Bagan - Second Day

While the first day ended with a beautiful sunset, the second day started with a sunrise. I woke up around 4.30 a.m. and cycled my way to Bule-thi Pagoda, a small, strategically located temple that come with high recommendation as the place to be for sunrise. Cycling in Bagan wee in the morning can be quite an adventure especially in December for there were barely enough street lights along the road coupled with the chilly weather. Plus, the torchlight I had with me was just too small and inconvenient while navigating the bicycle. I really should invest in a headlight.

However, all these minor obstacles mean nothing once I reached the temple and saw what was in front of me. As picture means a thousand words, I rather show you the photos than describing it to you.

Morning mist added mystic to the photo

As the daylight got brighter, I even managed to see hot air balloons flying freely in the sky. Riding a hot air balloon overlooking the ancient temples in sunrise is a popular activity here in Bagan but it is rather pricey. So, if you can't afford it, go see it on the ground. It is simply quite a sight to behold.

Hot air balloon

Feeling emotionally satisfied, I went back to the hotel to join Boris. After breakfast, we went exploring the town, riding along the bank of Irrawaddy River and roaming the wet market. After that, we continued with the temple exploration.

Boats docked along the riverbank

Bustling wet market

Flower lady

As I had mentioned in the previous post, cycling is the best mode of transportation here in Bagan as you can leisurely go at your own sweet pace. Naturally, I enjoy my time roaming around the plain with my two wheels. We stopped by a total of 4 pagodas for the day and two of it are simply not to be missed; Shwe-san-daw Pagoda which offers some of the breath-taking views of the ancient city and Dhammayangyi Pagoda for its sheer massiveness.

Shwe-san-daw Pagoda

View from the top of the Shwe-san-daw Pagoda

Dhammayangyi Pagoda, the largest temple in Bagan

I wish I have more time to spend here in Bagan but by night fell, we have to leave for our next destination, Inle Lake.

*TO BE CONTINUED*

Sharing is caring. A word of advice and a piece of information.

You can take a bus to Bagan from Yangon at 15,000 kyat (about US$18) and it takes about nine hours to reach the ancient city. A one-time entrance fee of US$15 is charged to enter Bagan Archaeological Zone. You can buy the tickets at popular sites. However, there are reports that you can avoid paying the hefty entrance fee and to be honest, we didn't pay it too. There were no one asking us about it. As for the hot air balloons ride, Balloons Over Bagan operates the activity and according to the website, the price rate for 2013-2014 is at US$320 per person. You can look for more information here in the website.

Bagan - First Day

I guess it's high time for me to continue with my Myanmar write-up after leaving it unattended for almost 5 months! Looking back at those photos really bring up amazing memories I had in the awesome country and it has almost been a year already! Before my trip to Myanmar even a real deal, I always plan to include Bagan into the itinerary. I remembered seeing photos of this ancient city on the Internet, normally taken around sunrise, with morning mist clouding the temples and ruins, giving off a mystical atmosphere. It prompt me to want to capture the scenery myself. And I was not disappoint when I was there.

I took the night bus from Yangon to Bagan on the first day of my arrival in the country. Together with a fellow Taiwanese backpacker, Boris, we reached the ancient city around 3 a.m., eyes barely opened, shivering like crazy. It is cold season in December but I underestimated the coldness as my hoodie barely enough to shed me some warm. No visible streetlights and the 'bus terminal' is nothing but a row of shops in the middle of a road, all closed. Disoriented and without a map, it was not a good situation to be in.

Our driver that brought us to the hotel and around Bagan

Luckily for us, there are horse carts and motorcycles waiting for potential customers and we hired a horse cart to bring us to a budget hotel. We found one in about 10 minutes, Hotel Eden, a simple and decent one with its double room costing about US$ 30 per night. We settled ourselves down and called it a night.

Friendly Burmese going through their days

After 4 hours of rest, we began the day cruising the many temples and fallen ruins in Bagan. I find it the best way to get yourself familiarise with the place is to hire a horse cart on the first day only to continue exploring with bicycle the following days and that was what we did. We hired the same driver that brought us to the hotel for the whole day at a reasonable price of 20,000 kyat (about US$24) for the whole cart.

Shwezigon Pagoda

The temple at the background being Htilominlo Pagoda

The driver brought us to many pagodas, some of them are the famous ones in Bagan that should not be missed such as Shwezigon Pagoda (similar to the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon in design and structure), Ananda Pagoda (Bagan's holiest and most important temple), Htilominlo Pagoda (one of the many built by King Htilominlo), Thatbyinnyu Pagoda (the tallest temple in Bagan - 61 metres), and many more. There are also temples we visited which names are not known to us. In fact, some of them are nameless or simply known as temple number so-and-so. The abundance of these holy monuments in Bagan is simply astounding that a mere 2 days is not enough to visit them all.

