Gal at Nam Song River

Time to travel up to Vang Vieng. The lady whom i bought the ticket from a travel agency told me that a tuktuk will pick me up from my guesthouse at 9am for the 10am bus to Vang Vieng. I was all ready to go at 9am but when the tuk tuk didn’t show up by 0930pm I started to ask around. A shopowner outside the guesthouse told me not to worried, the tuk tuk would come sooner or later. True enough the tuktuk turned up at 9:52am!  I guess this is Laos way of ensuring you turned up on time. :p

Vang Vieng was a slow 4hrs bus journey away and it was almost 3pm when the bus rolled into Vang Vieng. I decided that I would stay at this guesthouse Maylyn that was situated across the Nam Song river. It supposed to have a beautiful garden and full of butterflies. Not a bad place to do some photography i thought. Apparently many people thought similarly too and so there was no room for me! However that was a blessing in disguise as I followed the sign and found another better one – Molina guesthouse. It was a pretty new guesthouse so it was not reviewed on any guidebook or website yet. It costed me US$4(US$5 if you got one with hot shower) for a big bungalow style Lao style wooden hut on silts. (they called such huts as bungalows) . I liked it alot. It was just next to the riverbank with the rice fields and hills behind it. Both sunrise and sunset views were unobstructed. I spent much time on the hammock drinking BeerLao and watching sunset.

Free Ad for Molina GuestHouse : Pls contact Mr Phet at 856 020 2005234 if you need to make a reservation. Mr Phet speak French, English, Vietnamese, Thai and of course Laos.

The other side of the river were where all the rest of the guesthouses, restaurants, travel agency, adventure trips company were. There is a private bridge where you would have to pay a toll to use it or you can use another free  bamboo bridge at the other end. The more adventurous ones simply waded across the river as water level was at most just below knee level at this period of time.

Christmas Eve has a lot of meaning to many. Usually it had little significance to me. I am usually more concern with do I get a half day off that day. 2006 is different because Molina guesthouse’s owner, Mr Phet had kindly organised a campfire cum BBQ dinner for all the folks staying at his guesthouse that night. So a couple of  Finns, a couple of Swiss, 2 Japanese guys , one Dutch guy and his Chinese girlfriend from Zhejiang, one Singaporean (me) and Mr Phet and his family enjoyed a Lao meal of BBQ fish, beer, lao lao (lao whisky) and talked the night away sitting by the warm the warm fire. We were far from the maddening crowd and I thought it was really a meaningful Xmas Eve. One that I remember for a long time.

Related posts:

1. Laos – Bangkok to Vientiane
2. Cambodia Day 3 – Phnom Penh
3. Cambodia- Kompong Cham

Planning the trip to me is part of the fun and that usually involved reading the Lonely Planet guidebooks, surfing websites (http://www.travelfish.org) and reading other people travel blogs. I decided the most economical way is to fly in to Bangkok by a budget airlines (Tiger Airways) and then get in Laos by rail (http://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm). Getting out will be decided when I get there.

So on 22 Dec, I arrived at Bangkok new Suvarnahumbi airport in the late morning. Based on research there was a Airport Express bus service AE4 that would take me to the Bangkok’s Hua Lumpong railway station. When I reached the booth they told me that that service was not running that day!! They advised me to take AE1 instead and drop near Sala subway station and take the subway to reach Hua Lumpong. Actually this was my first time in Bangkok (discounting those few hours i spent during transit for my previous trips), so I pretty enjoyed the bus and subway journey.

I arrived Hua Lumpong just after noon and managed  to get a train ticket(688 baht for a second class upper deck) to get into Nong Khai. This was for a night train at 840pm so i have like 8 hrs to burn. So I spent this period of time wandering around the train station  visiting some temples and the riverside.

