Bridge over the River Kwai

We joined our bus outside the hotel for our River Kwai trip at about 7:00am, enough time for a quick breakfast in the buffet. Out trip was with four other people, all from Queensland and they’d just been to Phuket and were stopping in Bangkok on their way back home.

As we waited outside a hotel to pick up the last two travelers, we watched people heading off to work, stopping at a roadside kitchen to pick up their breakfast. Bangkok is huge and I can’t remember when we exactly had left the city and were in the rural areas of Thailand. We passed huge trucks bringing in sugar cane to sugar factories and stopped at a petrol station for a rest on the way up. I went to the toilet, observing a sign indicating if you were urinating, then head to the left. This took me outside the toilet, where the urinal was on the external wall!

Bangkok. Taking it easy

Today we just wandered around MBK. We had the best buffet breakfast at this hotel, but I wasn't feeling the best, so took it easy. A few times during the day I broke out into a pouring sweat which had nothing to do with the heat, as the arcade was fully airconditioned. I was disappointed with the prices of electrical goods; iPods costing the same as they were back in Australia, and similar with phones. I wasn't feeling well enough to venture to the IT Centre so we stocked up on clothes. The day was pretty much just spent shopping, sorting out and confirming our day trip tomorrow or sleeping the afternoon off in the hotel room. We ventured back into MBK later in the evening for dinner, but I don’t think I ate much if anything, though there was a nice café at the hotel lobby where I managed to have a coffee and some really nice ice cream.

A few days in Thailand

We flew into Bangkok International Airport again, 3rd time on this South East Asia trip, though this time we would actually leave the airport!

The usual out of the plane then onto a bus and driving around half of the airport saw us eventually at the customs gate which we passed through to meet up with our ride to the city. The trip to our hotel Pathumwan Princess seemed to take forever passing through the early evening of a huge Bangkok.

We checked into the hotel and tested the view from our 27th floor room window before venturing out into MBK to find somewhere to get dinner. We found the food court at the far end of the mall, and collected our plastic food credit card and proceeded to wander among the many food stalls. Eventually deciding on a shop selling soups, I picked up a duck wanton soup which I think didn't agree with me. I’d eaten from street vendors in Myanmar and market stalls in Lao only to be stricken down by a food court in Bangkok! It left me a bit tender and under the weather for the rest of the Bangkok trip.

We wandered around MBK a little more then retired for the evening.

Luang Prabang all laid back

Today was our last day in Laos :(
We did a small morning tour of the city with our guide; visiting the King’s Palace which was now a museum. No photos were allowed inside, indeed we had to place our cameras, hats and backpacks into lockers before entering. Inside were all sorts of artifacts from around Laos, as well as the preserved Kings Palace, including his bedroom, sitting chambers, welcoming chambers with detailed paintings depicting Lao life on the walls. His throne and various suits and swords were also on display. A very interesting place.

We then visited a temple bejeweled in glass mosaic; green on the outside and red on the inside.

Luang Prabang and Kuangsi Waterfalls

A much later start to the day today; our pickup was at 9:30 so we had plenty of time to relax over breakfast.

Nikhom arrived on his motorbike, and our driver brought the mini-van along shortly after. We headed out through the suburbs of Luang Prabang, passing scores of schools with their yards a sea of bicycles. The houses thinned out and the water buffalo became more frequent as we left the city. The road started weaving through the mountains, and we passed many young teak plantations and small villages.

Luang Prabang and Pak Ou Caves

Up early today for a 6:00am pickup. We watched the monks doing their dawn alms collection. Very beautiful to watch. A large family had come to give alms and they were the centre of attention with lots of tourists taking their photo, even before the monks arrived.

The monks came in single file in their saffron robes accepting rice, bananas and other food without acknowledgement. When their bowls were full, or just at their choosing they take some food out of their bowls and give it to some poor children who were standing at the side of the procession.

