Welcome to the Golden Land!

After Siem Reap we arrived in Bangkok, we stayed near Khao San Rd.
Khao San Rd. is the backpackers street of Bangkok. In this steet you
will find many bars, shops, massage places and tuktuks. You can even
buy you driverslicense or college degree here if you like. The first
evening in Bangkok was also the last for some of my friends. They went
home again. Because most of my friends were going home, I wanted to go
home as well. I also was really excited to go to Burma but at that
time I wanted to go home.
The next day, when I was feeling better, I visited the Grand Palace
and the reclining Buddha in Bangkok. The next morning I had to wake up
at 3AM to leave for Burma, The Golden Country, so I went to bed early.
After I found my guesthouse in Rangoon, I explored the city a little.
Inside the Sule Paya, I met an old guy, he was an english teacher at
the local school in China town. He asked me if I wanted to join his
evening class. First I thought it was a scam but later I realized that
I can handle an old man if he is going crazy on me. So I went to China
town with the public bus. The bus is driving by, some guy in the bus
is yelling something and you have to jump on the bus and he is pulling
you in. You have to do it really fast. Once in China town I ate some
soup on the market and drank some tea. Here in Rangoon, you will find
many tea shops and tea with a meal is free most of the time. Then I
went to the school and answered questions and had little conversations
with the students to practise their english. It was like in Laos, when
two boys came up to me and asked me if they can practise their english
with me.
The next day, I had to go to an other hotel to meet my travelgroup
there. That afternoon we visited the reclining Buddha and the
Shwedagon Pagode.
The next morning we left for the Golden Rock Pagode up in the
mountains. On the foot of the mountain we had to change to a large
pickup truck that was taking us to our hotel there. Because we would
spend only one night there, you onlly had to carry your small bag. Up
in the mountains it was really foggy since we were in the middle of a
cloud. The Golden Rock Pagode was a little mysterious with all the fog
around.
The next morning, we headed back for Rangoon via Bago, once the
capital in the 16th century. Since it was taking too long to wait for
a truck to get us down, we started to walk. Three tiny Burmese girls
were carrying our luggage in a big basket on their backs and necks. I
felt bad to let them carry my bag but that is their job and income. I
think the basket with all the bags was of the same weight as their
bodies. The walked all the way down with us in the rain on flipflops.
Even I had trouble walking down in the rain on shoes and with no bag.
I think I ate something wrong, because that evening I got the
travelers disease really bad. Today I still feel a bit bad.
Fortunately, today is a free day in Rangoon, and I really didn't do
anything. Tonight we will take the nightbus to Mandalay.
Here in Rangoon, the rainy season is really starting. It is cloudy and
rainy all day like in The Netherlands. Probably it is there even
warmer and sunnier than here. I hope the weather in Upper Burma will
be better.
Uploading photo's is still very hard to do