Nov 9 2014

Myanmar – other perspectives

Travelling through Myanmar with a group, there are different perspectives on what is seen and understood. I thought that you may be interested in seeing other group members’ blogs and how each interpreted and portrayed their journeys, especially across Myanmar. There are a couple of great videos to watch. Enjoy.

Dan. http://www.danskeates.com

Garth. http://www.garthsafrica.blogspot.com

Kristján. http://www.slidingthrough.com

Max. http://www.awesomemiles.com

Rolf & Jochen. http://www.thisworldahead.com

– Anthony

Nov 8 2014

My 60th birthday

Today is my birthday, wow 60 years old, how did I get here, where did the time go? The answer is having an amazing journey with Anne over the last 40 years. My day starts with a kiss and bag of goodies from Anne, great. I have a card and pages and pages of messages from family and friends. Sixty in all, somebody up there keeps count, a big thank you to all of you who sent me a message via Anne.

This is a calendar milestone for me as I have conveniently divided my life into three sections, up to 30, 30 to 60, and the next third third which is about to commence. I did try quarters but 120 is probably pushing it a bit. So while I feel no different from the day before, both Anne and I have contemplated the future as our full time careers have likely drawn to a close and we will need to decide at the end of this trip, what path or paths out future may hold. We are very lucky to be able to take such a trip. Anyway enough of the philosophy for now and back to the road for our ride to Golden Rock.

We depart early to collect a couple of the riders’ motorcycles from the police station, again a somewhat disorganised event – we will be glad to leave our guide behind after tomorrow. Then we are off, only 140km to cover today, to the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda (also known as Golden Rock).

On our way to Kyaikto, Myanmar

We arrive at our accommodation at lunchtime and we decide a shower is in order after the ride. With all the protective gear that we wear, hot and humid weather requires a change of clothes after the ride. While Anne is in the shower, a knock on the door. The hotel staff have been given a cake by Anne to put some icing and candles on, but unfortunately the length of time this has been in Anne’s panniers, it has grown its own icing coating! In the bin, such a pity for a great surprise. Anne always has a second plan, so strips of melted Kit-Kat with six candles greet me at dinner, and yes I was able to blow them all out in one blow.

The rest of the group has clubbed together to get me a birthday present and have had a zippo lighter engraved with ‘strength and courage’ in Burmese. A very nice and thoughtful gift that I will cherish as a reminder of the group we have travelled with. A great birthday lunch.

Our fantastic accommodation at Kyaikto, Myanmar

Anthony’s 60th birthday ‘cake’ in Kyaikto, Myanmar

Anthony’s 60th birthday present from our Myanmar group

Kyaiktiyo Pagoda is the third most important Buddhist pilgrimage site in Myanmar situated in Mon State to the east of Yangon. This pagoda was constructed on the top of a granite boulder, which Buddhists have, and continue to, paste on gold leaves. According to legend, and Wikipedia who provided this information, the Golden Rock itself is precariously perched on a strand of the Buddha’s hair. The balancing rock seems to defy gravity, as it perpetually appears to be on the verge of rolling down the hill. The rock and the pagoda are at the top of Mt. Kyaiktiyo.

Travel to the top is by truck only, no personnel vehicles allowed, although a few of our group would love to have a go at the road on their motorbikes. We are not among them. The level of development at the peak surprises me, however while some is related to foreign tourists, the majority of shops, stalls and guest houses are for the Buddhist pilgrims who come to pray and make offerings. Whole families, groups of friends and individuals have all made the journey and spend time at this scenic high point of over 1,100 meters, considering that we probably started only a couple of hundred meters above sea level the climb was impressive . Clouds swirl around and below us and after a few photographs the cloud envelops the Golden Rock changing the feel of this site.

About to head up the mountain to see Golden Rock – what don’t we know?!

On Anthony’s 60th birthday at Golden Rock, Myanmar

On our return, Floris bypassed the primary fuel filter to see if that was the problem on Anne’s motorbike but to no avail. The problem appears to be either the fuel pump or the flow controller. We will see if we can limp to Chiang Mai and get the BMW Motorrad dealer to solve what what appears to be a warranty issue.

Floris helping us with Anne’s fuel pump

Bike maintenance finished, time for a birthday boy beer at Kyaikto, Myanmar

My 60th birthday has been a memorable day in many respects.

