myanmar day 6 to home
May 5, 2016
We aimed to wake up at 5am to catch the sunrise. That didn't happen. Erik was sick.
Although we can't confirm, it's likely that he got sick from the unknown fruit that we had eaten on the previous day. We figured if he got a bit more of rest then hopefully we could begin our day a little later than we had originally intended to.
Nope. Erik was sick.
It was unfortunate of course, but at this point, it couldn't be helped. So I began my day solo. I had breakfast and was really disappointed by the assortment of foods. I think too, by this point, I was becoming tired of eating Chinese food for breakfast every morning. Although it's tasty, it's perhaps not the best food selection in terms of health to begin your day with.
I walked over to the rental store and rented another moped for the day. When I first took off, something didn't feel right. There seemed to be much less power in this moped than the previous days one, but the battery suggested that it was fully charged. I took off with no plans. There were literally thousands of more temples and pagodas to see. I did figure that it would be in my best interest to see the larger and taller temples, as they are the more famous ones. But as expected, they were no different from each other. It was cool, but it definitely became redundant.
Again, the highlight of this day was riding the moped on the dirt tracks. All alone, I was able to rip the trails full throttle. In many ways, I considered this to be the best part of the experience. Riding on dirt trails among ancient temples and pagodas. It couldn't have gotten any better than that. Though, it could have been many degrees cooler to make the experience a little nicer. I probably spent a whole hour just riding around. I got lost, made my own trails, and of course, attempted some risky things, but in the end, it was fun.
The clouds were a bit unkind as it blocked the sun a bit, but nonetheless, it was a breathtaking sight. We ditched the area before it was over so as not to get held up by the other tourists on their mopeds.
Before we knew it we were back at the hotel and Erik thought it be best to just eat dinner there. We had a small dinner, packed our things, and got ready for the long journey home.
May 6 and 7, 2016
To be quite frank, the journey home was terrible.
It started with a morning bus ride from Bagan to Yangon. This ride took 9 hours again but as it was during the day, I remained awake for most of it. The ride was bumpier than I thought and I didn't enjoy most of it. I listened to the same songs on my iphone over and over again and just counted down the hours till we arrived in Yangon. Perhaps the worst part of the ride was the music videos and tv shows that were played on the screen in the bus. They kept the volume much too high and it was quite annoying. Amusing at times, but mostly annoying. Although I couldn't understand and wasn't interested, there did appear to be a movie playing that was a Myanmar interpretation of Grease, including re-makes of the hit songs in Burmese.
9 hours later, we were at the Yangon Bus Station. It was around 5 or 6pm that we arrived. Our flight wasn't until around midnight, so we had a lot of time to kill. We didn't want to move or do anymore sight seeing, as it would have made the next day miserable being sticky and sweaty. We walked around the bus station and found a cafe that had AC. It was likely the only place in the entire complex that had AC. We sat down, had a small snack and spent the next 4 hours sitting there. Luckily, there was accessible wi-fi, so we were able to catch up a bit with the happenings on the web. It did seem like an eternity.
Finally we thought it'd be a good time to head to the airport, mostly just to change the scene a bit. We got a taxi, headed to the airport, and it was too early to check in. We spent some time waiting there and there was no AC. It was hot.
When it was finally time to check-in, the process was painless. We went through emigration and security and had a few more Kyatt to spend. The gift shops that were still open at this hour didn't have much and of course, had inflated prices. It didn't matter though, Kyatt is basically worthless outside of Myanmar. The last few gifts were purchased and we continued to wait for our departure time.
It was a short flight to Hong Kong, just over 3 hours. We were fed and there wasn't much time for sleep. But we had to get sleep as we had a long layover in Hong Kong.
We landed in Hong Kong in the early morning and had the entire morning to kill. We went through immigration and caught the express train to the city. It was difficult to find a place to eat. Apparently all places in Hong Kong don't open until 10:30, including most restaurants. We had to settle on perhaps the only restaurant that was open in the area.
Hong Kong was hot too, but we walked around to sight see a bit. in the end, we just wanted to get home. It seemed like forever having to wait for our flight back to Fukuoka.
We aimed to wake up at 5am to catch the sunrise. That didn't happen. Erik was sick.
Although we can't confirm, it's likely that he got sick from the unknown fruit that we had eaten on the previous day. We figured if he got a bit more of rest then hopefully we could begin our day a little later than we had originally intended to.
Nope. Erik was sick.
It was unfortunate of course, but at this point, it couldn't be helped. So I began my day solo. I had breakfast and was really disappointed by the assortment of foods. I think too, by this point, I was becoming tired of eating Chinese food for breakfast every morning. Although it's tasty, it's perhaps not the best food selection in terms of health to begin your day with.
I walked over to the rental store and rented another moped for the day. When I first took off, something didn't feel right. There seemed to be much less power in this moped than the previous days one, but the battery suggested that it was fully charged. I took off with no plans. There were literally thousands of more temples and pagodas to see. I did figure that it would be in my best interest to see the larger and taller temples, as they are the more famous ones. But as expected, they were no different from each other. It was cool, but it definitely became redundant.
