Burmese for "paradise". Not really, but it should be! After a 4.5 hour drive along perilously curving mountain roads, we made it to the beach. Our hotel was "nice" as Rose put it...or spectacularly beautiful as I would say. On each side of reception were little room houses and straight behind was the pool which led to the beach. I know that my whole family has dreams of returning to Turks and Caicos, but you may want to reform those dreams. Ngwe Saung is definitely where Jimmy Buffett sings about! (besides the Mexican cutie on his tattoo...those are in Mexico)
The sand was that perfect white fine grain. The water was a perfect temperature and clear enough to see our toes at 5 feet deep (and not even very salty). The whole place seemed virtually empty too! We probably saw 3 couples and 2 families the whole time we were there. The staff was attentive, the sun wasn't too hot, and the seashells with cool patterns weren't broken (tough to find...).
So yeah basically it was amazing.
At almost every meal, we had fresh lobsters. Let me tell you the process of how we went about getting these lobsters. First, you stop your car on the side of the road and have a discussion with the owner of the stand you stopped by. Then you go into the back to their dark wooden shed. Finally, a flashlight is turned on and you are staring at the spiney things of ginormous live lobsters! Sounds a little sketchy, but totally worth it :) At night we sat on the beach in almost complete darkness. I have never seen so many stars in my life! If only we actually knew anything about constellations...
Our second day there we had a little adventure to the cliff at the end of the beach. At night the tide washes up over rocks in this area and during the day as the water recedes until only little pools of water are left, trapping the sea life. We saw small green crabs and tiny fish. Oh and so many hermit crabs! Some of them were as big as the tip of my finger! So cute!! I could probably have snuck them through customs, but I doubt they would be alive when I got home.
Anyways, it was terrific. A weekend trip there once a month shouldn't be too much to ask right?
Look for pictures, coming soon!
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
Journey to the Golden Rock
Following our week long Myanmar tour we had a couple days of
relaxing in Yangon before we went on our next little venture. This time it was
to Golden Rock. On the top of Mt. Kyaiktiyo a small pagoda was built on top of
a rock (covered in gold leaves – not leaves from trees but little leaflets of
gold, that sort of look like gum wrappers…this is important, I swear) that sits
precariously on a cliff (looks as if it is about to start tumbling down the mountain) and is a popular site for Buddhist pilgrimages. So we
left early one morning and began our own pilgrimage of sorts. Since we had to
wake up early, we were all planning to sleep in the car. However, a cd with a
grand total of 3 Burmese pop songs played a repeat for the first 2 HOURS. When
we finally told Rose that were getting a little tired of the “Da-nay-nay” song
her driver changed to a classical cd. Perfect for sleeping. WAIT – we didn’t
want the driver falling asleep too…as sick as we were of “Da-nay-nay” it was
better than death. Needless to say, we made it to the base of the mountain a
bit tired.
Once we were there we were informed that we were taking a
different vehicle up the rest of the mountain. I saw a couple of tour busses
and figured we’d be hopping into one of those soon enough. NOPE. We went to
this garage full of pick up trucks. I saw one completely stuffed with 50 people
(no joke) in the back end and figured we would wait for the next one. NOPE. The
back of the pick up truck had 8 or 9 little benches and somehow squished in (I
really don’t understand how this happened..). As I went to sit down my knees
were in the next row… these were definitely Burmese size benches. So 50 of my
newest friends and I started up the mountain in the pick up truck. We drove for
about 30 minutes, switch -backs the whole way. While I was definitely concerned
about the truck tipping or rolling backwards, I still managed to enjoy the
beautiful greenery that covered the hillsides.
As we climbed out of the truck I realized we still had a
significant chunk of the mountain
to ascend…it quickly dawned on me that we would make the rest of the journey by
foot. The next hour consisted of an incredibly steep hike with our luggage on
our backs. The experienced locals zig-zagged up the mountain to slightly reduce
the gradient. It was very exhausting. Halfway through this hike Megan turned to
me and said, “Just think about how amazing the view will be – I think this will
be worth it.” I replied, “Yeah I think I’m going to go in with lower
expectations… that way they can be exceeded.” We were anxious to see the rock
thing. When we got to the top we stopped at our hotel to check in before going
to see the pagoda… just building the suspense.
