12 days in Myanmar!
12 days in Myanmar!
Total transports: 7 planes, 2 bus, 2 boats, taxis and bike
Mingalabar is a word from Myanmar that can be translated as "hello" or ¨WElcome¨, but expresses much more than that. It is a word that transmits good vibrations!
Part 1: Yangon
After 19 hours of airplanes, the arrival at the north of Myanmar!. Yangon: Like most Asian or South American capitals or big cities, they are characterized by noise, bustle, madness, cars, smoke, nightlife, strong smells. I'm not going to say that it's not good seeing them because it's part of getting to know the culture of the majority of people from these countries, who have to move to the big cities to find work. But it's true that I don't recommend staying more than two days. Even in the midst of this madness, we find our haven of peace in beautiful Buddhist temples: Swhedagon pagode, and in our two favorite bars: The 7th Joint Bar with live reggae concerts and another bar near the hotel where our aperitif was always: a Tiger beer, edamame, and humus with fried rice.
My favorite sensation has been: walking barefoot always in the streets or temples
After 19 hours of airplanes, the arrival at the north of Myanmar!. Yangon: Like most Asian or South American capitals or big cities, they are characterized by noise, bustle, madness, cars, smoke, nightlife, strong smells. I'm not going to say that it's not good seeing them because it's part of getting to know the culture of the majority of people from these countries, who have to move to the big cities to find work. But it's true that I don't recommend staying more than two days. Even in the midst of this madness, we find our haven of peace in beautiful Buddhist temples: Swhedagon pagode, and in our two favorite bars: The 7th Joint Bar with live reggae concerts and another bar near the hotel where our aperitif was always: a Tiger beer, edamame, and humus with fried rice.
My favorite sensation has been: walking barefoot always in the streets or temples
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Part 2: Mandalay
Part 2: Mandalay
Plane to the south. I have to say that here, go to the airport and take the local plane is more fun than Europe! You are warned 10 minutes before the boarding gate, and most of the time the ticket consists of a colored sticker according to your destination. Let's fly! Asphyxiating heat, and humidity in the air, sensation that I adore. We are never searching hotels but considering the price in this city, we decided to take a hotel with pool in the rooftop, an idyllic place, away from cars to organize during the night our next 3 days with a beer, a concert of "pattalar" (xilophone of wood typical of myanmar) and a plate of lephet (typical plate, made of fermented tea leaves and many spices). Another thing learned today, is the passion for karaoke of these inhabitants! From 5-6 o'clock in the morning (when life starts and you decide to leave the hotel almost everyday), trucks with microphones (portable karaokes) pass by and the music invades the streets!
I recommend Victory Point Hotel: a good way to disconnect from the noise of the city in its rooftop over which you can see the whole city, from a jacuzzi, or from the table with delicious dinners and traditional concerts at hundreds of meters high
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Part 3: Bagan
Take the plane and 2 + 1/2 days in Bagan, also spelled Pagan, is home to the largest and densest concentration of Buddhist temples, pagodas, stupas and ruins in the world, many dating from the 11th and 12th centuries (more than 10000). The shape and construction of each building is highly significant in Buddhism with each component taking on spiritual meaning. Here I have learned from the Buddhists themselves the real history of their origin, the meaning of the position of each hand in all the Buddhist representations, the meaning of the architecture of the temples. Two days and an average of 40 km cycling from temple to temple! Almost no tourists, 33°C, PEACE and a pleasant nightlife among palm bars, shishas and bamboo tables. And as always, a beautiful sleeping bungalow with the best breakfast of the trip! (it seems that the sculpted fruit tastes better!). I never buy a lot of souvenirs, but this country makes me fall in love with its beauty. So from this site we return with two representations of the history of Buddha drawn on canvas by the Buddhists of a small temple very little visited.
I recommend New park Hotel: Good quality bike rental very cheap, colourful breakfast on a beautiful palmtrees terrace, and small little houses where you can sleep with your own terrace and an atmosphere full of colourful lights at night.
