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?