WHY HELLO THERE!
Glad to see that all of you are reading my blog. Thanks in advance! Right now I'm in Thailand and its a completely different world from Burma.
Unfortunately, I had already made a post about Yangon but it got deleted because I accidentally did so from my phone o___O BUT I of course want all of you to be able to know the wonderful and interesting things I saw while I was there!
YANGON
I arrived into Yangon on January 14 to an airport that seemed to be placed in the forest. It felt like a whole different world over in Burma: driving to my hotel there was dust in the air from a lack of infrastructure in the roads, cars not following any sort of driving regulations (side note: its totes OK to drive on the white lines on the road there), people filled the streets with carts of food and nick-nacks, citizens packed onto the back of trucks like sardines.
And of course, everyone stared at me. That's right folks: I'm a Caucasian, American male in a city where I am the vast minority. Even now with tourism increasing and the country more-and-more opening up, there were not as many tourists as I had imagined.
But I digress. I was so excited to arrive in Burma, to see all of the sights, explore the wonders of one of the last hidden gems in Asia, and experience something new. And there was so much to do.
Wait......
..............
..............
.......no there wasn't.
TIP NUMBER ONE:
NEVER TRAVEL TO BURMA ALONE
Burma is a wonderful place that has beautiful people and wonderful things to visit. It's new for westerners and it really is worth going to. But alas, some of the comforts of home are missing: there is no social scene and its hard to meet other backpackers. As such, I would recommend going there with someone else.
My favorite thing I did in this city was going to the Shwedagon Pagoda. It is one of the most famous landmarks that foreigners know about Burma and it is well worth going to. Walking into one of the entrances, you are immersed in monks and tourists praying with the smell of incense filling the air. All of the shrines are absolutely wonderful! One very friendly Burmese man came up to me and started speaking in surprisingly good English. He turned out to be a retired history professor from Yangon who had one year left before he would have received full tenure. Alas, the government decided to make him retire early (he was a teacher of Burmese history and the government was not a fan). He did take me around the Pagoda and explained to me the reasons behind some of the shrines. One that was particularly interesting was that in the Buddhist calendar there are actually eight days in a week, not seven. Likewise, there are eight shrines around the Pagoda that capture this. People will go to the shrine that corresponds to the day of the week that they were born and do a prayer where they pour water over the top. The history professor helped me with this. Quite cool actually!
Aside from that, there weren't too many things to note from that city.
BAGAN
Kids, when someone tells you its going to be cold, listen to
them. I had heard rumors that the buses
you take from city to city in Burma were cold, but even so I decided to wear
shorts and a T-shirt onto the transport from Yangon to Bagan.
BIG MISTAKE!
The buses in Burma are actually quite terrible. Yes, the hotel staff in Yangon told me they
were quite pleasant, but their standards of living are not as developed as mine
(this is what we call “First World Problems”).
Shivering in a bus for nine wonderful hours, with Burmese music and TV
playing loudly for most of the time, I finally arrived in Bagan at 4am.
What I was surprised about was that, unlike Yangon, Bagan was
very cold at night. I immediately
bundled up and was approached by a rickshaw driver who asked me if I wanted to
see the sunrise. Now if you have ever
done any research on Bagan (please do, just use Google Images and it really
will amaze you as there is nothing else like it) you know that there are over
2700 pagodas lying on this beautiful plain.
The rickshaw driver (his name was Nana) took me to a HUGE pagoda in the
darkness. With no one else there, we
climbed inside and to the top and waited for the sunrise. By the time the sun rose there were roughly
10 or so other people there, but that did not take away from the majesty that
was to come.
And then fate decided to shine proudly on me.
About 30 minutes before the sun rose, almost all lights in sight
turned off. Every pagoda that had lights
on it, every lit house: only the cars and rickshaws were visible from the
streets far away with the blackout letting the scenery shine. And when the sun finally rose, it was
absolutely beautiful—many pagodas in the distance, hot air balloons in the sky,
the air slowly getting warmer.
The rest of my time in Bagan was simple and pleasant. One place I visited which was a tourist trap
was Mount Popa. It isn’t very
interesting, but there were two cool things that I saw. First, there is a temple on top of this
mountain that you climb to with wonderful views of the Burmese landscape. Second, there are monkeys everywhere! Just be careful to give them food because
that’s what they always want from visitors.
On the second day in Bagan, I spent quite a few hours just biking around
to see the many pagodas. Oh how nice it
was!
MANDALAY
I’m not sure if the Vegas hotel “Mandalay Bay” got its name from
this city, but it sure is beautiful like it.
