Mandalay

It was around 6.30pm when we arrived in Mandalay, it was a long travel day as we had left our hotel in Hsipaw at 8am. We decided to stretch the budget bit and get a pool as Mandalay is super hot this time of year. We walked into our posh hotel and was greeted with cold towels and juices, which is just what we needed after our long travel day. Also for some reason the door staff have always grabbed Chris’ bag and just left me to it, they probably feel sorry for him because they can see he’s carrying more than me. I gloat at the lightness of my bag and how I’m proud I have packed so light, but the reality is Chris is carrying all our toiletries, camera, lap top etc.

We headed straight out for dinner, we have loved the Indian food here so found one with great reviews and headed there. It was a little on the pricy side but the closest Indian we have ever had to India, and didn’t disappoint. We decided to get a taxi back to the hotel, as there’s very little street lighting in Mandalay and half the time you have to walk into the road. Some of the roads are so dark it actually looks pitch black in distance as you look down them (even in the middle of the city).

We had two full days in Mandalay and decided to spend one day wondering around the city soaking up the atmosphere and the other exploring the popular temples in Mingun, obviously with plenty of pool time added in too.

On the first morning we headed out of the hotel and only got 5 minute up the road when it started hammering it down, we took shelter outside a computer shop and after a couple of minutes they brought out some chairs for us to sit on. The kindness of people all around Myanmar has been amazing, children waving at you in the street saying ‘bye bye’ (I’m not sure why they picked up bye bye rather then hello, but it’s super cute), everyone smiling and willing to help. After 30 minutes or so the rain calmed and we headed back out on our way. We walked into a shopping centre, it was polar opposites to Yangon and its grand shopping centres with recognisable brands, coffee shops and cinemas. It’s like Yangon has a different economy to the rest of Myanmar. As we were walking through the shopping centre the power kept cutting out, it was pitch black inside and super hot so we soon got fed up and headed out. Next we headed to the gold pounding district (where they produce gold leaf), as soon as you walk into this area you can hear the thudding from the mallets. I’d found a shop that had an open workshop which you could visit. A man explained the gold leaf making process to us. It starts off as a thin strip of gold and then is pounded for 6 hours by hand (I think a lot of places are using machines now but in this area they stick with the traditional techniques). The sheets of gold are placed between bamboo paper, which he also explained how is made. The mallets were really heavy and they work for an hour at a time and then rest, pounding for 4 hours a day. We then exited through the gift shop where you could buy the gold leaf, or little guilted trinkets or even a gold leaf drink or makeup, unfortunately our budget doesn’t stretch quite so far that we can drink gold, even in Myanmar. The prices are heavily inflated and we saw the same items for sale in the airport for a quarter of the price. Gold leaf is very important as it’s added to the buddhas in homes and pagodas. This practice is an act of kindness and transfer of good merits so is very popular with the locals. In the afternoon glad that the rain had stopped and the sun had come back out, we relaxed in the hotels roof top pool.

I’d seen on Instagram the beautiful sunset pictures of U Bein bridge, which is in the south of the city, we negotiated with a tuk tuk driver a return journey, however, I hadn’t quite realised it would take us 30 minutes to get there. The tuk tuk driver was mental taking turnings on the wrong side of the road and then joining the right side. The driving is south east Asia is crazy and this tuk tuk journey was pretty hair-raising, it must be the teeth staining betel they constantly chew out here. We arrived at the bridge with the sunset almost over and this is clearly a popular spot for day trippers as it was so busy. We soon realised that the beautiful pictures I had seen of the bridge were more than likely from summer and not from what is now dry season, as the lake was fairly dry. The bridge itself is pretty but I did feel a little disappointed with the sunset. On our way back across the bridge we were stopped several times by students and monks wanting to practice their English. It’s such a great way to interact with locals, we are always happy to stop and talk to them, and it made what could have been a disappointing evening into a memorable one. One of the older monks we spoke to told us about his participation in the 2007 protest which actually led to him being imprisoned for 5 years. Democracy is so important to this nation and although things are getting better, the military still have 25% power in the parliament, with a 75.1% vote needed to make any changes. Although things are changing economically (slowly) there is still unrest and civil war and even genocide going on. One of the things traveling has given me is an interest into these countries history and politics. The struggles a lot of these countries have faced and are facing currently is eye opening, and even with what’s going on in their own country people are still asking us our thoughts on Brexit!

