A few days on the road, and finally we were in our first larger town, Hue, Vietnam. We stayed at a local hostel, and upon checking into our dorm rooms, immediately grabbed a few bikes and set off to watch the sunset, again, over the farmland. Hue is a beautiful town, and it took just moments on bikes to ride from the center of town to pristine rice paddies.
Cruising on out of town on our hip bikes. Biking in Vietnam is instantly great.
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On the outskirts of town, we got to see all sorts of neat propaganda billboards.
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Soon, rice paddies are everywhere, with sun glinting off the water between perfectly even rows.
And of course, what good is a sunset bikeride without a perfect dinner at the end? Some local flavors at one of the best restaurants of the trip.
After a day of exploring Paradise Cafe, we rolled on over to the beautiful Phong Nha Farmstay for an evening swim, drink, and sunset.
The farmstay is a beautiful hostel located right on the edge of a huge section of farmland. The various buildings that make up the farmstay are clean and nice. Out back, there’s an idilic pool with waterfall, and the rooftop bar even has a tiny tram system for drinks to be ferried up to the roof from the poolside bar. I had a great time there having a drink or two with manager Ben, and viewing the beautiful sunset. Definitely stay there on your next trip!
Driving southward in Vietnam, one of the distinct highlights of the natural landscape is the world-class cave formations. Although our time traveling through the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was limited, the essential stop at Paradise Cave was incredible.
This gigantic cave was only discovered in 2005, and tourists have only been allowed to enter since 2010. So, it’s not a particularly old attraction, but in the years that it’s been open to tourism, supporting infrastructure has been build up to an extreme. From Wikipedia:
Thiên ???ng Cave (Paradise Cave) is a cave in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, UNESCO’s World Heritage Site, 60 km northwest of ??ng H?i city. Thiên ???ng Cave is located on an elevation of 200 meters above the sea level, near the west branch of Ho Chi Minh Highway, in Son Trach Commune, Bo Trach District, Quang Binh Province, Vietnam. The cave was discovered by a local man in 2005 and 5 first km of this cave was explored by explorers from British Cave Research Association in 2005, the whole 31 km was explored and publicly announced by the British cave explorers. This cave is 31 km long, longer than Phong Nha Cave which had been considered the longest cave in this national park. The height can reach to 100 m and 150 wide. The limestone formation is also more spectacular than that of Phong Nha Cave. The British cave explorers was impressed by the beautiful and spectacular stalactites and stalagmites inside this cave and they named it Thiên ???ng Cave (Paradise Cave).[1][2] In 2012, a new scorpion species Vietbocap thienduongensis was found here.
On our way to Paradise Cave, we stopped at a very very tasty local restaurant – particularly, the banana flower salad was amazing.
Driving into Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was beautiful, with limestone cliffs jutting out of the jungle everywhere.
Our drive south into the national park, we drove along the long, winding concrete road that runs the length of the park. For the most part, the road is well maintained, and very windy – lots of sharp turns, and ups and downs through the mountains. However, at one point near the end of our drive, we hit a strange section. As we were winding around the last corner, all of a sudden, the road took a turn, and suddenly we were on an extremely flat, straight, wide, and smooth portion of road. It looked strangely like a runway, including an a few unmarked roads leading off the straight section into another patch of concrete next to a few buildings next to it – much like an apron. Strange. Later, I learned that what we were driving on was in fact a north vietnamese secret runway, used during the war. It’s now been turned into part of the main road, but it’s obviously still in a condition that would allow it to be used again with a bit of rehab. Suspicious.
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The Paradise Cave entrance area is way overbuilt, and heavily touristed. After driving hours into the jungle, we had all expected to be exploring a dark, peaceful, empty cave. But what we found was the exact opposite – hoards of tour bus package tourists had descended on the site, and were eating crappy icecream bars as golf carts drove them to the stairs leading to the entrance to the cafe.
Inside the cave, it was very built for tourism – a grand staircase led down to a perfect wooden walkway, allowing almost everybody to have a great stroll through the cave. Although overdone, the walkway and LED lighting everywhere gave everybody an excellent experience in the cave – as far as overdone tourist traps go, this was actually a fairly well executed one.
The inside of the cave is truly enormous – and it’s not just a bare rock cave. Stalactites drive from every bit of the cieling, and strange formations crop up everywhere. Everything is illuminated by well placed LED lights, and it’s a truly spectacular sight.
After the cave, we drove down the road a bit for a refreshing swim in the river, and then a tasty, fresh cooked lunch in a bamboo cabana next to the water. A great day!
