Mandalay

Moon lit Ayeyarwady

This city is awesome. We arrived by boat from Bagan along the River Ayeyarwady (irrawady) where we set off before sunrise meaning we were traveling by moonlight.

Sun rise over the river Ayeyarwady

The journey is around 6 hours but very calm. You don't get fed that well though so I would take extra food.

We seemed to meet travellers over 60 most of the times but I think this will change with time.

We experienced sunrise which is always special but a bit more so on a boat along the calm River Ayeyarwady in Myanmar.

I left my hoodie on the boat and when I went back for it the next day they still had it which is comforting when away from home. The locals seem friendly and out to help.

Highlights:

Meeting 'Joe' our friendly local driver. He had named himself Joe after American tourists found it hard to pronounce his name. Joe is a dad to 6 kids!

He was such a great driver, he took us to the important places, told us history and local stories about fat and thin hotel owning sisters from China, transvestites, The British and all sorts of other funny things.

This city was such a mix of nationalities and religions and had a really buzzing vibe. This might have been our favourite place. This used to be the capital city so explains why there is so much going on. It's isn't huge though so not over whelming.

You could sit in an outdoor street food place and get fresh chapatis and daal for 20p. The prices are still pretty low and local don't seem to want to add tourist tax too much yet but it may change in the coming years.  We felt very happy here and should have spent longer. We were only here 1-2 days and could have seen more if we'd had time.  You can catch Joe at the cafe where lonely plant tells you to go. The streets are on a grid systems so you can find him between 25th and 82nd street.

Joe of Mandalay

            

Joe took us all over to see all the different crafts including stone Buddha making. It's supposed to the biggest Buddha making area in the country. There was also a lot of weaving and we also went to visit a fully functioning monastery. 

Sabina chilling with 'Joe'

Legohead Bhudda 

Advertising is minimal so far in Myanmar, which was probably more refreshing than you know, but Dove does appear everywhere which made me laugh as I had just left a huge Dove advertising project before the trip. The brand had followed me!

Dove on banners but not digital

Nice designs in the Monastery 

These comedians were imprisioned for mocking the government, just shows how censored and tightly run the country was 

Inle Lake

We stayed in a village called Nyangshwe and in a really nice hotel called Princess Garden Hotel which was just on the edge of the small town we stayed in.

This town had a main drag where a few restaurants were. There is a good place in the Lonely Planet called Linn Htett which did a really great menu of local Myanmar food which essentially is a curry with lots of different accompaniments. There is so much food you can share. It was all pretty cheap too for a restaurant. It was busy with tourist as it was a LP recommendation. Definitely worth it.

We found a few other nice restaurants which sold BBQ meat and veg. We liked one called x.

One night we went to Owl & x which we knew would be more expensive but it was quite busy and we fancied something a bit more sociable. We had a delicious beer cocktail here which was beer with orange and tamarind. Then we got chatting to the waiter who told us about a new pub opening. This is not common for Myanmar as they have restaurants or beer stations so this was definitely a Western influence coming in. It was a reminder to us that progress was coming so if you do want to see Myanmar in it's unspoiled state then you need to go soon! The pub was actually pretty hipster inside so it was nice! The cocktails were very cheap too. About £1 for a mojito!

We took a full day boat trip around the lake. The best thing to do here is to plan your own route otherwise you will just get taken around the usual tourist haunts and shops. We felt a bit shipped through but there are so many beautiful spots that you do not need to go to every shop there is.

Bagan

This is one of the most special places I have ever been to. It is a sacred area full of beautiful pagoads and stupors. The villages are so calm and unworldly. There are signs up for English and computer lessons which is very cute as it felt like we were there on the brink of something about to happen. I experienced real awe in this unspoiled place. As riding electric motorbikes at 5am, running through villages, getting stuck in sand, being chased by dogs, hearing the cocks crow and being greeted by friendly villagers was truly awesome!


We stayed in New Bagan which is a bit further away from the part where tourists stay and cost us 15,000 kyat return in a taxi each night to go to the main restaurants area. This is quite high for Myanmar so I would recommend staying in Nyaung-U which means is walkign distance to the night life.

