Caroline,
Your writing is terrific and you have a great sense of humor! Your sarcastic edge cracks me up, and I can relate -- I can only imagine similar thoughts going through my head, like riding in the taxi with the BFW.

I'm truly impressed that you took the chance to get so off the tourist route. It may've been serendipity meeting the Burmese teachers at home, but you're the one who took the chance. I give you a lot of credit for doing that.

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. It's fascinating!

Paule

Looking forward to more!

Still following along. I was also not impressed with Pyin U Lwin, though our driver did take us around to see the best-preserevd English houses. In a few years, it will all be McMansions.

We thought the Mahamuni temple was very worthwhile, but then, we are temple fanatics and we went to Mrauk U the same trip , which is where the Mahamuni Buddha was stolen from.

Thanks Paule.

Kathie, just a little clarification, these last few posts are cut and pastes from emails sent home to husband. I do enjoy visiting a certain number of temples, he has far less tolerance, so the slant is for him.
Mahamuni would have been number 7 that day, I think my cut off might be 6. I have been to Mahamuni before, and agree it is very worthwhile. Although slightly annoyed that only men are allowed to anoint the Buddha, the only case of sexism I saw in Myanmar.

More coming up.

A vagabond in Yangon

I left my booking for Yangon so late that I had to settle on a room In a house listed via Airbnb. I had the directions written in Burmese script photographed and emailed to me by the owner. Should have been simple to locate it you might think, err no.

The taxi driver from the airport, to his credit, made several phone calls, stopped and asked 3 different locals, and spent at least 20 minutes trying to find the mystery house. It turned out to be in the street behind the named street, this street didn't have a name.

For anyone planning a trip to Yangon, taxis at the International Airport are easy. There is a counter inside the terminal near the moneychangers, with English speaking staff. You tell them where you are going, they tell you the price and give you a voucher (although you actually pay the driver), someone will lead you outside and whistle up the car. There are signs asking people to report back if the driver asks for more.

So we pull into the bleak concrete front yard of a bleak three story concrete house.
There are eight dogs lying around in bleak yard.
My room is, well let's say spartan, to be nice. There's a single bed shoved in the corner, a lock on the door, two choices of lighting (none, or three brilliant flouros that put Shwedagon to shame), and a wet room style bathroom. Immediately outside my room are several desks, with PCs, paperwork, in and out trays, yes a real working office. The owner runs his business from here.

Downstairs is a living room, completely devoid of any furniture. There's also a bar area just off the kitchen, with a round table and four chairs, this is where all the action happens. I took one look in the kitchen and wished I hadn't. There was a washing machine available too, one look at that convinced me to leave the clothes dirty.

I head out to explore my new neighbourhood. This place is well out of downtown, I call it sticksville. I went out to find lunch, walked down an eight or six lane road (you know what I mean) and crossed with some locals. Attracted plenty of stares, and not many smiles. Went to the twelfth floor of Yangon Hotel to Yangon Seafood Restaurant, ordered stir fried noodles with chicken, "crazy white lady, why you no eat seafood", and a Myanmar beer. Large bottles only, slightly cooler than Kimberley cool, and logged on to their wifi which was pretty good (after they found someone with enough English to give me the password).
The food was actually really good, if this hadn't been my first day in Yangon, I would have eaten the various salads and accompaniments that also appeared.

Day 2.

I'm frustrated with my inability to contact my teacher friend Mas We. She told me by email that her phone is broken, and had given me the number of a friends phone, which is switched off.
Apparently she came by taxi to the house this morning, but was too scared to get out of the car. She was frightened by the dogs.
After many attempts, we finally make contact by phone, I get one of the men here to write down the address of the school in Burmese script, rustle up a taxi, and off I go. I spend many hours talking to groups of boys, all novice monks in maroon coloured robes. They understand me a lot better than I understand some of them, but it's fun, if a little excruciating at times. You know, errr what am I gonna ask next, trying to keep some kind of flow going. I ask about their career aspirations, one doctor, several engineers, a teacher, and loads of professional footballers !