On our way down to Hue, we made one brief, but solid stop at the Vinh Moc Tunnels. From Wikipedia:
Vinh Moc (V?nh M?c) is a tunnel complex in Quang Tri, Vietnam. During the Vietnam War it was strategically located on the border of North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The tunnels were built to shelter people from the intense bombing of Son Trung and Son Ha communes in Vinh Linh county of Quang Tri Province in the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone. The American forces believed the villagers of Vinh Moc were supplying food and armaments to the North Vietnamese garrison on the island of Con Co which was in turn hindering the American bombers on their way to bomb Hanoi. The idea was to force the villagers of Vinh Moc to leave the area but as is typical in Vietnam there was nowhere else to go. The villagers initially dug the tunnels to move their village 10 metres underground but the American forces designed bombs that burrowed down 10 metres. Eventually against these odds, the villagers moved the village to a depth of 30 metres. It was constructed in several stages beginning in 1966 and used until early 1972. The complex grew to include wells, kitchens, rooms for each family and spaces for healthcare. Around 60 families lived in the tunnels; as many as 17 children were born inside the tunnels.
Since the area above the tunnels was continuously pummeled by bombs during the war, bomb craters are everywhere – and huge.
Concrete ditches run everywhere, allowing the people living in the tunnels to sneak around on the surface, and fight against enemies on the land.
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The tunnels sit on a hillside looking over the South China Sea. It’s a beautiful view.
Inside, the tunnels are very very small and cramped – it’s amazing that anybody was able to live in there for as long as they did.
After departing the beautifully abandoned Cuc Phuong National Park Resort and stopping to see a few monkeys and turtles, we hopped on bikes to complete the next leg of the journey through Cuc Phuong National Park.
There’s a reasonably well maintained concrete road that winds its way through the park – perfect for leisurely biking.
Our main stop during our day of biking was at the Na Mo Cave of Prehistoric Man. From Wikitravel:
The Cave of Prehistoric man is the site of the one of the earliest discoveries of human habitation in Vietnam. Excavated in 1966, the cave revealed human graves, stone axes, pointed bone spears, oyster shell knives, and tools for grinding dating back 7,500 years ago.
Exploring the cave was interesting – it wasn’t particularly difficult to access the entrance – but when we arrived, it was realized that nobody had brought a flashlight or headlamp except for me. I was lucky to have my headlamp with me, but everybody else used the flashes on their smartphones as flashlights – lame, but it worked. In traveling alone through asia, I got to meet all sorts of people – including ones who go caving without a proper light! It was all in good fun, though.
The next day of our journey southward, we woke up early in the middle of Cuc Phuong National Park, and headed over to the Wildlife Preservation Center. Monkeys and Turtles were the main attractions. However, we also saw a few interesting insects, as well as a spectacular view from the top of the park rangers tower.
Deep inside north Vietnam’s Cuc Phuong National Park lies an abandoned resort. From the looks of it, its been lying dormant for a number of years, with the jungle slowly eating away at the once sprawling structures. There’s a conference center, now inhabited by butterflies. There’s an olympic size swimming pool, now turned into a turtle pond.
After spending a few days in Hanoi, and a weird two days in Halong Bay, I joined up with a group of friends, and the 7 of us, plus our van driver, headed down the coast towards Hoi An. Our first stop on our long drive down the coast was the Cuc Phuong National Park – a beautiful park which has within it mysterious limestone caves, animal preserves, and beautiful hiking trails. After a full day of exploring the park, we finally rolled into a once-abandoned building within the resort complex. The building, although it was officially abandoned, had been taken over by a family or two, who ran it as a sort of makeshift guesthouse. Sparse accommodations, with patchy electricity, but livable nonetheless.
During our single night at the “resort”, we took a night hike through the rain to check out a bunch of insects, had a few beers back at the house, and got a good night’s sleep in the jungle.
Halong Bay lies just north of Hanoi, and is one of the absolute must-see excursions for anyone visiting Hanoi. And for good reason – the bay, with it’s towering stone karsts jutting out of the water as far as the eye can see is stunningly beautiful. Marine life abounds, fisherman ply the waters, birds take to the air, and the serene rocks emerging from the water welcome every evening’s golden sunset.
Since I was staying at Hanoi Backpackers Hostel in Hanoi, I made the fateful decision of joining them on their “Castaways” Halong Bay Tour. I thought it was going to be like any normal boat tour – get on the boat, relax with a drink, have the knowledgeable local tour guide explain to you about your surroundings as you serenely navigate the waters.
Instead, what I got was vastly different. Since Halong Backpackers is oriented towards the young 20’s drinking crowd, this was not a tour – it was a full on booze cruise. I should have known, but I didn’t.
