Category: Myanmar

Adventures in Mandalay: Trying Betel Nut and Carving Buddhas

My favorite way to explore a place is just wandering by foot. I’ll take walking over public transportation or a scooter any day. The opportunity to randomly stumble onto something amazing or interact with locals is so much higher. On this particular day I was very keen on finding Mandalay’s stone-carving district, where you can find huge marble Buddha statues being created. Hannah decided to join me on my expedition to the other side of the city. I had heard some rumors that the district had been moved elsewhere, so I had no idea if our cause was lost.

First of all, Hannah is an amazing lady who is traveling the world and still has such exuberance and passion for adventure. I hope to be like her one day. After spending 12 years in New York, she’s back in Israel running her own business. Also, she has convinced me that Tel Aviv is the place to be, so I’m adding that to my destination list. We talk about everything, mainly all the Israeli guys she wants to set me up with (kidding, but not really). Eventually we get to the topic of betel nut.

Hannah – “Why do they all chew it?”

Me – “Well, they say that when they chew it they don’t want to go to sleep.”

H – “We should try it.”

Me – “Wait what?!”

Of course, one thing lead to another and we’re on the hunt for a betel nut stand (which is not difficult as they’re everywhere). We find one which is crowded by a bunch of Burmese men with red splotches on the ground around it. They are looking at us curiously and are very clearly buzzing. Hannah points to one of the wrapped up things asking how much. The lady making them smiles and laughs, with red-stained teeth herself. The men are very amused that these foreigners want to give it a go. They hold out one for each of us, refusing to accept our money. Grabbing the wrap, I’m thinking YOLO to myself. Life is short and it’s all about experiences, so why not.

We each put the wrap in our mouths and begin to slowly chew. The taste is not what I expected, it’s weird and tangy. We exchange glances that say, “I need to spit this out ASAP.” We could not do this in front of them as they had just given us a gift— that would be extremely rude. We smile at them as if we’re really enjoying it and they laugh. Hannah grabs me by the arm as we mumble out our thank yous and walk away quickly. “Don’t spit it out yet, keep walking!” she says. We walk away hurriedly waiting for a corner to turn at. At first chance I spit the mess out. Nope, nope, nope. Not doing that again.

Making our way to where I think the stone carving district is, I continue to ask people where the actual location is. Of course, no one understands me when I say “stone carving,” so I have to pull out my phone and show them a photo of a person chiseling out a buddha. Pantomiming and pictures are universal. Can’t tell you how many times showing people a picture of an avocado has worked when I’m really craving one.

When we get there we are in complete awe. There are endless marble slabs and statues surrounding us. The area is rich with sounds of hammers and drills. White dust fills the air. We curiously walk into a few of the shops asking if we can get a closer look. Statues are in every stage of the process: some are sanding statues away while others are carving out the face of Buddha. I spoke with a couple of people about the statues, asking about prices and how they’re able to transport the enormous ones. The buddhas are mainly reserved for the countless temples all over Southeast Asia. It was very impressive.

I say this over and over again, but Burmese people are so friendly.They loved how interested we were in their work. Cars full of people would wave to us in excitement. Every time we stopped at a street food stand, they would urge us to try or give us some for free. Thailand is considered the land of smiles, but I’d argue that Myanmar is the true owner of that title. Their friendliness continued to follow us as we wandered the streets and stumbled upon a huge market. It was very clear that foreigners hardly ever walk through this market, and to be fair, it was in the outskirts of Mandalay. Honestly, this made it so much better. Speaking the very little Burmese I knew, which included only “Mingalaba” (hello) and “Cezu tinbadeh” (thank you) made them all laugh and grin ear to ear.

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I made a new friend at the market, a very old monk who appeared to around 90 years old. Monks love to practice their English, and this one was no different. He came right up to me as I was trying a Burmese tapioca dish (which I think gave me food poisoning for a second time), wondering where I was from, my life story, and why I had come to Myanmar. So often I’m asked why I went to Myanmar— they are so curious why foreigners would be drawn to their country. Regardless, this particular monk seemed so wise and happy. Just speaking to him I felt calm and relaxed. The rest of the day continued to put a smile on my face, from the group of kids who were so fascinated with us and photobombed all my photos, to all the people chilling and having picnics among the railroad tracks. Myanmar is a special country, and I’m naively hoping that it never changes.