This school is small, only 60 students, who all live here. There's a rectangular two story concrete building with an interesting carved wooden roof, temple style. It is a monastery after all. The classroom by day becomes a bedroom by night, with mats and mosquito nets. There are other buildings in the complex, a modern concrete three story one, which is the admin centre, and several bamboo and thatch roof classrooms.

My friend displays the typical Burmese hospitality and feels the need to feed me. Shan noodles with chicken appear (a boy was sent out to fetch them from a street stall) oh dear, I'm torn, don't want to appear ungrateful, but I feel a salmonella coming on. I did eat some, but it was 11.00 am and I really wasn't that hungry. I was fine by the way.

I took a taxi into downtown, heading for Sule Pagoda. The traffic is horrible, traffic light sequences are long, maybe 5 minutes at some intersections. So I spot the Traders Hotel, stop the taxi and go for a cool drink in the wonderfully air conditioned lobby. There is free wifi, very fast. I think they're playing some kind of joke on me when the tiny slip of paper with the wifi password is blank on both sides. Then the waitress cracks up as well, and gets me another slip.

I got talking to a Burmese man who used to be a guard at the US Embassy. He proudly pulls up photos of himself in uniform on his phone.

Eventually I leave the cool, heading into another onslaught of heat, dust, dirt and broken pavements. I walked for an hour or so, heading in the general direction of Chinatown. I missed by a few streets, and ended up in Muslim town.
That was enough for me, it took several tries, but I eventually found a taxi willing to take me back to Sticksville. An hour and fifteen minutes later, through really painful traffic I pull up at bleak house, where the owner and his friends are about to jump in the car and visit Shwedagon. He invited me to join them, I know I should have gone, but was just too exhausted to consider more traffic.

Four different lodgings in four days.

I knew I had to get out of Sticksville, and found 2 nights available at Clover Hotel via Agoda. Clover had been recommended to me by the school as being close and clean. I said my farewells to Sticksville, explained that the room was fine (which it was for $50, you can't expect a lot at that price in Myanmar) but the location was an issue for me.

Arrived in the morning at Clover, only to have reception tell me they are overbooked, and had arranged a room for me at Clover City Centre for one night, the second night would be here. So, they provided a car and driver to take me to CCC. It is in 31 St, facing the back wall of Traders Hotel. With all the pfaffing around I missed school today. I did visit Bogyoke Aung San market for a look around, had some lunch at an upscale but local restaurant, where two young women were employed just to open the doors it seemed. I sat at the front near a large window, and people watched. There was a woman with child sat on the footpath, her hand outstretched. The child seemed well fed, and happily did childish things, however he wasn't wearing pants. I did give her a few hundred kyat when I left, hope she buys some nappies.

Next day, and back to the original Clover, after a morning on the circle train.
Okay, so this Clover is on the northern edge of Kandawgyi Lake, and an easy walk to school. I again spend a large part of the day at school, get fed lunch, this time a curry, butter chicken, very different from what I thought it would be. It was only luke warm, and again I fought the "will I get sick, don't want to be ungrateful" demon.
I was fine.

Tonight I have arranged to go out with Mas We and two other teachers, J and M, for dinner, my treat. The restaurant screams "Burmese fast food chain" but, is okay.
Mas We, clever girl, gets the last available crab, so it's more chicken and noodles for me.

By now I have booked a flight to Mandalay for Friday. I need to find accommodation for one more night in Yangon. Neither Clover has delighted me, I found them very sterile, no charm whatsoever, and the thing they call breakfast was a monstrosity.

I was miffed that they wanted to charge me $95 for the next night. I'd paid $85 for the previous two, and endured the double booking saga with some grace. I argued my case, was offered a discount to $93, yes, a whole two dollars. That eventually got bargained down to $90, and yes, I know I shouldn't be trifling over such small amounts. There was a principle at stake here, they thought they had me over a barrel, said they were fully booked. I politely reserved my decision, said I would consider the offer, and check out by noon tomorrow, if unacceptable. Off to my room, and trusty friend, Agoda.