For the booze cruize oriented portions of the trip – it was aussie tour guides encouraging everybody to drink heavily, while wearing colorful sombreros and yelling wildly. I participated for all of one single beer, and spent the rest of the time enjoying the view and taking photos.
Halong Bay is indeed extremely beautiful, and seeing the fisherman bring in their nets at sunset was a relaxing and wonderful experience. I loved the natural beauty of Halong Bay, including kayaking through dramatic caves – but next time, I won’t accidentally join the booze cruise.
Finally, I made it to Vietnam. Another country that had always had a bit of a mystical, legendary status for me, for whatever reason. It was good to be there, and I was excited to get exploring the rest of the country. I only spent about 4 days in Hanoi, but the time I did spend there was great.
I arrived from Luang Prabang, Laos on Vietnam Airlines, and met up with a few fellow travellers in the airport. The four of us made our way to the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel, which at the time seemed like a good option. In retrospect, I should have picked anywhere except for this place. Hanoi Backpackers is a relatively nice hostel, however, it’s aimed squarely at the early 20’s, just out of “uni” Aussie, Kiwi, and Brit drinking crowd. The place is filled with these kids, freshly escaped from school and their parents home, and excited to drink together and hang out. Given that I’m a bit older, and was traveling not solely to get drunk with my same group of friends, it wasn’t exactly my scene. But still, it was a relatively clean place, and when my room didn’t have drunken frat boys stumbling around in it, was a nice place to sleep. The one nice feature of this style of Hostel is that when I did want to have a night out to meet people at bars and clubs, there were more than enough options the front desk staff had to suggest.
Also in Hanoi, I had the very good fortune of meeting up with my friend Kyle, who is a fellow photographer. We had a few good rounds of the local brew, Bia Hoi, which costs about USD$0.20/glass, and is drank while sitting on flimsy plastic stools on the sidewalk.
Additionally, in Hanoi, I got to check out a traditional Water Puppet show – certainly interesting.
While in Laos, I also did a bit of trekking in the mountains. Luang Prabang is a beautiful town, and is situated on the edge of the northern Laotian mountains, making it an excellent starting point for incredible trekking. I joined up with two friends, and together the three of us, as well as our local Hmong guide from White Elephant Adventures trekked up into the mountains.
On the first day, the four of us hopped in the back of a covered pickup truck in Luang Prabang, and set off on the road to the mountains. About an hour into the drive, we were stopped temporarily by Laos
Finally walking after our truck ride. The walk into the mountains was beautiful, and we got to cross a few hand made, seasonal bamboo bridges. The bridges are only present during the dry season, and are swept away every year by the monsoon season floods.
As we passed through villages, we met lots of villagers and their kids. Although the people are very poor, they
Continuing on, we passed through a number of large rubber tree plantations.
The bark of the tree is cut in a diagonal pattern, and a tap is inserted at the base of the cut, funneling the rubber sap into a cup.
We passed through beautiful and rugged jungles, with steep cliffs looming overhead. The scenery here is incredible.
After an easy 7 hour hike, we made it to our stopping point for the evening, and immediately fell in with meeting the locals and relaxing.
I also helped feed the pigs!
In the evening, we sat around a single candle and discussed the locals way of life, and listened to the sounds of the surrounding jungle.
The next morning, an early wakeup in a beautiful setting, and then a quick 4 hour hike to the river.
At the river, we loaded our backpacks into kayaks, and set off down the river for a smooth arrival back in Luang Prabang.
At the river, we loaded our backpacks into kayaks, and set off down the river for a smooth arrival back in Luang Prabang.
Overal, the trip was way too short, but a great intro to the hill tribe life, given the time I had. White Elephant Tours did a great jobs, and I’d certainly recommend them for future travelers. Additionally, it’s worth noting that I took a few hours upon my return to sit with the White Elephant guide staff and give them a quick field medicine overview. I was happy to be teaching some of my W-EMT skills in Laos!
Luang Prabang is: Exotic, Relaxing, Colonial. Rolling into town fresh off of the slow boat, it was a beautiful sight – French Colonial style houses line the streets, the open air market thrives, and people walk around serenely looking out to the waters of the Mekong River. Unfortunately I only had 5 days in Laos, but I tried to make the most of it.
After checking in at the X2 Capsule Hotel guesthouse on the first day there, me and a few people from the boat immediately walked over to the open air market for some delicious Laotian food. Food vendors in the central market cook giant tables full of food – and charge about USD$1 for as much food as you can eat – it’s tasty and fresh, and the first night in Luang Prabang was fantastic. Naturally after a good meal, a few of us went over to the hippest bar in town – appropriately named Utopia. This idillic bar/garden/restaurant/beach volleyball arena has everything you could want for a relaxing evening, including a great view out to the river. Sets of kids laze around on mats, sipping drinks, looking out over the river.