January 18, 2016
Sunrise in Mandalay: U-Bein Bridge

Another day, another sunrise. I thought I was done with sunrises, but nope! U-Bein Bridge is a major tourist destination in Mandalay. The bridge is thought to be the oldest and longest teakwood bridge in the world. Still standing strong. Sunset is the hot time to go see it, and as such, it’s overcrowded by tourists. Emmanuel, Hannah, Ruelie, and I wanted to have the bridge all to ourselves, so we headed out to the bridge at 4:30am. I’m starting to feel like a (semi) real photographer as I head out on these expeditions to get the shot with the best lighting and least amount of people.

Upon arrival, we only see a couple other people taking photos with their tripods. We walk across the bridge in the darkness scoping out the perfect spot for a photo based on the direction of the sun.

As the starts starts begin to disappear and the sky gets brighter, the monks begin to walk across, headed toward their destinations to receive alms for the day.

It’s completely silent aside from the birds that are beginning to chirp. Ruelie and Emmanuel tell me sunset at the bridge is awful— it’s overcrowded by tourists and souvenir sellers. This, they say, is so much better. There are no distractions from the tranquility.

January 17, 2016
The Last of Myanmar in Mandalay

Mandalay was my last stop in Myanmar before heading to Thailand. The second largest city in Myanmar and the former capital, Mandalay reminded me a lot of Yangon but with much more culture. Many people will tell you that you can just skip Mandalay, but I found that it had a lot to offer just outside the city. It is worth a stop, but staying within the city center itself won’t be so rewarding.

Once again arriving in the middle of the night at 4am, I was left waiting on the rooftop of my hostel freezing cold trying to plan out what to see. Had I known before, I would have taken this time to watch the sunrise at the U-Bein Bridge (which I ended up doing later). My first adventure of the day was walking around the entire perimeter of the Mandalay Palace in the center of the city, which was by accident. There are only certain entrances foreigners are allowed to go through. Finding the actual entrance took a surprisingly long hour, only to be surprised by a lovely 10,000 kyat entrance fee. Steven, my friend from Chicago who walked the perimeter with me, was smart and didn’t go in. I felt like I had to go in the palace walls after walking for so long. Word of advice— not worth it, unless you’re a history buff or very interested in architecture. During this time though, Steven did successfully plant the seed of moving to Sweden or elsewhere in Europe for work. Europeans have a great attitude towards traveling. They see it as necessary and an important part of work-life balance. The European mindset is much more me. If I had a penny for every American I’ve met while traveling, I’d still be poor. I might have a dime’s worth now.

Mandalay Palace from the viewing tower

The first day wasn’t much luck for me as I stayed within the city, but the second day showed me what the outskirts of Mandalay truly had to offer. With a group of people from the hostel, we caught the ferry to Mingun, a town about an hour away from Mandalay. There we were able to see the Mingun Pahtodawgyi, which is an enormous stupa that was never completed. The completed stupa would have been the largest in the world. There are huge cracks in it from an earthquake, making it all the more impressive. Nearby is also the Mingun Bell, which is the largest ringing bell in the world. Standing inside it while people are hitting it is an even better experience.

From the top of the stupa you can see the pristine white Myatheindan Pagoda. I have found myself so drawn to white temples during this trip. They stand out so much compared to all the other temples I have seen. Outside this one was an extremely cool old lady smoking a Burmese cigar. I loved her presence— so happy without a care in the world. So full of life!

After spending a short time in Mingun, since the boat for foreigners leaves only 2 hours after arrival, we walked around searching for food and stumbled upon a lively flower market. As much as I enjoy taking pictures of scenery and buildings, people are so much more fascinating. The Burmese are so curious about foreigners as well. I tried hard to get a picture of someone smiling with red-stained, decaying teeth. Dental hygiene is not really a concern in Myanmar, due to their extensive use and addiction to betel nut. So many are constantly chewing it, and you can find crowded betel nut stands everywhere.

The group wanted to head to Mandalay Hill to catch the sunset at the temple. The walk up to the top is around 30 minutes from the South entrance, but it is really enjoyable. There are cute photo-ops along the way and dozens of cats lying around. I had to snap a photo of one of the nuns walking down. I love them, they are so cute! I have never seen a Buddhist nun before, but they are everywhere in Myanmar. They wear pink— it’s fantastic!

Burmese ladies and a nun!

