Mum and Dad was "templed" out... I love the BURMESE...

I've decided not to make this post so arduous with the daily excerpts of what took place. It would even drive me insane. So the short version is we spent a couple more days in Bagan including a day cycling, 2 days in Mandalay which was really depressing after Bagan and then the last 3 days in Inle Lake which was amazing. PS Don't forget the afternoon siestas each day...

I have to say that I had the best time in Bagan apart from the ballooning, the temples were excellent. I'm not going to bore you with more pics. My bad was I didn't bring myself a pair of thongs/slippers and therefore had to take off my shoes every single time when we entered a temple. Thank god there was always a pair at the hotel we were in.

It was really difficult to get your mobiles working in Burma - SIMs are available in the blackmarket but they'd probably want squillion of dollars for it. Anyway, we were not prepared to get into trouble with the junta. So here is a local phone booth pic... I guess you pay the guy for usage probably just local calls.

There were also the people across all of Burma that I would like to thank - I can still remember your smiles, hellos and goodbyes. I am already missing you...

Till next time Myanmar - we'll be back....

Bagan - Of days gone by : Day 1

Old Bagan has over 3000 stupas/chedis littered across its environs. You have to see it to believe it. It even smells of old days gone by with characters to fit. We arrrived in Bagan and was immediately herded to a festival cum procession where young children were taking their first steps into monk/nunhood, if that is what they're called. Maybe Lee can explain this better? Some of them were so young that they looked utterly confused but their parents were oh so proud, to say the least.

The guide explained that this was a momentus period for the parents - it was also sadly an event to show off your wealth. For those not able to afford to take care of their offspring, this is an opportunity to let the monastry take over for a year till things get better. The contradiction baffled me but I decided to keep my opinions to myself. The European vacationers were nonetheless thrilled - they were everywhere, some with rather huge 300mm lenses slammed against the faces of 3-year olds.




I was too embarassed so did only manage to get some decent shots. I need to be more agressive at times but that is just not me.



We headed to the local market next. You won't believe this but they have rats on skewers - apparently quite tasty like chicken. It was eerie how they were dissected... put me off meat for the whole day.

There was also the usual cheroot smoking granny - wanting us to take her picture for US$1. I'm not much of a smoker so the thought of promoting cancer, having lost a parent to the disease, made me really upset. The partner understood and kept quiet for the next hour while I went on one of my verbal mission to ban tobacco for good. If you love someone make it known I say and keep them safe.

I refused to take her picture!!

So after having my moment, that was it for the day. We went off to have our afternoon siesta and was then left to our own devices with the expectation of early morning 5am wakeup call to go ballooning the day after. I was very excited - apart from the fact that Mr. Lee was going to be there and I can quiz him a little more for some local knowledge of customs and cultures from an expat perspective, it would be my first experience. Magic!

Something for Pinoyboy

Pinoyboy - yes have been going around thinking, "hey Pinoyboy might like that pic, and that one and that one too". So here's a couple for you.

A food stall in Chatuchak market at 9am.

Hawkers preparing for the day at Chatuchak

How can you go wrong for a dollar?

Burmese Noodles and Condiments - Yummm Yummm

Something for Andrew

Andrew - so many beautiful and serene buddhas, you would have loved it. So here's a couple of images for you.... everything is very quiet in Burma - you could find solace knowing that there are still places where you can seek refuge from the rigours of the world.

This is the other image that I'm planning to print a T-Shirt on. Have a think guys and get back to me.....

Something for John Ong....

9 am breakfast at Chatuchak Market - I have my reservations about eating out....so this was just a visual feast.

'Gula-Gula Tarik' Yangon style. They're actually toffee that you suck on which are stringy.... "gula-gula tarik" means sweets that you can pull. Very literal but maybe John might have something more colloquial in Malaysia?

Something for Peter....

How much shit can you take in a day? Apparently Billion Million in Thailand!

This is also very cute - an aloe type plant shaped like hearts at Valentines! The Thais can be so sweet sometimes.

Yangon Oh my Yangon - Where have you gone?

Well I thought I'd drop a pic of the new Bangkok airport first. The Suvarnabhumi airport is really in deep shit operationally. It was so disorganised with baggages coming out of belts that are not even on the electronic screen so be forewarned about the information you get. It is better to follow the crowd. And if you're on any airline apart from Thai, you won't get to use the skybridge. It is a shambles. Immigration in Thailand and Burma were also displeased that I had an Australian passport coz I looked like one of them.

The counter staff at Singapore Airlines wasn't very helpful either - we were unable to check in our luggage 3 hours before coz they had nowhere to put them. There was another lady that had waiting for 7 hours to check in her luggage. At this point in time, I became very buddhist and let everything slide - we were afterall on vacation.