On our second day we headed to the ancient city of Mingun to the Instagram-famous white pagoda. There is only one boat a day which leaves at 9am, we’d seen online you needed to get there no later then 8.30am to ensure you get a ticket. We grabbed a tuk tuk from outside the hotel and told him where we wanted to go and even showed him on the map the location. He then headed on this way, Chris was following the route on maps.me and noticed he was going an odd way. He then he pulled over and made a phone call, then the next thing the phone was passed to Chris with someone on the end of the phone saying ‘hello, how can I help you?’. Clearly the driver had no idea where he was going, but didn’t want to lose out to another driver. We eventually got there with a mix of us giving him directions and him stopping to ask along the way. We climbed down the muddy bank and over the narrow planks of 3 other boats to get to ours and even at 9am the sun was super hot. The boat ride up the Irrawaddy was just under an hour and we arrived to a river bank full of touts. From tuk tuk drivers to cow pulled carts, people selling drinks and souvenirs. We started walking towards the white pagoda and a lady followed us walking along side us telling us which way to go, it was very odd, we were polite and just exchanged small conversation. It turned out she worked at an English school which gets donations from foreigners (bingo thats why she was following us!) along the way she pointed out where she lived and that the school was just around the corner if we wanted to visit, we just said no thank you and she soon left us. We arrived at the white pagoda and a little girl no older then 10 told us she was a photographer and would take a very good photo for us, there were a few other children around the site offering the same, great little entrepreneurs. In Myanmar you have to remove your shoes before entering the pagoda site, but luckily as this was painted white and it was still early the floor wasn’t too hot to walk on. The walkway around the edge wasn’t, it was like a fire walk – I’m glad we didn’t visit any later in the day. The Hsinbyume Pagoda (built in 1816) is very different to other pagodas with wave like terraces surrounding the outside. These terraces represent the seven mountain ranges surrounding Mount Meru, which is considered the centre of the universe in the Buddhist cosmology. This pagoda was built by the Bagydaw prince, the heir of King Bodawpaya as a way to show his love for his first wife (Queen Hsinbyume) who unfortunately lost her life during childbirth. We have seen A LOT of temples and pagodas and this is one of my favourites.

In the area of Mingun is a second impressive structure – the unfinished ‘Mingun pagoda’. It was set to be the biggest pagoda in history, but was only built to a third of its height in 1790 before construction was stopped. It was said that if the pagoda was finished the king would die, so it was just left. Then in 1839 it was hit by an earthquake leaving massive cracks in the structure and bricks pouring out, and giving it a world record for the biggest pile of bricks. It is an impressive structure, to think of the size it would have been had it been completed! When we were walking around, the lady from earlier came back and started talking to us again, telling us when to take pictures and where to go. We think she forgot she had already spoke to us. She pointed out the school and then told us she lived in the house next to it, this was a different house to what she had told us before. After we had walked around, she asked for a donation for the school. This is something that really annoys us, I mean even the children offering to take photos clearly have a better business model! If she had learnt some facts about the pagoda and said for a donation for the school would you like me to give you little tour and tell you about the pagoda we would have given her a few quid, rather then following us around and pointing at cracks in the wall.

The last thing we wanted to see was the two lions, these again were destroyed by the earthquake but you can imagine the size of them when they stood proud guarding the kingdom. There were a few monks taking pictures along with another family, I noticed a little girl beside me and her mother taking a picture I presumed she was talking a picture in front of the lions so I moved to the side and she moved closer, she wanted a picture with me! I was flattered. We had heard and seen in a lot of blogs and instagram posts about locals wanting pictures with westerners, but we hadn’t experienced it other than with our guides or when we had stoped and spoken English with the students or monks. A lot of peoples blogs and Instagrams are totally glamorised, which is laughable on occasions, and I presumed this was the case with this. However, a couple we had met on the train from Hsipaw told us of their experience, but they were both blonde haired and paled skinned which is more of a novelty to the locals. Clearly we’re not beautiful enough and maybe a bit t0o old lol, but at least this little girl didn’t think so. On the way back we walked through a local market and then headed back to the pool. One thing we won’t forget is the sound of Myanmar, the constant backing-track of prayer being broadcast from various religious buildings. This will go alongside the usual smell of the streets of Asia in our memory banks. In the evening we had some cocktails on the roof top bar to watch the sunset and celebrate our 100 days of traveling! It’s going so quickly!!

