Andrea Hearts Traveling

We had booked a bus from Bagan to Mandalay from Ostello Bello and they promised a pick up at 9pm but by 9:30pm no one had come for us. Long story short they forgot about us and Ostello Bello paid a taxi to take us to the bus stop. The taxi driver thought he was very funny and started teasing us and saying that the bus had left already; thankfully when we arrived it was there waiting for us.

I don’t know if I have mentioned it before but busses in Myanmar are the best! The VIP busses come with a blanket, a toothbrush, toothpaste, water, soft drink/energy drink, and snacks! They are also very spacious and they recline like I’ve never seen before!

After a couple of hours in the bus we arrived in Mandalay at 2-3am and we had to deal with taxi drivers. Luckily, 4 other tourists were dropped off there too and we were able to negotiate a fair price and split the cab with 2 other people.

Oh Bagan!

I can say that Bagan has been one of the highlights of my trip!

The place is not only beautiful but there is something magical (and fun) about riding e-bikes (or e-bikeys as the kids outside the hostels call them) on dirt roads and see temples come out left and right.

No pictures or words can describe the beauty of Bagan!

After the first sunrise Kam and I decided to go back for some breakfast and then start exploring Bagan.

Just like I did 3 sunrises I did 3 sunsets!

The first day Kam and I decided to go on the free sunset from my hostel, Ostello Bello.

It was at least 15 e-bikes following one guide, at one point a cow crossed the road and we (me and some others) had to wait while the guide and 12 bikes kept on going. Kam turned right thinking that that's where people went but I saw them go straight and had to wait for her to turn around and come back to the main road. By then my e-bike was acting up the battery indicator kept going up and down and the bike wouldn't go fast. Needless to say we lost the group and were on our own. Being lost didn't mean we gave up, I quickly looked at my map and we drove to a spot. Unfortunately, because of earthquakes that one temple was closed and we couldn't go up so we walked around really fast, and got back on our e-bikes and went to look for another temple to climb and enjoy the sunset.

Bagan... the place that absolutely everybody visits when coming to Myanmar!

I arrived in Bagan at 5am from Yangon and half asleep got off the night bus. It was pitched dark and I knew I had to get a taxi to the hotel and I also knew it would be a struggle to get one at a fair price given it was 5am.

I grabbed my backpack and stopped to look at what was going on, people were already pulled aside by taxi drivers and deals were in the making. I went straight to a girl who was alone and already talking to a cab driver and asked to share, then I saw a couple from my bus and asked to joined us and work together on getting a taxi. The funny thing about the taxi struggle is that there was a banner that read TAXI 7,000kyats but guess what?!?! These cheeky drivers started telling us that it was 7,000 kyats per person... are you kidding me?!? For a 10km ride? It was crazy to pay $5.20 PER PERSON, a total of $21 for a less than 10 minute drive in Myanmar!!

Welcome to Yangon!!!!!!

(I'm singing it to the tune of "Welcome to New York" by Taylor Swift)

It's been five months since I started my trip and in a way I didn't really think much about what was going to happen after Sri Lanka since all my excitement focused on that one country.

Now SL is part of the past and although I loved it, the last couple of days there stressed me out and once I was dropped off at the airport I was glad to be leaving.

After SL I spent two days back in KL doing absolutely nothing (other than laundry and repairing my cracked iPhone screen) and then took a plane to Yangon, Myanmar (previously Burma.)

Mandalay

oh Bagan!!!

Sunset(s) in Bagan

Sunrise(s) in Bagan!

Welcome to Yangon!

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