Maureen's Travel Blog

I had rather a panic when my passport went missing and involved a phone call to the British Embassy and a trip to the local police station. This was an experience in itself.  The person on the phone, who was speaking from Hong Kong incidentally, was very helpful even planned to organise a meeting when I would next be in Yangon on our way home when the office was going to be closed.   We arrived at the Police Station to find a group, only one in uniform, sitting on a circular outdoor terrace in a very laid back fashion. To cut a long story short, I gave a brief statement and then it turned up!  Suddenly all serious faces turned to smiles and relief.

Too hot to be out in the midday sun, we set off from the police station to view a plethora of stupas and monasteries dating back to the 11th century. We stopped at a local restaurant for lunch before returning to the hotel for a swim and siesta.

Kyi Soe collected us at 4.30 to go to our horse and cart. This was. Hot bumpy ride through the villages and past stupas and monasteries for about an hour. We then rejoined our driver and guide to go to go to a special place where we could watch the sun go down leaving a red glow behind a landscape of stupas and monasteries. This was rather a touristy place and involved quite a steep climb up several levels of the famous Schwesandaw Temple but worth the view.  The panorama was something just magical.

We finally returned for an excellent dinner in the gardens of the hotel right beside an ancient stupa.

The sun rose behind the mountains. a golden orange ball, fading to a hazy cream colour as it ascended behind the wetlands and bird colony. The egrets and cormorants had been shrieking since before dawn.

We took our breakfast to the terrace while others ate in the dining room. The staff cut up our dragon fruit which we had bought in a market, revealing white flesh dotted with tiny black seeds. It was, however disappointingly bland to taste.

Wyn’s cheery face greeted us at the appointed hour and today’s treat was an excursion to the mountains BY BOAT.  Now I had climbed uphill by water at home through a series of locks on the canal – Tardy comes to mind – but this was something else! We passed through a series of dams with narrow openings creating mini waterfalls about a foot high, so We had to get some speed up to negotiate these little steps. Apparently the openings were closed off at night I guess to replenish the water.

We ascended about 1000 feet to an area with over 1000 stupas – just incredible! These were many hundreds of years old and some had weathered badly over time or by vandalism and looting. However they still had a charm beyond belief with their peaceful bells gently tinkling in the breeze. Many had the roots of trees wrapped around them with their branches reaching skyward. Each stupa is beautifully decorated with exquisite stone carvings. And each contains various styles of the sacred Buddha according to the different families. people from all over Mayanmar come here on Pilgrimages and they are given lunch and rest. Inside the monastery they were chanting and reciting before the great Buddha.

We walked back down passed many craft stalls to the river and along a bit to a further monastery before returning to our boat.  We speeded our way back down through the series of dams passing Kapok trees in flower along the way and women and children washing their clothes in the river, and even some young novices cooling off on a secluded bank.        Eventually we pulled in at a small village where we were to have lunch at The Viewpoint – a slightly more expensive but very nice restaurant, Wyn told us.  We all enjoyed a delicious meal together on a balcony overlooking the village and river.

This was a farewell to Wyn meal as afterwards we had to go straight to the airport to catch our flight to Bagan.  However, Wyn just wanted to fit in one more thing – an oxen market!  En route he pointed out a tribe in the back of a truck, distinguishable by their orange stripey headgear.  Then we saw a large number of oxen being led by bear-footed young lads and Wyn told us that they had bought them in China and were leading them home. 

We were on time for our flight to Bagan which only took about half an hour and were collected by our new guide Khi Soe and his driver and taken straight to Thazin Garden Hotel for  siesta, although he did give us our bearings on the way – Old Bagan and New Bagan.

After a rather restless night – very hot under the mozzie net and the sound of fishermen under our chalet with flashlights reflecting around the ceiling, I eventually got up to a beautiful dawn over the mountains with the storks, ibis and egrets welcoming the new day.

Wyn our guide, was there to greet us after breakfast at 8 as agreed. Such a happy fellow, with a wonderful sense of humour and joi de vivre. He has a very graphic way of describing things using animal sounds and body parts to make up for his poor pronunciation of some English words.

Today we headed off at high speed in the motorised sampan in the coolish morning breeze to the floating gardens. These were made up of plants that grew naturally on the surface of the water with roots like bubbles that popped if you squeeze them. We saw many types of farming in this area, including dredging the bottom of the shallow lake for weed to fertilise crops. Fishing using a special net and spearing technique. Rice fields, gourds, etc. there were many species of birds in this region, including a beautiful kingfisher, somewhat larger than our own.

We had lunch on the balcony of a restaurant in one of the farming villages. Watching monks coming in to the monastry in boatloads. I was always worried about their brown shaven heads burning in the hot sun.

During the afternoon we were taken to see a variety of workshops where local crafts and industries were demonstrated including Lotus and silk weaving, Boat building, Silversmithing, Paper making and Cheroot making skills. We also saw members of a Tribe who have brass rings put around their necks from an early age. The rings are added to over years making their necks very long. It looked exceedingly uncomfortable. We were told that this ritual is dying our with new generations.

On the way back we called in to see the place where Burmese cats are bred and saw many of these, ranging in colour from chocolate brown to a silver grey, in an open area in an island with little houses and play rooms created specifically for cats.

We returned earlier to our accommodation on the lake so that we could spend a bit of time watching the birds in the wetland conservation area nearby.
The Internet was poor here, not surprisingly being on a lake surrounded by mountains.

