring the amazing area, going to caves and stopping here and there to simply admire the beauty of the place. Unfortunately my camera's battery was empty so I couldn't make as many pictures as I would like, but they are all in my mind! :)



At the entrance of one of the caves I stopped to go to the toilet and group of kids started talking with me, they were on holidays, also visiting the caves! we had a small chat and the a lot of them join :) I just love every time I interact with these kids!



          
One the way to the ''Bat'' cave we stopped at a house where they were having a celebration with some musicians! Wow! so warm! I started dancing a bit sitting in the motorbike and they came out to tell us to join, they took us by the arm inside! We danced a few songs and other people joined. They were taking pictures and making movies, just a beautiful moment with sooooo much energy! They also invited us to eat but we had to go.

.. the people here are simple, have a great heart and will always receive you with a big smile! 

We continue to the ''Bat'' cave, went up to see a bit of the sunset..again, its like wow! this place it's just way too beautiful to exist! jajajaj dreamy place! 





and it was time to leave as Nat was taking the bus to go back to Yangon and then back home! On the way back all the kids and adults were again saying minglaba! or good bye!


It was a really beautiful day! Thanks Nat for driving me in the back of the motorbike! was soooo much fun! I love to ride a motorbike, the feeling of freedom is fantastic!



Now is time to sleep, wake up clock at 6AM for a bus ride to Mawlamyine.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Hiking up Golden Rock & Ride to Hpa-An

What an amazing last hike to Golden Rock! I woke up at 4 AM with the people coming into the base camp as from November to March is the pilgrimage season. After my breakfast at 5:30 I started the hike up to the famous Golden Rock. It was amazing to see that at least at that time I was the only person hiking up together with some locals. So nice to hike when is still a bit dark and you don't know where you are or where you are going, I love that feeling.




Going up I saw lots of little places selling sweets of all colors and types, nuts, fruits and of course water everywhere! the locals have the basins of water that you can also find at the entrance of every temple and monastery.

It took me 2 h 50 (was supposed to be 3-4-5 hours!) to get up and WOW! what a contrast! From the peaceful hike to the absolute craziness! 

The ''roller coaster'' trucks were packed as much as the rest of the street and even more in the main area. I could really not even move! There was all Myanmar in this place! 



But this is normal as its the most sacred place they have. Some people were even camping on the floor for days. They use the bed covers to create tents, they live there for a few days...so I was stepping on rice, flowers and other liquids....  after the nice walk, I reached to the famous Golden Rock and yes, its impressive to have this mini Pagoda in a rock that is about to fall. The woman were all praying in front of it and on its side, while only the men are allowed to enter the closer area to the rock and touch it. I stood there for a while, just observing how people behaved and it was clearly very special for them.
On the way back,I decided to use some of the plane refreshing napkins to clean my feet :) good choice! While sitting there this family passed by and each of them took a picture with me... here people make you feel like a super star :) Of course I also took a picture with them :)







There were people alone, families, kids, groups of friends. Everyone was praying and giving something to Buddha as well as taking pictures.



And now it was time to go down.... and as I love hiking and get sick in cars and trucks it was easy to decide to go down walking :) and this was a wonderful decision...

On the way down I cross another group of tourist that were still hiking up and among them a french guy I have met before in Bagan, on top of a pagoda during sunset. Funny story here is that he also studied at Toulouse, how small the world is, right?!!?! Anyway, I advice them to be ready for the multitude of people coming soon :) and I continued. I wanted to go fast and I was and at some point a happy group of four kids started ''escorting'' me down! 



This was just so much fun! we talked very little as they didn't speak English, we walk and even run down the mountain together. I guess they are the only ones who could keep up with my speed! and actually they were even asking me to please stop! :) indeed we did stop a few times :) The two boys were already gentlemen  carrying the bags of the girls. They even took a long bamboo stick and hanged the bags there. Then they were carrying it all from the shoulders, sweet kids.



It took us I think two hours and a half to go down which is really fast! it was a really happy hike! I would dance and they would do the same, it was a fun game! When we reached down they stopped to buy some ice cream, twice! At the end kids are kids and they like ice cream everywhere in the world :) Then was time to say bye! I went to my hotel and they continued to theirs....



I was very lucky that the hotel allowed me to use a shower which was much needed before taking a car to go to Hpa-An which was a ride of about 3 hours.

Beautiful ride! The vegetation is super green, really tropical, crazy how the landscape changes so much in this country! 

The views over the super green rice fields and the limestone rocks are just so so soooo beautiful! I love the nature in this area and truly cannot wait until tomorrow to go out and explore with my new friend Nat! The world is indeed very, very small! 

Nat is the french guy I met in the Bagan temples, the one who studied at Toulouse, not only that, he studied there at the same time as I was studying there and of course we know someone in common! just crazy, then we realised we've been here in the same places, same place for Christmas dinner, same hotel in Inle.. crazy! 
I cancelled my plan to go with a group of people as we made better plans just to go on our own and explore the area in motorbike, so cool!