The following day we headed to the airport for Thailand. We changed flights at Bangkok for Krabi, Chris needed to go through border control to get the drone back (we had stored it here whilst in Myanmar as it’s illegal to import an unauthorised drone into the country). Although we felt as we arrived in Yangon we could have brought it through in our hand luggage, there would have been no way we would have got it through in Mandalay as before we had even checked in, all of our luggage was put through a scanner by customs, and then after check in we went through the usual border control. Even though we were worried about making the connecting flight, Chris got through immigration/security quicker than I did using the fly through service. We fancied a burger and got a couple of meals from Burger King and got stung for £17! It was a bloody good burger though!

We both loved Myanmar, there were some ethical considerations before visiting Myanmar because of the income from tourism is potentially funding the military (a google search for ‘Rohingya’ will give you some insight into what they are up to). However by not visiting a country you can do more harm to the people, and it was the people that made this country for us. Everyone we passed, smiled or said hello, which made us feel so welcome. The traditions of wearing the longyi (sarong) for both men and woman and also the thanaka on their faces. The people with nearly nothing offering food to you and always willing to help. The vast difference in nature and landscape, from the beauty of Inle Lake to the colonial architecture (in many towns) and the tribal traditions. The historic pagodas, of which there are thousands in Bagan (even though we were gutted about missing out on the balloon ride). Getting to spend time with Thinzar, who worked in the UK with Chris over 13 years ago, and making true friends with her and her husband Sai. We loved Myanmar, and all the things above made it a highlight of the trip for us.

We’ve now arrived for our ‘holiday’ in Thailand. We decided to take it slow visiting couple of beach destinations for a couple of weeks before the final leg of our trip.

Lisa & Chris xx

Inle Lake, Pyin Oo Lwin and Hsipaw

Inle Lake

As we mentioned at the end of the last blog, we had 2 nights at an intha family homestay on the lake. Intha literally means ‘sons of the lake’ and is the name of the ethnic minority who live here. Our homestay was a stilted house over the lake which is traditional intha style. The plan here was mainly to relax and enjoy the scenery! On the first morning I got up at about 5.30am to watch the sunrise (I was woken up by chants coming from the local pagoda, so thought might as well!), I could see it straight from our bedroom window – it was such a beautiful, peaceful view! I then walked around to the communal area while Lisa slept and enjoyed a coffee with the morning views all to myself, until some of the other guests got up around half an hour later.

During the day we mainly chilled out and caught up on admin, planning and booking our time in Thailand (and we decided to add Sydney to our plan so booked some flights from there to Melbourne!). In the evening we went on a sunset boat trip of the lake with our new friend Valeria (from Chile). We had a lovely tour through the intha village, floating gardens and also to some local fisherman, and finally stopped to enjoy the sunset. I’ve seen some amazing sunsets in my time in Asia, and this was one of the best!

The next day we took a boat back to Nyaung Shwe, had another massage at our favourite place, then back to Eminem’s for another awesome curry. After this we took a taxi to a local hotel as Sai (Thinzar’s husband who we met in Yangon) was there on a course, so enjoyed a drink catching up with him.

Pyin Oo Lwin

From Nyaung Shwe we took a bus to Mandalay, stayed a night, and then took a shared taxi to Pyin Oo Lwin. The shared taxi made it very cheap, about £2.75 each for the 66km journey. It did mean we had to share with some strangers and take the odd detour on the way as the driver delivered parcels, but we are on a budget! We did have a bit of a scary moment on the way when a motorbike pulled out in front of us – we were off the road into the gravel separating the carriageways at about 50mph! Luckily our driver did control it very well, got out of the car and went mental at the motorbike rider!

Pyin Oo Lwin was an old hill station and the summer capital when under British rule (known as Maymyo back then) as Mandalay was too hot at that time of year. I was quite surprised how big it was actually, I was expecting a small hill town similar to Kalaw, but approximately quarter of a million people live here. We spent a little bit of time walking around and exploring the town and having some amazing coffee – they grow coffee in Shan State and take their brewing very seriously here, one cafe we went to grew their own coffee beans on-site!

We also visited the National Kandawgyi Botanical gardens, which were created in 1915 and modelled on Kew Gardens. We had a lovely time walking around these, and it was quite funny the amount of people that would stop and point/stare when they saw us. I think a lot of local tourists come here, and the locals outside of tourist hotspots are not used to seeing westerners. After this we had some dinner, and as it was dark decided to try and get a tuk tuk back to the hotel (we really don’t like walking in the dark with all the stray dogs). All we could find was a horse drawn cart that moved about the same speed I walk, but at least we were protected from the dogs!