Buffet lunch with Burmese food at Golden Myanmar 2 Restaurant

Atop an nameless temple, overlooking the surrounding monuments

To end the day, we went to Shwe-leik-too Pagoda for sunset. As the sun slowly descents into the horizon, we just sat on top of the temple, absorbing the stunning view and doing nothing else. Watching the sky turning into a myriad of colours is a wonder itself.

Ananda Pagoda, the holiest of them all

Sunset view

*TO BE CONTINUED* 

Myanmar - Itinerary

As all my photos are now officially lost, my Brunei/ Labuan trip I made last year will not be heavily blogged on. Blog entries without pictures? I'm not that good with words to help you out with the imaginations. However, I will still briefly write about the trip since, I did go to that part of the world.

As of now, I will start with my last trip of 2012, my Myanmar adventure. Had you read the overview of the trip, you will know that I detoured from my initial itinerary. Instead of spending the last 2 days in Yangon, I ended up going to Inle Lake for nothing more than a half day adventure and then took night bus back to Yangon for my flight back Kuala Lumpur. While Yangon is nothing more than a mystery, I managed to get a sneak peak of the famous lake. Those praises are not to be taken lightly.

Before I dig deeper into the trip, let me share with you the schedule of my 5 days/4 nights trip to Myanmar that involved crossing over 3 cities.

Day 1 (14th Dec 2012)

0800 - Arrived Yangon International Airport
         - Went to Aung Mingalar bus terminal to buy bus ticket to Bagan
0930 - Reached downtown Yangon and walked around, looking for hotel room
1030 - Went to Bogyoke Aung San's House
1130 - Went to Scott Market
1300 - Explore the city centre while looking for hotel*
1500 - Took bus to the terminal for my night bus; detoured slightly to Inya Lake
1600 - Took bus to the terminal after Inya Lake
1730 - Reached Aung Mingalar bus terminal
1830 - Bus departed to Bagan

* One of my mistakes was to book the hotel for my stay on the 17th Dec 2012. Ended up wasting USD 28.

Day 2 (15th Dec 2012)

0300 - Reached Bagan and took horse cart to find a hotel
0900 - Explored Bagan by horse cart
1200 - Lunch
1300 - Continued with the horse cart tour
1930 - Dinner
2100 - Back to hotel

Day 3 (16th Dec 2012)

0430 - Woke up for sunrise
0800 - Breakfast
0900 - Cycled to the jetty to see Irrawaddy River
1000 - Went to the wet market
1200 - Lunch
1300 - Cycled around Bagan
1630 - Went back to clean ourselves
1800 - Night bus to Inle Lake

Day 4 (17th Dec 2012)

0300 - Reached Taunggyi and took taxi to Inle Lake
0400 - Found a hotel willing to let us refresh ourselves and crash for a while
0500 - Went out to explore the place
0600 - Breakfast
0730 - Took a boat out to Inle Lake
1230 - Back from the boat trip
1330 - Lunch
1600 - Bus back to Yangon

Day 5 (18th Dec 2012)

0500 - Reached Aung Mingalar bus terminal
0600 - Went to the hotel to refresh myself
0700 - Took taxi to Yangon International Airport
0830 - Flight back to Kuala Lumpur

As you can see, most of the nights I spent on the bus itself. Those night trips were very long, ranging 8 to 14 hours on the road. Luckily for me, I have always been a sound sleeper and can easily sleep anytime, anywhere. Sleeping in the bus is something that I'm accustomed to.

More on my Myanmar trip soon.

*TO BE CONTINUED*

Reviewing 2012

Happy 2013! 2012 had ended its run (that was fast!) and now we are in the brand new year, which means, all new travelling to be done. But, before we rush ahead, let's me count back to my extensive travelling that I had done since the commencement of this travel blog of mine (April 2011).

So, here goes:

Countries I've Visited (number of times):

Thailand (3), Cambodia, Macau (S.A.R. of China), Hong Kong (S.A.R. of China), Singapore (2), Indonesia, Vietnam, Brunei, Myanmar

Cities/Islands I've Been To:

Hat Yai (Thailand); Phnom Penh & Siem Reap (Cambodia); Bangkok (Thailand); Macau; Hong Kong; Kuching (Malaysia); Singapore; Langkawi (Malaysia); Semarang (Indonesia); Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An & Hue (Vietnam); Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei); Labuan (Malaysia); Johor Bharu (Malaysia); Malacca (Malaysia); Yangon, Bagan & Inle Lake (Myanmar)

Cities/Islands that I've Visited Countless Times that it's Almost Like My Home:

Penang & Genting Highland

Numbers of Airports (excluding LCCT and KLIA): 7

Phnom Penh International Airport (Phnom Penh), Suvarnabhumi International Airport (Bangkok), Macau International Airport (Macau), Achmad Yani International Airport (Semarang), Tan Son Nhat International Airport (Ho Chi Minh City), Da Nang International Airport (Da Nang), Brunei International Airport (Brunei), Yangon International Airport (Yangon)

