The Golden Land, Myanmar / Burma - first impressions

Jan 3, 2012 – Yangon, Myanmar

Burma, elusive country at the edge of South East Asia. This was the one trip I was looking forward to most and dreading most at the same time. Why is that so, well not that many people have been to Burma/Myanmar, it's been closed off for decades and only recently reopened. Information is few and sketchy. But no matter where you get your information, one thing they all had in common, they loved Myanmar and everyone would love to return one day. So an approval rating of pretty much 100% makes it worth traveling, although it may be tougher than some other places. First thing to sort out was the Visa, which was so much easier than expected, same day at Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok. Flights, no problem. Trip research proved more difficult. Only bring Dollars, make sure they are in absolute crisp condition, make sure they are the newer print, avoid certain serial numbers, exchanged them on the black market for good exchange rates. Boyaaah! Information overload. So I got plenty of crisp, perfect, unmarked dollar bills from the right year (I hope), and the right serial number. It wasn't all too easy to get them in Bangkok since not many banks have perfect dollar bills in stock and it took me two days and about six banks to get the right amount and I lost a fortune in ATM fees, foreign exchange fees and foreign exchange fees again. Better not think about it. The hidden cost of travel comes and bites you in the ass. I just know why I check certain statements infrequently. Every time I see all the foreign exchange fees, ATM fees and all the other fees I could just cry. How could these banks go bankrupt if they steal my money so openly? Ok, enough of that. So Visa, Flight tickets, Travel companions in hand it's finally off to Myanmar.

The flight doesn't leave until 4pm so in the morning bid farewell to my overnight guest, fellow Kufsteiner Angi, finish packing, head to Anita's birthday lunch, check out of my residence and there it is, finally. Smooth sailing from Bangkok to Yangon, another new stamp in the passport and there it is. Myanmar, the Golden Land. The Airport is truly impressive. One of the most modern ones I have seen in South East Asia not too big, but big enough for this city of 5 million. Looking at all the modern signs and amenities (and yes, clean bathrooms) you could be anywhere in the Western world.

Once you step outside of customs there they are, the touts, trying to sell Taxis and offer other services. With one exception, they are really friendly and speak English. Second time Myanmar has impressed me within a matter of minutes. I instantly feel more welcome than in many other countries.

Men are all wearing Sarong-like 'skirts' - Longyi as it's called, it's traditional and everyday clothing and it does look very comfortable. Many women are also semi-traditionally clothed with Sarong and T-Shirt. 

So after we discover that the 10 USD taxi fare to the city center is non-negotiable, or so it seems, we head of to the Clover Hotel that Udo prebooked for one night. Our Taxi driver speaks very good English, is uber-friendly and explains many useful things along the way, travel tips included.

The main roads we use are in extremely good shape. The cars in general are not. We pass by buses and pick-ups where people hang out the doors windows and occasionally roofs. Transport is not full until it's full. The houses by the road look modern, there's malls and street vendors. Very much like Bangkok, just more organized. I am not 100% certain what I expected but it was definitely more dirt and chaos. The Hotel is mid-range and the welcome is sweet. Welcome cocktail, nice explanations and breakfast in the morning, lovely room and attentive service. The Extra-Bed is set up within a matter of seconds, in all my years in hotels I have not seen Housekeeping work so swift, efficient and clean at the same time, and all that with a friendly smile and the eagerness for conversation and assistance without the expectancy of tips. Wow, some neighboring countries should import that service attitude.

Since Udo is a bit sleep deprived Mag and I had out for a little walk in the evening. Since we are a while from the city center but closer to the famous Shwedagon Pagoda we head there to take some pictures at night. I am not sure whether we take the right turns but it leads us there and I guess the wrong turn we took was so much better since we walk right through a busy market where they sell everything from food to toys. Heading to the Pagoda it seems there is something like a night fair going on. Shooting cans or really shooting stuff, getting face painted, throwing hoops, and there is a big stage awaiting some singers. Full action with many people. Most women are wearing some gold paint and I wonder if it's for a special occasion or just in general that they wear it. Monks everywhere and people seem to have a ball of a time. Some look at us with curiosity, most just smile friendly.