So, Garden Home B & B it is, just two streets away I later find out, still walking distance to school, about the same price as Clover $80 US, and when I get there, very cute indeed.
That I actually got here is also remarkable. I checked out of Clover, told the doorman where I was going, he seemed to understand. The same car and driver appeared, off we went. Some many miles, and after a few attempts to clarify exactly where we are going, I figure we're enroute to the airport. Somehow "Garden Home" had become just plain "home" like in Australia home.

We turn around, more excruciating traffic, seriously this is the worst aspect of Yangon. Arriving at Garden Home, it takes the manager, three doormen and two receptionists to sort out the "who will pay the driver" dilemma. When I finally get my turn to speak, it becomes clear that there has been a misunderstanding, err, really !

The driver wouldn't take any money from me, hope the Clover paid him.

That's how I ended up with four different lodgings in four days. Certainly has enhanced my speed packing ability.

Wow - the traffic sounds just awful. In our two stays in Yangon it never took more than 20 minutes to get anywhere. I'll have to remember to allow for traffic next time I'm there.

Very much enjoying your report.

A new neighbourhood to explore.

I'm at Garden Home B&B. It's quaint, has a lovely bar cum restaurant with wooden furnishings, a small art gallery off in a wooden building to the side, and a moat around a grassed area with the largest gold fish I've ever seen. These fish are Koi I think, at least a foot long, and many different colours.

The road is called Bogyoke Museum Rd, so naturally I figure there must be a museum somewhere nearby.

The museum was the house of Bogyoke Aung San, where he lived for two years prior to his assassination in 1947. It's about 15 minutes walk, largely uphill. Entry cost 300 kyat (30 cents) no photos allowed inside. Lockers at the base of the path to the house are provided to store cameras (in my case, an iPhone). The house is a lovely example of colonial architecture, it has a turret going up three stories, (no visitor access) which apparently has views of Shwedagon, and fabulous wooden archways with fancy fretwork detail. There are balconies all around the second floor, again no access for visitors. I suspect that whatever maintenance is done, is not enough to ensure safety.

The original beds (including where ASSK slept) are in place, along with every day items, including furniture, clothing, crockery and cutlery. He certainly didn't lead an opulent lifestyle. How I would love to see the house of a present day general to compare. Of course, that's not gonna happen, but I do imagine there's a vast difference.

The area has many colonial wooden houses, mostly derelict and crumbling but stunning visually. I do understand that there is a cost involved in making one of these houses habitable, it's probably cheaper to bulldoze and start again. But, it's such a great pity that all these amazing insights into a bygone era will be lost.

The area contrasts between concrete McMansions complete with layers of razor wire, fenced off and derelict colonial wooden houses, and bamboo and thatch huts.

I'm out in the back blocks now, roads are dirt, can only imagine what this would be like during the rainy season. Very muddy I conclude.

I have an early start tomorrow, a 6.15 am flight, they tell me I need to be at the airport by 4.45 am, need to allow 30 mins for the drive, so I set my phone to wake me at 3.50 am, ask the hotel to arrange taxi. Have an early night.

Next thing I know, the room phone is ringing, it's 4.37 am, holy crap ! I throw on the clothes I'd laid out last night, chuck whatever I can see in my carryon bag, and bolt out the door. I vow to learn how to drive this new iPhone, which had been on silent.

I check out, the hotel gives me a plastic bag with two cups, one coffee, one milk, I throw them together into one cup, climb into taxi, promptly spill the coffee mix over clean cream linen pants, double crap.

There is actually plenty of time, it's still dark when I arrive at Yangon domestic terminal, no line at the Golden Myanmar Airlines check in counter. I think they tell you a much earlier time to be on the safe side.

I get seat 15F on a full plane, and am rewarded with the most spectacular sunrise as we soar out of Yangon. A tiny brilliant red dot becomes a huge golden globe within seconds. I'm so lucky to be on the right side of the plane, with a window seat. So lucky to be in Myanmar really.