When we FINALLY took
the short walk to reach the view we had all been waiting for, we stopped in our
tracks, our jaws dropped and we COULD NOT BELIEVE what we saw… the WHOLE THING
WAS COVERED!!!!! WHAT?!?!?! You have to be KIDDING ME?!?! Ohhhmaigawsh. So
after a little investigation we realized that for 2 weeks every 3 years they
covered it up with thatch to reapply the gold leafs! And yes, we managed to go
right in the middle of those 2 weeks. Bravo, us. Hahah. Did we really just go
through all of that to see the covered rock?! Glad we decided to lower our
expectations… To be fair the views of the mountains themselves were beautiful
:) It was a little ridiculous, but fortunately we were able to roll our eyes
and then find the humor in the whole situation. They had a smaller version of
the golden rock nearby so we went there and took zoomed-in photos…close enough
right?!
The following morning we
hiked ALL the way down … and 3 hours later we had very sore bodies that were
ready to sleep all the way home. Not even “Da-nay-nay” could keep us awake. Our
trip to Golden rock was a very clear reminder that traveling is about the
journey, not the destination.
Photos
Day 3: strawberry farm in Pyin Oo Lwin
Day 3: strawberry farm in Pyin Oo Lwin, feeding the calves
Day 3: Garden at Pyin Oo Lwin
Day 4: U Bein bridge in Mandalay with friends
Day 4: U Bein Bridge in Mandalay at sunset
Day 5: Taunggyi countryside
Day 5: Taunggyi countryside...so many colors for so many different crops
Day 5: children waving as we drive by in Taunggyi
Day 6: taste testing at Burma's first vineyard in Aythaya
Day 6: one of many houses on stilts at Inle Lake
Day 6: sunset at Inle Lake
Day 7: they paddle with their legs at Inle Lake
Days 3 through 7
Since we are such slackers, I will give you guys the gist of the rest of our week long tour around the country. And Marie will fill in with comments and pictures (because a picture is worth 1,000,000 words right?) So here goes...get excited!!
Day 3:
We left early in the morning from our exquisite mountain resort for the airport. After the shortest flight ever (25 minutes tops) we landed at the Mandalay airport and met Kyaw, our tour guide for the area. We drove all the way to Pyin Oo Lwin up in the mountains and got to see the beautiful countryside where they grow EVERYTHING. Seriously, it would be so easy for Burma to be self-sufficient because there is practically every natural resource here. Our tour guide was very proud of the country and knew so much about it's history. In this area we went to a large cave filled with Buddha statues/scenes called Peik Chin Myuang, a small waterfall and a couple monasteries. At the cave, Marie's butt got slapped by an older woman who giggled and motioned that her shirt should not be tucked into her traditional longyi. Apparently that look is just hilarious! Our last stop before dinner was the Kandawgyi garden which had beds of all kinds of flowers, an orchid garden and a (dead) 'butterfly' museum. (I put quotes around "butterfly" because that seemed to be the theme. Unnecessary quotes around everything!)
Lunch here was super fun. We ate at a strawberry farm, got to do our own strawberry picking and feed baby cows with giant bottles!! They were so strong they kept pulling the tops off. And the waiter we had donned a cowboy hat and ran everywhere. "Can I have a napkin?" "Yes one second" Psshhhooo (that's the sound of him running) Our hotel here was so amazing! We had a little house all to ourselves, definitely big enough to live in if we threw in a kitchenette, with our own pool in the backyard!!!! No one else had their own pool hehe...It was also pretty cool because it was on the grounds of the govenor's house. We visited there as well and were greeted by creepy wax statues posted near the door. hmmm. The thing we were least prepared for was the cold. Oh man! That nighttime mountain air was quite a change from the heat of Yangon.
