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.
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.
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!
I almost did not go to Nepal. With the fuel crisis due to the current blockade from India and the aftermath of the earthquake in April, it did not seem like the best time to go. I was unsure of its safety or ease of getting around. I am extremely glad I decided to still go because Nepal is a beautiful country that I now wish I had spent more time in and will definitely be returning to. I’ve been telling everyone I’ve met during my travels to go!
Arriving in Kathmandu, the capital, this was the first real adventure of my trip. I had zero plans whatsoever, and I really intended on just figuring it out as I go. The first night I was incredibly disoriented, but I had my first introduction to a meal I was going to be eating a lot of: dal bhat, which is simply rice, lentils, cooked veggies, and papad. Needless to say I got sick of this really quick. Luckily I finally figured out the food situation in Nepal, meaning, not to eat Nepali food. This tiny hole in the wall Indian place had the best naan I’ve ever had in my life and on a little street corner was an amazing falafel wrap for barely over a dollar. Entire meals for $1-$3. I love Asia.
Thamel is the ‘backpacker’ area where everyone pretty much stays. I decided to venture out to the Swyambunath, or monkey temple, with a fellow backpacker from Portland. There was an entrance fee for foreigners, but at this point I had been asked a dozen times if I was Nepali, so I used this to my advantage. The temple was perched on a hill overlooking the city which was surprisingly huge. There were a few cute monkeys here and there, when all of a sudden a deluge of 200 monkeys come running up the stairs. A stampede of monkeys is pretty cool until you remember you don’t have a rabies shot— and then you are terrified. Some of these monkeys were fighting pretty intensely and I was not about to get bitten.
Towards the end of my stay I visited Pashupatinath (there isn’t a lot to see in Kathmandu), which is a hugely famous Hindu Shiva temple. Again I played the “Ignore me I’m Nepali” card speaking terribly broken Hindi, and walked right in (it’s also restricted to Hindus only). This temple was incredibly old.. and incredibly dirty, unlike the immaculately clean Buddhist temples you see all over Southeast Asia. I stopped on the bridge to watch the cremations that were going on. I don’t really know how to describe seeing multiple open cremations at once, but it’s strange. I had never seen a cremation before, let alone a dead body. Admittedly I was morbidly curious. The smell of the burning bodies eventually made my stomach sick so I left shortly. For a while though, I watched a man who was lying over his father’s body (presumably) waiting for the cremation to begin. It was moving.
Nepal in general reminds me of India. Sort of like an India lite. To my surprise it was extremely backpacker friendly and there were so many other solo travelers (since it is the mecca of trekking). I wish I had ventured west and gone to Pokhara or visited Chitwan National Park. This just means there will have to be a next time now!!
