Yangon, Mandalay & Bagan (Myanmar): temples, friends and oily food

6 January 2011 - 22 January 2011

Here I am, on my way to Myanmar, previously called Burma. Everyone says it is difficult to travel in this country. Well, it wasn't that difficult but it was defintely very different from all the countries I have visited before.
No ATM's machines so impossible to withdraw money. Official government rate for 1 dollar: 6 kyats and real rate: 800 kyats. 30 minutes time difference with Bangkok. Most recent english magazine found: Elle Magazine from February 2001... What a different world!
The first day I arrived in Yangon, I met Sandra (Austria), Elliot (UK) Maarten (Belgium Flemish) and Dirk (Germany) and since that day, we traveled together.
We visited all the touristy sights of Myanmar like the Schwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, the 4000 pagodas (well not all of them but quite a lot) in Bagan, the world's longest teak bridge in Amarapura, Inle Lake, etc. Too many things to see and not enough time. Run Joelle, run...

Some cities still have the British buildings left during the occupation time so it was sometimes surprising to see a big english cottage in the middle of nowhere.
We very often woke up at 5AM to take buses, boats or to see the sunrise. It was an exhausting trip but it was definitely worth it. We did see unique things that we will never see anywhere else. Like the sunrise at the top of one pagoda in Bagan (the 4000 temples city). Slowly, we discovered the temples spread around the city. By the time the sun was totally out, there were hundreds of pagodas all over the place, breathtaking.
Myanmar is still a very poor country and under developed but people are friendly and sceneries beautiful.
I was quite disappointed by the local food. One of the first time in my trip that I didn't like the food. Lots of oily stuff. I never had so many fried rices with chicken in 2 weeks in my entire life... Even though food wasn't that good, I still managed to gain weight when others lost...

We also experienced all kind of transportation: bikes, motorbikes (yes, I finally learnt how to drive a motorbike!), buses, boats, horse carts, trishaws, cars and planes. Not always the most comfortable neither the fastest but a very interesting experience...
This trip was really a nice discovery for me. It is also certainly thanks to the group of people who I was traveling with. I would highly recommend to visit Myanmar to all the people who are interested in discovering a new culture and who wants to travel off the beaten tracks... and who don't care about the food ;o)

Next stop: Noumea (New Caledonia)