Myanmar

A 10 days trip through Myanmar where I fully indulged in the history of this amazing country.

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This trip is part of my 3 months South East Asia trip.
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Yangon (ရန်ကုန်)

29 September 2019

In the morning, I took a flight from Bangkok to Yangon. I checked in to my hostel and went to a walk through the city. The city overwhelmed be a bit which is why I ate at Nourish Cafe in the North of the city – where I felt a bit like back home.

I went to the Botataung Pagoda. It contains a golden stupa and a relic of Buddha’s hair.

30 September 2019

Today, I did not do much and relaxed mostly at the hostel- Then I took the bus at 6 pm from Yangon to Kalaw.

Kalaw (ကလောမြို့)

01 October 2019

I arrived at 4 in the morning in Kalaw where I found a motorbike driver who brought me to my hostel where I stayed 2 nights (well… actually one and a half :-D).

I felt extremely hangover in the morning and first went to a café close to the hostel. Then I got a bike from the hostel and rode around the village for some sightseeing around Kalaw. I biked to the Shwee Oo Min Pagoda – I loved it so much there. I was all alone there, there were caves and beautiful golden pagodas.

Afterwards, I cycled to the Thein Taung Monastery (uphill – phew).

I bought some beautiful souvenirs in the village – a ring, earrings, 2 paper lamps and one traditonal ball. Also, I bought a beautiful black and white long skirt (longyi) at the market (which I used nearly everyday on the rest of my travels!)

In the afternoon, I went again to the pagodas because I loved it so much there. Three times I was asked by women for photos 😀

Inle Trek

02 October 2019

At 7:30 a.m. the next morning, I started my 2 days / 1 night Inle trek. This trek was one of the greatest highlights of my whole South East Asia trip.

We first drove a bit and it rained a bit. The team consited of an Australian, a Scottish, an British and a Columbian guy, and myself, and of course a guide. It was a fun group!

The hike was really hot but with great views and great people.

We had lunch at a family, their small kid brought us some food which was incredibly cute.

We continued our hike and saw a lot of farmers on the way.

We also had break in a small kiosk where the guys played some guitar and we sang.

We slept in the Htee Thein monastery. The shower consisted of a tin bucket and a faucet. We slept inside the praying room of the monastery.

03 October 2019

Early the next morning, we woke up to the monch kids listening to football in the radio. Afterwards, they prayed and sang.

It was very foggy when we started our hike. We entered the Inle Park Zone where we had to pay 15,000 Ks each.

We visited a school.

We had a short break at a kiosk and continued our hike. The earth was beautifully red.

We arrived at Inle Lake where we had a great lunch break.

Then we continued our trip via boat and crossed many villages which were built on the Inle Lake.

We visited a silver workshop and a couple of souvenir stores. We also saw some Pa Daung women. They start wearing rings around their necks or under knees with 9 years. At 19 years, they change the rings from small to big and are finished with stretching their neck or knees at an age of 25 year. The rings weigh up to 8 kg (neck) and 2 kg (under knee).

We arrived in Nyaung Shwe and checked into the Ostello Bello Hostel. The whole group had drinks and dinner together.

Nyaung Shwe (ညောင်ရွှေမြို့နယ်)

04 October 2019

The next day, I rented a boat at 6:30 a.m. in the morning with one of the guys from the tour.

There was the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda festival. Every day at 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. a swimming pagoda, accompanied by boats, floats from one village to the other along the lake – this continues for multiple days. It was fascinating.

We visited a lotus and cigar workshop

We also saw the famous traditional fishers on the lake.

In Nyaung Shwe, we went to a coffee shop to have Crème Brulée and an iced coffee.

At 5:20 p.m. in the evening, I took a flight to Mandalay.

Mandalay (မန္တလေး)

04 October 2019 (continued)

When I arrived in the evening, I waited at the airport for a friend of mine who accompanied me for the next weeks until Vietnam. We got a wonderful dinner in the city before heading to our hostel.

05 October 2019

In the morning, we went to Mandalay Palace. It is a royal palace of the last Burmese monarchy inside a walled fort, surrounded by a moat. It was built between 1857 and 1859 by King Mindon to set up the new royal capital city of Mandalay.

Afterwards, we went to the U Bein bridge, a 1.2 km bridge which was built around 1850 by Maung Bein and is supposedly the oldest teakwood bridge in the world. Close by, there is also a market.