Hsipaw

The main reason we wanted to visit this area is because the train between Pyin Oo Lwin and Hsipaw has amazing views, and goes across the very impressive Goteik Viaduct (over 100m tall and built in 1900 to extend the reach of the British empire). It’s about a 6.5 hour journey (over 10 if you go straight from Mandalay), but worth it. The train moves very slowly and is very rickety, we could see the carriage in front of us swinging from side-to-side! We had some very friendly monks next to us on the journey (an adult and a child, probably about 8 years old) who kept offering us food. First it was a banana, then some fried goods, then a corn-on-the-cob, then another banana, then an ice cream. Some of the food they were buying extra from the vendors and giving to us, and some was actually donations from other passengers (in the buddhist religion they get goodwill for donating food to monks). It was interesting to see that the child handled all the money, we found out this is because monks are not allowed to touch money, however, children (novice monks) do not live by the full set of rules. We were starting to wonder whether this was going to lead into them guilting us into making a donation to their monastery, but they were just being super-kind and at the end of the journey went their separate way and said they hope to see us again. We have found the Burmese to be the most kind, friendly and smiley people we have ever met! We bought them some water and biscuits in return to show our gratitude.

Hsipaw is in Shan State and is totally surrounded by conflict areas. The British government advise against all but essential travel to the area outside of Hsipaw town (the train line is the only safe route in) so we were confined to the town whilst here. We learned there was over 2,000 villagers in refugee camps in this area, with many of the children not able to go to school. Some of the villagers would go back to tend their crops, even though it was unsafe to do so. Whilst we were on the train going through these areas, it was sad to see the local children and villagers waving to us, and thinking what some of them are going through.

A lot of this information we learned from a gentleman known as Mr Book (there’s also a Mr Pizza, Mr Bike, Mr Juice and Mr Food – I’m sure you can guess their professions!). Mr Book owns a bookshop in the town (in case you didn’t guess), from which all of the profits he uses to buy stationary for children in the village schools. We popped in to buy a couple of books and he started telling us all about the local history, and gave us some old Burmese bank notes – he said to come back the next day and he would tell us more. The next morning we popped back and he told us all about the notes, that all of them add up to 9 as that was the lucky number, and they have a picture of a lion on them as that was the symbol of the military (because the leader was born on a Tuesday, and that’s the animal of that day). He also told us how the military wanted to get rid of anything western after the British rule. When they printed this currency, they immediately made all of the old currency no longer legal tender, with no compensation, totally wiping out peoples savings! He then took us to his storage area out the back where he had loads of books, crayons etc which he will take to the schools. He goes about 7 times a year, although occasionally has trouble getting there in rainy season or when the army turn him away because a conflict is taking place. We did pop back later in the afternoon with supplies from our room – toothbrushes, toothpaste, coffee, sweets and soap. The teachers and kids love this, although he said he has to warn the kids when he gives them soap, otherwise they unwrap and try to eat it! He also told us there is a big problem with de-forestation due to the Chinese – they are coming up fairly regularly when we talk to locals across all countries in SE Asia.

There is also a big river that runs through Hsipaw, we enjoyed evening walks down here watching all of the locals swimming and having a great time in the river. They literally drive their cars/motorbikes straight into the river and get out from there – I’m not really sure why? We also took a stroll up to ‘Little Bagan’ which was an area with lots of old small pagodas, it was quite a cool area as nobody else there other than the locals in their houses surrounding it.

On our last day we took the train back to Pyin Oo Lwin, we were in ordinary class this time, so not quite as comfy as the first time around. The views were still amazing though and going over the Goteik Viaduct just as incredible as the first time around. The train stops just before you get there, and then creaks across the viaduct very slowly so there is plenty of time to take in the view. As soon as we arrived in Pyin Oo Lwin we jumped straight into a shared taxi to Mandalay (no near crashes this time thank god!), where we had booked a fancy hotel with a rooftop pool for our final few nights in Myanmar.