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Part 4: Kalaw
Take the plane again fot our trecking! 8h treck between Birmania mountains and ethnie immersion experience. "Mingalava" the only word necessary to feel part of a village here. From 7am we enjoy with our nice local guide (with which we have learned a thousand things between gestures, very little English, and the desire to learn! In the end he became not a guide, but a friend who introduced us to all his adorable family) the green forest, top of mountains, knowledge about all the plants in the way, good traditional food offered by families and the sun on the head!
During the treck, a nice moment with this Burmese family in a very tiny farm-mud house where they have welcomed us as friends with rice, tea and sugar and fruits from their farm between the children playing and the chickens runing. For me this way of life (only 20 square meters far from everything) is not a example of poorness but an example of richness, full of generosity and love. And because of that, I never return for my travels as the same persone, but always better and richer with several smiles in my bag.
And, as the beer collectorthat I am, this night I have taste news beer: Myanmar beer, Mandalay Beer, Tiger Beer, Lion Beer and ABC Beer, We have tasted the five official Burmese beers and they are very good! Cheers!...
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Part 5: Inle Lake
By local car and the boat! Inle Lake is a shallow lake in the Southern Shan state. It is a is 22km long lake, located in a valley between two mountain ranges; it is inhabited by many different tribes who live around the lake and on the lake itself. The villages in the lake are wooden stilted houses of the Intha fishermen. These fishermen row their boats with a characteristic rowing style!: using their legs by wrapping one leg around the paddle (the new stand up paddle style?). The main town is Nyaung Shwe, which is connected to the lake by means of a long, busy canal.
Around this lake we have stopped with our own boat at a multitude of floating houses, each one dedicated to a different hand-made factory: The lotus flower clothes factory (incredible patience to obtain each thread!), the manual work of the silver, the wood, the confection of boats, all a life organized on the water. As a souvenir I bought a small articulated silver fish as a necklace, which moves in a wavy way symbolizing for them to "always go forward" and a beer opens made of wood in front of me.
And as the last moment, one of the most beautiful sunsets of my life sitting on the porch of our floating house.
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Part 6: Ngapali & Pearl Island
During these last days, I have had one of the most beautiful sensations of traveling: feeling at home. Because your home is wherever you are in peace. To know the streets, to go to the market every morning by bike, to read your book under your chosen tree with your daily fresh coconut, snorckeling from the sunrise to the sunset in warm water, Ngapali, you were my home for four days..
Last 20km cycling by night (cycling or almost mountain biking!) to the Buddhist Ngapali temple! Last dinner in Ngapali beach before returning to Yangon and begin our three days of flights and trains to France. I will miss to have the feet on the sea while dinning because the tide is rising....
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When you enter in a Buddhist temple, is a sign of respect to think a desire and knock on the bell three times. You will receive the luck of Budha. Personally, I'm not Buddhist but I think that if everyone in this world would offer few minutes per day to think in positive things or desires the world would be less sick 🕉
Giraffe women, a sad reality. The "false" legends say that the women of this tribe want to look like a dragon, an important figure in their culture and that protects them from the dangers of mountains and diseases. But, the number of rings on the neck is a symbol of wealth. The longer the neck the greater the attraction to the men of the ethnic group. Neck rings increase by one per year from 5 to 12 years of age. The first group of rings weighs almost 1 kg, when they are adults and have a complete necklace, weighs a total of 10kg!
Many mothers force their daughters to "follow the painful tradition", to assure them an economic future, becoming a "tourist attraction" for the thousands of visitors who come to the village of Karen Padaung and all the other villages of "Giraffe Women" in Northern Thailand. Unfortunately, tourism is their only source of income....
TIME TO EAT!
Lephet: pickled tea leaves. Acid leaves are eaten alone, typically as a dessert, but they are also served as lephet thoke, mixed with shredded cabbage, sliced tomatoes, fried and crunchy beans and peanuts, a splash of garlic oil and a few slices of chili and garlic..!
And fried rice everywhere! Sweet rice for the breakfast and salty and spicy for the rest of the day =)
TRANSPORTS! every country has its own different or funny transport, try them all! in Brazil it was the yellow mototaxis, in Argentina the fruit trucks, and here they are small trucks that take you wherever you want while they deliver orders to stores :D! Don't be afraid if you have chickens with you