After a night of rather bumpy sleeping on the train, I finally reached Nong Khai at about 9am the next morning and quickly found my way first to the Thai immigrations checkpoint of the Friendship Bridge and then a bus to the Laos immigrations point.  I thought few Singaporeans would visit Laos, I ran into the first one at the Thai immigrations. Joyce, a young pretty lady working in “the medical field” was going into Vientiane over the weekend for a small project. She sort of specialized in reproduction health and that included VD/STD related clinical work. Kind of interesting for a lady to work this field in developing countries. We crossed the Friendship Bridge together and at the Laos side I saw a group of 4 Singaporeans. I did not really talk to them other than to confirm that Singaporeans need not have visas as Joyce had her photographs and US$35 ready to apply for visa on arrival.

We parted ways after immigration and I found a tuktuk to take me into central Vientiane. Welcome to Vientiane! Bring your mask if you are sensitive to dust!

The town seems be quite full of tourists and the few guesthouses mentioned in the Lonely Planet guidebook that I tried were all full. There are many guesthouses in this central areas but with a big backpack on my back I usually do not want to spend too much time looking for a guest house. In most cases you really spend little time in your room other than for sleeping. Usually my main criteria is that it should have a window. Finally I found one tucked away in a corner for US$7 a night. It was not a great place but I am easy to please.

After a quick wash up I took a walk around the area and tried to see if there is any flight from Luang Prabang to Bangkok that I could take on the trip back. Really out of luck as all seats were booked. I have no choice but decided to exit Laos via Vientiane at the end of my trip. That meant I have to backtrack all the way to Vientiane from wherever I was. So then I quickly bought a ticket to  go Vang Vieng the next day and then a bus ticket from Vientiane to bangkok leaving on the 31 Dec. I felt much better once my exit path were settled. I had 9 days in Laos to play!

Once transport issues were settled, I started my sightseeing tour. Of course I would not miss going to Pha That Luang, the national monument. I found a tuk tuk driver who charged me US$4 for a return trip with 1 hour waiting time at the  Pha That Luang. The light was getting good when I reached there at 4pm. Then it was back to Mekong River side which is like 5 mins walk from my guest house to watch a fantastic sunset but unfortunately I cannot show you the photos as a good number of them were lost when my HD crashed!

After dinner, I decided to walk to Putaxi, the Victory Arch of Laos. The main street was quiet with little human traffic at 7pm. A few security guards in their security booths in some commerical building lifted their head up to glance at me when I walked past. One of them even talked to me and wished me luck for my trip.Thanks!

Putaxi is an interesting structure. It looked best from far. A sign described this as
“At the northeastern end of LaneXang Ave. arises a huge structure resembling the Arc de Triomphe. It is the Putaxi or Victory Gate of Vientiane, built in 1962 (B.E. 2505), but never complete due to the country’s turbulent history. From a closer distance, it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete. Nowadays this place is used as leisure ground for the people of Vientiane and the seventh floor on top of the building serves as excellent view point over the city.”

Just behind it was a park with musical fountains. A lot of Laos youth and families were there to enjoy the night. Okie enough for the day, I walked back to my guest house to retire for the night.

Related posts:

1. Laos Vang Vieng
2. Photo Blog : Holy men looking at Worldly life
3. Cambodia Day 3 – Phnom Penh

Since it was supposed to be a free and easy trip, I didn’t set off until 9 plus and only reach the Changi Ferry Terminal at 10:40am.  My idea of going on a Friday to avoid the weekend crowd had its drawbacks. There wasn’t enough people to fill the bumboat!  The boatman only goes when there are 15 passengers. That meant a long wait until there are 13 of us. Just as I thought i need  to wait til 1pm, one uncle suggested that we paid a little more so that we need not wait for another 2 paxs which may never come. All of us agreed and off we went.

The one hour bumboat ride was uneventful although i can see big progress of the reclaimation works by Singapore :p . After clearing immigrations, i tooka cab to the  Sungei Rengit. At the end of the cab ride, i concluded that ALL taxi drivers are good talkers irregardless of nationality. In the 20 minutes of ride, i heard about this taxi uncle experiences in fighting Japanese (he was in the Anti Jap Volunteer Corps), his views on the China woman doing the squats video and his admiration for LKY. A the end of the cab ride, he recommended me a hotel or rather guesthouse run by his brother. I took a room that with aircon and non-functioning water heater.

