Mingalabar, Myanmar!
Total Damage: RM1,200 (All in for 5 days 4 nights, covering Yangon and Bagan)
Summary
1st day : KL & Yangon & Bagan (Overnight bus, JJ Express Bus)
2nd day : Bagan (Stayed at Sky View Hotel)
3rd day : Bagan & Yangon (Overnight bus)
4th day : Yangon (Stayed at Wai Wai Place)
5th day : Yangon & KL
Things that you should know before you book a flight there:
- All Malaysian are required to apply for visa to enter to Myanmar. This can be done easily and conveniently here at a fee of USD50.
- Their currency is not available for purchase in Malaysia. We changed USD in Malaysia and got it converted to their local currency Kyatt at their money changer. We observed the airport money changer accepts MYR so you could take your chance on this. Bring bigger notes such as 100s or 50s ,else they will imply lower rates for the smaller notes. AND, make sure your USD note is the latest print and without folds. They are quite particular on this, including hotels.
We arrived Yangon International Airport at 8am local time.
From the plane, we were greeted by a cloud of what we thought is mist but, it was actually haze/dust.
The airport is where we got our money changed and the mobile data loaded up. Note,guys.. These are only data charges. It doesn't include calls. The counter got our hand phones setting all done and we were good to go.
Travelling around Yangon was easy, thanks to Grab. The charges are reasonable and most of them are Toyota Probox. Something we don't usually see in Malaysia.
1st Day
It was a long day for us as, we actually started our day with an early morning flight and ended it with an overnight bus to Bagan. Throughout our five day trip, we only stayed in the hotel for two nights. Really a backpacker style experience.
We simply picked an eatery to fill up our tummies while waiting for our landlord to arrive.
We simply picked an eatery to fill up our tummies while waiting for our landlord to arrive.
Kameer Paratha. (It's like murtabak)
There's also Dim Sum and Cakoi.
At Myanmar, they dipped their Cakoi into their Burmese tea. Not a bad combination.
This is how the streets looked like.
Our Airbnb in those shop houses that you saw earlier. Yup, it's a duplex.
We drop our backpacks, freshen up and out to explore! We make our way towards the Bogyoke Aung San market in hopes to get ourselves a pair of their traditional wear called Longyi for the fun of it.
Look what we found. Avocado milk!!! Yummy!
I never knew Myanmar sells avocados at the streets like how we sell papaya.
Shan Noodles.
Not sure why there's a hype for this or we don't know how to enjoy it.
Sule Pagoda during sunset.
When at Myanmar, have their beer. Cheap!
Some random restaurant we found on Google. The whole meal cost us around RM50 (including beer)
After that, we Grab-ed our way to the Aung Mingalar bus station.
The bus is super comfy and it comes with a bottle of mineral water and two snacks. Blanket provided! Super useful, because its cold in the bus.
2nd Day
We arrived at the Bagan Shwe Pyi Highway Bus Terminal at 6am. It was so cold. Something that we totally didn't expect and we didn't arrange our transport to the hotel. Hahahaha we are obviously cool like that.
We were approached by two person, one is the taxi driver and the other was the horse cart driver. Guess which we opt for?
Meet Louise!
Breaking dawn.
Our horse cart driver brought us to a spot to watch sunrise, and it was the prettiest view throughout our whole trip. #NoRegrets
We then checked in early, get ourselves washed up and rested before heading out.
The best mode of transport around Bagan is E-Bike! You don't have to have a motorcycle license to ride it, but most importantly balance!
Couldn't get enough of avocadosss!
Did some temple runs before..
.. we change the mode to temple hike. We then hired a driver (arranged by our hotel) to Mount Popa. It was an hour car ride from Bagan.
We hiked barefoot (note guys, you will need to barefoot in all temple grounds in Myanmar) up and only to be greeted with no sunset.
Batu Caves also haven't hike, go hike other country's temple. Hahaha
Our driver then brought us back to Bagan for dinner.
This is tea salad. Made up of pickled tea leaves, nuts and some veggies. I find it acceptable, but not my travel partners.
Can't remember what dish is this, but it tasted alright.
Stir fried veggie.
Creamy butter cheesy chicken.
3rd Day
With the help of our hotel again, we also arranged a trip to watch another sunrise. But, it was quite a let down, because it's just standing in the middle of the temple ruins on a mini man made hill.
It turns out that no one is allowed to climb temples in hopes that this move can help preserve them. And, hence they made the mini hill to watch sunrise.
Me in my Longyi.
We then head back to hotel for our breakfast.
Tried everything on their buffet line.
This avocado die in vain. We bought it at the local market, was too excited that it didn't have enough time to ripe.
Our lunch at the one of the eateries in Restaurant street.
We continue zoning out in the hotel throughout the day and later in the evening in the bus back to Yangon.
4th Day
This bus offers shuttle bus to common stops such as airport and in to Yangon. We opted for airport stop as we were running low on Kyatts and our USD is not acceptable. Thankfully, we brought some MYR with us.
Vagrants be like.. instant noodling at the airport's floor.
We took Grab to our new accommodation called Wai Wai's Place. It's quite a clean and decent place, but prepare to hike up the stairs.
The local market near our stay.
Eating cakoi with Burmese tea.
Hunting for their local food is hard. Although Google has its name for it, but their stall don't write it in English. So, you need to be observant with the ingredients.
This is Mohinga.
Crispy creep with shredded coconut.
Fish cake salad.
Skewers at Chinatown.
This was good.
And, that marks the end of our trip, where we head back to KL the next morning.
Throughout the trip, all of us felt it was a looong holiday. Time didn't pass as fast as how it usually would when we go for a trip. You know, "how good times flies" that sort of stuff. Hahaha maybe because there weren't much things to do over there in such a short period. Those other pretty places are quite far apart and requires long on the road hours. It was a good one time experience for us, but we will opt for another place to explore.
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