Last words

I had to confess that Myanmar was really tough and demanded a lot of patience and endurance. Undoubtedly it is a unique and beautiful country, but still it is like a raw unpolished gem. Once you can endure its hot and dusty streets with dilapidated public transport, as well as its unappealing choice of food, limited cheap reasonable accommodation options, and a constant fear of being stranded due to a series of unfortunate events, then I am sure there is nothing to stop you from loving this country.

The people are a friendly and honest lot, and it is amazing to see how they shape their faith around Theravada Buddhism, portraying their zeal through gazillions of stupas of all sizes and shapes. It's nice to mingle with the locals, experiencing their way of life through their eyes, and listen to them expressing their feelings and hopes for a new future.

Throughout my 13 days in this raw country, I witnessed both my feet turning to orange (due to the tan and the dusty road), sweated and panted like a cow, bruised and abraded myself from falling off a motorbike repeatedly, got into 3 series of bus accidents, stranded in a bus during a night curfew, got stupa-fied by all the temples and pagodas, and never in my life, enjoyed so many sunsets in a week! This was truly an experience!

Myanmar, no matter how much I despise you, you are still a gem in my memory!

Back to Malaysia

My last day in Myanmar was filled with emotional turbulences; I was somehow glad to leave this country, yet having spent 12 nights here I have developed a bonding with this unique country.

We woke up early to catch our bus back to Yangon's Au Mingalar's bus station, which we hope to grab a cab to the airport for our flight. The journey back was boringly uneventful, but I was grateful that we arrived Yangon in time. We wandered around amidst the horde of taxi drivers and touts, until we were content with one offering us 5000 kyats to share a taxi with another local. I was exhausted and would not really bother paying extra but my buddy was still enthusiastic enough to go around bargaining with the touts.

So, we dumped our bag packs and hopped onto the cab as we headed towards the airport. On the cab, I stared at the far horizon where lies Yangon, the old capital of Myanmar. The intense feeling of curiosity and enthusiasm when I first arrived this country was nowhere to be found; instead, it was a hearty feeling of ironically, content. I had seen enough of this country, and it was time to bid farewell and head for home.

The taxi arrived in the doorsteps of the departure terminal after 30 minutes; we disembarked, walked around the airport until it was time for check-in, and did some last minute shopping to use up our remaining kyats. Surprisingly, it is in the airport's duty free shops that I finally found the fridge magnets that I had been searching high and low for. However, it was a bit too costly so I only bought one for myself.

Our plane finally landed at 6 pm Myanmar time, and we boarded subsequently within 30 minutes. As the gigantic iron bird took off and headed southeast, I closed my eyes, laid my sore back and rested my weary mind with a grin.

"I survived Myanmar."

The Golden Rock

We finally made it to Kinpun, the last stop for our trip in Myanmar. As the bus stopped we were flocked by touts offering us accomodation options, yet, since we already made bookings at the Sae Saw Guesthouse, which was just beside the pickup truck terminal up to Mt. Kyaiktikyo, we decided to stick with it. 

After refreshening ourselves, we found ourselves a pickup truck heading up the mountain  soon at the terminal; the truck itself could fit 35 passengers at the back, and 5 more at the front seat. Imagine yourself cramped in a sardine can, bouncing up and down along the serpentine road heading uphill for an hour. Well, that was what I felt. Fortunately I had already swallowed my motion sickness, so the trip was fairly tolerable, except for my constant fear of falling off from the pickup truck since I sat at the side.

A fee of 1500 kyats gets you to the half point of the hill where one needs to trek up another hour to reach the mountain top. We had lunch somewhere near where the pickup truck dropped us, and soon after we started our journey. 

I was huffing and puffing, cursing and swearing at this ridiculous idea of mounting up this mountain slope just to see a golden rock. However, I began to change my mind as we walked past pilgrims of all sorts; some on crutches or walking sticks, and some too frail, yet still strived to make their way up the mountain just to fulfil their dreams of seeing and touching the golden rock. How mighty the power of faith can be!

We passed by stalls selling icy cold beverages or desserts, and also peddlars selling souvenirs and exotic animal parts. I tried to catch a few minutes of rest whenever I could, resting my butt on benches, stools, rocks, etc., until I get that brackish look from the stall owner's face implying me to scoot. 