Our journey will end on the Thai border at Mae Sot on the other side of the river from Myawaddy. Traffic is only allowed in one direction on alternate days on the last section, due to the terrain and narrowness of the road. We are also expecting rain which would make the road more interesting. Anne is looking at the last day with trepidation, a view of Google Maps has shown that the last section over the mountains will be a series of switchbacks and the road is in poor condition. Anne has had an issue with hairpins to the right of late, remembers the photos a German couple we met showed us of the road and a recent intermittent power loss when changing gears has heightened her concern.

Hpa-An valley, Myanmar

Heading east towards Kawkareik, Myanmar

50kms west of Kawkareik, Myanmar

Last stop before Kawkareik, Myanmar

50kms out of Kawkareik, Myanmar

Our last meal in Myanmar at Kawkareik

The road is as challenging as we expected, with poor surfaces, wet rocks and very slow trucks with few possibilities to overtake. When a large truck blocks a hairpin bend doing multiple manoeuvres to get itself around and forcing traffic to the inside of the steep rocky slippery bend, it pushes Anne almost to breaking point, with the appealing thought of putting the bike on that truck foremost in her mind as she struggled on that bend. But NO!, the unbreakable bamboo in Anne springs back and she soldiers on, slowly at first, but later cutting inside a truck on a bend and passing… Great riding. Dave is bringing up the rear and has said to Anne, “no pressure, take your time” – words of reassurance that help. There has been great support from the Dave on the rougher sections.

Between Kawkareik and Myawaddy, Myanmar

The road between Kawkareik and Myawaddy, Myanmar

Tar again! We’ve made it to the bottom of the mountain road to Myawaddy!

That’s a serious radiator feed! Myanmar

We descend behind trucks, slowly and then we are down! Smooth sweeping roads greet us, what a change and confirms that this is my favourite surface. So much for being an adventure rider! With our guide vehicle ahead we sweep to the border, quickly complete the Myanmar exit formalities, say goodbye to our guide, we wish him well for the future, but it would be hypocritical to thank him as he did not function as a guide, leaving us frustrated from time to time. He needs to be provided significant training or find another career.

Goodbye beautiful people of Myanmar, the border is 5′ away from here

Ha ha, you me the world look normal until I see photos and people look tiny! (Said Dave on seeing this photo of him taken with Myanmar border officials)

Our last day in Myanmar and time for reflection on the country and the journey. We have enjoyed the people and country immensely, even at the pace we had to travel through the country. We would like to have spent time in remote places, but the schedule did not allow for that. We had checked with the tour organiser in Yangon to see if we could stay longer, but because of the paperwork lodged with the government this was not possible. We have this on the list of places we would want to visit again.

Thailand border crossing details will be documented in Visas and Crossings, needless to say it takes a couple of hours to complete all the appropriate paperwork and we are on our way to a quiet guest house following GPS coordinates that turn out to be incorrect. GPS is a fantastic tool, but only as good as the information placed in it. Still, arrived an hour or so later to a cold beer and good night’s sleep. We are in Thailand.

Our hotel $20 room in Mae Sot on the Thai border

– Anthony

Nov 7 2014

Myanmar capitals – from the new to the old

Naypyitaw, 6th November. We start the day with yet another frustrating conversation with our guide. His stories, which he usually announces to a couple of people only, never to the whole group despite our repeated requests to speak to the whole group, change as he speaks, and within 5 minutes, we go from having to meet at a check point in 50kms and him needing to give some letters of authorisation, to him going ahead and doing all the paperwork for us, to now suddenly not needing to provide any letters at all. ?!?! Next, motorcycles aren’t allowed on the super highway to Yangon. And finally, we are to meet outside Yangon where we have to leave the bikes and travel to the hotel by bus as we are not allowed to ride the bikes to the hotel.

Some bikes have already gone ahead and we wonder whether they have been turned back. We have 380kms to cover today, we know it is going to rain and the idea of riding through endless villages and covering that distance (or more) when we know we usually average 30-40kms/hour means we would be in for an extremely long day. In the end, we all decide to take a chance and go down the super highway – a beautiful, smooth and deserted 2 lane each way highway, with concrete posts indicating our distance to Yangon every furlong!!!