Numbers of Ferry Terminals: 6

Taipa Ferry Terminal - Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Pier, Kuala Kedah Ferry Terminal - Langkawi Jetty Point, Serasa Ferry Terminal - Labuan International Ferry Terminal

Numbers of UNESCO World Heritage Sites I've Been To: 7

Melaka and George Town, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca (Malaysia), Angkor (Cambodia), Historic Centre of Macau (Macau, SAR of China), Borobudur Temple Compounds (Indonesia), Hoi An Ancient Town (Vietnam), My Son Sanctuary (Vietnam) & Complex of Hue Monument (Vietnam)

Top 5 Most Memorable Trips:

5. Wicked in Singapore

My first live musical and it was amazing! Wicked is simply great. Worth every single pennies. Read about it here.

4. Hong Kong (Ocean Park, The Peak, etc)

Growing up with TVB series on regular staples, Hong Kong feels very familiar yet strange to me. It is like you can't believe you are actually in the island for real. Ocean Park, The Peak, Symposium of Light; all these Hong Kong attractions are must-do activities. All I can say is 4 days in Hong Kong is NOT enough. See for yourself what I have to say about Hong Kong.

3. Cycling to My Son Sanctuary from Hoi An

As I had blogged about recently, this adventure of mine is seriously mind blowing for me. 40 - 50 km in distance and I actually cycled to the place itself? In a foreign land with no knowledge of the language itself? Damn, I now know my limit is pretty non-existence.

2. Going to Cambodia with my University coursemates

4D/3N trip with late arrival and morning departure flights, and still manage to cover both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap? That's a feat that can't be defeated. No doubt it was all in a rush (we spent less than 4 hours in Angkor Wat!) but it was nothing but fun, fun, fun! A worthy farewell to our university years. Click here for my entries on Cambodia.

1. Bagan Archaeological Zone, Myanmar

Maybe it was my last trip of the year, hence, making it more memorable, but the vast landscape of Bagan is stunning. I spent 2D/2N there and still wasn't enough. Definitely not to be missed, sunrise and sunset in Bagan. You won't regret waking up super early for the view. More on Myanmar soon.

2012 has been a wonderful year for me with my travel resolution of visiting all ASEAN countries about to be realized comes this July 2013 (last on the list, Laos). For 2013, I'm expanding my Asia coverage to include either North Asia or South Asia into the itinerary. Plus, there will be one epic 2013 trip that I'm planning right now. Details are still fuzzy but one thing for sure, it will be LEGENDARY!

Myanmar - Overview

My last trip before the end of 2012 was to Myanmar. It was the only remaining country in Southeast Asia that I have yet to explore or about to explore and when I saw the BIG points redemption from AirAsia, I thought, why not? In a snap, I secured a return ticket to Yangon, Myanmar with just 20 BIG points.

Old colonial buildings are aplenty in Yangon

However, as the days went by and the date got closer, I have this fear inside me that started growing. It was not like this is my first time travelling alone. I did that for the first time for my Vietnam trip this July and also to Brunei just last month. It was the notorious reputation the country had built for itself, what with the lack of human rights and the strict militant government.

Typical street of Yangon

Upon landing, I found my fear to be rather baseless for my 5 day trip was filled with nothing but memories of kindred hearts and friendly faces of the Burmese. They were willing to go on extra length to help you out, making you feel as welcome as possible in their homeland.

Beautiful Burmese boy

I realized I truly enjoyed Myanmar a lot. While I did not spend much time in the country’s largest city, Yangon, as I had originally planned, I did pretty much what I set out in the first place and more. The main attraction to me for the trip was Bagan and true enough, everything in that town was exciting and enchanting to me. A must do while in Bagan? Sunrise and sunset. Breath taking!

What you can expect to see in Bagan

Imagine sunrise and sunset as background to this image!

As to how come I did not explore Yangon as much as I wanted to, it was rather a spontaneous thing that I did. I ended up following a fellow traveler to Inle Lake as I heard nothing but beautiful praises. To be frank, I have no idea where is the lake or what there is to do or see, but, since I was already there, I thought, what the hell? Well, I did not regret heading to Inle Lake, to say the least.

Inle Lake

Fishermen still make a living through the lake

All in all, it was another mind-opening trip for me. More of Myanmar will come, sometimes next year, I think. Stay tune.

*TO BE CONTINUED*

Sharing is caring. A word of advice and a piece of information.

Entering Myanmar requires either tourist visa or business visa, depending on the nature of your visit. In order to apply for the tourist visa, you have to provide a photocopy of your passport with at least six months of validity, two recent passport sized photos with white background, a fully filled form which can be obtained at the Embassy of the Union of Myanmar in your country or country nearest to you, and US$30. The tourist visa is valid for a period of 90 days and for a single entry of maximum 30 days only. There are no exemption for visa, even the ASEAN countries. For more information, you should contact the embassy in your country.