Chris and Lisa x

Bagan

We arrived in Bagan at around 5.30am on an overnight bus. The bus had left Yangon at about 8.30 the previous evening, and strangely stops at a service station at about 2am where everyone is forced off the bus. A lot of the locals had a meal at the restaurant, but we pretty much spent half an hour walking around like zombies! I actually slept really well after this, but was so tired when we arrived as just not enough sleep. We took a taxi to the hotel (we were definitely overcharged as paid 8,000 kyat, and noticed signs later saying it should have been 6,500), and as you’d imagine no chance our room would be ready. We just slept and lazed around the pool until about 11am when we could check into our room.

We didn’t get up to much on the first day, mainly spending our time exploring the local area. There wasn’t too much to see within a walking distance of the hotel, but there was a few bars and restaurants we popped in for drinks and lunch. It is really hot here (up to 43 degrees during the day), so we are really missing air conditioned coffee shops to chill out in! We did visit the Shwezigon Pagoda, which was a beautiful gold pagoda in the town we were staying (Nyaung U).

Old Bagan

The next two days we spent exploring the pagodas around Old Bagan. Bagan is an ancient city and was capital of the Pagan empire which ruled most of present-day Burma. They built over 10,000 pagodas during the 11th-13th century, with over 2,000 still standing to this day. We were really hoping to do a sunrise hot air balloon flight over the pagodas, as this is meant to be one of the best balloon flights in the world and would have been an incredible experience. Unfortunately the balloon season finishes on 10th April in Myanmar, so we were about two weeks too late – gutted!

The second best way to view the pagodas is to hire an e-bike – this is an electric bike (although looks more like a scooter) and costs about £2.50 per day. It was so much fun riding around on the e-bike exploring all the pagodas. There are a couple of main roads which are extremely quiet (just a few motorbikes, e-bikes and the occasional car or horse and cart), but most of the time is spend riding around sandy backroads – I felt like I was in the map for Red Dead Redemption at times (PS4 game if you don’t know it)! It’s disrespectful to enter the pagodas with your shoulders or legs on display, so I also bought a longyi to wear – it was a bit cooler than the jogging bottoms I have with me (my only pair of trousers).

We wanted to find an elevated spot to watch the sunset (sunrise would probably have been better as much quieter, but the sun rises at 5.30am and we didn’t fancy that), so whilst riding around were keeping an eye out for somewhere to go back to. In the past people have climbed up the outside of the pagodas, but this has been illegal since early last year as having thousands of tourists climbing over these old buildings damages them (and is not safe). We found a couple of options; there are a couple of mounds that are good and also a big tower which has been built (and I think is $5 to go up). The tower probably gives an amazing view, but is very controversial here as it is a huge blot on the landscape and I heard someone mention that a lot of bribe money must have been paid to get permission to build it. So we opted with one of the mounds, and I think this was a good choice as it gave us a great elevated view across the landscape with all of the pagodas. It did get quite busy though, so you need to get there early to get a spot at the front. We were a bit unlucky though, as there was a layer of clouds just above the horizon which the sun disappeared into before it set.

The obvious comparison to make with this would be Angkor Wat. I would say the pagodas/temples themselves at Angkor Wat are more impressive (they are just so much bigger), however, you need a tuk tuk to take you around and it is horrendously busy. Bagan was so quiet and much more charming. Although sunset was busy, and you’d see other people at the larger pagodas, most of the time it was just us on our own riding around the dusty backroads and exploring random ruins.

Next we are taking a bus to Kalaw, where we will spend a couple of nights before a 3 day hike to Inle Lake.

Chris and Lisa x

Yangon

We had heard great things about Myanmar, and I have a friend (Thinzar) who lives in Yangon, so we decided to add this to our route. It is a little bit out of the way, but we are flying there and back so pretty easy really. The only slight challenge is that it is illegal to take drones into Myanmar (possible 3 year prison sentence). I researched online and a lot of people had their bags scanned as they left the airport and their drone confiscated (to be collected when they left the country), but this was not an option for us as we’d be flying out of a different airport. Realistically there’s not a risk of prison, I’ve only seen them use that when someone has done something silly like fly an illegally imported drone over a government building. Either way, we didn’t want to lose the drone, so I went through immigration at our layover in Bangkok and stored it in left luggage. Now I just have to hope our flight back to Bangkok isn’t delayed so I have time to pick it back up before we catch our connecting flight to Krabi!

Day 1

We stayed in downtown Yangon (district 1), which I think was the perfect choice. I loved the vibe around this area, it had a typical Asian feel to it, but a much slower pace than somewhere like Bangkok or Hanoi. It was so nice to wander around and soak up the atmosphere. Also motorbikes are banned in Yangon, so it was really strange to see the streets full of cars for a change!