The Super Highway from Naypyitaw to Yangon

It is not long before the heavens open up again and we feel the cooling of the toes as the water sloshes in our boots. Lovely! We pull over at the only food stop along this highway – the only 2 stalls providing some shelter both sell identical snacks: packets of chips and steamed eggs. Pity they don’t sell different items. They might both get more business… We ride on, do a couple of “U’ies” to refuel, go through a few more toll gates – bikes always either go around the edge or get waved through which is the case here. No problems. Then, at the final toll gate, at end of the super highway, on the city outskirts, we are greeted by a couple of whistles and cops frantically waiving at us. There’s no politely smiling and waiving and driving by here. We are told to pull over, stop and that we will be escorted to our hotel but we must first wait for the 4 riders (smokers always need more stops than us) behind us. The senior policeman explains that motorcycles are illegal on this motorway. Oops… Maybe our guide was correct here… Eventually, we spot our pilot car and our frustrating guide – although he must be frustrated at us too now!!! We are only 10′ from our hotel he tells us and the others are not far behind (how does he know that?!). After a while, as it is still raining, we find refuge in an unused toll booth. After an hour, my lips have now turned blue I am so cold. We have no idea why the others have not arrived yet. I then decide that if we are only 10′ from the hotel, why can’t we be guided to our hotel and our guide returns for the others. At most they’d wait 20′ for us if they arrived just as we left. It takes some convincing, Anthony points out my purple lips but he eventually agrees.

In our toll gate booth. My lips aren’t blue yet but my fingers are, thanks to my wet gloves!

25′ later (not 10) we arrive at our hotel. For some reason, our guide checks into the hotel and gets himself some lunch. What about the others?!?! The pilot went back alone we presume. We find out one of the bikes had broken down and when they eventually arrive at the toll gate, 2 hours after we left, the policeman is not at all happy with them, with us all in fact, and decides the 4 bikes will have to be taken and left at the police station.

The next day we are introduced to our new guide for the day – Albert is taking us to see some of Yangon’s sights. This young man of 21 is fantastic. He speaks very good English, is very well educated and knowledgeable and is even good at “herding cats”!!! That’s what our group has been like, “as difficult as herding cats” – imagine 11 bikers, used to travelling alone, or at most 2, having travelled thousands of kms successfully and suddenly having to be ready by a certain time and ride following a pilot car.

Albert was far more interesting than the sights he took us too. He was happy to answer any question we had: he explained that Myanmar had come a long way in the last few years and he was now free to say what he wanted about the government without fear. He talked about the upcoming elections next year. The constitution of 1998 states that any citizen who is married to a foreigner is not allowed to be president and in 2008 it was changed barring anyone from the presidency who is widow(er) and parent of foreigners. Aung San Suu Kyi is therefore unlikely to be able to stand for presidency because her husband was a foreigner… It felt strange to drive past the lake I had seen so often on the news, where her house in which was placed on house-arrest for 15 years was located, and the place so many protests took place… Immigrants, which make up 10% of Myanmar’s population are never allowed to vote nor are their kids. Only those who can prove their descendants back to 1835 can have the pink ID card which allows them to vote. 2-3% of Myanmar’s budget is spent on education and health and 45% on military. Myanmar had 1 million visitors in 2012, 2 million in 2013. I hope Myanmar is able to cope with such rapid growth…

Reflecting on this reminds that we have not commented how how sweet, friendly, courteous, happy, smiling the people of Myanmar have been everywhere we went. Myanmar feels content, in spite of the controlling government. The driving especially is such a dream: every single car or truck always indicated to let us know whether it was safe or not to overtake. First of course, you have to understand whether indicating to the left (they drive on the right) means “ok to overtake” or “not ok”.!!! Once you have established that, you don’t blindly overtake of course, but it gives you a good indication – and they were never wrong in the whole time we were in Myanmar. And traffic coming towards us would do the same for the vehicles behind them. Hooting is Myanmar is very rare. Most people here don’t speak any English, yet we are able to communicate. And building a rapport with people is easy here. We are absolutely loving Myanmar 🙂

Back to Yangon. We visited the reclining Buddha, 65 metres long and 16 metres high. Next, Kalaywa Tawya scriptural learning centre and monastic education school, a holy learning centre on 17 acres of land, where we witnessed the monks arriving with their food offerings, queuing to enter their dining room and then pray before tucking into their lunch. It felt very intrusive to be there watching them pray and taking photos…. Next stop a nunnery school. Again, it felt wrong to be taking photos although I did enjoy the serene feeling of the place, watching a lone monk reciting and learning.