Day 4:
Today we left for Mandalay and toured around the last royal city Myanmar, the conquest of which signaled the beginning of colonial rule. We did a lightning round of pagodas (including a complex of 100s of mini pagodas that house all of the marble slabs with the rules of Buddhism written on them) and then went to the palace where a surprise awaited us. Rose's friend who we had seen at the opening had driven all the way to Mandalay to meet us! He was on the phone with Rose and BAM he and his friend are behind us! Since he had gone to medical school in the area, he joined us/helped show us around for the day. We saw a workshop where men hammer for 5-7 hours to pound gold into thin leaves to cover Buddha statues with, a whole street dedicated to making marble Buddha statues, and a workshop where 2 women might spend 2 months making one intricately patterned cloth for longyi (the traditional skirt). Everything was super labor intensive but the final products were incredible!
The sunset here was probably my favorite. We walked across U Bein Bridge (translation: Mr. Slim) which was quite an experience. The bridge is about 5 people wide and has wood slats maybe 3 inches apart, so it required some careful walking. A military guy followed us around taking pictures until Marie suggested he take one of all of us with his camera (duh we can see you!). "Bird boats" (I don't know the Burmese translation) were available for hire about halfway across, and rowers took us out in the river to watch the sunset behind the bridge. Very picturesque. One of the guys rowing was super funny and was serenading his passengers like a Venetian gondolier.
We got American food for dinner, then bought a bottle of wine and went to this nice little outdoor cafe on the lake. We tried sitting at a short table but got mosquito attacked so a normal table had to do. And then, at his insistence at learning a game, I taught Sai and his friend Eric how to play Thumper! (Aunt Kelly would be so proud...) It was a struggle but we finally made it through a long round and only got a few stares from our waiters :)
Day 5:
After a good-bye to Kyaw and another super short plane ride we ended up at Heho airport to meet our last guide, Auntie Augustina. She is from a different ethnic group (Kayin) and is actually Baptist, not Buddhist. She also spoke English really well since she used to be a school teacher, and was very grandmotherly. Our first stop was Pindaya, where legend has it an enormous spider captured 7 beautiful princesses while they were bathing and stuck them in a cave. A prince came and killed the spider, his reward being marriage to the most beautiful youngest daughter. Lucky him...she probably wasn't very bright if she got captured by a spider :) Now the cave is filled with 8888 (yes 4 eights) statues of Buddha. I felt like I was being watched... We also saw a paper making workshop and a 100 year old Banyan tree (the kind that Buddha used to teach under). If I was younger, those would be so perfect for climbing!
The roads in this part of the country were super terrible and along the way to our hotel, we saw two guys on a motorcycle wipe out. The driver wasn't moving at first and it was so scary!! It was even worse because everyone who came to help were moving him and didn't seem to know that was probably unwise. It was frustrating to have all this first aid knowledge and have a huge language barrier be in the way (even Rose said their accent was too different to be able to understand). He was OK though thank God and we kept on to the hotel. It was in the mountains (and therefore also very chilly) with a lodge atmosphere. We coerced one of the young hotel staff to drive us around the grounds in the golf cart, and I think he had as much fun as we did whipping around the turns and going down narrow paths. He certainly didn't seem sad to have 4 giggling girls on his hands haha. Dinner got a wee bit cold so when we asked for blankets while eating outside, they brought us bath towels! Well at this point we are used to looking ridiculous...
Day 6:
Hold in there, only 2 days left! After a short visit to Taunggyi and the local market, we went to 50% of the vineyards in Myanmar (mostly because there are only two) for a morning wine tasting! We met the owner, a German, and his adorable 10 year old nephew Max ("but my real name is Maximillion"). Noms, they were all really good and of course we took one to go :) On to Inle Lake. This was like a whole different world. On this huge lake, everyone's houses are over water and so transportation is by boat instead of by car. The fishermen have adopted this method of rowing with their leg so that at least one hand can be free for dealing with nets. On the lake we saw a workshop for making cloth out of lotus stems, a Burmese cat sanctuary, a blacksmith, a chiroot cigarette making workshop and a boat making workshop. Once again, all the work was repetitive and labor intensive, but the outcomes are amazing! You can't be on the lake after dark, so we headed to the hotel pretty early, passing miles of floating plantations (tons of tomato plants and other crops just floating away in the middle of the lake).