Mandalay was my third and final city in Burma. Normally, people also visit a place called
Inle Lake as a 4th city but I was limited on time. No worries though mate! I was very ready to get out of Burma and see
Thailand anyways.
Getting from Bagan to Mandalay was MUCH MUCH better than the bus
ride from Yangon to Bagan. At 7am I took
the daily day-train from Bagan to Mandalay.
It is a slow, but pleasant ride where you are able to feel the warm
breeze go through your hair and you can see some rural villages on the
way. There was only one other foreign
group I saw before we boarded…funny that we ended up sitting next to each
other. I met this trio of Irish men and
women who were great to talk to. Now
folks, I’m not one to stereotype. It’s
wrong, absolutely wrong! But is it just
me or do all Irish people have a liver of steel? Because, as one would of course expect (yes,
that was sarcasm guys), they were drinking some hard stuff. Ah, you have to love the Irish.
Mandalay was not very exciting actually. I did not do much there because I did not want
to keep spending money. I will say
something of note though. Monks are
peaceful people and you see many of them walking the streets in Burma. When I went into an internet café to send out
a couple of emails, 90% of the people there were monks who were very young (no
older than American Middle Schoolers).
And then I saw maybe the biggest contradiction ever. One of these kids was playing Grand Theft
Auto. This game is notorious for
stealing cars, shooting people, and paying strippers for lap dances. And a monk was playing it? Peaceful my ass…
BANGKOK
I was so relieved to finally fly into Bangkok. This city is notorious for being “naughty
naughty” (thank you Hangover 2), so I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t go to any of the notorious places
from the Hangover 2, but that is not to say I did not have a fun time
either. I arrived at my hostel, Nappark,
and was so happy to see a very communal space in the lobby where people could
meet other backpackers incredibly easily (an addendum for anyone traveling to
Bangkok: STAY AT THIS HOSTEL).
This hostel is located two streets away from one of the most
famous streets in Bangkok: Khao San Road.
This street is essentially the backpackers’ district, with really cheap
hostels, cheap food, bars, clubs, and people trying to sell you everything from
tailored suits to fake IDs. And let me
tell you, this street is F-U-N. It’s a
really great time when you meet people from the Netherlands, Australia, and
Canada, and then see the city in the daytime and then go out at night. Ah, c’est la vie!
Khao San Road
ISLAND HOPPING YO!!!!
Yep, that headline is correct.
For as I am typing this blog, I am currently on a boat to my third
island in Thailand. But how did I start
doing this? Well let me explain.
I decided to go to my first island a while back, without
actually planning to go to any other islands.
We will call this island:
KOH PHANGAN
There are a set of three main islands that tourists may visit on
the eastern sea of Thailand: Koh Phangan, Koh Samui, and Koh Tao. I decided to go to Koh Phangan after a bit of
research. It is quite something, I do
have to say that, to be on a boat to go to one of these islands, your back
laying on the deck, staring at the sky, the wind blowing your face, and having
these four words repeating in your mind is incredible: Everything is
Perfect.
I would like to pause real quick and give a big shout to
Hostelworld.com This website helped me
choose my hostel in Koh Phangan and it was by far the best decision I have
made. If you ever go backpacking, please
use this website. This website lead me
to the AWESOME hostel called Ringside.
It is owned by an American (which there are very few of in Southeast
Asia) who really knows what he’s doing.
If you can, please stay here. It
is well worth it.
I was put in a dorm with seven other people, all of whom were my
age. We all hit it off immediately and
we stuck together for the next five nights.
Canadians, Danish, British, and Dutch made up our group. Every night on this island is absolutely
fantastic, as there are ridiculous parties every night. Wanna go party on the beach? That’s OK: head to Haad Rin Beach. Wanna go party in the jungle? That’s OK: head to the Jungle Party. Wanna go party in the moonlight?
...well absolutely.
You see folks, I learned that there is apparently a reason that
people usually come to this island. It
is called the Full Moon Party. Once a
month, when the moon is full, people go to the very long Haad Rin and just
party their heads off. I’ve never seen
anything quite like it: people holding buckets filled with Thai Whisky and Red
Bull, stands and stands of DJs playing different electronic music, and people
from every nationality just having a great time. I can easily say it’s the best party I’ve
been to and it was quite the experience.
A section of the Full Moon Party
After Koh Phangan, I decided to stick with some of the people I
met there and go to two different islands.
The first one was Koh Samui. It
was a rather large island with many tourists.
The second one is Koh Tao and is much smaller than the other two. After Koh Tao and enjoying the warm sun, I
will head off to Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
Well kids, that is my update for what I’ve been up to! I apologize for the delay but I have been
having too much fun here to write! Until
my next post, good life and happy travels!
-Andrew