Again, the highlight of this day was riding the moped on the dirt tracks. All alone, I was able to rip the trails full throttle. In many ways, I considered this to be the best part of the experience. Riding on dirt trails among ancient temples and pagodas. It couldn't have gotten any better than that. Though, it could have been many degrees cooler to make the experience a little nicer. I probably spent a whole hour just riding around. I got lost, made my own trails, and of course, attempted some risky things, but in the end, it was fun.
The mid day heat began to appear and it was time to head back to the hotel. For one, to escape the heat and take a break, and also to see if Erik was feeling better to head on out.
Erik was still sick, but we still headed out. We decided to visit Old Bagan and New Bagan, located on the opposite end of the road that circled the temples. We headed out and again stopped by a few temples that looked interesting. We were a bit disappointed by Old Bagan and New Bagan. nothing in particular stood out. The cruise on the moped was still enjoyable though.
Eventually, I was right. My moped was lacking in power. The battery began to die and my moped drastically slowed down. On full throttle, I was going perhaps 10km/hr max. Being nearly 10km away from the rental store, I started to wonder if I'd manage to get back.
We cut through the dirt trails and thought about looking for a place to view the sunset. My moped battery died. We found what looked like a police box and asked the man inside if he could call the rental store to inform them that my battery had died. It seemed like it was bad timing as the sunset was approaching, but the rental store came to our location to drop off a new bike just in time. We booked it to one of the temples that we could climb and, along with many others, watched in awe of the sunset.
Before we knew it we were back at the hotel and Erik thought it be best to just eat dinner there. We had a small dinner, packed our things, and got ready for the long journey home.
May 6 and 7, 2016
To be quite frank, the journey home was terrible.
It started with a morning bus ride from Bagan to Yangon. This ride took 9 hours again but as it was during the day, I remained awake for most of it. The ride was bumpier than I thought and I didn't enjoy most of it. I listened to the same songs on my iphone over and over again and just counted down the hours till we arrived in Yangon. Perhaps the worst part of the ride was the music videos and tv shows that were played on the screen in the bus. They kept the volume much too high and it was quite annoying. Amusing at times, but mostly annoying. Although I couldn't understand and wasn't interested, there did appear to be a movie playing that was a Myanmar interpretation of Grease, including re-makes of the hit songs in Burmese.
9 hours later, we were at the Yangon Bus Station. It was around 5 or 6pm that we arrived. Our flight wasn't until around midnight, so we had a lot of time to kill. We didn't want to move or do anymore sight seeing, as it would have made the next day miserable being sticky and sweaty. We walked around the bus station and found a cafe that had AC. It was likely the only place in the entire complex that had AC. We sat down, had a small snack and spent the next 4 hours sitting there. Luckily, there was accessible wi-fi, so we were able to catch up a bit with the happenings on the web. It did seem like an eternity.
Finally we thought it'd be a good time to head to the airport, mostly just to change the scene a bit. We got a taxi, headed to the airport, and it was too early to check in. We spent some time waiting there and there was no AC. It was hot.
When it was finally time to check-in, the process was painless. We went through emigration and security and had a few more Kyatt to spend. The gift shops that were still open at this hour didn't have much and of course, had inflated prices. It didn't matter though, Kyatt is basically worthless outside of Myanmar. The last few gifts were purchased and we continued to wait for our departure time.
It was a short flight to Hong Kong, just over 3 hours. We were fed and there wasn't much time for sleep. But we had to get sleep as we had a long layover in Hong Kong.
We landed in Hong Kong in the early morning and had the entire morning to kill. We went through immigration and caught the express train to the city. It was difficult to find a place to eat. Apparently all places in Hong Kong don't open until 10:30, including most restaurants. We had to settle on perhaps the only restaurant that was open in the area.
Hong Kong was hot too, but we walked around to sight see a bit. in the end, we just wanted to get home. It seemed like forever having to wait for our flight back to Fukuoka.
We went to the airport, waited for a few more hours and our plane took off.
To delay our arrival at home even further, our plane stopped over in Taipei for about an hour. We had to get off the plane and go through security, just to board the plane again in the exact same seat. It was a minor annoyance, but at this point, we were so close to come.
The flight home was quick, we got out of immigration quickly, and we rushed to catch the shuttle bus to the subway. We got lucky with the timing of the subway and trains and before we knew it, we were home. It was a long journey.
9 Hour Bus
8 Hour Wait in Yangon
3 Hour Flight
8 Hour layover in Hong Kong
2 Hour Flight
1 Hour wait in Taipei Airport
2 Hour Flight
15 Minute Shuttle
5 Minute Subway
45 Minute Train
15 Minute Walk
Home.
It was a great trip. Myanmar left a great impression on me. Though I doubt I'll ever return, I would like to visit again. The people are amazingly friendly and kind. The food is great. The sights are beautiful. There's so much more to Myanmar that we couldn't see. But from what I could see and experience, Myanmar is a great place.
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