Myanmar (Burma) – Pagodas’ land

Be prepared for long time travel on the buses from a city to another. But they were all worth it!

Day 1: Yangon

Yangon is not Myanmar capital (anymore) but somehow, it’s still the most popular city to visit of the country. Most of tourists don’t know what Myanmar’s capital is. So to visit Myanmar, the best way is to take a flight to Yangon international airport and take the bus to travel around the country from here.

I spent my first night here. Found sometime to go to Myanmar plaza and at the rooftop, there are plenty of bars, pubs and clubs. The city can sleep early but youngsters’ night life is still exist 🙂

There is no motorbike on the street in Yangon – not like Vietnam.

Myanmar doesn’t really have a cuisine or at least that was what I feel. I was lucky that I have friends who’ve been living here so they show me some of the local restaurants and foods. The one I was impressed the most must be curry chicken with coconut rice in Rangoon Tea house

Curry Chicken with coconut rice and Chai tea (of course)

My first meal in Yangon! (Yummy!)

Day 2: Inle Lake

Fortunately for me, I have a friend who is working in Yangon and she asked her staff to book the bus tickets for me. We traveled to Inle together then she had to go back to Yangon to work and I got to Bagan by myself. We took buses from E-lite Express and JJ Express. They offered all super good services. Have to admit that even Burma is less developed than Vietnam, their tourism is still something that Vietnam should learn after. There would be no chaos, no trying to take more and more customers even the bus was full, etc.

Inle Lake is the biggest lake of Myanmar. The nature around here are spectacular. It’s still a small town and rural area but there were already some bars pubs by some expats around

There are several spots to stop by around the big lake (check the cute map below)

That day we had time to visit Inle Heritage where they have the Burmese Cats (these cats are in the risk  of extinction). They have a farm where they grow all of  the vegetables and supply for their own Inle style restaurant.

We also stopped by some pagodas (obviously, typical of Burma) and Long neck ladies village. The journey to take the boat around the lake was amazing itself. But make sure you have water, a hat, long sleeves coat with you because you can get terrible sun burn by the reflection of the sun down to the water.

The great Inle Lake

Burmese cats – They are all beautiful, friendly and elegant (maybe not all are friendly :P)

Long neck lady – They have to wear several necklaces on their neck

Day 3: Bagan – Beautiful old city

The first impression with Bagan? Sandy and old brick pagodas and temples everywhere. type the hashtag #myanmar on instagram, all you see would be those beautiful old temples in Bagan. This place is the most popular for sunrise watching and another thing is they always release big balloon into the sky every morning at that time (from the beginning of October to the middle of April every year).

So all you need to do is find yourself a perfect spot and wait for the sun to come <3

Beautiful, isn’t it?

I had some luck stayed in a nice hostel and had chance to get to know some other girls who also traveled South East Asia alone. We had so much in common and shared a lot of good point of view about girls traveling together. This is picture of us having dinner together, one is from Korea but living in Australia, the other is Italian and had been traveling around Asia for 11 months at that time.

If you have chance to spend more days in Bagan, you will find yourself your favorite spots to watch sunrise and sunset, which is also the popular activity here for travelers. Like at some point you will think: ok, that’s enough pagodas and temples for my whole life, but still the culture of Buddhism worshiping here is so peaceful and meaningful. The local people just bring flowers to the temples, and you have to take off your shoes all the time, even when no one is watching. You will find several places so peaceful and quiet that you can meditate without any interruption.

I had so many nice and remarkable photos taken here in Bagan that  can use for my whole life 😛

Day 4: Back to Yangon

I took the night bus from Bagan to Yagon. Once again, if you plan to visit Myanmar for short time, no need to spend money much on accommodations, just book the night buses from city to city and off you go. The bus is comfy enough and have snack, water enough for you for long hours on the road. Some even give you tooth brush to brush your teeth. How amazing!

I spent my last day here visit the biggest and most popular pagodas: The Shwedagon Pagoda. It’s another perfect spot for sunrise. The pagoda is said to contain eight hairs of the Buddha, a fact that only adds to its prestige. The stairways and bridges leading into the main sanctuary serve the thousands of pilgrims who flock here, and flower and book stalls, peddlers of religious souvenirs and tea shops do a brisk trade during the Shwedagon’s long hours of opening.

Golden temple of Yangon

After wandering around the huge pagoda under the heat of Myanmar, I decided to find myself a hidden coffee shop to rest and read.

And this was it – Bodhi Nava Cafe – a hidden gem in a small alley of Yangon xx

I did actually traveled Myanmar for 5 days in total but well you know, 1 full day can be counted to be on the buses alone, so here are the other 4 days full of experiences.

For the short trip or even visa run, Myanmar is one of the best choice for you to discover the local culture. You will find the most peace in many monasteries across the country and who knows, you might want to stay there for longer time, to find peace within yourself…

The country has its own reputation about ethnic cleansing a.k.a Rohingya genocide for several years. But as a tourist, to just visit the country without looking deep into it, you cannot feel much of the issue. Or the normal people and normal life of those cities have not been much affected these days.

To read more here

Be back soon (not really) with another travel review post.

Thanks for stopping by :*

With Love,

From a Day dreamer :*