Yangon-Ngwe Saung

Ok well it has been a while since entering on the blog, and well that may have something to do with the severe lack of internet and the firm iron grip that the government has on its people. Well there is just the trouble that you can't access any web based email (pretty much all email) unless you go through this kind of hacker email site. It's not easy. But i will try to bring you up to speed. Oh and also pictures are very slow, if you didn't assume that already.

Well we spent a few days in Yangon checking out the scene and figuring out just where we can go in this country and what is possible and in which routes that the government can be avoided as much as possible. It It was and interesting process where we just brought out a map of Burma and got the lady to put barriers and big X's where we couldn't go. It seems to be not that bad as the govt is concentrating on the high end tourist business where the people come on really expensive tours, fly everywhere and stay in really expensive places. And since we are not into any of those things, it's not hard to avoid the junta. We just won't be travelling overland to thailand unfortunately and so we must catch a flight from Yangon to Bangkok instead and go from there. We visited the paya that was in the center of the city and to which all the roads are organised from. Justina was caught by the cage of cute birdies out front and we paid the $1 to set one of them free for good luck. I sometimes just feel like saying, how much for the whole set? We founf one place with internet that was in i believe one of the government malls, you can tell them because they are all a/c and super nice inside with flower shops and guards and such but of course totaly empty of people. we found another internet place across the road which was cheaper and locally owned. We tried to go to a travel agent but since we rarely know what day it is, we doon found out that it's sunday and the travel agent is closed. ok then. We walked over to this large market area where tere was no shortage of fabrics and jewelery and bamboo frogs and souvenir tshirts. But it was just so nice to walk around a market and 1) not have everyone stare at you and 2) not have everyone yelling at you to buy their stuff. We were staying in a place for the first few nights with no windows but a/c (although the power was very inconsistent so we really could have used some windows) and then swtiched to a place that was much more affordable and practical for us. The first place claimed to have the best breakfast in the world and i could maybe argue otherwise but i let them have their small glory. I'm glad we didn't escape all of India or I would miss it too much so I was glad to see that the entire back alley was fully of trash. I also got a feel of India as we went to see a Bollywood movie that was playing at the English theatre, so yes, there was English subtitles and you could actually tell what was going on. And yes we actually got to see some Bollywood dancing and singing but there could have been more, always could have been more. It still had all the ridiculous aspects of a Bollywood movie, the 3+ hours long, the totally crazy fill in story parts that include aliens and computers that can see the future and ohh the romance with it's so close to kissing but not quite. After another day in Yangon we tried to book a bus ticket to Changtha beach was learned that it was full so instead we got a ticket to Ngwe Saung beach which wasn't as big but supposedly much nicer. Well the beach turned out to be very nice indeed but the bus ride there, well that's another story.

So first of all the bus terminal for Yangon is freaking far away (about 15km out of town) and it's costs $6 by taxi just to go there. And of course all the buses here leave so freaking early (6am) so we end us catching the taxi at 4:30am. And then we are paying $9 for our bus ticket to the "Beach resort". Well ask about the bus and they point us to the yellow bus (which actually had a mustard orange stripe on it, not yellow, but it was much too early to argue about such details ). And this bus is really just a local bus but of course we are paying the tourist price for a bus that would be $1 india, maybe 2. So me being nearly the tallest person on the bus gets the seat right at the back wheel with my legs to my chest. Mmm, 6 hour ride. Well by the end i couldn't feel much from the waist down and was for sure ready for the beach. This one guy from a hotel told us to come check out his place so we did and when we got there we learn that the place is actually full (thanks, could've used a little communication skills there). We return to another place where they have a wonderful little bungalo for us right on the beach so we took it without another word. We sent the next 5 nights and 5 days relaxing and just enjoying the beach life. I could have easily stayed another week but we decided that we should probably see some more of this country and save the next beach session for thailand. But the days passed by very fast, swimming, eating food, reading, swimming, napping, hammoking and eating food. I went for a run along the 9 mile stretch of the beach (of course i went to far and ended up being sore for the next 3 days but i passed resort after resort, most of which are inteh $50-$150 a night range. Almost all of them were totally empty, it was that bad. But i can totally understand it. I mean the government wants to develop this place (they ordered the entire village that was there moved 100m) but they of course go it all the wrong way as most military dictatoships go. They put all these really expensive hotels there, man of which they own themselves and yet don't develop the route there. So there is only a local bus that connects to the place unless you hire your own taxi for the 6 hour drive. So the room is $140 a night but you have to get on a 6 hour bus that is packed, hot, dusty, with people barfing and no leg room to get there. Mmm, just doesn't fit together. Anyways, at our place we had these three very cute ladies who worked there and got maybe 6 hours sleep everyday and yet had more energy than i have seen in a person in a while. This one girl would run everywhere and up to greet you when you came for breakfast or got in from dinner in the village. So after I would just run up to her as well jsut so that she wouldn't have to run as far. The last night, we had a bit of a bonfire with the rest of the people at the resort and the girls did some dancing for us and we did a little dancing for them. And boy, we partied hard, all the way until 11pm!! I know, crazy. Well we eventually decided to go and caught the 6am bus back to Yangon hoping to hook up with another bus to Bagan that same day so we wouldn't have to stay in Yangon or go to and from the bus terminal twice.