Okay, I'm in Mandalay. Posts are out of order here, I have previously spent the day with Eiei and family, and been to Mingun. I chilled for an hour or two, then went exploring. Popped into a local bar with Tiger beer signs plastered all over it. First response was "no beer" whattha ?..turns out they had Myanmar beer, just no Tiger, okay. My "birre ayay lay bebar "didn't work, bummer. What I did get was about 5 old women at a bus stop in front of me, one smoking a cheroot, who smiled like there was no tomorrow. Photo proof held.

Next stop was a Thai restaurant, across the alley from last nights vegetarian Indian "be kind to animals, don't eat them" was the slogan. I looked at the shop on the ground floor, spied a laying down Buddha which was lovely. Asked the man if they shipped, yes ok was the answer, then the price, $1500, not kyats, US dollars....I passed.

So I tried the "birre ayay lay bebar " again, and it worked ! The young woman immediately knew what I meant, and delivered a very cold Myanmar beer, joy of joys. I ordered a Penang chicken curry with potatoes and pumpkin, came with rice. Cost about $6.

Back to hotel, where there's the usual outside area for staff who organise taxis etc,sitting under a flimsy cover. A man invites me to sit, and gives me his cup of tea. It's good, we chat about things in general, and they've noticed my contact with EiEi, ask how we met yada yada. Turns out that one man is a teacher of sorts at a local school, and has now invited me to visit the school. Priceless ! I might take him up on Wednesday when I return from Pyin oo Lwin.

People in the area are starting to recognise me, I get loads of fantastic smiles. One thing I didn't notice on our previous visit was the public bathing areas, basically a concrete basin where people go to wash. I've refrained from photos, some respect is in order.

We are so lucky to have been born in a western country with access to clean water, health care, and relative wealth. There's a blog by Esme travels that talks about the 1%, ......that's us.






Sent from my iPad

Hi-Really enjoying reading about your trip. Four hotels in four days sounds like something that would happen to me.
Looking forward to more.

Loving this, Caroline! Really, this s traveling, with a capital ''T'!

Love your description of your interactions with the novice monks - and the adventures of the 4 lodgings is a great story.

Your descriptions really evoke a feeling of the place -- thank you so much for writing this up!

Paule

Thanks for the encouragement Paule, here's a bit more.

A little more Mandalay.

I went to EiEi's school today, by taxi, air conditioned clean luxury car with a driver who spoke some English. It cost 4000 kyat. Interestingly, after lunch with E & M, it took some time, like 20 minutes, to find a pick up truck with plastic seats, no aircon, and which also cost 4000 kyat. That's Burma I guess.

The school is huge, 6000 students, many orphans from cyclone Nargis live here, many teachers live here, many monks live here, I could go on. I have a photo of EiEi and Muji's room, it is built on the top floor of a three storey building, stand alone and maybe 2 meters by 5 meters. Put it this way, the double bed is against one wall, with maybe a 20 cm gap to the other wall. Being effectively the fourth story, and on the roof, it is hot as hell.

There's almost a whole village within the school walls, including a row of vendors selling snacks and meals, and a shop for stationery and packaged food and drinks. There's a craft room with a number of old treadle style sewing machines where they turn out bags, water bottle holders and longyi in traditional fabrics. I meant to go back and buy some stuff here, but got sidetracked.

I met the principal a monk named U Nayaka he has devoted his life to providing education, no fees are charged at this school or the one in Yangon. Rather unfortunately, my time with the Venerable U Nayaka was monopolised by an Australian woman from Melbourne who teaches music at the school. She wanted to know about the political situation in Oz.

EiEi is 27, and comes from a small and very poor village near Bagan. She was sent here to continue her education, as there are no fees. She went through the "preparing for university" program here. To give back, she now teaches here. She is pretty well travelled for a Burmese woman. Apart from 5 weeks in Oz, she has spent 4 weeks in Germany, sponsored by teachers who volunteered at the school, and also some time in Thailand, again teaching.