The view at the top is not the best, so I didn’t spend much time even looking at it. Instead, we were set on taking a jumping photo at the top, turning ourselves into a spectacle for everyone else. After twenty or so attempts, I think we may have gotten a single good jumping photo. Everyone else at the top was also taking photos of us since it was apparently really entertaining. So a couple people out there in the world have a great photo of a group of Dutch, American, Greek, Israeli, and French tourists jumping at the top of Mandalay…

January 16, 2016
A Burmese Christmas

Christmas in Myanmar was one for the books. My family doesn’t celebrate Christmas so it doesn’t mean anything to me, but I do miss the holiday spirit and cheer. Peppermint bark, hot chocolate, twinkling lights, and festive Christmas music are so comforting.

On Christmas day, Sian, my friend from Australia, and I decided to bike around Inle Lake and get a closer look at the countryside. We were aiming for the “Forest Temple” which was about 1.5 hour ride away. Little did we know how much uphill biking we were going to have to do at the end, and with our less-than-stellar bikes, we walked the rest of the way up. The monastery at the forest temple had many novices who were curious to see us. I’ve noticed that many of the novices are blind or disabled in some way. They tend to be orphans who had nowhere else to go, so the monastaries took them in. Of course, there are some kids who do choose at a very young age that becoming a monk is the path they want to take.

After the temple, we decided to celebrate the holiday with some wine. Yes, there is a winery in Myanmar! The wine is definitely not the best compared to our California Napa and South Australian standards, but what can you expect in Myanmar? The view is hard to beat, and I felt like I was transported back home. I have to give the winery some credit though— we both loved the Late Harvest and had a couple of glasses before slightly wobbling back to the village on our bikes.

The Song of Travel Hostel was putting on a 6-course dinner for 20 people for Christmas (for only 10,000 kyat which is less than $10). The cooks had never done a meal like this, let alone cook a Christmas meal. The evening was so much fun and the food we ate was phenomenal. We started with some crunchy Burmese fritters, sort of like Indian pakoras, paired with a rice alcohol and hibiscus infused cocktail. One course was a make-your-own tea leaf salad, followed by some Chinese Muslim chicken noodle soup. The main attraction was mouthwatering pork belly, which they got from a town 10 hours away just for this occasion.

Evan had hinted at a big surprise, but none of us were prepared for it. All of a sudden came a huge group of Burmese children singing Christmas carols. Everyone was so delighted and started to sing along. I can’t describe how precious these kids were. We were told that the kids came from one of the local orphanages, and they had been practicing these Christmas carols for days not knowing a single English word. Looking around I couldn’t see a dry eye in sight.

Christmas traditions from the various countries were shared among us. The two other Americans and myself had organized a white elephant exchange, which no one else had ever heard of. I realize how much I take for granted back home and how I expect other people in the world to know exactly what I’m talking about. Not the case at all. I’m now obsessed with the Danish tradition of holding hands and singing “nu det jul igen,” while running around the Christmas tree faster and faster.

The next day I was obviously not feeling great, but had an early start to do a day trek through the hills and villages around Inle Lake. Razaa, a small 20 year old Thai boy who spoke very broken English, was my guide for the day. He first took me to this secluded temple cave, marked by a white elephant statue outside. Nearby was a school for the novices, where I saw them playing outside. They are so happy and sweet.

Walking through the countryside with Razaa was really calming. It was blazingly hot but it was so nice to get outside and be active. Sitting, and eating a bunch of food while traveling for an extended period of time starts to make you feel very, very soft. He kept checking in and stopping to make sure I was okay, to which I responded with “I’m fine let’s keep going.” Reaching the village at 11am, he was very surprised at how fast we were going, saying that he usually reaches the village around 12:30pm. “You are strong woman!” he says to me. This might be one of my favorite compliments to date.

The villages we stopped at were so quaint. Everyone we passed by looked so happy and content with life. Compared to people back home who have so much, the Burmese villagers have so much less yet are infinitely happier. Lessons to be learned.

I’m just going to say this now— it is incredibly hard to keep updating this blog. I hardly ever want to be sitting inside, uploading pictures, and writing a blog post when I could be outside on an adventure, exploring, and meeting new people. I have a newfound respect for serious bloggers, because I now understand how much work this takes. I’m a month behind in my posts, but I promise I’ll try harder!