While climbing the hundreds of steps to the Pagoda a Burmese strikes up a conversation with us, and as it would happen another few times throughout the night, the Burmese love the Chinese and they are exceptionally friendly to Mag. Many know a few words in Mandarin and like to impress her. Let's see how many Chinese tourists we'll see over the coming weeks.

Up and up and up we go, barefoot stair climbing. We wonder around the Pagoda a bit, take some pictures until we are being asked to present our tickets. Since we are planning to come back tomorrow we are not buying any for tonight and walk down another way.

By now Mag is starving. I received the address of a Restaurant one studymates' parents own in Yangon. Apparently it's not too far and it would be sooo nice to go there and try local specialties. After asking around though everyone tells us that it is too far to walk and since we don't have local money – Myanmar Kyats (pronounced Tschad) yet, a Taxi is not an option. The restaurant around the corner accepts Dollars so that's where we settle for the evening. The food seemed like a Thai/Chinese mixture so I am waiting for something more original to rave (or not) about.

The walk back should be 10-15 minutes but one of the many people we have asked must have send us in the wrong direction. We circle the Lake instead of walking just by it to our Hotel and after 50 minutes of walking and someone telling us it's another half hour we do settle for a taxi. Thanks to the Kyat change of the restaurant. You wouldn't believe it but January 3^rd, 10 pm and it's freakishly hot, much hotter than in Bangkok right at this time. And I brought sweaters....hmmm....

So what's the first impressions of Myanmar:

-Yangon is far more developed than anticipated

-Friendliness is outstanding

-People are wearing their traditional clothes with pride

-English knowledge is widespread, way better than in Thailand

-Exchange rates Kyat to Dollar dropped considerably since the latest publishing of the Lonely Planet (then 1050K to 1$, now 750K to 1$)

-Considering above, prices are far from cheap

-Airline travel is regulated hence the pricing is always the same and enormously high (70-100 USD one way for domestic flights)

-Burmese are very chatty and can't wait to strike up a conversation

That's a bit of the positive and negative that I gathered within the first 6 hours here. There's gonna be much more to come and I can't wait!  

Changing it in Chang, Koh Chang that is

Dec 3 – 5 Koh Chang

So what are you going to do when you traveled through South East Asia for two months and return to Bangkok for a few days? That's right, you gonna escape to an island the first chance you get.

It was a very spontaneous decision. Mag, a fellow exchange student from China decided she wanted to spend her birthday on a beach. And so the Koh Chang plan was born. Since I still had evening classes on Friday we left early Saturday morning from Ekkamai bus stop. Unfortunately there was no 7am direct bus to the Koh Chang ferry but hop on any bus to Trat and then switch to a Pick-up Van there that brings you to the Ferry. No problems. It's all timed right for the sun-hungry tourists. On Koh Chang another Pick-up to Lonely Beach which is praised to have fantastic beaches, nice restaurants and bars and low prices. Sounds too good to be true? That's right as it was. The cheap accommodation is all located in 'Lonely Village' which is about 15 minutes (maybe less, you get lazy in the heat) walk from the beach. The cheap bungalows are tiny, run down and smelly. The more expensive ones are decent but still a while from the beach. So we went to check out the beach. There were bungalows there too, not very inviting, and Hotels all very pricy. We had practically decided we would just switch to White Sand Beach as they are supposed to have better accommodation (for a bit higher prices) there. We finally did decide to stay in a bungalow up in the cliffs at the very end of Lonely Beach. It was expensive and not too nice, so that goes to show you get what you pay for and everything near the beach costs more. When did Thailand stop to be cheap? I heard stories from friends that they used to pay 6€ a night for a beautiful beachfront bungalow. Now you won't get a nice one for 30€. When did that happen?