Reclining Buddha, Yangon

Monks queueing for lunch, Yangon

Younk monk, Yangon

Nunnery school, Yangon

Brilliant idea spotted at a market in Yangon, Myanmar

Shwedagon Pagoda, originally built by king Oklalapa in 600BC to enshrine eight strands of hair from Goutama Buddha and was maintained by subsequent kings to the 14th century. In 1453, when Queen Shin Saw Pu ascended to the throne, she had the pagoda raised to 302 feet. When she turned 64, she had 64 pagodas built at the base of the Shwedagon pagoda and also had her own weight in gold (25 viss or 41kgs) beaten out into gold leaf to cover the Shwedagon pagoda. The main pagoda undergoes regilding every 5 years because the gold plates become pale over time due to the local weather. This year, pagoda officials forecast to use over 81 kilos of gold and cash of 11.4 million US dollars in gilding the over 320 feet tall pagoda. Donors contribute in cash or gold – each plate measuring 30x30cm. I found it interesting seeing it under scaffolding and appreciating the enormity of the task of regilding, even if it meant we didn’t get to see it in all its glory.

The pagoda complex is enormous and stunning but what struck me most was seeing the huge crowds of locals, visiting and praying. While it is a major tourist attraction in Yangon, it is still and foremost a place of worship.

Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon, Myanmar

A very interesting day in Yangon. We all wish we could keep Albert for our last 2 days in Myanmar but he is unsurprisingly fully booked until February. Good for him!!

Tomorrow is the 8th November – that is Anthony’s 60th birthday!!!! Because we have an early start (going via the police station to retrieve the 4 bikes), I ask Anthony if he’d like his birthday cards this evening as the morning will be rushed. I have one traditional paper birthday card, which I carried since we left Australia, from our dear friends Pat and Andy and 59 electronic messages (amazing how it turned out to be exactly 60 in total – I recounted to double check!!!) from family and friends. Anthony will tell you all about his birthday in the next post 🙂

– Anne

Nov 6 2014

Video

Gentle Myanmar riding

Nov 4 2014

Old Bagan to Naypyitaw

After our wonderful night’s camping, which we have since found out is illegal in Myanmar, (no wonder we had to negotiate for 45′ last night – oops!), a refreshing shower and yet another delicious and very copious meal, we are taken by coach to Old Bagan.

A bit of historical background courtesy of wikipedia. From 1044 to 1287, Bagan was the capital as well as the political, economic and cultural nerve center of the Pagan Empire. Over the course of 250 years, Bagan’s rulers and their wealthy subjects constructed over 10,000 religious monuments (approximately 1000 stupas, 10,000 small temples and 3000 monasteries) in an area of 104 square kms (40 sq mi). The Pagan Empire collapsed in 1287 due to repeated Mongol invasions (1277–1301) and the city formally ceased to be the capital of Burma in December 1297. Bagan had suffered from many earthquakes over the ages, with over 400 recorded earthquakes between 1904 and 1975. Many of these damaged pagodas underwent restorations in the 1990s by the military government, which sought to make Bagan an international tourist destination. However, the restoration efforts instead drew widespread condemnation from art historians and preservationists worldwide. Today, 2229 temples and pagodas remain. (www.wikipedia.com)

It feels strange to be traveling by air conditioned bus but it is great to be able to look at the countryside without having to concentrate on the road. The shadows are getting long, the lighting is making the contrasting colours more intense, we catch glimpses of individual stupas and pagodas from behind the bushes as we zoom past in our luxury coach. We would love to walk amongst them in the stunning countryside but we can only go where we are taken.

Old Bagan, Myanmar

And our first stop is a lacquerware workshop. A typical tourist stop. Definitely not where we would have chosen to go to although it is interesting. Next stop is a massive gold covered temple. It is massive. There are many locals praying and paying their respects, but also such a massive tourist stop. The number of tourist we spot surprises us. Again it was an interesting stop but the countryside is calling me. The old simple pagodas have such a story to tell, especially as the evening mist is starting to rise. I am not the only one. We ask our guide if we can go to one of the simple, older pagodas. Ok. We finally get to an area with no other tourist coach – beautiful.

Basket maker, Bagan, Myanmar

Myanmar lady with thanaka cream for its cosmetic and sunburn protection properties

Shwezigon temple – (Golden Platform), Bagan, Myanmar

Old Bagan, Myanmar

Myanmar mother and son

We can’t linger too long as we have to be somewhere else for the sunset so off we go. Now we get the biggest shock: there are coaches and coaches, thousands of tourists and sellers following us with their various wares, never taking no thank you as a final answer. It is dreadful. What are we doing here? We look at the massive pagoda and each level is covered in colourful ‘ants’. People everywhere!! Suddenly I worry about how Myanmar is going to be able to manage the obvious massive tourist influx, which we have since found out was 1 million in 2013 and expected to be 2 million this year.