First we visited Sule Pagoda, which was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. It is a Burmese Stupa in the middle of a roundabout, and apparently over 2,600 years old. We had to pay about $5 to get in, which I thought was quite expensive, but I was keen to see it. Inside a young local man started talking to us and telling us about the pagoda. He asked what day we were born on, and took us to the Buddha that represents that day. We had to pour holy water over the buddha, the animal underneath, brush the metal ornaments, and then hit a bell three times. Whenever someone in Asia starts being nice to you, it does usually mean the start of a scam or they are expecting some money in my experience, but it felt rude to to say we didn’t want to talk to him, and it was interesting, so we let him continue. At the end he said we needed to make a donation to the buddha, and then said our donation was very small and we should put more money in (to which we said no). Anyway, about 5 minutes later when he thought we had gone, he went back to the buddha and took the money for himself. Ironically I was going to tip him more than I donated to the buddha so he lost out there! We told one of the security guards what he was doing, but they didn’t seem to care, I think they are all in on it to be honest. Then when we left the pagoda we couldn’t get our shoes back unless we gave the lady 1000 Kyat. When we’d arrived, there was nothing to say we had to pay for storing our shoes, she just pointed to some shelves and said we should leave them there. The pagoda was lovely, but the locals trying to fleece the tourists does ruin the experience a bit.

It gets really hot in Yangon (over 40 degrees), so we timed our day to be somewhere air conditioned early afternoon. There was a big shopping centre not far called Junction City, so we headed here next and spent some time browsing the shops. We went into a restaurant Thinzar recommended here called ‘YKKO’ and tried some Pork Kyay Oh. It’s a pork soup which is popular amongst local people (also recommended by Thinzar). It was really tasty, although it did have quite a bit of offal in which I didn’t finish.

From there we crossed the road to Bogyoke Aung San Market. This is such a cool place, I loved walking around here. We try not to buy too many souvenirs as they’re just another thing to carry, but couldn’t resist buying some locally made place mats from one of the vendors. We were really surprised how dark it was inside the market, you could barely see in the middle of it. Later in the day all the lights turned on and everyone cheered, so we realised it had been a power cut (which we have since learned happens fairly regularly in Yangon). We stopped for an iced coffee here and Lisa also bought a longyi which is a traditional Burmese skirt.

In the evening, Thinzar and her husband (Sai) picked us up from the hotel. I used to work with Thinzar at JJB Sports over 13 years ago, so it was lovely to see her again after all these years. First they took us to see Shwedagon Pagoda, which I think is one of the most iconic pagodas in the country. It is approximately 2600 years old, and although is a tourist attraction, the locals still use it as a place to relax and pay their respect to buddha. The whole pagoda is covered with gold leaf, and although unfortunately it is currently covered in scaffolding for refurbishment, it still looks absolutely incredible. The scaffolding has been put up very tastefully, I didn’t even realise it was being refurbished at first. While we were here we saw a lot of very young monks. Sai explained to us these are orphaned children who live at the monastery and are looked after by the monks. As I understood it, many of the orphaned children lost their parents in the civil conflicts which are taking place in various parts of Myanmar between the government and certain ethnic minorities. We saw a lot of these young monks around Yangon, usually walking in a line chanting and collecting donations. The girl monks we learned are called nuns and dress in pink robes.

Thinzar and Sai then took us to a local restaurant for dinner. Here we tried Myanmar curry (chicken and mutton), mohinga and some local deserts. The curries were so tasty, with a nice spice to them. Mohinga is a fish noodle soup, this was quite nice and not at all offensive, but I don’t think I’d have it again (I liked it, I just didn’t love it). The deserts were some delicious coconut things (I have no idea what they were) and some small pancakes made with rice.

Day 2

We had another stroll around downtown today. We went to Maha Bandula Park to see the Independence Monument and City Hall. This was a beautiful little park, and you can really see the British influence on the architecture from the days this was a British colony. The Independence Monument was put up in 1948, replacing a statue of Queen Victoria. Apparently the statue of Queen Victoria came back to England, but I’m not sure what happened to it!

