Mandalay

The bus actually arrived in Mandalay early (5am), which is almost unheard of so I headed straight to a hostel for a but of kip. Duly refreshed and having learnt from my Yangon experience, first up was booking my onward transportation to Bagan.

I decided to go for the train as again there were no buses (water festival) that booked I set off to explore.
To visit the main sights in Mandalay you need to pay a government fee of $10 which of course goes straight into the pockets of the Generals. To avoid this I went on another trip around the temples and monasteries.

The main temple in Mandalay contains a gold Buddha statue, being the Burmese New Year the whole temple was packed with pilgrims. In fact in was almost comparable with the pilgrimages i saw in Tibet.

I wandered though some dusty backstreets and by dusty I mean just sand, led my to some local monasteries. Far more interesting than paying $10 to a 1996 palace reconstruction built by slave labour!!

That evening I went to see the Moustache Brothers, a comedy trio who have been banned and arrested multiple times for satirising the military junta, as part of their traditional Burmese dance and comedy act. They now perform at their home only to foreigners (after a mention in the Hugh Grant film About A Boy they're too well known overseas to completely repress). A fantastically funny and moving experience, in spite of only one of them speaking English:







The next day I hired a motorbike and driver to take me to the surrounding former capital cities of Myanmar. They used to move them regularly on the advice of astrologers..,

The day involved a 100m climb to a temple in 40 degree heat, a horse and cart ride around various monasteries (needless to say avoiding the $10 fee...) and crossing the worlds oldest teak bridge, 200 metres in length!! Who ever said Mandalay wasn't worth visiting!!!

An enjoyable couple of hours in a local beer station preceded my train to Bagan...

Yangon

Arriving in Yangon was nice and easy, with my hostel providing a airport pickup. After that things became more difficult!

Unbeknownst to me the water festival meant that a) everything was closed for a week and b) no buses were running! I thought at this point my Myanmar trip was going to be a limited one...

I decided to make the most of it, with a walk around town come that evening. The Burmese people are amazingly friendly even to the extent of one of them buying me a beer!

Day 2 I donned my wet weather gear (ready for the onslaught) and went for a walking tour of the crumbling colonial old town. You could really see what a magnificent city Rangoon must have been at the peak of the Empire. Many of the old building are in the process of being restored so eventually the Yangon riverfront will be a great attraction for the city

I also managed to find a ticket to Mandalay through the only bus company running, at 3 times the usual price mind, so at least knew I wasn't stuck in Yangon the whole 9 days.

That evening I wandered down to the Sule Pagoda in the centre of town, where a water festival concert was ongoing. Hearing Eye of the Tiger sung in Burmese was one of the stranger experiences of my trip! The Sule Pagoda was open that evening so I had a look around. Lit up at night it was certainly an impressive sight, although I found the excessive use of neon lights around Buddha images at bit bizarre.

With my overnight bus booked I had one last day of the water festival to enjoy/endure... I decided to use the morning to visit Yangon and Myanmar's most revered temple, the Sewadagon Pagoda. At more than 2000 years old and over 100 metres tall, covered in gold leaf and precious stones it's a breathtaking sight and certainly the most beautiful
pagoda/stupa/temple that I've seen so far on my travels! My only mistake was visiting at midday. As with all temples in Myanmar you most remove your shoes and socks before entering. With the temperature at 42 degrees the tiled floor was hot and by hot I mean blisters on the feet hot! Ouch!!

After drying off back at the hostel I caught by, surprisingly nice, overnight bus to Mandalay.

Bangkok II

I only had a few days in Bangkok, primarily to arrange my Myanmar visa, but it was certainly a far more enjoyable experience than the first visit.

I think the main reason was the location and the hostel in which I stayed. This time I booked into a tradition wooden Thai style hostel near, but not on, the Khao San Road. This was a happy accident, as my bus happened to be dropping me in that area.

Bringing near the action, but far enough away to remove myself from it, made a whole different experience for me.

On the day I arrived I hunted down a blues bar that I had been meaning to visit on my first stop. I had a great night drinking with both the locals and a lively expat crowd. Needless to say, getting up early the next day to queue at a visa office was a pain!

The whole day spent arranging the visa was as painless as these thing can be, although involved much form filling and queuing. Lucky I'm British and so an expert...

The one day visa process gave me a free day to wander Bangkok, along the canals and all over the Old Town. A very pleasant day.

That evening set the tone for for the next 7 days of my travels in both Myanmar and Thailand, with the huge water fight that is their New Year celebrations (Songkram inThailand and Thingyan in Myanmar)

I'll talk about Myanmar in my next update. But the evening of the 12th in Bangkok was one huge and i mean HUGE water fight. I was ill prepared for this and ended up damp.

I spent the whole of the next day avoiding getting soaked before my flight, with only marginal success....

Next stop Myanmar

Saigon & Cambodia

A phone breakdown has prevented any updates for a while I'll try and catch up now!!

Saigon

I only had a couple of days in Saigon and so tried to fit as much in as I could.

I visited the military remnants museum first,which was a bizarre collection of American military equipment captured during the Vietnam war. The galleries inside detailing the horrors of the Agent Orange chemical bombing were very disturbing (although certainly tainted with a whiff of communist propaganda). Next up was the reunification palace. Formally the residency of the South Vietnam President. It has been left in the exact state it was in when the Vietcong army tanks crashed through the gates in 1975 (again a bit weird).

Day two was a trip to the Cuchi tunnels just outside the city. These were the underground tunnel network connected to the Mekong used by the Vietcong to infiltrate South Vietnam. Famed for the 'tunnel rat' American troops sent into them to fight in the pitch black. I couldn't even bring myself to go inside a 100 meter section!