Have you ever heard the advice that you should knock the door of a hotel room before you opened it?  I didn’t knock and the key doesn’t fit into the door of Room No 9…Spooky isn’t it ?

No lar.. it is supposed to be Room 6 :p i read the key tag wrongly:p

After a enjoyable lunch of Ba kut teh, i went off the bike rental shop to rent a bike for 5 hrs . The weather wasn’t great for photography but it was overcast so it was good for cycling. basically there is only one route alone the coastline. You may cycle into some small trails but as long as it is near the coast you will find yourself back to the main route.

You will see alot of kampong houses, coconuts and lallang (or did they call it cat ears grass). Not too soon , i reached Ostrich ShowFarm. RM8 for a ticket. Okie it was a quiet day andIi have a uncle as a guide talking to me alone. Many interesting facts was told eg , the egg can withstand 100kg. I get to stand on 2 eggs.

Cycling further down, i saw a nice little Chinese temple, ????. While the temple was nice, what caught my eyes were the wayang stage. Yet in here, they were building a brand new one Either wayang is thriving there or the devotees of the temple are contributing a lot back to the temple.

The head of the construction team talked to me. He also been to Singapore to study some of the old tile paintings found on those old shophouses. While he was a professional builder, he regretted that he lacked formal art training and have gone in loops for many years just to be able do what he was doing today.  I sure hope to see a wayang troupe perfom on this stage one day.

I cycled on to the Sala Resort before heading my way back. You can actually branch into the different kampongs along the main road to explore more. Almost 5pm so i cycled back again. urgh..need some skills to balance when you have a camera and tripod with you.

The sunset was beautiful. You can take some photos there or simply sit there and watch the sun goes down.

Related posts:

1. Cambodia trip
2. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 3
3. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 1

Day 4 see me leaving Phnom Penh for Kompong Cham.

Why Kompong Cham? I just decided to go there after reading my Lonely Planet guide while on the bus from Siem Reap to Phomn Pehn. I read that there is a new bridge and also a bamboo bridge there. I love bridges…so I decided to go there to take a look even though the bamboo bridge may not be there due to the high water level at Mekong River.

There are hourly buses leaving for Kompang Cham so do not get too worry about getting the tickets. The journey has only one rest stop and again the road was well paved and I hit Kompong Cham at late afternoon.  Kompong Cham is the 3rd largest province in Cambodia but the town itself is small. There is only a handful of guesthouses and hotels. I picked the largest looking hotel Mekong River hotel and got a room for US$5. Come with TV!  This budget look grand from the exterior but the room are average but at US$5 I really cant ask for much. The corridor between the rooms are so wide that you can kick street soccer there. Wonder who designed this hotel!

What can one do in Kompong Cham? i would say…one goes there to experience the real Cambodia..there were probably less than 10 tourists there when I was there. The foreigners I saw were non locals working there probably for NGOs. They were usually either at one of the 2 touristy restaurants owned by 2 Caucasians one of them is Mekong Crossing owned by Joe and the other one if a few doors away.  I had quite a few curry rice meals and bottles of AngKor beers at these 2 places. Very good and cheap food but can be more spicy!

It also also from Joe that I confirmed that the bamboo bridge that I read about that connect Kompong Cham to a small island was dismantled for the high water level season

I walked along the nicely path Mekong River in the early afternoon but found it too hot and retreated back into my hotel room for a dose of TV and nap. I emerged in the late afternoon to the river bank again. This time, the locals were also enjoying themselves. They were simply walking, playing volleyball or having some fun at the mini funfair. Seem like I was the only non local walking there! But no worries, the locals were friendly and did not mind me hanging around taking their pictures.