Ok so we had stayed at nice places the whole trip but this one...wow. Inle Princess Resort wins I think. We had our own little gated courtyard leading to our "room", which was HUGE with it's own fireplace and a bathtub shaped like a little boat! It was definitely the honeymoon suite since there were flower petals everywhere...which was a good excuse for Marie and Rose to wear their bathrobes to watch the sunset at the arrival jetty. We greeted all the arriving travelers (a biking tour) and got more than a few odd stares in return, with a couple polite greetings in return. Dinner was delicious and we had our own very attentive waiter who we made fast friends with. By the time we were all done eating, he might as well have sat down with us since we were all chatting so much! Oh we also met a man who went to Hopkins when it was still a men's college and who now lives right near Sasha. Small world!
Day 7:
Sadly, the last day of our trip, but it was nice that we didn't have to pack up and leave the hotel for once! We visited a couple markets and spent the rest of our kyat. I even bargained with someone!! At one booth I was going to get something then changed my mind. The salesman thought I was just playing hard to get and chased me almost 100 meters to give me my asking price. Ha! Take that! (even though it wasn't my intention to make him run...) Auntie taught us that tourists should ask for a third of the asking price. At one of the markets we saw two amazing men who were born without the lower half of three and two limbs, respectively. The first one was painting pottery with his only set of toes and the second was drawing Buddhist sketches with his residual limbs. Both were way better artists than I will ever be!
We did a mini hike along some of the backwoods and saw some of the local people's living areas and a bunch of naked little kids running around in the water. No shame! :) The rest of the day was spent seeing a couple other sights such as the floating monastery and the "hot springs" (hot water piped down from the top of a mountain to a hotel...fail.) After we just headed back to the hotel to enjoy it while we could. We had the same waiter for dinner, who gave us a Burmese version of guacamole as an appetizer (sooo good!) and was once again very attentive. We even got him to grab his guitar and play for us! He knew Tequila Sunrise by the Eagles, but I couldn't get the lyrics to load before he had to go back to work so we just enjoyed some Burmese tunes. So fun!
We had to get up pretty early the next day to catch a flight back home, so bedtime was early, but it was such a great trip. Good job Rose! Be looking for pictures by Marie :)
Day 3:
We left early in the morning from our exquisite mountain resort for the airport. After the shortest flight ever (25 minutes tops) we landed at the Mandalay airport and met Kyaw, our tour guide for the area. We drove all the way to Pyin Oo Lwin up in the mountains and got to see the beautiful countryside where they grow EVERYTHING. Seriously, it would be so easy for Burma to be self-sufficient because there is practically every natural resource here. Our tour guide was very proud of the country and knew so much about it's history. In this area we went to a large cave filled with Buddha statues/scenes called Peik Chin Myuang, a small waterfall and a couple monasteries. At the cave, Marie's butt got slapped by an older woman who giggled and motioned that her shirt should not be tucked into her traditional longyi. Apparently that look is just hilarious! Our last stop before dinner was the Kandawgyi garden which had beds of all kinds of flowers, an orchid garden and a (dead) 'butterfly' museum. (I put quotes around "butterfly" because that seemed to be the theme. Unnecessary quotes around everything!)
Lunch here was super fun. We ate at a strawberry farm, got to do our own strawberry picking and feed baby cows with giant bottles!! They were so strong they kept pulling the tops off. And the waiter we had donned a cowboy hat and ran everywhere. "Can I have a napkin?" "Yes one second" Psshhhooo (that's the sound of him running) Our hotel here was so amazing! We had a little house all to ourselves, definitely big enough to live in if we threw in a kitchenette, with our own pool in the backyard!!!! No one else had their own pool hehe...It was also pretty cool because it was on the grounds of the govenor's house. We visited there as well and were greeted by creepy wax statues posted near the door. hmmm. The thing we were least prepared for was the cold. Oh man! That nighttime mountain air was quite a change from the heat of Yangon.
Day 4:
Today we left for Mandalay and toured around the last royal city Myanmar, the conquest of which signaled the beginning of colonial rule. We did a lightning round of pagodas (including a complex of 100s of mini pagodas that house all of the marble slabs with the rules of Buddhism written on them) and then went to the palace where a surprise awaited us. Rose's friend who we had seen at the opening had driven all the way to Mandalay to meet us! He was on the phone with Rose and BAM he and his friend are behind us! Since he had gone to medical school in the area, he joined us/helped show us around for the day. We saw a workshop where men hammer for 5-7 hours to pound gold into thin leaves to cover Buddha statues with, a whole street dedicated to making marble Buddha statues, and a workshop where 2 women might spend 2 months making one intricately patterned cloth for longyi (the traditional skirt). Everything was super labor intensive but the final products were incredible!
