Burmese Days

With the nightbus we arrived very early in Mandalay. After taking a shower I went on the trip to Mingun by boat on the Ayeyarwady river. Mingun is a beautiful but very small town. Here you could see the remains of the Mingunpagode. At Mingun I lost my group again, it happend to me also in the Shwedagon pagode in Yangon (Rangoon). I walked alone and bought something to drink. I was invited by the touristpolice to drink and sit with them while waiting for my group. We talked and they practised their english with me. It was really nice.
After we got back to Mandalay, my roommate and I decided to do the laundry by hand in the sink. We had a little rope and hung our laundry across the room. We tied the rope between the closet and garderobe but later a little piece broke of the garderobe because our laundry was to heavy.
That evening we went to Mandalay Hill for a panorama view of the city. Legend says that Buddha once said that at the foot of this hill there would be a big city, and ofcourse he was right.
The next day I joined the trip to Innwa, Sagaing and Amarapura, the old king city's. First we went to Innwa, called Ava by the British, and was an old Burmese capital. A horse cart took us all the way around Innwa and stopped at sights as Bagaya Kyaung, a teakwood monastery, Ok Kyaung, the brick monastery and a 27m high watchtower. At Innwa, streetvendors will follow your horsecart by bicycle trying to sell you something. A girl was following me all the time, and at some point I bought something at an other market stand and she saw that, and got a little angry. Also when I looked at the stuff that the other girls were trying to sell, and she saw that, she always would yelled at me in Burmese. It was like a jalous girlfriend.
What also is really important here is keeping your promise. If you say that you will buy something later, on your way back, you have to buy something on your way back.
After Innwa we went to Saigang and Saigang hill. You will have a beautiful panoramic view over the green mountains. In the endless green fields and forests you will see hundreds of gold dots rising. Surrounding Saigang there are over 700 stupa's.
To end the day we went to Amarapura, famous because of the teakwood U Bein's Bridge. The wooden bridge is 1,2km long.
The next day we went to Pyin Oo Lwin. Pyin Oo Lwin is a colonial mountain town, used by the British to escape the heat. This town is near the Thai border and there is a lot of trafficking. So the government also protects Birmese women, espacially women till the age of 25 crossing the border. We stayed only one day in this town and saw a few waterfalls that were not very special to me and a waterfall in a cave with lots of Buddha images and decorations. It looked kind of like the Droomvlucht and Fata Morgana in the Efteling in The Netherlands.
The plan was to leave for Hsipaw by train the next morning. But then our guide received a call that the trains was delayed and than an other call that the train was cancelled. So we went by bus. This is the way things go in Burma.
Hsipaw is a small but very nice town. It is not very touristic, I liked it. One of the few things to do there is trekking. I spend seven hours of trekking in the mountains in Thailand so I could do this easily. Hsipaw is in the Shan state and we visited a few Shan villages during trekking. Shan used to stand for Siam, the former name of Thailand. Shan people now live in Burma, Thailand and Laos and all the man have a distinct tatoo on there forearm.
After Hsipaw we went back to Mandalay for one day. We arrived early so I went again to the U Bein Bridge, because last time it was very relaxing there. I was invited by Burmese people to drink some tea with them in one of the little teahouses that you see a lot in Burma. Tea is free almost everywhere.
The next day we left Mandalay for Bagan by public bus. At one time the busdriver thought he was driving a train, because we were riding on the train tracks. Then he thought he was driving a boat, and we were riding in a dried riverbank. But we made it to Bagan without major injuries!
After arival in Bagan, I did not hesitate to use the swimmingpool for a few hours and then rented a bike to explore the ancient buildings. I ended up in a cave with beautiful wallpaintings. When we arrived there, an old lady had to open the gate of the cave for us to go in. She went in with us and showed us the paintings. She could only speak a few words english, she was 95. For some pagodas, a family can pay money to hold the key of it and then they are also allowed to sell their stuff at the entrance.
We had to be back at the hotel before dark, because at night it was not only very dark with no light but there were also a lot of snakes.
The second day at Bagan we visited all the highlights by tourbus, the day after that me and my roommate rented a horsecart for the whole day. We first went to south Bagan, beautiful route and almoist forgotten by tourists. It was really hot and we stopped in a village for a drink. We met other backpackers there and together we had a little village tour with the waitress there. Here name was Nyo Nyo. She showed us how they made peanutoil, Burmese cigars and cotton. Because the climate in Bagan is much warmer with less rain, they only can grow peanuts and sesam sead. The climate is different there because the old kings cut almost all the trees to create space for the temples and stupas Bagan is famous for. Bagan is really beatiful, it is almost like a desert with many temples and stupas, one more beautiful than the other. I feld like Indiana Jones going in all the stupas, sometimes very dark you had to light your torch. Some are very beautiful with wallpaintings inside. Sometimes the paintings are gone or painted over by the governmernt. Some stupas are very old but some are brand new. Alsdo some are renoveted and they decided to build it bigger than the original. Because some parts of Bagan are not original any more it cannot go on the UNESCO World Herratige list.
Unfortunately we had to leave Bagan behind, I coul stay there a few days longer but all the better reason to go back sometime.
Before arriving in Kalaw we stopped at Mount Popa. There is a stupa on that mountain also inhibited by monkeys. From a distance, the stupa on Mount Popa looked very nice and special, but we we climbed up it was a disapointment. It was not wort climbing the stairs, covered in monkey shit and piss. You also had to climb barefeet because it is a Holy place. Monkeys are not nice. They are stealing, vicious little creatures.
It was a long drive to Kalaw and we got there in the evening. Our guide told us that Burmese people get angry (they don't get angry, they get annoyed, because getting angry is losing you self respect) when you ask a busdriver how long the drive will take, and it sure is annoying when people ask that all the time. But you know it when we get there!
Altough Kalaw is famous for trekking, I didn't do it the next day. I explored the city on my own. I asked a map with all the highlights at the hotel and started walking. Kalaw is bigger than I tought. I saw almost the whole city, dogs attacked me, Burmese people protected me, got invited to drink tea, got lost and got a free ride on the back of a motorcycle back to the hotel, went out again, got lost again. Everybody is smiling to you and greeting you when you walk alone. Walking alone... you are never alone in these countries! After I got back to the hotel, my face was stuck in a smile and all my face muscles cramped up, but i liked it!

Kalaw is city like Pyin Oo Lwin, a place in the mountains were the British escaped the heat. In that time, the British also used Nepalese poeple as workers. When the British rulers left, the Nepalese people stayed and started families here. Nowadays you will find many Nepalese people in Kalaw.

After that we stayed to nights at the Inle Lake. When we arrived, I got a traditional Birmese massage, really good, better than a Thai and Cambodian massage! At the massage place I met two Dutch girls who also were going for a massage. Since we both hadn't eaten yet, we went for dinner together. Two German guys and a Swedish girl joined us as well.
The next day, I joined an excursion per boat on Inle Lake. It was really nice and I saw a lot, went to pagodas and monesteries, went to a lotus weaving village.
The next day, I went with a few people of my group to a big market were everybody was selling their goods. Also the hilltribe people came there. We were the only tourists at the market. It was really fun.
At night we took the nightbus back to Yangon again. Here I will stay for two days, fly to Bangkok and stay there one day and then go home again. Time flies when you're having fun!