The next day see me renting a bicycle (US$1.50) for the whole day from the hotel. Dun expect a mountain bike, it is just a normal one speed bicycle. However the weather was not so great, it was drizzling on and off. I still managed to cycle all the way to the Muslim village and then off to some villages. Try to stick to the main road as the village dirt tracks break off in many directions and it would be too easy to make a wrong turn. My GPS helped me in this case as long as the batteries dun died out on me. Along the way, I stopped to watch how the locals fish using giant net. It was amazing how to locals live n exist with the river

Okie staying Kompong Cham for day 4 and 5, I headed back to Siem Reap on Day 6. But not before stepping into the muddy river bank to shoot a dragonboat team in action.

I spent the later part of day 6 and the whole day of day 7 idling in Siem Reap. Walking, reading my book, drinking beer and eating Khmer dishes….so I shall not bored you on writing on day 6 to 8

Related posts:

1. Cambodia Day 3 – Phnom Penh
2. Cambodia trip
3. Cambodia Day 2 @Siem Reap

Day 3 see me waking up early again as the Mekong Bus Express pick up will pick me up from Red Lodge Guesthouse at 630am despite buying a 730am bus ticket. This is because the pickup may need to pick up other guests from other guesthouses. I was all ready by 625am when the pickup bus turned up. But oops! the guesthouse staff were no where to be seen so I cannot pay  for the 2 nights of room and the bus ticket.  Luckily a elderly European couple was around and offered to pass the US$22 to the staff. 

So off i went up the pickup bus and then I realised the guesthouse did not give me the bus ticket. Fortunately the bus company staff was kind enough to verify the booking of my ticket and allowed me to carry on my journey.

The highway to  Phnom Penh was well paved and the bus journey was smooth. Mekong Bus Express only made 2 rest stops, once at Kompong Thom and the other one at a small rest stop and we reached  Phnom Penh around 1pm. arrgh as usual, i was mobbed by motorcycle drivers wanting to ride me to guesthouses. Ignoring them, I just grabbed my backpack and walked away. Ah not so easy, a few one them actually followed me as I walked away. Finally I decided to engage one. The first mission is to find a suitable guesthouse. Again consulting LOnely Planet guidebook, I checked out a few guesthouses at the lakeside (Boeung Kak Lake)where the cheaper guesthouses are. Finally I got a room for US$4 at Lazyfish guesthouse.

Once again, I engaged the driver to ride me around in Phnom Penh. My first impression was Phnom Penh is a relatively crowded city and I was not too interested in staying too long. I decided to just go to the killing fields site at Choeung Ek,the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Russian market.

I walked away from Choeung Ek and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum with a heavy heart. almost thirty years after the killing had took place, to step into the Tuol Sleng school grounds that act as the Tuol Sleng prison give me the eerie feelings especially with all the black and white photos of the prisoners staring at you. With many not given proper burials, are they souls still wandering around?

How cause men to do evil things to their fellow countrymen???

Anyway In between the 2 sites, I visited the Russian market which was more interesting (meaning i bought more stuff like adidas shirts for US$5 :p)  than the markets in Siem Reap.

The driver also rode me to the local bus station to buy a bus ticket to Kompang Cham for US$2.5 for the next day. The guest house wanted to charge me $5! what a rip off !

Finally the ride ended with a ride along the busy Mekong River side where you can see a lot of people crowding there to spend an weekend evening. On the motorbike, I saw the sun was setting beautifully with strong orange sky and I was happy that I was able to capture a few shots of it in the Lazy Fish guesthouse!

Okie 1/2 day in Phomn Penh was enough! time to move to Kompong Cham!

Related posts:

1. Sunset at Phnom Penh
2. Cambodia- Kompong Cham
3. Cambodia Day 2 @Siem Reap

Related posts:

1. Cambodia trip
2. Cambodia Day 3 – Phnom Penh
3. Cambodia- Kompong Cham

The flight took less than 2 hrs and I landed at the Siam Reap International Airport which is an impressive building. This is an also indication that Siam Reap might be more touristy than I thought.