It is nice to hang out in Old Bagan. There is really famous veggie cafe which is in Lonely Planet called 'The Moon' but we liked the one across the street called Yar+Pyi because the owner and his family were really friendly and they served gauc and pop (gaucamole and popadoms); indian spice flavoured guacamole with popadoms. We stayed in here for hours having iced coffees, juices and escaping the mid-day sun.

Temple hunting - hire a moped and go full throttle in the dark at 5am to hunt for the perfect temple to get the classic sunrise shot. As we were not close our chosen temple, North Guni, it was a race against time to get there before sunrise, which was very exciting and made me feel like I was in Indiana Jones.  We had no clue where we were going and were just following smaller and smaller tracks. It was one of the most thrilling things I have done in my life.  It felt like a proper adventure.

If you are getting the boat from Bagan to Mandalay the boat goes from Jetty Street which is closer to this area also. You need to leave at 5.30am which is early but you get so see the river lit by moonlight and experience sunrise which is pretty sweet.
Balloons over bagan - www.balloonsoverbagan.com

It's a popular thing to take a hot air ballon over Bagan but is $320. Ouch!

Yangon

We flew into Yangon from Bangkok. The best thing here is the huge gold Pagoda and Stupors with around 1200 buddha's everywhere! It's supposed to be the best in the country. 

Yangon is all on a grid system so you can get around easily. The street food is the best food we had on the trip and cheap. There is a lot of Indian food here as there are influences from all neighbouring countries: Thailand, Indian, China etc so you get a bit of everything. 

People don't speak that much English but really appreciate you trying to say a few things. Mingalarba - hello, jeez-zu-bey - an informal thanks, the longer word for 'thanks' has too many syllables to remember! Nic-cow-la is 'how are you' and you need the reply 'gundy'  which means good,  which you can also say if you like the food. 

Ngapali

Ngapali is a beautiful beach which is very different to the rest of Myanmar. If you have enjoyed being culturally a million miles away from Western culture then you may not feel the need to visit here especially if you are travelling rather than on holiday as the prices are high and will eat up your funds quickly.

At first I stayed at Merciel which was very nice and had a pool but was a bit too far from the main affair for me. 

I would say the best place to stay is in Lin Thar village where your hotel opens on to the beach. 

Mento or Lin thar Oo were reasonably priced and you more or less have breakfast on the beach which is what this is all about. There are mega fancy places which are a very high standard but really expensive, so it depends if you want to treat yourself or not. 

Lonely Planet is a bit out of date on the ATM/ cash machine front. There are cash machine at Amazing Beach Hotel, Bay View, Jade Marina and Amada. Beware they charge 6500 kyat which is a loads for Myanmar so you really need to adjust to the prices here. Taxis are expensive here and it's not really a place for solo travellers as there were mostly couples and no hostel to hang out in, but if you jump on a bike you can go and meet the locals and be very chilled here.

If you want to stay online Oreedooo is the best 3G network here, Telenor does not really work. 

A new hospital is being built so the area must be benefitting from tourism so this is good for the locals and the job market. 

There are many fish restaurants on the front which all serve fresh fish daily so this should definitely be something you should eat while here. Red snapper, barracudo, lobster and king Prawns seem pretty common with veg and salads. The menus seems to have some Thai influence also. 

There isn't a going out scene as such, this is more a have dinner and go to bed place which makes it perfect for a  rest.

Myanmar - good to know

The reason it has changed it's name from Burma to Myanmar is because it is made of 7 different tribes or groups, not just the Barman people, so the name Burma was not a representative name.  

The plug for Myanmar is the round 2 prong European plug. The electricity will go out at some point while you are here and generators will kick in which feels quite exciting. 

You do need to cover up as it is pretty religious. Women don't drink, they wear long skirts and cover up shoulders. People are friendly but if you look half naked they will stare.

A SIM card for the month and credit for the month cost me $11 and it well worth it as it seems that no matter where you are, on a boat, up a hill in a village near a temple, there is always 3G. Myanmar is a 'leapfrogging' nation which means they skipped the decades of rubbish technology and have gone straight to the good stuff! It's a new economist term I am told.