January 15, 2016
Boating around Inle Lake

Inle Lake was my natural next stop in Myanmar after Bagan. Many people do the 3 day trek into Inle Lake from Kalaw, but I decided to pass since I was running out of time. The lake, located in the Shan State region, is beautiful and serene. The livelihoods of the village people are completely centered around water.

Arriving on December 23, I was lucky to find a place to stay at the newly founded hostel, Song of Travel Hostel in Nyaung Shwe. This is the only hostel in the area and it was entirely booked— I clearly wasn’t the only one who thought spending Christmas on the lake was ideal. I quickly chatted up Evan who was working the reception desk. I learned he is also from San Jose, went to a high school not to far away me, and did speech and debate. Small world. I was really excited about the fact that we had most likely crossed paths at a speech tournament years ago. Speech nerds for life!

The obvious activity to do here is the boat tour around the lake. I first noticed that all the fisherman were rowing with a very distinctive style. They row by standing on one leg at the tip of the long boat with the other foot wrapped around an oar. How they manage to paddle with one foot, balance, and actually catch fish is beyond me.

Admittedly Inle Lake has become a bit of a tourist trap, and our boat driver took us to various areas of the lake with mostly shops. My group became increasingly frustrated and began to make sarcastic comments “oh look, more things to buy” every time we stopped. We wanted the real Inle Lake, not the tourist version. Don’t get me wrong, the lake was stunning, but I was more interested in discovering authentic Myanmar. You can try to tell your boat driver about specific places to visit, but they will usually just take you on the general tourist route around the lake. Plus, they don’t really speak English.

One of the stops was at an umbrella making workshop. Walking in, I saw a few women and girls with gold rings around their necks and limbs. People had said these long-necked women could be found in Inle Lake, and I was definitely curious. However, upon seeing them, I felt immense shame. These women were not from this area, and they had brought all the way here to be paraded around for tourists. If there is one thing I detest the most, it is people being shown off like spectacles. I felt really uncomfortable about the entire situation, so I took the time to speak with them and learn more about their way of life. I really was genuinely curious about why they wear the gold rings. After a while, I finally had the courage to ask if I could take a few pictures. With an extremely guilty look on my face I continued to repeat sorry and thank you. The ethics of this entire situation is very questionable and I realize I am most definitely a hypocrite for still taking part.

I felt a little bit better at the next stop where women were making textiles. This was genuinely very interesting to see how they created these intricate silks all from hand. Inle Lake is also home to lotus silk, which can’t be found anywhere else. One silk lotus scarf takes months to make, since they are harvesting silk strings from lotus flowers which they then spin into thread. The entire process is fascinating. Their method for making patterns on scarves was dumbfounding: the patterns are actually dyed onto a single strand of string prior to weaving. It’s really hard for me to explain, but all you need to know is that it’s ingenious.

The majority of villages around Inle Lake are very untouched, but for a less touristy experience it would be best to just bike around the entire lake instead. Still, I had such a wonderful time lazying around on the boat taking in the scenic views and seeing what life is like on the water. You do get the chance to stop at a number of temples on the lake which are beautiful. The villagers I saw on the long boats fascinated me, and it was so charming to see the wooden houses on stilts as we floated through the villages. After 8 hours of sitting on a boat, we were all exhausted and were grateful to watch the sunset over the lake as we cruised on back to Nyaung Shwe.

January 13, 2016
Monkeys on the Mountain

This almost seems like a which-came-first question, the monkey or the temple? So many temples I have visited have been deemed “monkey temples.” The first few monkeys are always really cute, up until the point they turn demonic: grabbing at your clothes, trying to open your bag, and stealing directly from your hand. Monkeys overrun the climb up to the temple at the top of Mount Popa. I’m proud to say that this did not phase me at all— trekking to Everest Base Camp has put me in great shape for any steep climb up.

Visiting Mount Popa was just a short day trip from Bagan, costing 9,000 kyat. I was weirdly/understandably very excited for the hike up. Exercise! Speeding past everyone else with time to spare, I snapped a bunch of photos of these cheeky monkeys.

Unfortunately the view from the top of Mt. Popa is lackluster. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by other stunning views I have seen, but the temple at the top unimpressed me. Surely this is a first world problem of a traveler.

