July 27, 2012 The Golden Rock stupa of Kyaiktiyo is a major pilgrimage site for Burmese Buddhists. It is busy with devotees during the pilgrimage season (from November to March), but we went during monsoon season, when there were very few people at the Golden Rock. For us, the major part of the experience was …
July 25-26, 2012 Bago is a mildewy drippy little town. My opinion of Bago is tinted by the fact that we arrived with a wet backpack and damp clothes and checked into the shadiest hotel we have stayed at in Myanmar. We spent one night at the Emperor Hotel in a double room with air …
July 23, 2012 Our second horse cart ride in Bagan was much better than the previous horse cart ride. We hired Minthu as our driver, based upon a recommendation from a friend. He went with us to many of the temples and explained the history. He also answered our questions about monks and the monastery …
July 21, 2012 Bagan has too many temples and pagodas to remember them all! We decided to slow down here, as well, and spent 5 nights and 4 days in Nuang U, north of Old Bagan. We had originally planned to stay a couple nights in Nuang U and then a couple nights in a …
July 19, 2012 Once we were back in Nyaungshwe we checked into our very budget hotel, The Aquarius, and rented bicycles from a shop two doors down. We bicycled around to the East side of Inle Lake. Our destination was Kaung Daing Village, which is famous for hot springs and making tofu from yellow split peas. …
Inle Lake Day 5: Bicycling to Kaung Daing Village (Tofu Making) Read More »
July 18, 2012 We spent the 18th at Shwe Inn Tha, which offers luxury bungalows on Inle Lake. It was raining the whole day, so instead of trying out the swimming pool we used the internet near the lobby and attempted to get some work done, despite the incredibly slow internet. It was nice to …
Inle Lake Day 4: Shwe Inn Tha Bungalows on the Lake Read More »
July 17, 2012 The next day we took another boat trip on Inle Lake to visit some of the less touristy places. Once again, it was the things that were not on the itinerary that were the best experiences. When we booked our boat trip at Smiling Moon we were given the options of doing …
Inle Lake Day 3- Boat Tour: Kyauk Daing Market and Monastery Read More »
July 15, 2012 After checking into Teakwood Guest House we slept for a few hours. (We paid $35 for a deluxe room with AC at Teakwood.) We did not want to miss breakfast, which ends at 9am, so we made sure to wake up and get ready by 8:30am. After breakfast we got a leisurely …
Inle Lake Day 1- Red Mountain Winery and Forest Monastery Read More »
July 12-13 From Mandalay we headed North East to Hsipaw, to do some trekking (hiking) to nearby hilltribe villages. The bus from Mandalay arrived in Hsipaw around 8pm. We shared a pick-up taxi with 3 other travelers to Mr. Charles Guest House for 500 Kyat/person. George and I selected the double room with air conditioning …