I think our flight was mostly filled with Euro travellers as they all looked so exhausted by the time they got to the boarding area. Have a look at the guy in the centre - he had such rosy cheeks. Not too sure why but I thought that it was just strange to have rosy cheeks in Bangkok in all that heat and if you move your eyes to the right, there is a guy with a goatee... I like goatees.... they all really looked exhausted. Thank god we had 3 days in Bangkok to eat and sleep - just enough time to feel that we were on our second holiday within a holiday.

We arrived in Yangon by mid morning and had lunch. The Traders Hotel was where we stayed 7 years ago and we were back there again. Dinner was US$16 with all the beer and wine you can drink with an international buffet to boot. It wasn't too bad especially with free flow of beer so we took the offer with open arms. Burma is getting busier - much more so than we had expected. Where at one point in time there were hardly any traffic, Yangon was buzzing big time.





We headed to Sule Pagoda which was just around the corner from where we stayed and eventually ended up at Scotts Bogyoke Market. It would have been good to see the markets when we there years ago - it is just too touristy now with nuns begging all over the place eventhough begging hours are supposedly around the early mornings until 9am where the monks/nuns would take their breakfast each day. These are the strays - even our guide was saying that they could just be wearing those garb to pull a fast one on us!! Who knows?

Shwedagon is still as magnificent as we remembered it to be. I can still remember how young I was when we had our first picture taken here. Not that we're ancient but it was 7 years ago - I consider being 29 rather youthful. We arrived in the evening and spent an hour waiting for the sun to set... it was different because there were loads of devotees and we really could feel the ambience this time around. It was just amazingly quiet eventhough there were people everywhere.

There were really some fantastic photo opportunities along the way. My camera though was acting up on manual so lost a couple of pics especially the evening shots but what can you do...c'est la vie. The Pro1 apparently doesn't like a polariser lens when on manual? Maybe it just needs a service? Enjoy the pics guys...from YANGON we headed to Bagan, a real early flight throughout the trip - 5am wakeup call. Till then....

Lets make a T-Shirt together : Peter, Pinoyboy and Andrew!!

Guys I'm thinking of printing this image on a T-SHIRT. It is taken from Dhammayangyi in Bagan which is believed to be haunted by the locals. Lets make T-SHIRTS!! Email me your sizes and colour preference....

Mingalabah Mr. Lee!

I am finally back from vacation and have had a fabulous holiday this time around - it was amazing and met one new fab friend originally from Bristol so all in all quite pleasurable. Myanmar is still as alluring as ever especially Bagan and Inle Lake and the people still remains the beautiful souls that they are. I have tons of pics but lets keep that for another day. So lets start with the light stuff first.

The first three days were spent in Bangkok sorting out our visas. Wish Pinoyboy was here coz he'd be so fascinated with all the 'japaneseque' goodies that is all around the shops. It will be just so wild going shopping together - it is still as good as Hong Kong and Japan but just a little cheaper to get goofy stuff! A pic at the market - really cool hats and to those that are not sure what Pocky's are, here is a tribute to Pinoyboy - a pic. I found this at LOFT!

I have been eating, eating and eating all the time so here is a couple more pics of food. Andrew I've put on 4kgs in 3 weeks so I'm avoiding rice for the next few weeks. Bastard! All that hard work for the past 3 months down the tubes but did I eat!

During that time, I was able to pass through a couple of wet markets. A couple of pics for everyone especially Pinoyboy.

I grew up with a wet market around the corner but that was year's ago in Singapore and have always remembered how I'd hold my breath when my mother coerced me to follow here into the abyss. I have to say I've never been good with wet markets. The strange difference between the wet markets of Thailand and Burma is the fact that Burma's 'wet market' is pretty dry. So here is a pic of a wet market in Inle Lake (2950ft above sea level) - everything looks pretty decent even the naked chicken in Bagan.

I have so much to write but still feeling a little jet lagged...not too sure why - maybe its because I've been running around cleaning the house and doing the dirty laundry from the holidays. I should have just left it there but I'm not one of those to wait till shit hits the fan. So here is a pic of the sunset on the Ayerwaddy.... words cannot explain how I felt then. It was one of the best...

One of the highlight of the trip was Ballooning over Bagan. Have to write a whole new post on that one. We met a wonderful man, Mr. Lee Hooper, the chief pilot, whom shared a rather unsavoury experience of an Aussie getting sick in the basket -orifices galore. We can still smell the experience! I'd like to wish him all the best coz he's good value and we hope to see you in Bhutan (Putao) real soon Lee.

Till next time guys, I think I will be more agreeable when I've had some decent sleep. So to Peter, Pinoyboy and Andrew - I miss you all loads and have been downloading your podcasts....

Last but not least, a image taken over Valentine's day. My room boy was excellent and not too bad looking too and here's a pic of me with some real big pussies!! Till next time...