5:00 am, my alarm pulls me out of sleep with gentle melodies. Too early, no way I’m getting out of bed just to see the sun rise! Torn, I rest for another minute or two. Then my roomate’s alarm makes a noise you could hear aboard a nuclear submarine during critical reactor failure. Alright, I’m […]
Bagan
Yangon’s main bus station is more a small village than a station. The individual companies have their offices along several small streets, which are all packed with buses. The air is filled with suffocating diesel fumes and still, people sit down for a drink or a bite to eat. Most of the drive up north […]
Tazaungdaing Festival
The Tazaungdaing Festival, also known as the Festival of Lights, held on the full moon day of Tazaungmon, the eighth month of the Burmese calendar, is celebrated as a national holiday in Burma (Myanmar) and marks the end of the rainy season. It also marks the end of the Kathina season, during which monks are […]
Bumpy bumpy
On the road between Pathein and Yangon, about an hour or two to go. This pot-holed parody of a street connects the capital to a city with a population of 300,000, which gives a good idea of the country’s general transport infrastructure. 3G is fairly solid though.
Bananaaaaaaa!
Walking down the street, I come by one of the many small restaurants and a waitress in front of it says “Hello” and asks whether I’d like some food. I say “No” and hold up a recently purchased bunch of bananas. “Bananaaaaaaa!” she shouts and bends over laughing. People here are really friendly. And genuine […]
More People in Ngwe Saung
So the place does get a little more lively after sunset. Locals flock to the beach, drift around in the water (most can’t swim) and sip a beer. The centre of town is basically just a couple of shops and restaurants lined along an unsealed road. It’s easy to tell that everything is set up […]