We had a great two weeks in Myanmar visiting Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay, and Inle via overnight buses, trains, taxis, e-bikes, horse carriage, and tuk tuks. We spent about 3-4 days in each spot, and really got to experience the culture, see the sights, and relax. Myanmar is very different than its neighboring countries - India, Thailand and Laos, and by contrast very clean, not as developed for tourists which means a lot less haggling and less touristy things to do - restaurants, shops, and infrastructure between cities. There are so many beautiful sights, and without many western tourists a lot of the people wanted just to talk with us - practice English and take 'selfies'.
We started and ended our trip in Yangon. Here are photos from there.
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| footwear is prohibited in all temple complexes - it was a lot of on and off shoes |
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| we went to the main temple at sunset which is a very popular idea |
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Feeding the monks is a common sight, and a way for people to be generous. The hostel we stayed provided breakfast every Saturday morning and we got to help serve the meal.
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| Flowers being sold outside the reclining Buddha temple. |
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| Girls getting 'adventure points' asking the Monks and Nuns for their photos. People rarely said no, but sometimes when they said yes they still hid from the camera. It was fun afterward to show them the pictures. |
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| Back in Yangon after days of sightseeing, we spent a few hours to see the new Star Wars movie and Spies in Disguise in 3D, and in English - no subtitles |
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| we spent almost 1 hour, on the 3 hr circular Yangon train. Just enough time to get far enough from the city, that it was hard to find a taxi that understood how to get us back - even with a map! |
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| Just like the old Japan left-side drive cars go to die in Myanmar, so too do the trains. Only Myanmar is a right-side drive country. The trains were denoted by a grassroots program. |