She and Muji plan to start a family soon, they have been saving for a couple of years to do so. There is no free health care here. From her interactions I saw with other children, she will make an excellent mother.

After a few hours at the school, E and I hit the beauty salon ! She had her hair washed, very civilised method where you lie down on a flat bed with a downward slope to the basin. Looked much more comfortable than sitting up trying to fit your neck into those awful moulds. I got a pedicure.

We met up with Muji and walked about 15 minutes through dirt streets to a local restaurant for lunch. Here there is a choice of tiny plastic stools at low tables, or bigger plastic chairs at higher tables. We take the latter. Lunch was many salads, a soup (where everyone used the same spoon to slurp it up) a chicken curry, and of course rice. The salads were really good, tea leaf, another mystery leaf said to be good for the stomach, fava beans, and cucumber and peanuts.

Our waiter is 11 years old, his family can't afford for him not to be earning, so no school for him. An even younger boy is serving other tables. He stuffs up opening a bottle of beer, we get drenched. I thought he must have shook the bottle, E tells me he didn't know how to open it. So very young.

Finished lunch, and I'm thinking - jeez I hope the back of my skirt is not showing some huge wet patch from sweating ! If it does, no one says anything, and E tells me she sweats in the plastic chairs too. Funny, the Burmese always appear to me to be cool, calm and collected. It's only the foreigners who look like they've just stepped out of an oven.

Next up, last day in Mandalay.

Broke my heart to see the young children working and I assumed not going to school. Still enjoying your TR.

Thanks YT, and yes, seeing the working children is tough. I like to think that one day they may have their own restaurant, or that maybe they are developing entrepreneurs.

Last night in Mandalay.

Well, tonight has been priceless. Eiei and Muji turned up at about 6.10 pm. I had been sitting outside in the small covered area with a man who turned out to be a taxi driver, and one of the hotel employees. As the various hotel employee ladies came out to sign off in a book, I explained to him "knock off time". He thought that was a real hoot, and shared the meaning with several others. He also asked me about other English words which he had written down in a book. I did my best, but he had one word I'd never heard before, Google helped, it is a very old word, no longer used, but I was able to explain what it meant, thanks to google and iPhone.

He became our taxi to "Hot Pot City" where the food was good, Muji even had beer with me tonight. We sat upstairs, each place setting had it's own inbuilt burner, a ceramic hot plate. Soon saucepans of broth appeared, with myriad vegetables, finely sliced chicken, mounds of noodles, and little dishes of spicy bits. They kept on bringing the food until we pleaded with them to stop.

As expected, EiEi had presents for me to carry home. They are wall hangings of Myanmar scenes on black velvet, Chinese manufactured I'm guessing.

Back from dinner around 8.00 I say my good byes to E & M, and the manager Naing oo, of the hotel asks what time I'm leaving tomorrow, as he will be going home in about 30 minutes. I'm leaving very early at 6.15 am. Okay, I go up to room, then think, I should really go and talk to this guy who has been so welcoming. I go downstairs and sit outside with him, temperature is pleasant, the only downside is many mosquito bites, maybe 10 on back of legs.

He somehow procures local tea, I see it arriving in small plastic bags, sweet and delicious. We talk for more than 30 minutes, about lots of things, including his sister in Australia. Sister is a word fairly loosely applied here, they could be no relation at all. At EiEi's school, someone asked if I was her mother, like I said, there doesn't need to be any family relationship to use any of the usual familial terms.

EiEi and Muji are planning on starting a family soon, they said April or May, and talking to Naing oo I realise the cost of decent healthcare. He quoted something like 10,000 dollars not kyat, to ensure (as far as possible) a safe delivery. That's including ultrasounds at the appropriate intervals, and a midwife for the birth. Jeez, I had no idea that basic care could be so expensive, and my legs itch.

I've told EiEi that I would like to help with that expense, and they do have a bank account. She tells me they have saved (probably for years) to meet the cost.

