Mong La, Burma
Mong La – Special Region Number 4 – Wa area and guarded by a Special Army.
Here everything goes. Casinos and gambling house are everywhere. There are
tumbling dice games called “Gluckgluck”, dice big enough to break your arm
if they land on you! Periodically, they fall o
Digital Backpacker 2000 #3
November 10th: The New Light of Myanmar
In Mandalay I take the boat to Mingun, an “ancient city” north on the Irrawaddy riverbanks. The town welcomes me and two other tourists with a signboard “Welcome in Mingun”.
We instinctively understand that we shouldn’t vi
Digital Backpacker 2000 #4
November 2nd: Twilight over Burma
From the airplane I can see the shimmering reflection of the golden Shwedagon Pagoda, a promising entrée to this new country. Waiting for immigration I adjust my watch, half an hour back this time.
I try to walk past the exchange counters but two offic
Myanmar 2001: Yangon
Yangon – Monday, February 19
I took a trishaw to the Botatung Paya after breakfast. As I was walking around a guy stepped out of a little shop and called me over. The sign above his door said he was a fortuneteller. I had actually thought it might be interesting to visit one of these
Myanmar 2001
Travelogue Dates
February 10th: Yangon
The single most striking sight in Yangon – and perhaps all of Myanmar – is the Shwedagon Paya.
February 11th: Bago
From this vantage point of Shwemawdaw Paya it seemed that every hill top within sight was covered with additional payas.
F
Myanmar 2001: Bagan
Bagan – Monday, February 12
At 5:00 in the morning I left for the airport. The hotel’s regular driver hadn’t arrived yet so the doorman walked out into the dark street to look for a taxi. He had to go down to the first major intersection, but finally he found one. As I hop
Myanmar 2001: Bago
Bago – Sunday, February 11
At 8:00am my driver Jeffery arrived. He was a tall, handsome man in his early 30’s who spoke English with a thick Indian accent. He wore a crisp, white shirt and a dark, plaid longyi, the skirt-like affair that Burmese men wear instead of trousers.
We
Myanmar 2001: Mandalay
Mandalay – Thursday, February 15
To my great disappointment, I awoke with a sore throat. Usually if I’m going to get a respiratory infection, it happens just after I arrive or when I first get home. I have always blamed this on the hours spent in the poorly circulated air of a c
Myanmar 2001: Mingun
Mingun – Saturday, February 17
When I stepped out in the morning, Mg Aye Lay was waiting for me. Our first stop was the pharmacy – again. I was making some kind of strange progress with my cold: the running nose was gone and now I had a cough. This being my third visit, the phar
Myanmar 2001: Mt Popa
Mt Popa – Tuesday, February 13
With Song Song’s help, I arranged for a car to take me to Mt. Popa in the morning. The half-day trip cost $25. Song Song told me that the driver was his brother but I suspect he was using that term with the widest possible meaning. At one point the
Myanmar 2001: Salay
Salay – Wednesday, February 14
I wanted to take another short trip out of Bagan today but had made no arrangements. After breakfast I walked outside the hotel gate and ran into Song Song again. By now he thought he was running my affairs. He always seemed to get his fingers into my tr
Myanmar 2001: The Ancient Cities
Amarapura, Sagaing, Inwa – Friday, February 16
In the morning I found my sore throat had changed into a runny nose, so I walked back to the pharmacy and bought some antihistamine. Well, at least my throat felt better.
When I got back there was a guy waiting for me in the lobby –
Myanmar 2001: The mechanics of a trip to Myanmar
1 US dollar = 450 Kyat
Boring but Necessary
The mechanics of a trip to Myanmar: visas, hotels and travel agents
The first step was getting a visa. I called the Myanmar Embassy in Washington D.C. and they gave me the URL of their web site (which has since closed) where I downloaded a copy o
The Golden Triangle – August 2001
Where’s that? Click here to find out. Click here for a map of the immediate area.
Maesai Artillery Strike
While other destinations seem to thirst for action, it seems Maesai is one of those places that attracts attention. Well, the spotlight remains on Maesai even now, August 2001.
For
Wet and Wild in Yangon – Myanmar
Wet and Wild in Yangon
Myanmar (Burma)
It happens in the blink of an eye. The man darts out and dashes down the sidewalk towards me. My heart racing, I hike up my long, straight skirt and run like hell.
Glancing behind me, I see that he is small, but strong. I need only a minute and I will be
Yes, We Have No Banana Pancakes #3: Inle Lake to Mandalay: Bus-ted – Myanmar
Inle Lake to Mandalay: Bus-ted
Our journey from Inle Lake to Mandalay started out pretty well: the bus was only two hours late leaving the station (and by ‘station’ I mean ‘teashop by the side of the road’) and we bumped along at a respectable twenty miles an hour for t
Yes, We Have No Banana Pancakes #2: Burma (Myanmar): Teapots and Toilet Paper – Myanmar
Burma (Myanmar): Teapots and Toilet Paper
People sometimes say that Burma today is like the rest of South East Asia was 100 years ago. It’s true that Burma is slow-paced, and horse-carts haven’t been entirely supplanted by motorbikes. Colonial architecture, though dilapidated, hasn
Hello Buddha. Como esta? – Bagan, Myanmar
Hello Buddha. Como esta?
Bagan, Myanmar
Jason and Burmese child
Ananda Pahto temple, Bagan
For two days I had been touring the ancient city of Bagan, Myanmar, a fantastic place with a seemingly endless supply of pagodas and edifices. One of the most pleasant aspects of Bagan for me
From Mandalay to Pyin U Lwin – Burma
From Mandalay to Pyin U Lwin
Burma
The dust was beginning to get to me. I needed the kind of breathing space that a city could not offer, so I consulted the small map in my guidebook on possible destinations out of Mandalay.
The recently introduced 28-day tourist visa is finally beginning to
A Talk with Win Zaw – Burma
A Talk with Win Zaw
Burma
“They are so young when they join the tatmadaw (Burmese military). They have no education. Sometimes they are forced to sign up. They learn by being punished brutally and they learn to punish each other. They are ruled by fear and they rule by fear.”
Win