Pakse

Today was a transit day. Our guide wanted to pick us up at 8:00 in the morning for an 11:45 flight. This would have left us sitting at the airport for nearly 4 hours. When challenged the night before, he said it was something to do with the airport, and not knowing enough I didn't argue it with him. But after checking with the hotel desk, I decided to leave him a message and we would make our own way to the airport.

I was up when he arrived so told him directly that we would just catch a tuktuk to the airport ourselves. He said to leave it with him, and a phone call later he said he had a driver arranged that would take us to the airport at 10:00. Much better.

Si Phan Done

I was up before dawn, and walked out to watch the sun rising over the Mekong. Some monks were walking along the river but I missed a beautiful photo of them with the sunrise as the battery went flat in the camera and I was locked out with Michelle still asleep and couldn't change it.

We are not quite getting what is meant to be happening with our new guide. He said he would pick us up at 8:00, but was at our hotel at 7:00. Questions on whether we were late or he was early or checking the time on our watch didn't really get resolved. I guess this was laid back Laos.

We had a filling breakfast of scrambled eggs and the most beautiful sweet orange juice. We rushed our breakfast, finishing at 7:30 only to not be able to find our guide anywhere. We wandered along the banks waiting; he showed up soon after but then we couldn't find our boat driver. Eventually we were off down the river.

Don Khong Island

Mone picked us up from the hotel and dropped us off at Talat Suo Market. We had a quick wander through and bought a few woven scarves. Then it was to the airport for our Air Laos flight to Pakse.

Vientiane

We went for a morning walk in Vientiane; the city is quite nice, small and relaxed. We walked along the Mekong River, passing river front restaurants with lots of tasty looking BBQ treats on sale: chicken, quail, fish and vegetables. We also saw live toads and large prawns in pots ready for cooking. I did a currency exchange of US$100, getting just under 9000kip at the Bank deCommerce. The Lao Bank further in town would have given a slightly better rate.

We walked past all sorts of shops, bought a few items from a minimart, saw laundry shops quoting 800kip for a kilo and stopped at an internet café and caught up on all of our e-mail. The speed and being able to access g-mail was a luxury after Myanmar.

Laos!

After visiting Myanmar we spent a week in Laos. Laos is a most beautiful country. Very relaxed and easy going with beautiful scenery and beautiful people.

Yangon to Vientiane

I planned to have a massage this morning but the hotel massage wasn't open till 12 and we were checking out at 11:30.

I went for a walk, but the Sera Beauty Spa in the Lonely Planet Book either wasn't there anymore or was closed and not sign posted. No luck today, though I did have an interesting walk down some back streets of Yangon, past some old French Colonial houses surrounded by large gardens.

We had breakfast in our hotel room as there were smokers in the restaurant. The jams were delightful: homemade orange marmalade and a grapefruit jam, tangy and tasty. Our airport transfer was again filled with much talk of Myanmar, politics and the mystery of the government. Our transfer to Bangkok was delayed on take-off and was also further delayed on arrival; our pilot requested to reduce airspeed due to high traffic at Bangkok Airport.

Our flight to Vientiane was also delayed, and coupled with a very long wait for Visa on arrival our guide at Vientiane was forced to wait almost an hour for us. Our guide Mone was lovely and pleasant and transferred us directly to our hotel, the Don Chan Palace. We went to sleep pretty much on arrival, despite the karaoke night club music playing into the night.

Yangon

No touring today. After our 5:30 breakfast we met up with Phyo for the boat trip back to Nwang Shye, watching the sunrise along the way; a beautiful sight passing the many fishermen up early working hard to catch their fish.

Back in town we loaded up the car as the monks on their morning collection walked past.

The flight to Yangon took 45 minutes, passing over many mountain ranges and huge dams.

On arrival we were saved from losing our baggage by a kindly airport staffer as we assumed baggage collection was inside the terminal. Instead we had to go through a door onto the tarmac to collect our bags.

Inle Lake

A more relaxed start to the day today, though I was awake long before the beautiful sunrise which I watched from the balcony over the water.