What I did love most about this day trip was our pit stop at the oil, alcohol, and sweet making “factory.” A man was being rotated around by a cow that was pressing down peanuts into oil. Two women were reducing down huge vats of sugar which created this mouth-watering aroma. My group of tourists was noticeably excited about being able to sample all the different sweets they were making. I’m generally hesitant about Asian sweets, but Burmese caramel desserts are bomb. Went for the culture, stayed for the sweets.

Was Mt. Popa worth it? Probably not, it’s much nicer to just look at from a distance. At this point I had done all that was possible to do in the Bagan region, and I was now off to the much revered Inle Lake to celebrate Christmas.

January 12, 2016
Chasing Sunsets in Bagan

If you could only visit one place in Myanmar, then I would say it has to be Bagan. This ancient city is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. The views of both sunrise and sunsets are forever burned in my memory.

Bagan, although a major tourist destination, still has that untouched vibe that I love. I’m hoping the mandatory $20 fee will help to preserve its temples (though I firmly believe now that these fees are going to straight to the government and are not being used for improvements at all). I’m giving Bagan 3-5 years before it’s totally overrun by tourism. If there was a critical time to visit, that time is now. At its prime in the 11-13th centuries, Bagan used to have around 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas, and monasteries. Now you can see around 4,000 of them scattered across the land. Some massive and still active temples, and others that are tucked away and undiscovered.

Arriving by night bus from Yangon around 4am, I had no where to go since I had no hostel booked. Traveling around Myanmar by bus, you start to get used to being dropped off in the middle of the night somewhere random with no idea at all where you are. That, and lack of sleep, make for a fun morning adventure. I thought this would be the kind of place where I could just show up and find accommodation, but this is not that kind of town. I ended up just taggling along with two Canadian guys, Chris and Kurt, hoping that I could find a bed at the Mya Thida Guesthouse. After waiting for 3 hours in a terrible reception area where mosquitoes were eating me alive, someone decided to check out and I quickly jumped on my chance! I tell myself that this is the last time I’m going to show up somewhere without booking a hostel in advance to save myself some stress (not true).

Getting around Bagan is best by bike or scooter. Having never ridden a scooter before, I opted for a bike instead for 3,000 kyat (less than $3). Biking from New Bagan, where most people stay, to Old Bagan, I got to stop at whatever temple interested me. It amazed me just how many there were. I had passed by 20 already within 10 minutes. At one of the temples I was roaming around, a Burmese man came up to me and pointed to the top of a monastery. I definitely wanted to see Bagan from a viewpoint, but this seemed like one of those don’t-follow-strangers-into-dark-tunnels kind of situation. I considered this for about 2 seconds— then decided I didn’t care and it was probably a good idea anyway (sorry, Amma and Anu). Plus, I had yet to meet a Burmese person who was not friendly or honest.

Crawling up monastaries with my new tour guide

The view above Bagan is a completely different world from that below. My main goal was to find a secluded temple that I could climb up and watch the sunset from. This monastery wasn’t it, so the search would have to continue.

Biking around all day was making me ferociously hungry, so I stopped at a restaurant which had a funny sounding name: Be Kind to Animals the Moon. Odd name, but absolutely phenomenal food. Plus, entirely vegetarian. I went back three more times and told everyone I met to go here. I still say this is the best food I had in all of Myanmar. They should really be paying me for how much I marketed this restaurant. To be fair, I was right, and friends who visited Bagan said they also went back over and over again. Still dreaming about the tea leaf salad and coconut milkshake.

Tea leaf salad, pineapple curry, and traditional Burmese spices

Of course I run into Chris and Kurt at the Moon restaurant, and we decide to go explore some more before hunting for a large hidden temple with a fantastic view. After a leisurely ride to the waterfront, a local tips us off to the perfect sunset temple that isn’t explicitly mentioned on the map. It’s now around 5pm and we realize we have to book it to make it to this place. With a vague idea of directions, we find ourselves biking 5 miles through mainly tiny dirt backroads and fields trying to find this temple which we are not even sure actually exists. Racing against the sun, we finally see a large temple in the distance with only a few people climbing to the top. This has to be it! Extremely sweat and maybe a little out of breath, we climb up the stairs to the top to be rewarded with an incredible view. This is the Bagan you see in all the guidebooks and postcards.