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The next morning, waking up early, another big group of us hailed an eager TukTuk driver and got a ride out to the majestic Kuang Si Falls – easily one of the most beautiful waterfall swimming areas I’ve experienced.
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After the caves, we took our TukTuk across town to the river, and then a small boat across the river for a bit cave exploring. The Pak Ou Caves are beautifully set into a cliffside on the side of the river, and it ended up being a perfect place to watch the sunset.
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And naturally, a great dinner with friend Maud at the best restaurant in Luang Prabant – Tamarind. Manager Rudy is always fun to be around, too. Recommend their Granitas!
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For my final day in Luang Prabang, I spent a bit of time exploring town. Luang Prabang is truly a beautiful town, and the French influence is felt everywhere. The houses are beautiful, streets are well laid out, and everything seems calm and cool with the rivers running around the edges of town. Also with the main part of town being surrounded by water, the houses and people become compressed a bit, creating a sense of excitement everwhere. I spent a good amount of time exploring local cafes, temples, playing Bocce with locals, and eating crepe’s from street vendors.
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It’s worth noting that I took a few supremely relaxing morning runs in Luang Prabang. Every morning I would get up as early as I could, take a leisurely walk across the seasonal bamboo bridge, and then run northwards along the river banks. Running here was the most relaxing and serene running in all of Asia – definitely recommended.
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Finally, despite Luang Prabang’s serene vibe, it’s worth noting that Laos is the most bombed country in the world, and the effects of bombing during the war are still felt. The Luang Prabang Unexploded Ordinance (UXO) museum is a grisly reminder of the countries war-torn past.
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Next after exploring Luang Prabang and hiking in the hills was Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Taking the slow boat to Laos is a travel pilgrimage that I had heard of for years, and after a few days in Chiang Mai, I was finally ready to embark on the journey.
By the time we hit the border, it was 3 in the morning. A few quick winks of sleep, and then back up to start the river journey.
Luckily, I started with a great breakfast with friends while watching sunrise over the Mekong River
After stamping out at Chiang Kong, everybody is piled into a longtail boat and taken across the river into the Lao bordertown of Huay Xai, where restamping happens.
Overall a mostly smooth process
The slow boat is slow, and most of the day was spent relaxing on the water and watching the countryside go by.
At the end of the first day, the boat stopped at the small town of Pakbeng, where all the tourits are aggressively marketed to, and ushered to various guesthouses
Evening in Pakbeng was nice, with some good food and good beers!
The second day started with another beautiful sunrise and breakfast, and then back on the boat for the final leg of the journey.
Finally arriving in Luang Prabang, I hiked up to the road, and shared a TukTuk into town with a few fellow travelers.
My decision to fly from Bangkok to Yangon meant that I would be missing a bit of time in Thailand. Although I really would love to have had much more time to explore central Thailand, the best way for me to stay on schedule was to fly directly from Yangon to Chiang Mai, skipping the overnight train ride from Bangkok, and skipping a lot of Thailand’s interior. A sacrifice for sure, but given a compressed schedule, this was what made the most sense.
When I arrived in Chiang Mai, I checked in at the excellent Julie Guesthouse. Although this place is technically a hostel, it has private rooms as well, and a vibrant traveler community. Their menu of food is relatively complete and well priced, and the common area is a great place to hang out and chat with fellow travelers.
On my first night there, I got lucky and arrived just in time for the weekly street market. At the night market, vendors sell all sorts of clothing, handycrafts, and art. Additionally, there are a bunch of food stands. One notable food stand consisted of a GIANT block of black jelly, which they served with sugar. Very strange.
Chiang Mai has many specialties, and one of them is custom tailoring. I knew I was attending a wedding later in the summer, so I took the opportunity in Thailand to get two suits custom made for me. One dark, one light. Here’s a video of me getting fitted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEPAg_iYCzk
Chiang Mai is also home to the Tiger Kingdom, which is a zoo of sorts showing off all sorts of tigers. I made a friend at Julie Guesthouse, and together we hopped on our motorbikes and went to check out the tigers, swim in waterfalls,and watch the sunset. A pretty good day.
And finally, on my last day in Chiang Mai, I took a traditional thai cooking class – we made a few tasty dishes, and it was very interesting learning how all the flavors come together. I also got a ride with the coolest TukTuk driver in town, in the nicest TukTuk in town!
Two weeks definitely was not enough time to spend exploring Myanmar, but it was finally time for me to move on to my next adventure. I returned with my new friends back to Yangon, and decided to stay in town for another few days to relax and see some more friends in town.