The sunset here was probably my favorite. We walked across U Bein Bridge (translation: Mr. Slim) which was quite an experience. The bridge is about 5 people wide and has wood slats maybe 3 inches apart, so it required some careful walking. A military guy followed us around taking pictures until Marie suggested he take one of all of us with his camera (duh we can see you!). "Bird boats" (I don't know the Burmese translation) were available for hire about halfway across, and rowers took us out in the river to watch the sunset behind the bridge. Very picturesque. One of the guys rowing was super funny and was serenading his passengers like a Venetian gondolier.
We got American food for dinner, then bought a bottle of wine and went to this nice little outdoor cafe on the lake. We tried sitting at a short table but got mosquito attacked so a normal table had to do. And then, at his insistence at learning a game, I taught Sai and his friend Eric how to play Thumper! (Aunt Kelly would be so proud...) It was a struggle but we finally made it through a long round and only got a few stares from our waiters :)
Day 5:
After a good-bye to Kyaw and another super short plane ride we ended up at Heho airport to meet our last guide, Auntie Augustina. She is from a different ethnic group (Kayin) and is actually Baptist, not Buddhist. She also spoke English really well since she used to be a school teacher, and was very grandmotherly. Our first stop was Pindaya, where legend has it an enormous spider captured 7 beautiful princesses while they were bathing and stuck them in a cave. A prince came and killed the spider, his reward being marriage to the most beautiful youngest daughter. Lucky him...she probably wasn't very bright if she got captured by a spider :) Now the cave is filled with 8888 (yes 4 eights) statues of Buddha. I felt like I was being watched... We also saw a paper making workshop and a 100 year old Banyan tree (the kind that Buddha used to teach under). If I was younger, those would be so perfect for climbing!
The roads in this part of the country were super terrible and along the way to our hotel, we saw two guys on a motorcycle wipe out. The driver wasn't moving at first and it was so scary!! It was even worse because everyone who came to help were moving him and didn't seem to know that was probably unwise. It was frustrating to have all this first aid knowledge and have a huge language barrier be in the way (even Rose said their accent was too different to be able to understand). He was OK though thank God and we kept on to the hotel. It was in the mountains (and therefore also very chilly) with a lodge atmosphere. We coerced one of the young hotel staff to drive us around the grounds in the golf cart, and I think he had as much fun as we did whipping around the turns and going down narrow paths. He certainly didn't seem sad to have 4 giggling girls on his hands haha. Dinner got a wee bit cold so when we asked for blankets while eating outside, they brought us bath towels! Well at this point we are used to looking ridiculous...
Day 6:
Hold in there, only 2 days left! After a short visit to Taunggyi and the local market, we went to 50% of the vineyards in Myanmar (mostly because there are only two) for a morning wine tasting! We met the owner, a German, and his adorable 10 year old nephew Max ("but my real name is Maximillion"). Noms, they were all really good and of course we took one to go :) On to Inle Lake. This was like a whole different world. On this huge lake, everyone's houses are over water and so transportation is by boat instead of by car. The fishermen have adopted this method of rowing with their leg so that at least one hand can be free for dealing with nets. On the lake we saw a workshop for making cloth out of lotus stems, a Burmese cat sanctuary, a blacksmith, a chiroot cigarette making workshop and a boat making workshop. Once again, all the work was repetitive and labor intensive, but the outcomes are amazing! You can't be on the lake after dark, so we headed to the hotel pretty early, passing miles of floating plantations (tons of tomato plants and other crops just floating away in the middle of the lake).