Cambodia

Because of my last minute decision to visit Burma my time in Cambodia was limited to a quick week. In that time I was only able to make it to Phnom Penh and Siam Reap (for the Angkor temples)

Phnom Penh was quite a contrast from Saigon. It felt much more like an Indian city, with accompanying squalor.

Day one in the city I visited the famous S 21 prison where tens of thousands of prisoners were held and tortured by the Khmer Rouge, before being taken to the killing fields for execution. An incredibly moving place, each prisoner was photographed and the pictures now adorn the former cells. Of all the prisoners brought here in the 4 years of Khmer Rouge rule only 7 survived.

More moving still was the visit next to killing fields themselves. Certainly a sobering day.

I also visited the Royal Palaces and the National Museum while in Phnom Penh but they were certainly cast into a lesser light by the previous visits.

Next up was Siam Reap as a base for the Angkor Temples. The hostel I stayed at (a great place) had push bikes to hire which was a great way to explore the temples.

The first two days I explored all the close temples along with the museum to get some context. The temples are staggering in both size and the scale of the area they cover. At it's peak Angkor must have been the most magnificent city in the world.

The best day I had was the second which by being overcast and wet, kept the tour groups away meaning I had the temples almost to myself:




The highlight for me was sitting by myself for a couple of hours, watching the sun go down behind Angkor Wat, drinking a couple of beers. Bliss

The 3rd day I hired a tuk tuk and explore the further temples. One unexpected highlight was the Cambodian Land-mine Museum which I visited that day. A private museum set up and run by a former Khmer Rouge child solder, who now devotes his life to clearing mines all over Cambodia and looking after their child victims. A fascinating overview of the evil of mines and unexploded ordinance and the damage they continue to do generations later.

Now back to Bangkok for Burma visa and phone repairs...

De Nang

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was really craving a change from the obvious SE Asia backpacker route, so I decided to stop in De Nang as opposed to Hoi An which is 25km further south.

I had seen brilliant recommendations for a hostel / hotel called Hoa's Guesthouse on China Beach about 10km south of De Nang itself and so decided to head there. The initial impression was not the best as the entire coast looked like one big building site, but it turned put to be one of the best decisions of my travels.

Hoa's was close to the beach and had a fantastic chilled put atmosphere. Those staying there were all long termers (either surfers, researchers or American expats). They were a really sound bunch, just what I needed!

I started off (after my free Barbecue!) by visiting the main local attraction, a complex of buddhist temples on a mountain known locally as Marble Mountain (it was more a hill but I'll stick with mountain). It had some really interesting temples along with several caves, some of which could be climbed right to the various peaks of the mountain!

That evening I join some of the guys going into De Nang for a few beers. The expat bar was fairly standard, but the least said about the mock up American saloon (Saloon 17) the better!

As I was enjoying Hoa's so much, I decided to cancel my onward plans and stay for a few days hiring a scooter.

I joined a trip up to a national park in the mountains (Ba Na) although our efforts to reach the peak on motorbikes was thwarted. We instead went over the Hai Van Pass, as featured in the Top Gear Vietnam special. It was up in the clouds and so wet, but definitely a spectacular ride!

I was told on arrival by David E, one of the Vietnam vets staying at Hoa's, that once or twice a week a group of them climbed Marble Mountain at 5.30am, to see the sun rise from the peak! So next we, that is everyone at Hoa's, dragged ourselves out of bed for the climb. It actually really rewarding with amazing views!

The days bike ride was a trip to Hoi An, which was a pretty place, but I was pleased I'd stayed in De Nang instead. In fact the only disadvantage to not staying in Hoi An was missing out on the chance of a hand made suit.. C'est la Vis

On my final day two of us decided to go for a ride up Monkey Mountain. A mountain peninsular that creates the bay in which De Nang is situated. It was another overcast day and so the mountain was covered in cloud, but we thought it would still be a good ride.

First up we stopped off to see a chapel built by the initial French and Spanish missionaries who failed to get a foothold Vietnam because of disease and local resistants, which on turn gave the French the excuse to invade...




After this bit of culture we hit the 30% angle road up the mountain in minimal visibility. We soon discovered that the roads were being repaired (i.e. dug up) making the trip even more treacherous!! In spite of this it was still a great trip, although the veiwing point offered little




As I was running out of petrol, we headed back to De Nang stopping to attempt to capture a picture of the road (best effort)



The next day I had to sadly say good by to Hoa and his family. He is facing eviction after 16 years running his guesthouse, as the land has been earmark for development of yet another resort. I sincerely hope the local government see sense and realise what someone like Hoa brings to the area.

One of the decisions I made while chatting with the guys one evening was that, although southern Thailand would be fun, I would much prefer to visit Burma. The choice having been made I booked my flights! Burma in mid April here I come...

Next stop Saigon

Hue

Sorry for the lack of updates, Internet coverage in Vietnam is ropey at best..

Hue was a really nice town for a quick stop down the coast from Hanoi. Nice but wet, very wet.

In the end I stopped in Hue for 2 nights day one involved I scooter ride to visit the tombs of former emperors dotted around the area. I found 1 in 5 hours. I also got soaked!!

Day two involved a walk around the formal royal palace complex including the Purple Forbidden City. The central complex had been almost entirely flattered during the Vietnam war, although having visited the Forbidden City in Beijing it was easy to picture it in it's former glory.

Having only taken a morning to visit the forbidden city, I also managed to catch a Vietnamese 2nd tier football match!

Vietnam had a really nice bar and restaurant scene, although it was the same old crowd from Hanoi. With this in mind I decided that my next stop would be the little visited city of De Nang rather than Hoi An. This turned out to be a great decision, but more about that later....