Myanmar
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By boat from Mawlamyine to Hpa An
Following construction of a road, the boat trip from Mawlamyine to Hpa An in south eastern Myanmar became obsolete public transport for locals. Now the journey is reserved for foreigners as a leisurely alternative to bumpy bitumen. However, apart from an unnecessary temple excursion adding an extra hour and a 1,000 kyat tuk-tuk fee, it’s a pleasant and interesting way to […]
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Mawlamyine: Pagodas and Poems Minus the Grime
Maps can inspire false impressions. In cities, for instance, they reveal the avenues and boulevards and winding streets; the parklands and rivers; the cafes and restaurants, museums and temples. But they don’t portray the imperfections: the rubbish, the smells, the noise, the potholed roads or lumpy footpaths or the chaotic traffic, or the heat and humidity …or the poverty. Then […]
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Another Day Around Ye
“I apologise if anyone in my village does wrong to you,” said the boatman as I paid for our just completed journey up the River Ye at Jaun Yua in Mon State, southern Myanmar. Fortunately, he also worked for the local emergency rescue. Before the boatman made the above comment, I had already gained an impression some locals were becoming disgruntled […]
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Dawei Dayze
Dawei is one of those in between Myanmar towns – enough travellers venturing there to provide some creature comforts, like a good cafe or two, and a wider variety of dining options, while retaining a friendly, casual atmosphere of somewhere less visited. And it has a great ice-cream shop (depicted above), reminiscent of one I frequented in Mandalay when there […]
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A Moment in Myeik
Myeik, sometimes known as Mergui, is off the traveller’s circuit in southern Myanmar. While tourism potential abounds the infrastructure hasn’t been established yet, apart from comparatively expensive day trips to nearby islands. Other day trip options exist, but weren’t available in early November during my brief stay. Foreigners are not quite the novelty they once were, but few are still […]
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A day in Ye
People wanted to feed me, women wanted to marry me, kids got excited, men wanted to buy me drinks. And, of course, some people were totally indifferent. Ye (pronounced ‘yay’) is in Mon State, Myanmar and, for the moment, is a little off the main travel route. Photos in this slideshow were taken during one day while journeying by motorbike […]
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Ranong to Khawthaung visa run the fun way.
March, 2018. I recently completed this Thai visa run as an alternative to obtaining a 30 day extension through an immigration office for 1900 baht (and possible bureaucratic and/or logistic hurdles depending on where you are trying to do it). It also fitted in with other travel plans. Ranong is a Thai border town along the Andaman Coast that is more interesting […]
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Myanmar, Taunggyi Balloon Festival
The International Balloon Festival in Taunggyi, Myanmar was held in mid November, 2013, during Tazgaungmon at the end of the eighth lunar month, and is one of the most spectacular events on any calendar, but one I nearly didn’t attend, even though chance deposited me in the right place at the right time …well near enough: within seventy kilometres.
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Myanmar Shangri La
This plateau of hill tribes in Myanmar proves to be rustic rather than primal. There’s no jungle or bark huts or uncultivated natives. It’s pastoral, more like being in a European art-house movie set at the turn of last century with enchanting characters and muted landscapes where boy meets girl in a script written by someone from the Romantic School.
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