The first night a few of us went out to eat noodles on the street with a pack of dogs, and then went to a friend’s art exhibit in an abandoned building on the ourskirts of town.
Another day of relaxing at small cafes on the street, biking around town with chicken traders, and then I was off to the airport for my flight from Yangon, Myanmar to Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Together with new friends Marcus, Marcus and Kai, the four of us hitched a very very late night ride out of Bagan, and set off to the otherwise-unremarkable town of Taunggyi, Myanmar. Although Taunggyi doesn’t have a huge tourist draw, we had heard that there were a number of Teak logging camps setup in one of the world’s few natural Teak forests, and that elephants were being used to illegally pull the downed teak out of the forrest.
We set off from Bagan on a bus, and were dropped off on the side of the highway a few miles outside of Taunggyi at about three in the morning. When the four of us were dropped off, we were tired, and had no idea where we were – but luckily managed to hitch a ride in a pickup truck into town. We got dropped off at a local guesthouse, and after a bit of early morning haggling, managed to find a guy who would take us in his truck the next morning to go find the loggers. Whew, that was a very long and convoluted night, and we finally got a basic hotel room for a quick three hours of sleep.
A few hours later we got up, piled in the back of a rusty pickup truck, and set off for the 3 hour drive out to Myanmar’s teak forest. As we got farther from the city, the landscape became immediately more rural, with farmland starting immediately at the city limits. Central Myanmar’s landscape is beautiful, with rolling hills giving way to massive forests.
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After a few hours driving, we finally got to within range of where we had heard the logging camp was. We started stopping to ask local villagers, and finally parked and hiking on foot, found a small dirt trail that lead to their camp -we knew we were on the correct path when we started tripping over elephant tracks in the mud.
The elephant camp is a temporary camp, and the loggers live at the camp along with their wives and entire families. Houses are made quickly and cheaply from bamboo, and are ready to be abandoned or moved in a moments notice. Elephants live with the people, and are cared for like a member of the family. Although in the pictures the elephants can be seen with chains on for hauling logs, I was impressed by how close the loggers seemed to their elephants. Each logger had his own elephant which he rode on all day, worked with, and bathed – a very tight bond.
When we arrived, the loggers were a bit surprised to see us, but our driver had a discussion with them, and they invited us to see their elephants and sit with them for lunch. After lunch, luckily, we were invited to go with them and their elephants out into the woods to retrieve some logs that had recently been cut.
Riding on the back of an elephant going through the woods was a great experience – these elephants are working elephants – they’re usually only ridden on by their handler, and the wooden harness they wear on their backs is primarily meant as a rack to haul food and supplies around the forest. It was a bit of a challenge to stay balanced on the elephant, especially since we were hiking through very steep mountain terrain. At one point one of the baby elephants following us needed a bit of help getting up the steep muddy slopes of the bamboo and teak forest. Overal though, the elephants were extremely sure footed and stable. Although they are large, they were very agile, gentle, and easy to be around.
The amount of wood these elephants can haul is incredible. Our trek through the woods took about 30 minutes, to a point where they had started cutting down the teak forest. Each elephant was chained up to a downed log, and with a bit of encouragement, began to drag it out. The heavy logs left deep ruts in the soft forest soil, and easily mowed over thick bamboo shoots. The logs were dragged down to the creek bed, and then along it, where giant boulders were easily displaced by the huge logs and powerful elephants.
Overall an interesting and fun experience, save for the fact that we were actively participating in the illegal logging trade.
From Mandalay, I pushed on by bus to Bagan. This ancient city is a major historical and archeological site, and its land is covered by Temples and Stupas, as far as the eye can see. Truly a spectacular place, I spent two days here exploring and taking photos.
My transport from Mandalay to Bagan was via bus – and although I try not to travel by bus whenever possible, to get to Bagan this was the only way. The day I departed it was raining, and women splashed around in the mud parking lot selling snacks and meals to travelers.
Arriving in Bagan, I linked up with some other fellow travelers, and together we negotiated for a ride over to the Winner Guesthouse. The place was basic, but inexpensive and clean enough. Notably, it seemed like they were in the midst of a major renovation, and were building yet another building in the backyard. This was actually the vibe at most places I stayed at in Myanmar. Open for business, but rapidly expanding their operations. Tourism is new in Myanmar, but growing quickly, and with good reason – the country is absolutely beautiful, and the people are wonderful.