Miraculously, we managed to reach the peak of the mountain, alive in one piece! And there was already a big crowd there! We paid the USD$6 entrance fees and marched into the temple complex in a large stride, but the scorching marble floors made us run into the shades! I was glad that it was the last time I had to walk barefoot! 

And there, not far from us, was the fabled golden rock on the mountain, and we started taking photos frenziedly, as we approached it. Like other sacred sites in Myanmar, women are only allowed to get to a certain vicinity of the rock, and we squeezed ourselves past zealous devotees and other fellow travellers, getting closer and closer to it, until we could finally touched it for ourselves. Ah, what sense of satisfaction!

After molesting the rock a couple of times and made some prayers, we visited the temple complex and decided it was time to head down to the hotel. Certainly we would not want to get stranded on top of the mountain with this horde of pilgrims! Fortunately, the trip downhill was less exhausting, and we reached the pickup truck drop zone just within 30 minutes. We hopped onto a pickup truck, waited for 30 minutes for it to be filled with other passengers, and off we went downhill back to Kinpun. The journey downwards was more exciting, and it made me felt like I was on a roller coaster. I swear my hands were tightly clutching onto the sidebars of the pick up truck and onto my seat, while a couple of French ladies were cheering in excitement as in they were on a fun ride. After 30 minutes of drive, we finally reached Kinpun.

We headed back to our hotel, which was just a stone throw from the terminal, and cleaned ourselves from the toil and sweat we had for conquering this little mountain. Kinpun has evolved into a pilgrimage town catering for tourists and pilgrims, hence, there were tons of stalls selling souvenirs and local products, especially fruit jam. Otherwise, there was not really much things to see in this little town at night, so we headed back towards the hotel after our dinner to relax and unwind ourselves.

It was the final night of my trip in Myanmar, and somehow I was soaked in a concoction made up by various emotions. Anyway, I just could not wait to go back to Myanmar, head for the airport straight and hopped onto our flight back to Malaysia!

Last overnight bus in Myanmar

The next morning, we were surprised with the delightful breakfast the Golden Empress Hotel offered us. It was one of the best breakfast we had in Myanmar so far, apart from Lily's in Hsipaw. After breakfast, we freshened ourselves and headed out to explore this little town of NyaungShwe, which the foreigners adored so much.

I felt a little bit guilty for not being able to find some souvenirs for my sister, so we wandered into the local market and Eureka! We finally found stalls that sell some of the local hand woven stuffs, which I bought a couple to later satisfy the craving of my sister and some of my colleagues back at home. It's been a while since I had been bargaining (the last time was in Vietnam a year ago actually), but somehow I was too soft-hearted for these poor locals who depend so much on us for their livelihood so I gave in without much bargaining. Nonetheless, I could not find any fridge magnets or souvenirs of the sort, as most of the stalls here peddle silverware, wooden craft, antiques and etc.. 

We later lingered in the hotel until our bus at 4.30pm, where we boarded a small songthaew which sent us out to a local bus stop 10km away from NyaungShwe. The bus arrived after around 20 minutes, and we were heading down to Yangon, where we would take another bus to Kinpun. 

I slept soundly on that bus, since I was totally exhausted and fed up with all the long-hauled overnight bus trips. When I woke up, we were 30 minutes away from Yangon's Aung MIngalar's bus station. I was totally grateful that the journey was uneventful, after that disasterous bus ride from Hsipaw to Nyaungshwe! We hopped off the bus at Aung Mingalar, and was led to the waiting area for the bus to Kinpun; it was a non-air conditioned bus that costed us 6000 kyats.

So we had to endure another 4 hours of bus ride from Yangon, passing through Bago and several short stops for breakfast, and high tea. I was kind of fatigued and just felt like going back home already! Maybe I was homesick, or I miss work, or Myanmar has nothing more to offer me?

Inle Lake

We hired a boatman, who would take us out sightseeing in Inle Lake from 12 noon until dusk. Since we only had half a day to spend, the boatman could only bring us to the nearby attractions. At least, it was better than nothing!

We walked from the tour agency opposite our hotel towards the jetty, a short trip that took us around 15 minutes, and ended up boarding a boat around 20 feet long, powered by a diesel engine. The boat steered itself from the jetty, out into the lake, under the hot baking sun! Still, the views were worth it.