Unfortunately as it got closer to sunset, the crowd of people thickened and more tour buses came in. What we thought was a secret was definitely not. There were around 75 people crowded around the temple, which was still less than the more popular temples with 200 to 300 people all fighting for the perfect sunset photo. Having so many people around detracts from the overall experience and ruins the mood. This is why it’s so imperative to visit Bagan now before it becomes too overcrowded.

The next day I was expectedly sore from a day’s worth of biking, so I rented a scooter instead to go even farther towards Nyaung U. I don’t know why I was so nervous about using a scooter because it is glorious. Why didn’t I do this sooner?! I was able to visit Htilominlo Temple and see so much more. Unfortunately these temples were more modern and overrun by Burmese people trying to get you to buy tourist products.

Disappointed by the crowd of people from the previous nights sunset, I made my through the backroads— only falling off my scooter once— to find a small temple with less than 10 people perched atop. Still not a temple all to myself, but good enough. The real hype though is for the sunrises, not the sunsets. My last day in Bagan was my last chance to see the sunrise. You find yourself telling people how long you’ve been in Bagan by number of sunrises and sunsets. I had seen 2 sunsets and 0 sunrises. I was clearly doing something wrong. Waking up at 5am, I sped through the dirt to make it to the Shwezigon Pagoda, which was when I was thrown off my scooter into the fields. Worth it. It’s surreal watching the sky turn colors and hearing the birds begin to chirp as you see the hot air balloons rising in the distance. The view is breathtaking and unlike anything else I have ever seen. Next time (when I have the money to spend $350), I’ll see Bagan from a hot air balloon, not the top of a temple.

January 10, 2016
Don’t Eat Street Food in Yangon

My first introduction to Myanmar, or Burma as it was previously called, was the bustling and very humid city of Yangon. Coming from the Himalayas, this was all a bit of a shock to me. Regardless, I was ready to explore this country that was relatively new to tourism. Myanmar has been closed off to the world up until a few years ago due to a tourism boycott. The country was under military rule and only recently switched to a democratic government. Myanmar is safe, but parts of the country are still restricted to foreigners. Aggressive militants can still be found in these areas. Since tourism is still so new, the Burmese are extremely friendly to tourists.Unlike Thailand and other countries that are overcrowded with tourists, the Burmese never tried to rip you off or shove stuff in your face to purchase. They are so welcoming and always willing to help. They love to practice their English with tourists so I often found myself having the most random conversations with Burmese people who would join me for walks around town.

Walking around Yangon I first noticed the all the street food (of course). I was very keen on trying as much as I could, something I would absolutely be paying for. Burmese food, in truth, is not that great. This was the general consensus from everyone I met. The food is bland and much too oily– it could just not compare to it’s tastier neighbor, Thailand. The only Burmese dish worth having, in my opinion, is tea leaf salad, which you could find just about anywhere. They use fermented tea leaves to make this semi-sour and spicy salad. Otherwise, order something else, like Thai or Indian. The country is an amalgamation of so many other cultures it seems so this is easy to do. Long story short, eating the street food here is the worst idea possible. I was told after the fact that Myanmar hygiene and sanitation is notoriously bad. Don’t want to throw up? Then don’t look at Burmese kitchens.

Around Yangon I continued to see women and children with yellow paint smeared all across their faces. I learned that this paint is called thanaka, which is a paste made from a tree. It has natural protection from the sun, cooling effects, and incredible skin benefits— they’ve been using this natural sunscreen for centuries! It doesn’t phase anyone to see this paste in designs on everyone’s faces. It’s quite fun.

Yangon’s biggest attraction is the Shwedagon Pagoda. It was easy an easy walk there from my hostel in Chinatown. Enormous, golden, beautiful, and impressive. It’s over 2,500 years old and is a very sacred site for Buddhists. I did find it hilarious to see so many monks walking around with their smartphones and taking photos. Even monks gotta selfie. #basic

Unfortunately Myanmar is expensive, by backpackers standards at least. There are very few hostels and for the ones that do exist, dorm rooms run about $12-20 per bed. Transportation around the country is mainly by bus, train, or flying. Taking the night bus, which is how I got around, was the cheapest way to go, but was still about $20-30. There were fees for all the temples and cities, between $10-20. Since tourism is so new it seems like the government is taking advantage of being able to charge foreigners however much they want. I could not stay in Yangon for long, it bored me quickly and I wanted to visit beautiful Bagan. I had heard so much about this ancient city, so I easily booked a night bus and made my escape!

January 9, 2016