After a huge breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs, coleslaw, tomato, toast and bagel with excellent coffee(I’d heard a lot about Laos coffee, but if was going to have to be damn good to be better than the Myanmar coffee I got everyday), Phyo met us at 9:00 for day of touring of Inle Lake by Long Boat.

We cruised up the largest creek feeding the lake which was a beautiful soft blue colour, presumably from the limestone in the surrounding mountains. We passed many people making their way to the markets, leading water buffalo, kids walking to school and monks on the riverbanks.

Pindaya Caves and Inle Lake

Up early again, though getting later each day Mimi met us and took us to the airport. We passed many monks along the way doing their morning alms collection.

The flight to Heho only took 20 minutes, and we were met inside the airport by Meo (though not quite sure if that is her name, let alone spelt correctly!). She helped us collect our bags and took us outside to meet our guide Phyo (pronounced Peo, rhymes with Joe) and our driver Boney. We had an interesting and long drive through the countryside, including a stop in a small village at a roadside café where we had chick pea fritters. A little chicken clucked around under our tables eating up the dropped crumbs.

Mandalay and Mingun

Today we had the luxury of a little sleep-in. We watched the early morning mist blanketing the old palace grounds from our hotel window, which gave us excellent views over Mandalay. We had breakfast at the hotel, which had a huge assortment of food to choose from. I tried a Myanmar pancake which was quite nice. Today we were heading to Mingun, and Mimi met us in the hotel foyer. Mimi told us today that Myanmar is pronounced Mee-ah-mah. Similarly Mandalay is pronounced Man-a-lay.

Mandalay, Amarapura and Ava

It would have been perfect to stay another day or two or three in Bagan. Bagan was beautiful with so much to see and do. Soe told us about Mt Popa; how it was used as a hill station and that it is jungle with many animals including monkeys to be seen. We will have to visit there next time we come to Myanmar.

This morning the sunrise was stunning. We could see the warm crimson glow on the stupas. One large golden stupa was especially magnificent. The fogged car windows didn't faze our driver and we arrived quickly at the airport.

Bagan - a city of temples

Today was a very early start, up at 4:00am. We had a quick breakfast at 4:45 then met Tun at 6:15 for the early morning drive to the airport. A bus took us out to our Air Bagan flight, a Fokker 100. We were welcomed on board and were soon in high in the air flying above the clouds.

As we approached Bagan, we could see multitudes of temples from the air scattered around the fields as well as on the mountains across the river. This was the dry season and many of the streams and smaller rivers were dry. The river also was very low with large sand banks exposed.

The plane landed onto a wet tarmac; a light rain had been falling earlier at 6:30am. Our new guide, Soe welcomed us and organised our baggage collection for us and we were soon in our car. After a short drive from the airport we stopped at our first temple. We got our first lesson in Bagan history and temples as we walked around Izza Gona temple. For example you can estimate the era of the Buddha statues: if the ears were touching the shoulders then it was likely built after 1100AD.

Arrival in Yangon

We flew into Bangkok airport whilst it was still dark; a full moon following us on our flight from Melbourne. The lights of Bangkok like jewels cast to the horizon.

Bangkok airport is huge; and new only being completed 2 years ago. We made our way to transit as our baggage was checked through to Yangon.

The distance between our arrival gate and departure gate was about one kilometre! Michelle took advantage of the many travelators. I’d eaten so much on the plane that I needed the exercise: having eaten two meals during a time that I would normally have been sleeping! Our first in-flight meal was Thai Fish Balls in spicy green curry, delicious whilst Michelle had the chicken pasta. For breakfast we both went for the cheesy omelette.

We had a very brief look in a newsagent, but I had no baht on me so I had to give the tempting salty durian chips a miss. We retired to gate E2A to await our flight to Yangon.

Beautiful Myanmar

Myanmar is the most wonderful country I have visited. The people are warm, friendly and welcoming. The culture is endearing and largely untarnished by Western influences. The temples are numerous and majestic and the countryside and history is glorious. I loved it and hope to return again. The recent events with Cyclone Nargis are tragic and have left us deeply saddened.