Exhaustion and starvation... Myanmar's darker side (for us only)

Jan 7 & 8 Pyin U Lwin, Mandalay to Bagan

Bäh what a night. And what is one of the worst ideas one can have after a sleepless night of food poisoning. Right, go on a full day trip into the mountains, including a short hike to a waterfall. We already booked the Taxi to Pyin U Lwin today and I was hoping to feel better. I sleep through most of the roughly two hour cab ride and our first stop are waterfalls outside town. The driver says it's only a half hour hike. I should have been suspicious then, the Lonely Planet says it's a good 45 minute. I unfortunately don't decide to stay in the car and wait but figure a little walking will do me good. Weak and tired it takes a good hour to get down I don't even want to imagine how walking back up will be. The Waterfalls are beautiful but at the end of the day just waterfalls again. I can't quite enjoy the scenery as I am dreading the walk back. I am completely out of energy but not able to hold anything solid. During the trek down we were followed by a bunch of local women who pretended to be guides, hoping for tips or for us to buy overpriced drinks from them. Though they make the walk several times a day the bad path is littered with trash everywhere. Why the hell are people (locals) throwing it out here in the first place and why doesn't anyone pick it up if it's already there for weeks or longer. Mostly plastic trash, wrappers from local candy and mostly Betel nuts (that's how you know it's locals throwing the stuff out). It could be all nature and green and beautiful, instead it reminds you again how stupid people act, throwing their garbage everywhere. There are not many viewpoints along the way, mostly covered by tall trees and brush.

Mag and I walk very carefully down, it's all uneven. Mag is in flipflops and I am about to faint (I know my own fault for going in the first place). Udo just keeps hopping along and making the way pretty fast, but he always amuses as, slipping landing in the mud, but that gives him the perfect excuse to go for a dip in the waterfall while we rest.

And then it is time. The trek back up. I do feel I make it faster than down, the lady 'guides' help me at some points but I need to rest quite often. Still it 'only' takes me an hour to 'crawl' back up. Half dead I feel accomplished and stupid. I should have known better, but hey survived the trip anyway.

I skip on the delicious looking strawberries they sell everywhere on the road side and decide to nap through lunch. And apparently I napped so nicely Mag and Udo don't wake me after lunch but just leave me sleeping in the car and continue discovering Pyin U Lwin. Needless to say I was a bit upset about being left there (although the nap did do some good).

They return only after hours and by now it's too late to visit anything else, sun is going down already. A drive by the British mansions, now mostly hotels, a Chinese temple, clocktower and other 'sights' in Pyin U Lwin and we get back in the pitch-dark to Mandalay, I just fall straight into bed. Tomorrow is travel day again, from Mandalay to Bagan.

Pick-up comes at 7.30 am to drop us to the bus station for our bus from Mandalay to Bagan. Officially it's only a six hour trip. Actually we drive for 20 minutes and then the bus stops. Apparently a part is broken and we wait there for over an hour and a half for a replacement part. No one communicates, no one says anything. We just sit and wait. Welcome to Myanmar. At least this bus offers plenty of legroom and no AC blasting. So not that bad at all! Mag and I even get to read some. While Udo suffers as if someone slit him open, he looks like a sorry piece of human being. Apparently the food poisoning got to him 36 hours later and the bumpy unpaved roads are not making it any better. So while the Road to Mandalay has been freezing, the Road from Mandalay is plain bumpy.

Only roughly 8 hours later we get to Bagan and the next challenge. Finding a Guesthouse. The bus station is close to everything but Udo is in such bad shape we hire a Horsecart (the horse looks way healthier than the ones in Innwa) to take us around. And good it was, the first few Guesthouses we stop by are all completely full. So at the 5^th try or so we phone other places to see if we can get anything there, when Udo makes the decision for us and refuses to move anymore we check into the neareast one which turns out to be overpriced Thantwe Hotel for one night. The ladies at the reception don't speak proper English (much worse than at the cheap places), the pool gives me a rash and breakfast was far below average. At least the room was decent. After the next sick traveler is taken care of Mag and I discover Nyang-U. The city closest to Bagan with the cheapest food and accommodation. No sense in going to Bagan know, it's getting dark way too early. We find a new Guesthouse starting tomorrow (not easy, pretty much everything is full, calling a few days in advance is definitely recommended) and Mag has dinner. I still can't look at food. We also arranged for the horsecart driver to meet us in the morning and take us around, pending Udo's condition.

Compulsory entrance fee for all foreigners 

That backpack used to be black (and clean) before the bus ride

Nyang-U is an uneventful town. The typical backpacker street with overpriced (for Myanmar) restaurants offering Western foods, a Travel Agent at every corner, vendors and Internet Cafes. Everything you may need but don't desire. Let's just hope tomorrow we all feel almost healthy again so the discovery tour of magical Bagan can start.