A bit about Bagan – it’s simply incredible. Everywhere you look, there are brick temples and stupas dotting the landscape. In peoples gardens and beside roads, there are small ones, as small as a few feet high. And looming in the distance are temples hundreds of feet high. There are stupas of every size, shape, and variety. Each one has a name, and a unique story to it. Walking around the area is bewildering, with so much packed into such a compact area.
Bagan (Burmese: ????; MLCTS: pu.gam, IPA: [b??à?]; formerly Pagan) is an ancient city located in the Mandalay Region of Burma (Myanmar). From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Kingdom of Pagan, the first kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern Myanmar. During the kingdom’s height between the 11th and 13th centuries, over 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains alone, of which the remains of over 2200 temples and pagodas still survive to the present day.
Architecture
Bagan stands out not only for the sheer number of religious edifices but also for the magnificent architecture of the buildings, and their contribution to Burmese temple design. The Bagan temple falls into one of two broad categories: the stupa-style solid temple and the gu-style (??) hollow temple.
Stupas
A stupa, also called a pagoda, is a massive structure, typically with a relic chamber inside. The Bagan stupas or pagodas evolved from earlier Pyu designs, which in turn were based on the stupa designs of the Andhra region, particularly Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda in present-day southeastern India, and to a smaller extent to Ceylon.[19] The Bagan-era stupas in turn were the prototypes for later Burmese stupas in terms of symbolism, form and design, building techniques and even materials.[20]
Originally, an Indian/Ceylonese stupa had a hemispheric body (Pali: anda, “the egg”) on which a rectangular box surrounded by a stone balustrade (harmika) was set. Extending up from the top of the stupa was a shaft supporting several ceremonial umbrellas. The stupa is a representation of the Buddhist cosmos: its shape symbolizes Mount Meru while the umbrella mounted on the brickwork represents the world’s axis.[21] The brickwork pediment was often covered in stucco and decorated in relief. Pairs or series of ogres as guardian figures (‘bilu’) were a favourite theme in the Bagan period.[22]
The original Indic design was gradually modified first by the Pyu, and then by Burmans at Bagan where the stupa gradually developed a longer, cylindrical form. The earliest Bagan stupas such as the Bupaya (c. 9th century) were the direct descendants of the Pyu style at Sri Ksetra. By the 11th century, the stupa had developed into a more bell-shaped form in which the parasols morphed into a series of increasingly smaller rings placed on one top of the other, rising to a point. On top the rings, the new design replaced the harmika with a lotus bud. The lotus bud design then evolved into the “banana bud”, which forms the extended apex of most Burmese pagodas. Three or four rectangular terraces served as the base for a pagoda, often with a gallery of terra-cotta tiles depicting Buddhist jataka stories. The Shwezigon Pagoda and the Shwesandaw Pagoda are the earliest examples of this type.[21] Examples of the trend toward a more bell-shaped design gradually gained primacy as seen in the Dhammayazika Pagoda (late 12th century) and the Mingalazedi Pagoda (late 13th century).[23]
Hollow temples
In contrast to the stupas, the hollow gu-style temple is a structure used for meditation, devotional worship of the Buddha and other Buddhist rituals. The gu temples come in two basic styles: “one-face” design and “four-face” design—essentially one main entrance and four main entrances. Other styles such as five-face and hybrids also exist. The one-face style grew out of 2nd century Beikthano, and the four-face out of 7th century Sri Ksetra. The temples, whose main features were the pointed arches and the vaulted chamber, became larger and grander in the Bagan period.[24]
Innovations
Although the Burmese temple designs evolved from Indic, Pyu (and possibly Mon) styles, the techniques of vaulting seem to have developed in Bagan itself. The earliest vaulted temples in Bagan date to the 11th century while the vaulting did not become widespread in India until the late 12th century. The masonry of the buildings shows “an astonishing degree of perfection”, where many of the immense structures survived the 1975 earthquake more or less intact.[21] (Unfortunately, the vaulting techniques of the Bagan era were lost in the later periods. Only much smaller gu style temples were built after Bagan. In the 18th century, for example, King Bodawpaya attempted to build the Mingun Pagoda, in the form of spacious vaulted chambered temple but failed as craftsmen and masons of the later era had lost the knowledge of vaulting and keystone arching to reproduce the spacious interior space of the Bagan hollow temples.[20])
Another architectural innovation originated in Bagan is the Buddhist temple with a pentagonal floor plan. This design grew out of hybrid (between one-face and four-face designs) designs. The idea was to include the veneration of the Maitreya Buddha, the future and fifth Buddha of this era, in addition to the four who had already appeared. The Dhammayazika and the Ngamyethna Pagoda are examples of the pentagonal design.[21]
As soon as I was checked into the guesthouse, I quickly changed clothes, and went out to the road to find a horse carriage driver to show me around a bit. Since I had just arrived, and hadn’t done a ton of research on the area, I figured that hiring a guy to take me around for a few hours was good. And it was great. My driver was a 28 year old guy who had lived near Bagan his whole life. He had bough his horse – Juliette – from his brother a few years ago, and he and horse had been giving tours of Bagan ever since. He seemed to really like his job, and was very knowlegable and fun to hang out with. For the afternoon, we went around to a bunch of the temples dotting the landscape. Some of the structures are Stupas, meaning they are solid brick. Most are protected, but a few are able to be climbed. Since tourism is new in Myanmar, it’s pretty much open terretory here – very little regulation means that nobody will really stop you if you climb on the structures – I’m hoping this will change in the future, to properly preserve them. But for now, climbing is mostly allowed and unregulated. I did climb to the top of one or two, and went on the roof of one of the hollow temples.