Ok so we had stayed at nice places the whole trip but this one...wow. Inle Princess Resort wins I think. We had our own little gated courtyard leading to our "room", which was HUGE with it's own fireplace and a bathtub shaped like a little boat! It was definitely the honeymoon suite since there were flower petals everywhere...which was a good excuse for Marie and Rose to wear their bathrobes to watch the sunset at the arrival jetty. We greeted all the arriving travelers (a biking tour) and got more than a few odd stares in return, with a couple polite greetings in return. Dinner was delicious and we had our own very attentive waiter who we made fast friends with. By the time we were all done eating, he might as well have sat down with us since we were all chatting so much! Oh we also met a man who went to Hopkins when it was still a men's college and who now lives right near Sasha. Small world!
Day 7:
Sadly, the last day of our trip, but it was nice that we didn't have to pack up and leave the hotel for once! We visited a couple markets and spent the rest of our kyat. I even bargained with someone!! At one booth I was going to get something then changed my mind. The salesman thought I was just playing hard to get and chased me almost 100 meters to give me my asking price. Ha! Take that! (even though it wasn't my intention to make him run...) Auntie taught us that tourists should ask for a third of the asking price. At one of the markets we saw two amazing men who were born without the lower half of three and two limbs, respectively. The first one was painting pottery with his only set of toes and the second was drawing Buddhist sketches with his residual limbs. Both were way better artists than I will ever be!
We did a mini hike along some of the backwoods and saw some of the local people's living areas and a bunch of naked little kids running around in the water. No shame! :) The rest of the day was spent seeing a couple other sights such as the floating monastery and the "hot springs" (hot water piped down from the top of a mountain to a hotel...fail.) After we just headed back to the hotel to enjoy it while we could. We had the same waiter for dinner, who gave us a Burmese version of guacamole as an appetizer (sooo good!) and was once again very attentive. We even got him to grab his guitar and play for us! He knew Tequila Sunrise by the Eagles, but I couldn't get the lyrics to load before he had to go back to work so we just enjoyed some Burmese tunes. So fun!
We had to get up pretty early the next day to catch a flight back home, so bedtime was early, but it was such a great trip. Good job Rose! Be looking for pictures by Marie :)
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Day 2: Mt. Popa
Trip time...
Day 1: Bagan (see megan's post for details)
Day 2: Mt. Popa
On the second day of the trip, we headed to Mount Popa. We woke up early and drove to the base of the mountain -- 777 steps later later we made it to the top of the mountain. Err okay maybe there were a few other "events" before we got to the top. Let's just say I was not best friends with the monkeys right away. MONKEYS?! Yes. Mt. Popa, also known as monkey mountain is covered in monkeys! They are everywhere... and they want your food and water...and any sense of peace you may have! As we were walking towards the first steps our guide quickly stepped in front of me and snatched the water bottle I was holding... I didn't even see the monkey slinking towards us. But no harm there... in fact I felt more prepared for the rest of the hike...hide the water bottles and we'll be good. So we were off. I was enjoying the little mammals when I decided it was time to capture their "cuteness" on camera...there were 2 on a ledge that was level with my head, it was a good view and I was ready to snap a winning shot, when one of them jumped away. darn. but wait, it was going to be perfect, the other one was turning it's head right toward me...as we made eye contact (through the camera...yes, it still happened, we locked eyes, and it gave me the death stare) he/she jumped in surprise (it literally kind of jumped back)... made an angry monkey growl and THEN starting LUNGING TOWARD MY HEAD!! I saw my life flash before my eyes and I totally freaked out! I made the ugliest sounding shriek and sprinted up the steps...megan and rose were ahead of me, and as I was running to catch up with them, I could hear them shout my name back at me in a panic....MArie? Is everything okay?!?.... as I rounded the corner and saw them, and everyone else staring at me in horror, I just burst out laughing. It was a hysterical, nervous laugh of relief and embarrassment. Of course, Sasha was left behind me and was a bit stirred up from my (over? never) reaction. Luckily, she was able to slowly creep past the angered monkey. For the rest of the way up the mountain, we were all a bit skittish when we saw monkeys sneaking towards us. Thankfully, our fearless guide was there to protect us. Though there was one thing he was unable to protect us from: strategically placed piles of monkey crap. Yes, I stepped in the biggest poop on the whole mountain. We had hand wipes...I can report to the world that they were almost as effective on feet. Oh how I loved Monkey mountain.. But the top was great! no monkeys there, ha! AND after checking out the sweet views, there was a huge Burmese family that requested to take pictures with us...apparently they cared more about my walnut hair with golden glints than any stench I may have been carrying. I'll take it. Anyways, they were funny...especially this older lady who kept posing with us and giving us big hugs. The people here really are just so friendly. So those are the dirty details about our trek up the mount. Our hotel was again fantastic, located on a nearby mountainside ... in fact, we could see Mt Popa from the poolside. While Megan and Sasha spent their afternoon at the spa, Rose and I went horseback riding...where Rose rode a horse named Rose. (it really was.) Only she could pull that off :) Day 2 was an overall success.