Koh Chang itself is full of Russians, Scandinavians and Germans. Many with Thai girls in their arms. If you wouldn't know any better you'd say this island is the capital of interracial 'couples'. Some couples look nice together some just outright disgusting. If there are more than 150kg weight or 40 years age difference, it looks just weeeeeird. But why get hung up on those details. There is a beach there to enjoy and some R&R to be had. And tonight it's Mag's birthday dinner. Grilled seafood by the beach it is. And since a birthday is nothing without a birthday cake we search all Lonely Beach and Lonely Village for a piece of cake just to discover, there isn't any. To celebrate Mag does get her birthday cake in liquid form. Pina Colada flavor it is.

R&R also means that we decided to just lay on the beach and do nothing instead of stressing ourselves from one snorkeling trip to a waterfall to an elephant ride, looks good on pictures but so does the beach. So the next morning, after we missed the breakfast buffet as we overslept we transfer over to White Sand Beach, find a tiny bungalow a few minutes from the beach right away and have a Cowboy breakfast/brunch at an Texan bar. And then it's beach time for long after the sun goes down, including massage. Aaaaaaah!

White Sand Beach is definitely more happening than Lonely Beach, more options to eat and drink and just people watch as well. And as it is when you are having fun, time flies way too fast.

The next day is another full day at the beach when we have to leave late afternoon to get back to Bangkok. The bus we planned today apparently doesn't exist – I am sure it does but whatever let's just hop on the other one. But the other one is full so instead of going straight to Bangkok we take a few buses in between to creep closer and closer to our destination and finally get there. Truth is, it is cheaper if you split up the trip (by a few Baht) but you are loosing a hell of a lot of time. It is the King's birthday today and in Bangkok there's a big parade today. We are lucky enough to see a firework while waiting at one of the bus stations. Aaaah Firework! Happy Birthday King!

Bangkok - post flood

Nov 27.... Back in Bangkok

So after being gone for two months how does Bangkok feel? How did the floods affect anything.

Well I have to say the area I live in, study in and then very obviously spent most of my time in was not flooded. There was no water here and everything is almost normal.

What are the changes I notice? Many little shops have closed. Possibly the owners house was flooded and they could not keep working. Street vendors disappeared. Our favorite Pad Thai man from around the corner is no more. Which is really sad, since there is no other food cart nearby that has Pad Thai. The supermarkets stock different items. While I heard from my friends that were in Bangkok during the floods that the supermarkets had run out of drinking water, dry foods and as time passed much other things now they are stocking up again. It is not the same items though. Seems there are still delivery or production problems. Drinking water is back on the shelves (Thank You!) but it is not of the Thai brands anymore that were here before. It is all Malaysian brands. So apparently now drinking water is being imported. Other soft drinks are different too. The one everyone likes ran out so now they just offer weird flavors of Fanta and other drinks. They also don't have any of the small coffees I occasionally need in the morning (I do get them later at 7/11 though), they are out of Diet Coke and Coke Zero as well as most other soft drinks. Different beer labels are stocked and my favorite Chang is gone from most shelves. They replaced it with Leo (bäh) or Export Chang and some other things. Food shelves changed to, at least the contents of them. But almost everything is stocked up again. But in the coming days while going through the city you occasionally encounter shops that are out of the most basic of all, drinking water. So while it appears to be back to normal Bangkok is not quite there yet, and I can only speak about the parts that were not directly affected by the floods.

 

 Other parts of Bangkok are still under water. The main campus of my university in Rangsit was over two meters under water at the floods highest and is still over one meter under water now. The campus remains closed until at least January. The university tries to rent out other rooms so at least classes for final year students can resume but many other universities are flooded as well so there is a run for rented areas that cannot be accommodated. My city campus for about 5,000 students is by no means equipped to handle the 30,000 students from the main campus so there will be no classes for them for a while. I would be interested to go see the campus and how it looks like, I cannot imagine a place totally under water. But then again I would not think it appropriate, it's pure curiosity.

Other teachers and students have been badly affected as well. Many had to leave their flooded houses and go somewhere outside Bangkok or rent another apartment or hotel room. The residence I live in, that used to be quite quiet most of the time is now absolutely fully booked, with flood victims. Since all apartments are located on higher floors there was never any harm to be expected here.