Although the brick structures look old, and the place feels like an ancient archeological site, there are still new stupas and temples being constructed today. Going inside a brand new, under construction temple was an interesting experience – the architecture looked like the same historical architecture that the rest of the temples exhibited, however the brickwork, plastering, and everything else was brand new and nice. It was like a master-planned house built to mimic a classic american home – same same, but different.
Exploring the interiors of the hollow temples was a transporting experience. Walking through the giant gates and into the cool, quiet interior was meditative and serene. The brick walls echoed back sounds, and when I was alone in the temples, the sounds of the plain were incredible. A light breeze swept through the interiors, and it was almost as if you could feel the process of time sweeping by. Occasionally a monk would silently turn a corner and walk past, on his way to the buddha statue in the interior.
At the end of my first day in Bagan, a cool drink with a few of the temple guards.
On my second day, I met up three other travelers, and the four of us decided to get a van ride over to the mystical Mt. Popa. On our way there, we also stopped by a homebrew palm whiskey distillery. Palm nuts are harvested from the trees, and then a bull is used to smash the nuts and extract the juices. It’s then all boiled down and distilled into a VERY potent mixture.
Looming in the distance, Mt. Popa is a small mountain that juts out of the mostly flat landscape. Surrounding the mountain are more stupas, which spiral their way up the flanks of the mountain, giving way to a few cliff bands, and then reappearing in golden splendor at the top. Of course, we hiked our way up to the top, followed by monkeys and cats. We even got into the local culture and had some of the local women smear Thanaka face paint on us.
Bagan was amazingly beautiful, and 2 days certainly was not enough time to fully explore the place. However, the next morning the four of us set out for the illegal teak harvesting camps outside of Taunggyi.
Back on the emerging tourist track in Myanmar, I headed by train down to the central city of Mandalay. Mandalay is a nice, comfortable, and somewhat happening town, and I had a great time exploring it for a day and two nights. When I got there, I booked into a basic but clean hotel, got some ice cream with a few other travelers, and got some sleep.
My full day in Mandalay was spent motorbiking around town with a local guide to check out some of the local Monastaries and attractions.
Mandalay is right on the water, and appropriately, I started the day checking out some of the river boats, and talking with a few women who were doing laundry at the water’s edge.
Next, a very very beautiful old wood monastary. The head monk who was there gave me a little tour, and I sat and talked with him a while. He’s an ex-kickboxer, turned monk. Very cool guy.
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A quick tea with my guy.
Then, on to the dramatic Mahamuni Buddha Temple. From Wikipedia:
The Mahamuni Buddha Temple (Burmese: ????????????????, Burmese pronunciation: [m?hà m?n? p??jád?í]; also called the Mahamuni Pagoda) is a Buddhist temple and major pilgrimage site, located southwest of Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar).[1] The Mahamuni Buddha image (literal meaning: The Great Sage) is deified in this temple, and originally came from Arakan.[2] It is highly venerated in Burma and central to many people’s lives, as it is seen as an expression of representing the Buddha’s life.[3]
Ancient tradition refers to only five likenesses of the Buddha, made during his lifetime; two were in India, two in paradise, and the fifth is the Mahamuni Buddha image in Myanmar.[1][2][4][5][6] According to the legend, the Buddha visited the Dhanyawadi city of Arakan in 554 BC.[1] King Sanda Thuriya requested that an image was cast of him. After casting the Great Image, the Buddha breathed upon it, and thereafter the image became the exact likeness of the Mahamuni.[6]
And finally, a beautiful evening walking with monks across Mandalay’s U Bein Bridge. This bridge is an old teak bridge that spans over Taungthaman Lake. In the evenings, people casually stroll over the bridge, sipping drinks and talking. A truly relaxing experience. I loved seeing the groups of young monks relieving a bit of stress as they chatted with each other while walking over the bridge.