Sunset @ Bagan
Resort @ Bagan
Monkeys on the way up
Top of Mt. Popa
New friends on top of the mountain
Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous
So for the past week and a half we have seen how the other half lives (another way to put it is that life was so good my grandparents would say, "I wonder what the poor people are doing today?"). As Marie mentioned, we got to dine with celebrities, even meeting a couple, and travel/stay at the best places in the country!
Our week long journey around the country started last Monday in the domestic terminal of the Yangon Airport. I swear the whole time we were gone we had to carry our bags 2 feet. Rose must have a special nod so that they knew when to come get our stuff! We dropped off our suitcases and got our stickless-stickers identifying which domestic airline we were on and went through the very relaxed security to take a flight to Bagan (at one airport I don't even think the metal detector was on! HA!)
When we got to Bagan, it was a pretty tiny airport and you give the baggage guys your tags while a mob of people descends on them. We were definitely the youngest people we saw on the whole trip. Besides a couple of late 20s/early 30s everyone was over 50 haha. And we got stares, both because of that and because of our gringo appearances. Lots and lots of stares!
Anyways we met our guide, Myo, in Bagan and in just one day we saw NINE pagodas! Bagan is famous for its pagodas. Every time a king/general/important person had enough money they would build another pagoda. There are thousands and thousands, all dating back to the 11th-13th centuries when Bagan was the capital. Myo taught us all about what the different hand positions of all the Buddhas mean and all about the stories behind each of the pagodas and monasteries we saw. In 1975, there was a huge earthquake that ruined all of them in some way, so since them families can buy the pagodas and restore them. There are so many, though, it will take years for that to happen. Many of them have detailed frescoes that cracked during the earthquake and the old government tried to paint over with white. Now people want to restore the frescoes and workers have to chip away at LOTS of paint.
That day we went to our favorite restaurant, Green Elephant, where the luxury began. Right on the river, we could see all the tomato and corn fields that are flooded in the rainy season. We had a very private table and pillows on the seats and it was just gorgeous and peaceful. Apparently when it floods the area we were sitting in even gets covered! Sadly we had to go, there was just so much to see! (Rose made sure to tell her travel agent that we had to do EVERYTHING). We got to go to a local market (they have it for 10 days once or twice a year I think) which was kind of like a mall-market where the locals could get everything they might need: clothes, pots and pans, watches...oh and posters of course, of the people we met at the opening!
We saw muchas pagodas that afternoon and just when we were about stupa-ed out (synonym for pagoda) we got to climb atop one and watch the sunset. The effect was amazing! Pagodas stretched to the horizon in every direction with the setting sun creating shadows and emphasizing the natural brick of all the buildings. We got there early and each level of the temple filled up with people. I got to chat with a woman from Alberta and her husband who pick one or two big trips to go on every year and travel all over the world together. I love that idea!! Yep so that was definitely one of many highlights of the day.
Oh and our hotel! This is getting long, but I must mention it. We were right on the river there again, and it was so luxurious! We had two separate rooms and each one had a little porch with super comfy lounge chairs (definitely could have slept outside). There was a huge clear pool and a restaurant looking over the water. We got juice and hand towels when we arrived, and of course our bags were taken care of. They even had their own ruins on the grounds!! The weather was perfect and in the morning Marie and I got to run through town! We only saw one other woman running, but a local guy tried to run in his longyi and was really confused what we were doing and where we were going haha. I guess running for fun doesn't really make sense in most places in the world...
Anyways there are pictures on Marie's facebook to see and we will figure out how to attach some later.