Sandbags are remnants of the days people worried most. One subterranean shopping areas main street entrance has been concreted. The university, shops, malls, sandbags are everywhere to barricade the entrances. What I heard those haven't been used but it's still weird to see them lying around everywhere. Many other shops have closed. I guess some couldn't take the loss of business or for others the owners may have been affected. The Hong Kong Restaurant we used to go to and the Bakery next door are closed, never to reopen again (though a month later this space reopened as a hairdresser and the bakery as a Mango shop). Same cases with many other stores, big and small. Mostly individual ones, the chains can take it better for sure. It's hard to say what really happened as each is an individual story to be told.

The university also looks a bit grim. Sandbags wherever you look. There is a Welcome Back party held on the first day of school and the question most asked 'Where you affected by the flood'. Many were and many were not. Some much worse than others. But here at least people could recover quite well. It's a private university so you do not run into poor people here. Everyone that has been affected was able to go away or rent another apartment. People here seem to be dealing with it quite well.

I am happy to be back and seeing all the people again. It's been a long time and most haven't seen each other in two months. That makes a huge difference if you've only known each other for two months prior. Somehow everything changed....

I have to make good on some promises to meet a few people. Never thought it would take me over two months to make good on those but here we are. Hanging out with 'old' friends, hanging out with new friends. So much to tell. Some people kept traveling onwards, like I did, while most have come back to Bangkok in between to stay a little while and evaluate the situation only to 'flee' again to islands and beaches. Others have been here all along and everyone has interesting stories to share. The experience ranged from volunteering in Bangkok (Kudos!) to writing thesis (Kudos!) just hanging around and doing nothing but mostly people traveled. Destinations were as close as the nearest beaches of Pattaya, Koh Samet, Koh Chang or Hua Hin to all the islands down South, some more remote than others. And there were the more adventurous ones that discovered everything from Malaysia to Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan even to Africa and Australia, while some also took the opportunity to go back home. Intense when you think about it what all happened on such short notice.

And now think about it:

What would you do if you were given five weeks time to do with it whatever you please? Starting tomorrow. Go!

Divine Diving or How to not train a dragon

Nov 21-26 Labuanbajo, Flores, Indonesia; Komodo National Park 

After my great diving experience in North Sumatra people kept telling me that diving in Komodo National Park would be even better. Since that is close to where the Komodo Dragons live – and who would have never dreamed about going to visit some real-life dragons – let's combine some diving and dragon spotting. Komodo is a National Park so there is no residence there – except some extremely high price lonely resorts and a few local villages the best way is to fly to Flores and Labuanbajo is the closest city to the National Park. Of course you could also go via boat from Bali, but since that would take roughly three days, I figure flying is more effective.

So getting up way too early to catch my flight just to be told at the airport that the flight time changed. Yes, that's how it is with local Indonesian airlines, Merpati in that case. The plane is never early or delayed, just the flight time changed. Interesting enough. So I hang out at the airport for hours, finish a book but eventually get to Labuanbajo safe and sound. The airport resembles more like a bus station than an airport. It's a landing strip and one building. When you get out of the plane the open the luggage compartment, take everything out and you can pick your luggage up right there. Very efficient I have to say. Outside the tiny airport building is a war zone of taxi drivers, diving operators and other vendors all waiting right outside a fence that was obviously just erected to keep them out. Very lucky indeed I don't have to deal with them, since my Guesthouse send me a pick-up. Makes avoiding the vendors much easier. Golo Hilltop Hotel, is just that located on a hilltop. The views are fantastic but the heat is scorching.

There's plenty of diving operators in Labuan Bajo serving the National Park. Divine Diving first has a great name and second comes recommended by people I run into here and Tripadvisor as well. Bad news once I get there is that they only do one day trip tomorrow and then leave on a 6 day dive safari. Damn, need to look for another dive operator but torrential rain delays that a bit. I get to talking and turns out there's a few people on the Dive Safari only going on for three days so we'll be brought back here halfway through and also stop at Komodo on the way. People are friendly so that settles it. Spontaneously I sign up for a day of diving and a three day Dive Safari. Cash only means though that I need to pick up several millions. What a nice stack of cash. If that would actually be 'real' money I'd appreciate it even more (except for the fact that I had to give it away right there and then).