Anyway, my time in Mandalay has been greatly enhanced by EiEi and Muji. Tomorrow off to Inle Lake.

The people we meet who become friends are the treasures of travel.

To Inle Lake.

Inle Lake, where I'm staying at a relatively expensive hotel, and enjoying the (relative) luxury.

The flight was pretty good despite my misgivings and over analysing the Burmese air transport industry. It was a prop plane, ATR 72 - 600, but looked brand new, no ashtrays in seats to indicate a 20 year old plane. Cruising altitude of 11,500 feet allowed me to see the amazing rugged mountains, and shortly after soft drinks were served, the captain called for cabin crew to prepare for landing. I still can't figure out why a 20 minute flight might take somewhere between 8 and 11 hours by road.

I had a private taxi organised to take me to my hotel for $25, the drive took about 45 mins. We stopped twice, once for the train, once for me to pay the $10 visitor fee to enter the Inle Lake area. Again, I tried to palm off the once folded US note, again it was rejected.

Pristine notes people !

There's a saying that goes something like "travelling in SE Asia is akin to playing diarrhoea roulette". I've been here nearly five weeks now, and my number has come up ! So, after an uneventful, and thankfully brief flight from Mandalay, I've spent most of the day in my waterfront suite. I did go out for a walk into town, but found the diesel fumes sickening, I very slowly made it back to my temporary home.

This hotel, the View Point Lodge and Fine Cuisines (funny name, but that's what it's called) is situated on the main canal that leads to the lake. It is Eco minded, with bungalows built over the water from mud brick, with timber frames, and is decorated with natural paint. There is also an Eco minded mini bar, a large wooden box, with different compartments, some filled with ice. Never seen anything like it before.

The manager is a young blonde woman from Switzerland, named Jenni. She introduced me to the Public Relations Manager, named Mitsu, he's a Golden Retriever ! He's the only friendly dog I've found in Myanmar. He's quite old with visible cataracts, but still managed to see (and try to steal) my snacks later. I don't know the Burmese word for sit, so tried English. It worked, sort of, he sat on my foot. He's a 25 kilo very hairy dog, he's in between me and the table, with me holding drink and snack out of reach, and balancing iPad on lap.
Tail is wagging, dangerously close to wiping out anything left on the table.

I hope to get out on the lake tomorrow. Will probably try to fit in the Jumping Cat Monastery (to balance out the domestic animal experience) although I've read that the cats no longer jump.

Wifi here is a bit iffy, I have a theory that there is an inverse relationship between hotel cost and connectivity. So far, the theory is validated, with the exception being Traders Hotel in Yangon. Even very basic restaurants seemed to offer free wifi, most of it being quite fast, that is assuming you can find someone with enough English to give you the password.

I found that iPhones are not common here, so if you give a waiter the phone to enter the password they sometimes have difficulty finding Caps or numbers. Eventually we would muddle through, I never once abandoned the wifi due to password difficulties. Boy, things are changing fast, it was only eight months ago here that I was tearing my hair out at the lack of wifi.

"I still can't figure out why a 20 minute flight might take somewhere between 8 and 11 hours by road." Remember your comment about the rugged terrain? And remember what the roads look like? That's why it takes so long by road! lol

Interesting observation on the wifi. Consistently had intermittent and slow wifi with Traders Hotel the exception. And everyone blamed it on the govt. In the hotels staff did seem familar with iPhones or figured it out. I was constantly handing off my iphone when I couldn't get connectivity.

We had a nice lunch at your hotel. Wondered about the rooms.

Funny Kathie, you made me laugh anyway.

YT, the rooms were lovely there. Wasn't it great to be in a place where you felt comfortable handing over your phone ? Not sure I would have done so in dodgy restaurants elsewhere in the world.

Yes, I can't think of anywhere else I have traveled where I felt so trusting of the people. They were all so delightful, friendly and open. I hope they can retain that as they become more exposed to the outside world.

I felt so safe in Burma. The people are so warm and genuinely welcoming. I worry a bit about the impact of the surge in tourism there.