Since I was alone, I chose to get a $1 (all prices are stated in US$) motorcycle ride to the city. You need to get this through the counter at the exit. I was assigned one young 24yr old chap riding his Honda scooter. To be able to get jobs in the airport, he had to be a member of some transport association. One good thing is that such drivers can speak English so that communication is not a problem. The other thing to note is that such drivers would want to continue to drive(or should i said ride) you around during your stay in Siem Reap so if you do not want to engage his services, make it clear to him so that he can go look for other jobs. They would also want to recommend you to stay in guesthouses that pay them a commission for each guest they send to. Again just tell him you already had a guesthouse in mind or you have made a room reservation.

In this case, I told him I want to go to Red Lodge which is mentioned in the Lonely Planet guidebook. This guesthouse is tucked away in one little corner making it quiet and peaceful. On the other hand you need to walk through a short unlited path at night if you are going back to your guesthouse late. I managed  to get myself one non aircon room for $6 a night. Kind of lucky as usually guesthouses mentioned in LP guides are filled up pretty fast.

I struck a deal to engage the same driver for US$10 for a temple tour. I did not bargain too hard but I guess you may be able to strike 1 or 2 dollars off since there is no lack of moto rdrivers or tuktuk drivers.  In fact, most guesthouses will be able to find you one if you need.

After a quick washup, I started my Angkor temples tour. I paid for a US$40 (another indication of touristy) 3 days pass that will allow you access to the Angkor temples.  The 1st temple that i visited is Ta Phohm aka the Tomb Raider temple. You probably seen photos of it where the giant tree roots are interwined with the temple structures. It was a wrong time for me to visit us the tour groups are flooding the sites leaving me little opportunity for a “people less “scene. In the end I took close up shots and walked around the temples. Due to the trees providing the shade, it was not too hot so I spent almost 3 hrs here. I walked around and around, waiting for my turn to take photos at certain spots.

Lunch at one of the many restaurants outside the temple entrances. Kids selling bracelets, postcards, books will hound you to buy something from them although they were kind enough to leave you alone when the food and drink arrived.

After lunch, I visited a few more temples (can’t remember what are their names) before hitting the AngKor Wat temple. AngKor Wat is a magnificant temple, seated facing west (direction of death). It is tough to imagine the amount of resources required to build this temple! Restoration works are still going on in this temple so some of the domes are covered up in big green canvas. AngKor Wat is a magnificant temple, seated facing west (direction of death). It is tough to imagine the amount of resources required to build this temple!  I stayed long enough for the sun to fall slightly before making my way to Phnom Bakheng which is a temple set on top of a hill. It took about 15-25 mins to reach the top. However the day was cloudy and the sunset was disappointing.

I ended the day by having a dinner at a Chinese restaurant and a short walk to the Pub Street where all the pubs, bars and restaurants are located (something like our Boat Quay). As I had a long day and has to wake up early the next day to catch sunrise at Angkor Wat, I headed back to my guesthouse for an early night.

Related posts:

1. Cambodia Day 2 @Siem Reap
2. Cambodia Day 3 – Phnom Penh
3. Cambodia- Kompong Cham

MandalayHil

From Kalaw I would move on to Mandalay, where I have the most interesting encounter with a trishaw driver, Mr Win Tin. Mr Win Tin offered to drive me around Mandalay. I told him I would get him to give me a ride down to U Bein Bridge in the afternoon if he was still around when I came back after a walk around the town. I walked away thinking that he would not be waiting at the same spot after a span of a few hours since he could ferry other tourists around. Guess what! Mr Win Tin was still there when I walked back in the afternoon. He had no customer from morning to almost 3 pm in the afternoon. Life certainly is not easy in Myanmar! Anyway I struck adeal with him to bring me to U Bein Bridge to watch the sunset for 3,000 Kyats.