Miss you all! Ta-ta (Burmese for bye)
Megan
Our week long journey around the country started last Monday in the domestic terminal of the Yangon Airport. I swear the whole time we were gone we had to carry our bags 2 feet. Rose must have a special nod so that they knew when to come get our stuff! We dropped off our suitcases and got our stickless-stickers identifying which domestic airline we were on and went through the very relaxed security to take a flight to Bagan (at one airport I don't even think the metal detector was on! HA!)
When we got to Bagan, it was a pretty tiny airport and you give the baggage guys your tags while a mob of people descends on them. We were definitely the youngest people we saw on the whole trip. Besides a couple of late 20s/early 30s everyone was over 50 haha. And we got stares, both because of that and because of our gringo appearances. Lots and lots of stares!
Anyways we met our guide, Myo, in Bagan and in just one day we saw NINE pagodas! Bagan is famous for its pagodas. Every time a king/general/important person had enough money they would build another pagoda. There are thousands and thousands, all dating back to the 11th-13th centuries when Bagan was the capital. Myo taught us all about what the different hand positions of all the Buddhas mean and all about the stories behind each of the pagodas and monasteries we saw. In 1975, there was a huge earthquake that ruined all of them in some way, so since them families can buy the pagodas and restore them. There are so many, though, it will take years for that to happen. Many of them have detailed frescoes that cracked during the earthquake and the old government tried to paint over with white. Now people want to restore the frescoes and workers have to chip away at LOTS of paint.
That day we went to our favorite restaurant, Green Elephant, where the luxury began. Right on the river, we could see all the tomato and corn fields that are flooded in the rainy season. We had a very private table and pillows on the seats and it was just gorgeous and peaceful. Apparently when it floods the area we were sitting in even gets covered! Sadly we had to go, there was just so much to see! (Rose made sure to tell her travel agent that we had to do EVERYTHING). We got to go to a local market (they have it for 10 days once or twice a year I think) which was kind of like a mall-market where the locals could get everything they might need: clothes, pots and pans, watches...oh and posters of course, of the people we met at the opening!
We saw muchas pagodas that afternoon and just when we were about stupa-ed out (synonym for pagoda) we got to climb atop one and watch the sunset. The effect was amazing! Pagodas stretched to the horizon in every direction with the setting sun creating shadows and emphasizing the natural brick of all the buildings. We got there early and each level of the temple filled up with people. I got to chat with a woman from Alberta and her husband who pick one or two big trips to go on every year and travel all over the world together. I love that idea!! Yep so that was definitely one of many highlights of the day.
Oh and our hotel! This is getting long, but I must mention it. We were right on the river there again, and it was so luxurious! We had two separate rooms and each one had a little porch with super comfy lounge chairs (definitely could have slept outside). There was a huge clear pool and a restaurant looking over the water. We got juice and hand towels when we arrived, and of course our bags were taken care of. They even had their own ruins on the grounds!! The weather was perfect and in the morning Marie and I got to run through town! We only saw one other woman running, but a local guy tried to run in his longyi and was really confused what we were doing and where we were going haha. I guess running for fun doesn't really make sense in most places in the world...
Anyways there are pictures on Marie's facebook to see and we will figure out how to attach some later.
Miss you all! Ta-ta (Burmese for bye)
Megan
Monday, January 28, 2013
Store opening
Sorry about that lapse… we were gone on a week long Burma
extravaganza…though it seemed more like a few weeks. I don’t think I’ve ever
done so much traveling in 7 days! But before I get to the trip, I must briefly
tell you about the opening of Diamond City -- It’s quite funny to think that I expected a nice ribbon
cutting ceremony to be the extent of the opening. Turns out, it was a HUGE
event…huge as in red carpet huge! There was ACTUALLY a red carpet. No joke. We
had appearances from Burma Oscar winners and famous actors and models! We got the real VIP treatment…up front viewing for everything…
so close in fact that I was eating lunch at the same table as all these
celebrities…and making eye contact with and exchanging smiles with the one and
only Aung Ye Lin ;) see www.myanmarcelebrity.com
to understand just how advanced my photo-bombing skills are. Back to write
about the trip soon.
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