Labuan Bajo itself is a town of storefronts cheap houses, looking very much like a shantytown with a few touristy shops and restaurants in between. Another great thing about staying on a boat for three days is also, that I don't have to stay in this town for so long, I may get bored for once.

Waking up really early the next morning for the diving day trip. Great people and great dive sites. Let me just describe you one scene so you can imagine the awesomeness of it all... Jump in the water, see three sharks right away, swim a bit, run into a turtle, follow the turtle until it swims out into the blue and the moment the turtle disappears, a Manta Ray comes in from the other side. I feel like in Underwater Documentary movie. Amazing is all I can say.

There are no underwater pics from me, but you can always check some out here.

Next day the three day Dive Safari starts and we were an amazing group of people. Two lovely couples, one Dutch, one German/French, one Australian, one German Divemaster in Training Matthias, me, the British Diving instructor Joe, French Divemaster, Indonesian Divemaster Juvens, boatcrew. There were also four French, but I'll just ignore them since they weren't very sociable and we were all happy they left on the second day. That's when the real fun started. The days were filled with sunkissed skies, lots of chatter, some naps and lots and lots of diving. Great food in between. We slept on the boat sundeck underneath the night sky. And it was one of the most beautiful skies I have ever seen. No light pollution here. It was so amazing I did not want to fall asleep and just keep looking up into the stars. There may be few remote places left were you can see everything so clear. Aaaaaaaaah.

The boat ride brought us by many islands in the Komodo National Park, most of which were extremely dry, some a bit greener. So it does not rain here all that much it seems. Everywhere you looked was beautiful scenery. The sunrise, the sunset. Just breathtaking. But see for yourself a few impressions.

While we were hanging out in some bays we also saw dolphins jumping out of the water, eagles hunting for their lunch, Mantas swimming by the boat, I may not be able to recall every breathtaking moment I had on this trip. It was just unbelievable.

The last day we started with two dives again and then set off to Rinca Island, one of only two places where you are allowed to go on shore to go see some Komodo Dragons. There were plenty of Dragons, but I guess the reason we saw them there is as they were hiding underneath the kitchen building in the small village there. Always some food coming out of the window there. We also ran into a small dragon on the road just casually talking a walk. Dragons are known to eat everything, horses, buffalos, humans, they eat everything except the skulls, since it is too big to digest. Interestingly enough their pee is white, from the bones they eat. So as goes in Austria where you should not eat yellow snow, don't eat white grass in Komodo. Yikes! They are unpredictable and may attack you at any point so we had to guides with wooden poles to keep them off, should anything happen. But it was early afternoon, the sun was at it's highest and it was scorching hot. Even too hot for the dragons, they were too lazy to move. We did about an hour and a half hike on the island, seeing some nice scenery but not encountering any other dragons. But enjoying the views. We did see an egg nest though. Komodo Dragons eat their babies if they are around and they are too lazy (that's my perception) to go find anything else to eat. Actually they were not as exciting at all. They make them appear much more interesting in all documentaries and photo ops.

Best dive briefings ever. See the Mantas drawn on the pic ;)

White Dragon pee

Nest

What was fun to see on the island were some other tourist groups. They all consisted of oooold people dressed up as if they were in the arctic, wearing long pants, jackets and hats, sweating like mad persons in the heat and walking up the hills. I wonder if they would send a helicopter to airlift them to the nearest hospital if they faint or have a heart attack.

They were still lightly dressed compared to the other group we saw

For us we did pose for a few pictures and got back to the boat to get to a spot were we could jump in and cool down. Aaaaaaaaaaah! Some swimming and snorkeling and for the last evening they had a special treat for us. There is a Mangrove forest from which every evening millions of bat fruit flies set out to feed on Flores. A fantastic sight to see millions of bats fly over our heads into the sunset. Wow! Made for some great pictures.

You can donate money and they will plant a Mangrove in your name

Our Captain!

Alina

 And that's how we passed the time until the Bat Flies did show up....

