Burma, ahhh… the Asia I’ve been waiting to see. Myanmar (Burma) is a country that is very different from the rest of Asia. It’s a time-warped country that forces you to remove the technology and focus on the beauty of the country. They just recently started using WiFi (sooooo ssllllloooowwww). Credit cards are not accepted, and there are very few ATMs. In order to get and use money, I had to bring crisp $100 and $50 USD bills into the country (no sign of tears, markings, or strong folds at all). The country is full of temples, monasteries, mountains, tribe villages, and rivers. I arrived in Yangon (Rangoon) with no trouble later that evening and was easily able to get into the country and find my way to the hostel. My new traveling companion, Alicia, was already there. We made our way to a late dinner down the street and went into the dark dingy elevator to access a rooftop restaurant. The dinner consisted of fish and sweet and sour chicken and was enjoyed alongside an awkward fashion show in the restaurant put on by some local girls. They all wore the same thing and just walked in circles, never pausing at the end. We were welcomed into the country by some locals that made us a napkin rose, so we just gave them a nice wave. The next morning we walked throughout the town and into some small shops. It was very rainy, so it was nice to step into Lucky Seven teashop for tea and food. We tried the local dish mohinga (fish broth with thin rice noodles), and then made our way to some other sights. We visited Shewedagon Paya, a zedi (stupa) that is the city’s defining image. It’s a compound of the main zedi and 82 other buildings. The top of the spire is encrusted with over 5000 diamonds and 200 other stones. We walked around the city more, and had lunch at Inya Lake.

On the way, we saw a large group of men playing soccer. We walked into their gated area and sat down to watch them. The game came to a halt, and they just stared at us with big smiles. They continued, but they were all having a good laugh, slightly embarrassed that we were watching.

For the evening, we took a very long night bus to Bagan (10 hours if I recall). The bus periodically pulled over at “truck stops” which was an adventure in itself. I learned quickly not to order food from these places after seeing the kitchen (although we did at stop one). We arrived in Bagan at 4:45 AM in the morning and hoped we could find transportation to our place. Men were lined up at our bus door trying to convince us to take their “taxi.” We agreed on a price with a guy for two people for his “taxi,” and when we walked around the corner it was a bicycle (not motorbike—straight bicycle). We had all of our luggage too. The bicycle had a little seat/cage attached to it, so the three of us and our luggage squeezed onto it. Although I felt sorry for the guy pedaling all of our weight up hill in the dark, it ended up being very nice. The sun rose as did the roosters, and we enjoyed a peaceful ride into town.

The man at our hotel, May Kha Lar Guest House, showed us to our room. We were exhausted from the night bus ride, so we napped until midday. For the afternoon, we rented E-bikes to explore the Bagan Archaeological Zone. From the 11th to the 13th century, 4000 Buddhist temples were built over these plains. Today, around 2000 still stand. The temples were everywhere, and it was truly amazing to see. The E-bikes were a great way to explore. We saw the Ayeyarwady River, and hopped from temple to temple.

Midway through the journey, my bike started to loudly speak in Burmese and randomly honk every 2–3 minutes. It continued to work, so I continued to drive. We watched the sunset at one of the large temples Shwesandaw Paya and were blessed with a rainbow to top off the perfect night. Once the sun finished setting, we headed back to the hotel, and my E-bike ran out of juice. I pedaled for awhile, but it kept locking up. I was dying, dripping with sweat even though it was dark. We pulled over to a snack shop and the owner helped us call the E-bike place. The snack shop lady said to wait, and then the bike would work. I was making fun of it to Alicia because I thought the lady was implying the bike would charge itself. She kept making us wait. After about 15 minutes, the bike owner showed up with a new battery which made me smile because the lady just meant wait for him. We rented the E-bikes again for the next morning after a breakfast of glass noodle lentil soup, and we stopped off at the Ayeyarwady River with some locals.