Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Final step

We are in Myanmar since a few days now. After roughly one week in Laos, where we visited Luang Prabang and Vientiane, we flew to Yangon, the capital of Myanmar. What a change from the other three countries. Yangon is a big city of 5 million people and it doesn't look like a typical South East Asian city. Actually, it reminded us more of Delhi than Bangkok with its traces of British architecture and the way people (men mostly) stared at us (well, at my girlfriend mostly). It was not at all an animosity look but more one of curiosity since there are very few Western tourists wandering in the streets.

We did not stay long in Yangon: just enough to see the Shwedagon Pagoda (one of the most beautiful in the world according to various guide books and we'd have to agree) and a bit around the city center. We then took the train to Mandalay. It's a 700km ride that takes 15 hours. We took the superior sleeper class that has four berths and a separate bathroom. Well, it was not quite what we expected for $55/pax: it was old, dusty and dirty and a bit creepy since there was no access to the rest of the train from our private cabin. But overall it went ok. Sure, we had a terrible night but we arrived safe in Mandalay.

We are now in Mandalay, a city much smaller than Yangon and we are getting ready for our nine hours boat trip tomorrow to Bagan. That sure is going to be another adventure...

I won't blog much more since we are getting deeper into the country and my guess is that there won't be an easy access to Internet from there. We are then back to Bangkok on the 28 where we booked the last three nights of our trip in a five star hotel to forget about the $10 guesthouses we stayed in throughout our trip.... and then back to London on August 31.

4 Comments:

Blogger Guillaume said...

That's great to get more enchanting news from you both.

I hope to be able to follow in your footsteps some days in the next couple of years. Your telling of your journey is so inspiring.

I guess you'll read this from your 5-star hotel - enjoy! :)

11:01 AM  
Blogger Forrest Gump said...

very nice ! enjoy the trip.

also, i am guessing that singapore got dropped off your itinerary ?

2:16 PM  
Blogger Jeff D said...

sounds like you're having a great time.

It looks as if we will miss in Bangkok. We're leaving there the 27th to head down to Koh Tao.

Please put up an online album of some of your pictures when you return, I'd love to see your pictures of Bagan.

Regards,

Jeff

2:50 PM  
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12:30 PM  

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