We were welcomed by boats passing by, most of them loaded with foreign tourists, and only a couple by local Shan villagers. Across the distance, we could see the fabled Intha fishermen paddling their boats with oars clutched in their legs. As we continued further, we were welcomed by an Intha villager who started parading and posing on his boat, and that made me a bit suspicious. Eventually my suspicions were true, as he started begging for money after my buddy took a few shots of him parading. Since he already paid, he might as well took more photos then!

Our first destination was Nga Phe Kyaung temple, which was another tourist trap. The outer courtyard of the temple was packed with souvenir stalls, sellings things that I would not want to buy; antiques, silverware, wood crafts, etc.. Having visited a long list of temples and pagodas, I was not really impressed with this temple. So after a short visit, we had lunch at a local Shan restaurant next to it, and like other tourist traps, it was not really cheap but still relatively affordable.

After that, we hopped on our boat and our boatsmen cum guide took us for a short stride to the Tha Le Oo floating village where the villagers grow their vegetables on floatsams. We were not that interested to visit the overrated Leaping Cat Temple, so after the floatsam, we had a rest in a deserted floating restaurant in the middle of the lake, which now serves as a rest stop for tourists of all sort, while waiting for the sun set.

After lingering for two hours there, the sun finally set in; we hopped on our boat while our boatsman gently steered the boat to the middle of the lake, allowing us to take a few snapshots before we headed back to the NyaungShwe, where we foraged for food instead. 

I virtually felt like collapsing after we reached our hotel. We had a horrible bus ride the night before, and it was certainly comforting to be in our wonderous cosy little hotel!

The longest bus ride in Myanmar

I was surprised by that elderly gentleman after I stepped out from the toilet in early morning, the following day after all that misfortune happened; he came into our room and gave me a bear hug saying he had forgiven me for everything. I was still somehow perplexed with his sincerity, still I accepted his bear hug and tried to erase him from my wonderful memories in Myanmar. Anyway, since he would be leaving to some other places, I was glad that we would never have to see him again!

So, our plan for that day would be another venture in the local market to spot some indigenous people in their fancy costumes. We headed out pretty early that day at 6.00 am but still there were no sign of them. Probably they already were too modernized to wear their traditional costumes to sell wares in the market. Nevertheless, we had a great time looking at the stuffs they trade in the market.

After that, we went back to Lily's Place for breakfast and to chill a while till checkout time since our bus to Inle Lake would only come at 3.30pm. As usual, Lily allowed us to linger in her guesthouse till then and we spent our time watching telly in her husband's clinic.

By 3.30pm we arrived at the local "bus station", which actually is a row of shops where the buses would stop to pick up passengers. Somehow our bus only arrived at 4.30pm, and that actually was a bad sign for us, but since buses are notoriously late in Myanmar we ignored it.

Throughout our journey, the bus ran into a series of unfortunate events. They almost banged into a songthaew, they got banged by another bus from the back and that bus plunged into the paddy field beside the road, and they got banged again by an incoming truck. I was somehow very relieved that I was still alive and the bus was still in one piece!

What annoyed me the most was at 7pm, while passing through a local village, we were told that there was some riot happening in a town ahead and the military government had announced curfew, allowing no vehicles to pass through that very night! Consequently, we had to stop in the middle of nowhere, and sleep in bus until daylight! 

Astonished and totally speechless was I! 

We slept in the dormant bus from 9pm until the next day at 4am when they decided to resume the journey. My back was already aching from the hard seat. The idea of sleeping in a bus with no air conditioning (they turned the engine off!) was really unbearable! Lucky for us we only had 3 more days to linger in Myanmar!

The road to Inle Lake was horrible; the road condition was okay but the route was serpentine and undulating, as the bus slithered slowly up and down the hills. Fortunately I was well prepared for it since I had been swallowing my pills for motion sickness since the journey started! But everyone around me was puking out their guts, and I was somehow worried that I would puke as well!

We finally arrived in Inle lake at 12 noon; the journey took us 20 hours! Gosh! I was relieved and grateful to have reached the town just ouside NyaungShwe (can't remember it's name) in a piece! After hopping off the accursed bus, we paid 5000 kyats for a songthaew to NyaungShwe and USD3 for the entrance fee.

Well they say the best things happen when one has finally endured the worst, and I can't agreed more! It turned out that the hotel we booked here was fantastic! Golden Empress Hotel was such a jewel; the reception was good, and the room was comfortable and clean! I was so thrilled to be able to take a shower and change my clothes after that horrendous bus trip!

After settling down, we booked a boatsmen for 18000 kyats and headed down to Inle Lake!