Along the way, I found out that Mr Win Tin was in his forties and rented a trishaw everyday. He could speak English well and was knowledgeable. He appreciated independent travellers as they would contribute directly to the locals’ earnings as compared to tourists who signed up with the government tour agencies.  The best sunset that I saw during the trip was at U Bein Bridge and I really thanked Mr Win Tin for bringing me there.

Final Destination
My final leg in Myanmar was to Bagan where I stayed in Nyaung U. I rented a one-speed China made, Hero brand bicycle from the hotel for 500 Kyats. One would immediately start to feel the spirit of Old Bagan .
There are simply too many great pagodas in Bagan. A few magnificent ones are Thanibyinnyu Pahto, Gawdawpalin Pahto and Ananda Paht. It was a pity that the staircases leading up to the second and third levels terraces of these pagodas were barricaded. After two hours of walking and cycling I felt tired and took a rest at a local restaurant. I spent some time sitting and chatting with the restaurant owners. One of their family friends (named Zaw Zaw) was an artist and started to join in the chat. With evening approaching, I left the restaurant to find a good spot to capture the sunset.

With my map I navigated to some unknown pagoda where I did get my shots. Then came the challenging part- cycling in the dark. It was different cycling in the dark. You could feel some insects bumping into your face while you were cycling on the dirt track. The main road was better but there were no lamp posts to light the path. I was cycling slowly and at times vehicles behind shone the path for me with their head lights.

Temple at Old Bagan

The next day I decided to venture further by going to New Bagan which was several kilometres away from Old Bagan. In 1990, the residents in Old Bagan were given one week notice to move from Old Bagan to New Bagan. New Bagan was just plots of peanut fields then. New Bagan was quieter, though there were some guesthouses there. I did more pagoda visiting and in a twist of fate, I saw Zaw Zaw, the artist I met the day before at the restaurant. He was selling his art pieces there and warmly invited me for a cup of tea afterwards.

Something interesting happened that night. There was a stage show going on which was similar to our lunar seventh month Ge-tai show. They have drama, songs and dance. The only difference was that the show can last from 9 pm to 6 am in the morning. In between they just blasted music from the loudspeakers. Obviously I did not sleep a wink that night as I could hear the music from my room loud and clear. Lesson learnt-Bring ear plugs!

When it was time to leave Myanmar, I realised that the beauty of this country is in the people and its beautiful scenery. Never mind the political situation, I would recommend you to visit Myanmar and experience it yourself.

Related posts:

1. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 1
2. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 2
3. Remembering the people of Myanmar

Inle Lake Rower

Inle Lake

 

 

 I was glad I visited the Golden Rock temple and happily I set off for my ride back to Bago (K2500) the next morning. This was the start of a backbreaking 16 hours bus journey to Inle Lake via Bago. I paid and another 500 Kyats to upgrade my seat to sit next to the bus captain. Was it worth the ‘upgrade’? Well my 1.78cm body frame could use whatever extra space I could pay for. Again, this was not a tourist bus but a local bus. Ninety percent of the passengers were local. At times, you might have goats as company too.

Did I mention that the driver like to sound the horns ery often? Finally after about 18 hours of bus journey (multiple unscheduled tea/pee breaks, dinner break in between), I reached Shwenyaung at 4 am. With four
other fellow independent travellers, we shared a minivan to take the five of us to Nyaung Shwe.

I spent the next day exploring Inle Lake on a motorized canoe. Here is the place where you will see the famous leg rowers. It is a distinctive rowing style which involves standing at the stern on one leg and wrapping the other leg around the oar. The calm waters of Inle Lake coupled with the blue sky and green vegetation, made it a beautiful sight just to sit down and admire. We visited pagodas, an umbrella making factory, a silverware factory,weaving factory and other industries that the villages depended on for a livelihood. Of course, no visit was complete without going to the Jumping Cat Monastery where the monks trained cats to jump through
loops. Not really useful skills to have but the monks and the cats were quite entertaining.