I reluctantly join the line of tourists and climb the massive steps up the pagoda. And am I glad I did:

Shwesandaw pagoda, old Bagan, Myanmar

Old Bagan, Myanmar

We head off the next day for Kalaw. The countryside is stunning, we enjoy a mid morning roadside stop. We love the people of Myanmar. Although they usually don’t speak a word of English, they are always welcoming, smile and chat (even if we don’t understand each other). They often bring extra chairs out for us to sit on. We are also often given free bottles of water at petrol stations.

With Floris and Dan at one of our roadside stops, Myanmar

Max at one our roadside stops on our way to Kalaw, Myanmar

Myanmar girl carefully choosing her candy

When our guide sees us, he stops and tells us that we are to meet in 50kms for lunch. While our tour manager Tin was full of energy and enthusiasm and spoke good English, our guide has none of those attributes. As we get to about 40kms, I spot our guide on the left hand side of the road in the shadows of trees with no pilot car to be seen anywhere. This led to the first of many, many frustrated conversations I and then others had with him that the pilot car should stop before and not after and 200 metres down the road and should be visible. In this instance, one of our group had driven right past so Anthony went on after him. Unfortunately, our poor guide, with his lack of communication and leadership skills ended up causing frustrations within the group. Nothing major, but some grating.

After our massive, varied and delicious lunch, where we met Michael (an Aussie now living in Chiang Mai who flew into Myanmar for a week and hired a motorcycle to travel), we all set off to Kalaw. The weather is looking ominous, with growing rain clouds forming ahead. Eventually, it starts drizzling. As we ride up the mountain pass, two unnerving events happen. The road is horrendously slippery. I feel a couple of fish tails. Nothing too bad but unnerving. We slow down even more. A car that has just overtaken us does a full 180 spin just in front of Anthony after a sharp bend. The truck we have been following then overtaken has diesel slushing out of the top, all over the road!!!! Rain and diesel on the road does not make for a comfortable ride. Then suddenly, Streak stalls on me twice on as I am about to tackle a hairpin bend. Not nice. I pull over and stop as we spot Max pulled over too. He also has a problem with his bike. Something is not right with Streak. Streak is ‘coughing’ and loses power just when I need to open up. As we’re chatting with Max, the diesel truck drives past. No!!!!!!! Now we will be behind him again, with more spilled diesel on the road… Anyway, we ‘limp’ to our next hotel without incident. Unlike Michael who unfortunately came off his bike and damaged his knee.

What a lovely spot! Individual chalets. Garth invites us to his chalet for a drink – he bought a small bottle of the local whisky, my first alcoholic drink for ages as I don’t drink beer. We discuss my bike problem and he offers to show us the modification he made to his fuel filter and how to change the fuel pump. He carries two extra fuel pumps and very kindly insists we should have one of them.

Hoping the rain will hold off heading up the mountain towards Kalaw, Myanmar

Heading up the mountain towards Kalaw, Myanmar

It is festival time in Myanmar so the temples are crowded and music is blearing

Our lovely cottage accommodation at Kalaw, Myanmar

Garth showing us what we might need to do to fix Anne’s fuel pump problem

We only have 70kms to ride the next day to get to Nyaungshwe. It is a beautiful, relaxed ride, through serene countryside, where life seems to unfold at a very slow gentle speed.

Myanmar monk

Typical scene in Myanmar

Typical Myanmar scene

Heading into Nyaungshwe, Myanmar

Nyaungshwe, Myanmar

We have the afternoon off. Time for some bike maintenance, organising what laundry we need done which we give to the hotel (it always feels so luxurious when we don’t have to do all the washing by hand), a nana nap for Anthony while I go out and explore the village and market. This is where I buy cakes, candles and chocolates for Anthony’s 60th.

We have all heard of the fire balloon festival and organise ourselves some transport up to Taunggyi as it is not part of our program.

We are off to Taunggyi fire balloon festival, Myanmar – Garth, Kristjan and Rolfe

We arrive at what looks like a massive fair, with blaring music coming from several stands, each one outdoing the other. The noise is horrendous. What is this?!?! As we allow ourselves to melt into the crowd and slowly walk from one stand to another, we start to enjoy what is happening here. It is definitely a local event. It is joyous. Food stalls, candy stalls, beer vendors, people picnicking. We are taken to where the fire balloons will be launched in 2 hours. So we all go our separate ways and eventually find each other again some hours later. The preparation of the first balloon by the ‘red team’ took ages but was fascinating. It started with some drumming and dancing, gradually getting more and more frenetic. We keep being offered drinks and ‘stuff’ which we politely decline. But I eventually accept the repeated offers to join in the dancing. Watching, and for Anthony, being part of the building of the balloon, the lighting of the lanterns and seeing the balloon take off into the night sky was fascinating! What an amazing evening!! Make sure you watch his video.