We then went to the Rangoon Teahouse for lunch (Rangoon is the old British colony name for Yangon). We shared a tea leaf salad and a chai tea cheesecake here. The tea leaf salad is a traditional Burmese dish, we made the mistake of ordering the spicy version! I don’t know what a lot of the ingredients were, but it’s quite nutty, so very different to a salad we’d have. They take their tea-making very seriously here, even more seriously than the British! You have a couple of types of leaf to choose from, then a choice of 16 ways to have your milk (various strengths and ratios of condensed and evaporated milk).

After this we wandered into Chinatown, soaked up the atmosphere and then had a traditional Burmese massage. We are enjoying trying the local massages in each country! Burmese was my favourite so far, it was much more gentle than the others! At the end of our massages they painted our cheeks with thanaka. This is a tree bark that is rubbed in water to make a paste, then smeared on peoples faces. The Burmese use this to protect their faces from the sun (we’ve seen a lot of locals wearing it), but apparently it is also very good for the skin. Some of the locals did think it was funny seeing us walk around with this on!

To end the day we walked back up to Junction City and watched Pet Cemetery at the cinema. We were a bit surprised, as before the film starts the Myanmar national flag is displayed on the screen while the national anthem plays. We looked behind and noticed everyone had stood up for this, and felt a bit awkward as we weren’t sure what to do. Thinzar told us after than foreigners are not expected to stand, which was lucky, as we didn’t! Pet Cemetery probably wasn’t the best choice of film here, as Yangon does have a problem with stray dogs (and rabies). After being chased by the dogs in Cambodia we are quite scared of them so the walk home was a bit tense. We made it all the way to the street our hotel is on, before coming across a dog standing in our way. We waited for a little while until some locals appeared, and walked past the dog with them. I do think the danger of dogs in Yangon is real, with 1,394 dog bites recorded at Yangon hospital last October (and 25 deaths from rabies between Jan-Oct that year), however, we didn’t see that many dogs, and all the ones we did see were not interested in us at all. The thing that is sad is that rabies deaths are totally avoidable with vaccine (it doesn’t even exist in the UK!), whereas here, people are still regularly dying from it. Being in these countries (especially Cambodia) really has made me so grateful of the healthcare we have in the UK. In these places if you don’t have money, you are pretty much left to die.

Day 3

We had a bit of a lazy morning, and then took a Grab up to another shopping centre called Junction Square. We had a browse around here and stopped at KFC for lunch. Amazingly, this was Lisa’s first ever KFC. It was different to at home, the batter on the outside was much more crunchy. I haven’t been used to such heavy meals, so felt a bit sick after this. We then went to the National Museum where we saw lots of old artefacts from ancient Myanmar, dinosaur bones and a huge throne from one of the old kings. There was no air con in the museum and it was very hot, so we didn’t spend too long in there.

In the evening we met with Thinzar and Sai and they took us to a lovely restaurant which overlooked Inya Lake. It was such a peaceful and relaxing place, they said they go there quite often on a Friday evening. We had another really nice evening with them enjoying the local food and the views across the lake.

Day 4

We had an early start as Thinzar and Sai took us to their local market to do their weekly shop at about 7.30am. Life starts early at the weekends here as it’s too hot later in the day. It was so interesting for us to see some real Yangon life, and I think it was also quite interesting for some of the locals to see white people walking through the market, as some ladies were shouting ‘Mingalabar’ (hello in Burmese) and pointing at us shouting ‘oh my god!!’ – it was quite funny!

We went to Thinzar and Sai’s house after this for lunch. Thinzar made us some tea leaf salad (not spicy so we could enjoy this one more) and ohn no khauk swe, which is a coconut noodle dish (and quite similar to the khao soi we ate in Chiang Mai). It was so tasty – we have loved trying all of the local food, especially when it’s home made! We also saw some more of the young monks walk up the street collecting donations.

As it was so hot, we just relaxed inside during the afternoon. We had an overnight bus to Bagan at 8.30, so at around 6pm Thinzar and Sai took us to see another pagoda near their home, this was called Kyauk Taw Gyi Pagoda. Again, it was really interesting to see a beautiful temple which is used by local people and away from the tourist hot spots. In this temple there is a huge buddha which was carved out of a single 600 ton block of marble from Mandalay (now weighing over 500 tons after the carving).

We have had a lovely time in Yangon. I have really loved this city, and would go so far to say it is my favourite city in Asia so far. I would also like to say a massive thank you to Thinzar and Sai who have been the most amazing and generous hosts during our stay in their city.

Chris and Lisa x