Pick Me Ups at Kalaw
The staff at the guesthouse arranged for a taxi driver to bring me to Shwenyaung where I would then take a pickup to Kalaw. I was enjoying talking to this young taxi driver who was taking a correspondence degree course when I noticed that both the odometer and speedometer of his taxi were not working. I decided later to let him focus on his driving instead. When we reached Shwenyaung, he quickly found me a Mektila-bound pickup that would pass by Kalaw.

Monk at Kalaw

Kalaw is 1,320 metres high and reminded me of the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. Even the British colonial houses looked similar. The weather was cooling as I walked into Myoma Kyuang, which is a monastery. A 10 year old monk led me into the halls where he was staying. These kids were fun to be with. They were curious about the digital SLR camera that I had and would crowd around me looking at the photographs I took of them. No package tours could give you experiences like this. If you interested to rough it out, you could sign
up for a day trek or simply relax in Kalaw. When I was there, there was a fun fair where many “gambling”
stalls were doing business. It was basically a dice game played by releasing three giant dices onto a board and
one could bet on the sum of the three dices. The stalls were well-patronised including monks! Guess gambling is enjoyed by all people.

Related posts:

1. Myanmar Monk
2. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 1
3. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 3

The hotel website said the Shwedagon Paya in Yangon is within walking distance. Well the truth was- it would be a very long walk! I took a taxi instead. Shwedagon Paya is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda for the Burmese with relics of the past four Buddhas enshrined within. It is best visited at night when the marble grounds are cooled. The local crowds came to perform offerings and prayers or simply to sit and gaze at the Buddhas. The main stupa was lighted throughout the night by tungsten lights giving it a warm golden glow. 

Of  Wheels and Thrills
After the visit, I tried to catch a bus back to the inner city of Yangon. A visiting monk from Mandalay helped me by asking a Yangon local which bus to take. All the bus service numbers were written in Burmese text which added to the difficulty of navigating around. Most buses do not have many seats in order to allow more standing room and it could get pretty squeezy. I took a taxi to the area where pickup trucks going to Bago were based. The pickup truck was fitted with benches on both sides and it would depart once the seats were filled up. The back seats might start off comfortable, but along the way when seats ran out, you had to stand and hold on to the railings. I paid a bit more to sit next to the driver.

From Bago, I did a quick transfer to a bus that would bring me to reach Kin Pun, which is the base village to Kyaiktyo. To go to the famous Golden Rock Temple from Kin Pun, you need to take a 45-minute truck ride. The experience was worth it! It was a like a roller coaster ride as the truck went up and down the slopes and going around tight corners. The truck had about 6 wooden benches laid across it. Each bench would sit, very uncomfortably six people. You will be packed shoulder to shoulder and not much room to move about. If you have long legs, more bad news for you! The distance between each bench was short. My legs can only go under the bench in front. So my thighs were pressed up against the bottom of the bench in front of me! At the end of the truck ride, you would still need to walk up the slopes for about 45 minutes. Porters and sedan chairs carriers were around to help if your legs and knees could not take the walk. Of course I
braved up to the challenge and walked along with the locals. The temple was crowded maybe because it was a Sunday. Most of the visitors were locals making an overnight trip to the Golden Rock temple. I reached
the temple at about 4 pm and decided to wait forsunset. The sunset was great with golden glow radiating
through the clouds.

Sunset at Kyaiktiyo where the famous Golden Rock Temple is.

I could not stay too long as I needed to descend to catch the truck back. It was a long wait before the fully loaded truck moved off. Later I found out that due to the lack of lights and the steep slopes, they have to wait for the five trucks that were coming up the slopes to reach first before we could travel down. With no street lamps along the way down, another rollercoaster ride, this time under the starry sky. Due to the tight squeeze and lack of space, my limbs were numbed when we reached Kin Pun. The next morning I found that I have bruises on my thighs! I must have pressed too hard against the bench in front of me.

Related posts:

1. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 2
2. Experience of a Lifetime – Myanmar – Part 3
3. Travel Photography