Anthony talking to one of the Taunggyi fire balloon competitors, Myanmar

Candy floss seller at the Taunggyi fire balloon festival, Myanmar

One of thousands of lanterns to be lit at the Taunggyi fire balloon festival, Myanmar

We were offered prime viewing seating at the Taunggyi fire balloon festival, Myanmar

Anthony has been promoted by the red team and given lighting candle and lighter at the Taunggyi fire balloon festival, Myanmar

Taunggyi fire balloon festival, Myanmar

Today, November 4th, is a full day on Inle Lake. We travel by long boat, powered by extremely noisy engines. The boat ride to the floating villages is long, noisy and fume filled. We are taken to a temple, observe silk weaving, lotus thread weaving, blacksmithing, cigar making. We really have no interest in visiting those places having been taken to similar ones so many times on our travels. We would be so much happier wondering quieter local streets, having a drink at small roadside shacks, visiting small monasteries or temples, all away from the tourist coaches and touristy boats. Towards the end of the day, we are dropped off on the west bank of the lake and walk a couple of kilometers to a natural spring spa. It is quiet and we only see a few locals on scooters. Wonderful. Until we arrive at the spa!! Ha, not so quiet. But we are here now so we may as well indulge. Our bodies are grateful. Some of my impressive bruises are now on display. It is funny how I still clearly remember thinking – oh ho, this will be interesting as I realised I was going down on that forest trail. Anyway, the spa is relaxing and does us good. Dinner tonight is at a very touristy pizza restaurant. We will be glad to return to quieter rural Myanmar tomorrow.

Our boats on Inle Lake, Myanmar

“Street” and powerlines on Inle Lake, Myanmar

Horrific noise and air pollution on Inle Lake, Myanmar

Ingenious one legged rowing used by fishermen on Inle Lake, Myanmar

Finished our Inle Lake tour at natural springs and enjoyed a soak in a hot tub

Our favourite part of Inle Lake – a quiet meander through the reeds

The destination today 5th November is Naypyitaw, 290kms away, the capital of Myanmar. (On 6 November 2005, the administrative capital of Burma was officially moved to a greenfield approximately 320 km north of Yangon/Rangoon). We have a choice of 2 routes but the other route is totally unknown and could be similar to our 2nd day so, because of the state of number of bikes, including mine, the consensus is to backtrack back beyond Kalaw – none of us like to backtrack. Anthony and I decide to leave 45′ ahead of the others as I am not looking forward to the mountain crossing with my bike ‘coughing’ as it is. We wait 45′ for the others at a junction south and start to wonder if they took a turn before our junction as they are all faster than us and should have arrived by now. So we head off alone. Unbeknownst to us, one of the bikes had a new problem and they all ended up leaving much later. We have a lovely ride. We get to the outskirts of Naypyidaw and get totally and utterly lost and completely soaked – it is pouring!!! We turn off to the left – end up in the air force area. The 4 lane dual carriage way is deserted. Turn back quick. Next we end up in the grey roof area. The residential areas are carefully organized, roofs colour coded and apartments are allotted according to rank and marital status. We finally spot a tiny army checkpoint and stop for help. We give our hotel name but no one has heard of it. After about an hour, we understand that there are 2 hotels with similar sounding names and are given one of the army officers to show us the way. It is now absolutely pouring, the rain drops can be felt through our jackets so the poor guy must really feel it!

Typical street in Naypyitaw, Myanmar capital with our army officer leading us to our hotel

30′ later we arrive at a hotel and staff is waiting for us!!!!! (We had been given the wrong name.). What a welcome. Ladies in beautiful traditional dress are waiting with a bouquet of flowers for each one of us. We are taking to our bungalow. Wow. The accommodation we have stayed at throughout Myanmar has been amazing! And the staff always so attentive and responsive.

Next stop, Yangon (Rangoon).

– Anne

2slowspeeds

Loving life – Turning Dreams into Memories

Tag Archives: Myanmar

Myanmar – other perspectives

My 60th birthday

Myanmar capitals – from the new to the old

Gentle Myanmar riding

Old Bagan to Naypyitaw

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