After a good breakfast this morning we were picked up for our hour’s drive to the airport to catch our flight to Heho. A good flight with coffee croissant and cake as we descended over dry red farmed land in this mountainous region. We were met at the airport by our new guide, Wyn, and taken along a rough winding road through villages and paddy fields.

We stopped at our first monastery where monks were sitting cross-legged inside and going about their daily tasks.

We finally stopped for lunch in a small town that has become a centre for backpackers. We found ourselves sitting down to an interesting selection of local food, including chopped fish face! All good.

In the afternoon we were taken around a local market where we bought Green Tea and I bought a huge lump of charcoal for drawing! Eventually we found ourselves in a long boat speeding along the river to the lake passing local ishermen and people steering their boats by wrapping their leg around an oar creating a rudder… intriguing! We arrived in a village of houses built of bamboo above the lake on bamboo stilts. Here we were transferred, along with our luggage, to a wooden canoe, steered by the afore-mentioned leg, through narrow waterways through a village living such a simple way of life in bamboo houses built on stilts on the lake. They seemed to want for nothing as the lake provided them with all their needs for food. Such cheerful happy people, waving as we called out mingalaba (hello, maybe a mis spelling).

Eventually we returned to the motorised boat to be taken to our ‘hotel’ further down the lake. This was a luxury stilted affair which reminded me of Tree Tops in Kenya. We arrived through lotus flowers with flocks of Ibis, storks and Egrets which were nesting in their thousands in the trees behind. We checked in and were taken to our individual stilted cottage, where we relaxed on the balcony with a glass of duty free on ice and watched the red sun go down behind the mountains, with the last of the fishers in their pointed boats silhouetted against the pink evening sky. We lingered a while watching the last flocks of Ibis and swallows fly across our thatched roof to roost in the trees beyond, before we changed for dinner.

What a fabulous day!!

Another 6 hours in the air and we finally arrived in Yangon to be met by Nye, our guide, and his driver. He showed us some of the sights of the city.  As we passed by the residence of Aung San Suu Kie, Nye started to talk about the difference she had made in the country and we told him we had watched the film The Lady before coming.

Eventually we pulled in for some samosas and green tea in a bustling outdoor restaurant. He then showed us several pagodas and temples, including The Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda in downtown Yangon which is known for its 65 meters long and 16 meters high Reclining Buddha image.  We then visited the lake with the golden floating restaurant and park around it, then the ‘friendly river’ where local Burmese are taken across the river in sampans with motors.

Finally we were taken on a walking tour of the city centre where we saw street vendors selling unusual foods and almost anything else . We passed grand colonial buildings in art deco style and some very dilapidated ones that had clearly experienced a former splendour.

By 10 the sun was very hot and we decided to return to our hotel, The Winner, for a much longed for shower and siesta.

In the evening we were collected by our guide to visit the beautiful golden Temple which was amazingly lit up as the sun went down in Yangon. We were lucky enough to experience the procession of a  Shwedagon Paya Rangoon novice monk with his family.  Very colourful and exciting. I took the opportunity of pouring water over my Buddha for Sunday, my birthday, symbolised by the Garuda or eagle…. a Buddhist ritual.

Nye knew that Patricia wanted to see precious gems.  There were no mines near Yangon but Nye took us to a factory and shop where they make jewellery and also supply precious stones like jade and rubies.  These are mined in the north of the country.  We spent some considerable time here, first watching how the jewellery was made and then choosing some tiny precious stones to buy.

We asked our guide and driver to drop us off at the nearest restaurant to our hotel in the evening, where we enjoyed some delicious local crispy prawns in coriander and lime, chicken with cashews, and fried rice with vegetables all washed down with Mayanmar beer! So good, then we walked about half a mile back to our hotel.

Up at 3.30 this morning to be picked up by taxi… A bit of fog leaving Charlbury but clear by the time we got on the motorway.  Patricia was already drinking her first coffee from flask and spilling it on freshly laundered outfit as the taxi jolted through the potholes.  Yay, we’re on our way, so exciting! fairly uneventful journey to Heathrow Terminal 4, check in then demolish the big English breakfast at 6am!! Just about to board, so more later if we can get wifi… we haven’t fallen out yet!

Some 6 hours and several time zones later…. sitting at Doha airport Gate 13 waiting for flight to Yangon.  Excellent and very comfortable flight with Qatar this far.  Lots of food and drinks and plenty of leg room.  The only minus was a slight delay firstly because an unruly passenger had to be turfed off.  Then they had some technical issues concerning the emergency door next to us but everything was resolved.  Pic of Doha airport which is spacious and modern. 25 deg outside and it’s 7 pm.

A map of Burma, or Myanmar as it is now more commonly known, gives an idea of our route around the country.  We will fly to Yangon, then north to Inle Lake, then on the road to Mandalay staying in the Bagan region.  Finally down to the coast to stay at Ngapali Beach…. more details soon

My next trip coming up very soon in March will be to Burma.  This adventure was hatched over a bottle of Rioja with fellow artist and silversmith, Patricia.  We are joining local travel company Panoramic Journeys for this one as we shall need guides and drivers.

First things first…. vaccinations and visas all sorted!  New pair of walking sandals a must and really only very lightweight clothing as I believe the temperatures are well into the 30s!