I didn’t get the chance to edit this before I uploaded the main post for the visit to the Pagoda. Again, if you go direct to the video’s page on YouTube, there’s a hi-def version available.

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After a better trip than the northbound one (comfier seats, more legroom, quieter telly and milder aircon) the bus arrived into Yangon at a little before 7am. I rebuffed all offers of a taxi and walked out of the bus station. This isn’t as easy as it sounds as the “station” is more like a [...]

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I’d intended to wake really early and see the Buddha being washed at the Mahamuni Paya, but despite an early night I just wasn’t up to a 3am rise. Instead, I got up at 7, had breakfast and took a trip up to Mandalay Hill. There are covered steps leading all the way up to [...]

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I had a nice lie in this morning till after 8am (wow!), devoured breakfast and walked around the corner to the cinema. I’d noticed last night that the sign for Transporter 3 had been taken down, but it seems they always change the films on a Friday and always have an English one on as [...]

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I’m currently in a cybercafe in Mandalay, Myanmar. Internet access is slow and painful so this is just a quickie to let you all know I’ll be back online properly around Thursday next week once I get to KL. The gangsta rap on the stereo’s just been replaces by Black Lace‘s Agadoo so I’m most [...]

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I was up for the now-standard Mayanmar guest house breakfast just after 7:00 and was joined by my Slovenian friends (Anya and her boyfriend, who’s name I forget and for which I apologise profusely as ever). We jumped into the blue taxi they’d pre-arranged with our first stop being the Mahamuni Paya. This is the [...]

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Well, I just had to give this item that title, didn’t I? I was up at the crack of dawn again to get an early breakfast and gather the last of my things. As I waited for the bus, I played badminton with the young daughter of the guest house owner before she was rushed [...]

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My alarm went off at 05:15 and I got dressed in the pleasant coolness of early morning. The staff weren’t up yet, and I crept out for the short walk to the Shwezigon Paya. Locals claim this is the model for the larger Shwedagon in Yangon which I intend to visit on Sunday. It was [...]

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I woke on time and grabbed my bags. The hostel owner was waiting for me with a small packed breakfast, bless him. I mounted the motorcycle taxi and we nipped off. After five minutes, I was glad I’d dressed in preparation for arctic air-con on the bus as it was pretty cold outside. After 20 [...]

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It seemed a shame to come to somewhere this nice and not see the lake, so I opted to join Mark and the Poles (and the other Polish couple who I’d shared the bus to Kalaw with – they were in the same guest house) on a day trip. They’d haggled a price of 15000K [...]

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