Ivo shows off 

We also realized that you have to do the "Dance" if you want to see something specific. So it became the ritual to do the 'Turtle Dance', the 'Manta Dance' and the 'Batflly Dance'. It worked every time.

Do the Bat Fly Dance 

More posing.....

Thousands of bats covering the sky 

Then it was farewell and back to Labuanbajo late in the evening. Four of us left the boat while Eva and Ivo our new Dutch friends stayed for another three days of diving (jealous!) but I did have a flight tomorrow morning (or did I?). So on my next Dive Safari (and yes, there will be one for sure) I can just hope to have such great people on the boat again. As the pictures show we had so much fun and the four of us would have loved to continue with the others for 3 more days of diving and fuuuuun! Even the best times have to end so I bunked up with Alina from Australia for the night, my diving buddy and fantastic fun to hang out with and we chatted through half the night.

Flights leaving from here are always accompanied by an interesting story. I did have the same flight booked as the German/French couple Markus and Julie so we asked our Indonesians friends to reconfirm. Which ended up something like that.

Flight tomorrow?

No, no flight tomorrow.

Oh, already confirmed. Ah yes, we may have flight tomorrow. 11:00 am, no, no flight at 11:00 am, only flight at 12:30pm.

So people should come to the airport for 12:30pm flight.

Yes, but maybe, not sure if flight at 12.30 or flight tomorrow. 

Back at the Hotel they had also called to reconfirm my flight (great service). There I was told my 11:00 am flight would now be leaving at 2pm. Welcome to Flores and the regional airlines. Not believing a word of it asked them to call again in the morning. And guess what, there is a flight at 11am but apparently they decided to bump me to 2pm so I should go there at 2pm. Lovely. But since I would prefer to get to back to Thailand today, I have to leave Indonesia anyway tomorrow since my Visa expires, and need to get back since, you may not believe it, but yes university starts again. So bid farewell again to my new friends and set out to the airport to make it to the 11am flight. And guess what, I can get on the flight, no problem. The airport coming in is hilarious. The ancient security scanner is broken so you can just walk in to the airport. The boarding ticket is issued handwritten, wow and that in 2011. Kinda cool. So with my handwritten ticket I walk out again for some last minute shopping outside the terminal (jewelery it is) walk through the non-existent security again and wait in the terminal building, or is it a bus stop, I can't say for sure. How is the building secured? There is a chain lock on the glass front doors and once the plane comes in the chain is removed and you walk out. It may not be fancy but it's still efficient. And the plane is much better than you would expect.

Labuanbajo bus stop.... ääääh Airport

Seems to happen often 

A bit bumpy ride but I have a very interesting seat neighbor. An American girl that has worked in Baghdad for the past three years... as an accountant. She quit and is not traveling the world. Amazing stories to share so the time just flies by. Julie and Markus were also on the flight so another farewell on Bali airport when we get there. And now it's my luck, will I get to Bangkok today or stay in Kuta, Bali for another night? As far as I know there are two daily flights from Bali to Bangkok. Air Asia, in the morning which has already left and Thai Airways in the afternoon, which I am hoping to get.

So I make my way to the International Departures and run into an obstacle. The Thai Airways Ticketing office is in the terminal building and you are only allowed to enter the terminal building once you have a ticket. Catch 22. So a 'friendly' security supervisor offers to accompany me to the Ticketing office since they can't just let me in. Seeing I just arrived on another plane at the same airport I can't be considered much as a security threat but I soon find out why the 'friendly' officer accompanies me. Next out of luck... the ticketing office is closed on Saturdays. But hey, someone is there and while they can't issue a ticket they can call someone to book it for me and I can just go downstairs and check in, but payment in cash only. So back outside again, cash, back upstairs, get my ticket. And the 'friendly' officer keeps talking about 'Help me, Help you'. Essentially he wants to be bribed. By now he annoys me and I just want him to disappear. So for the first time in my life (who would have thought) I am handing out a bribe. He is not happy about the amount but I make it clear he's not gonna get more from me (roughly 4 €) and should leave now. Which disgruntled he does. And I do finally get to check in for my flight back 'home'. Bangkok here I come.