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Also interestingly, there was a group of kids with a photography setup on the bridge. They would shoot people’s photos, and then make prints on their inkjet printer, which they sold. Their entire printing operation was run from car batteries and a solar panel, and the kids looked like they were having a great time – and doing brisk business.
After a thrilling few days off the beaten track in Hsipaw, it was time to come back and explore some of Myanmar’s more famous areas. That mean Mandalay. To get there, my chosen mode was via the relatively slow but beautiful train, which passes over the Goteik Viaduct Train Bridge, an engineering marvel.
The Goteik viaduct (Burmese: ?????????????, also known as Gohteik viaduct) is a railway trestle in Nawnghkio, western Shan State, Myanmar (also known as Burma). The bridge is between the two towns of Pyin U Lwin, the summer capital of the former British colonial administrators of Burma, and Lashio, the principal town of northern Shan State. It is the highest bridge in Myanmar and when it was completed, the largest railway trestle in the world. The bridge is located approximately 100 km northeast of Mandalay.
The bridge was constructed in 1899 and completed in 1900 by Pennsylvania and Maryland Bridge Construction.[2] The components were made by the Pennsylvania Steel Company, and the parts were shipped from the United States. The rail line was constructed as a way for the British Empire to expand their influence in the region. The construction project was overseen by Sir Arthur Rendel, engineer for the Burma Railroad Company.[3]
After relaxing and organizing for a few days in Hsipaw, Shan State, Myanmar, my newfound trekking friends and I mobilized and departed for the backcountry. Although there are a few established guided trips from Hsipaw, the route we wanted to take was far off the beaten path. Rather than see the tried and true, well groomed and setup “farming village” attractions that most tourists are taken to, the five of us wanted to get way out of town, and trek deep into the mountains to see what we might find – be it vast jungle, endless mountain peaks, farmland, or whatever else it is. We were itching to get away from civilization. Luckily, after researching a few connections, we found a local guy nameed Somany who grew up in the area, and agreed to take us trekking for five days – where he didn’t know, but he did know the general layout of the mountains, and collectively we decided to take it one day at a time. Perfect.
Departing the first morning, it was decided to travel as light as possible. I had only one change of clothes with me, and little else. Jordan, Dimitri, Nick and Caro had about the same amount. Somany had just a shoulder bag. We were traveling light, and hoping to find jungle villages to stay at. We were dropped off at the end of a dirt road by a tuktuk, and then began hiking into the mountains.
Hiking in Northern Shan State, Myanmar is relatively straight forward. Even though we were in the mountains, there were small dirt roads and trails everywhere. Some are large enough for proper trucks, but most are simply for foot traffic and motorbikes. As we hiked deeper, we passed by spotted farm houses, sheds, and fields.
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After a solid 8 hour day of hiking and a tasty lunch, we made it to the first larger farming village, perched out on a small mountain ridge.Somany actually knew one of the families who lives there, and they were nice enough to let us sleep on the floor of their common room that night. We spent the night with that family, had a very good dinner, played games and hung out with local kids.
The next morning, we had another great breakfast, and trekked on further into the mountains.
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On our second day of hiking, we came across two small pagodas perched at the top of small mountains. One of the pagodas had a loudspeaker on its roof, and was blasting strange burmese pop music, interspersed with the news and weather. Upon investigation, I figured out that the monk who was maintaining the pagoda had hooked up a microphone to his radio, and blasted out whatever music he could tune into on the radio. He had electricity up there, and in typical Burmese style, the connections to the electrical grid were epically dangerous and convoluted.
Throughout our trekking, in every village and at every house, there were kids. Lots of kids of all ages. And they were almost all surprised and interested by our strange, white-skinned presence. Lots of photo ops. Of note, when taking pictures of kids, they love to see their pictures on the camera screen afterwards. Once they figure out that you will show them their pictures, they start posing and running around, hoping to see shots of themselves in action.
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Lunch in rural farming huts were basic, but tasty. This woman who cooked us lunch in her home used a stove consisting of a horeshoe shaped pile of mud, with a fire burning in the middle, and the mud supporting the cooking pots. She’s 23, has 3 kids, and runs the family’s entire home while her husband tends to the fields. There’s one other house near hers, with another comparable family. In addition to cooking and maintaining the home, she also makes hunting munitions for her husband. After she was done cooking us lunch, she showed me a box full of charcoal that she was drying in the sun. The charcoal is used along with other common ingredients to make gunpower, which is used in their hunting rifle, which was also shown.
Trekking into another rural village – each one was spectacular, and welcoming to us.
On our third night trekking, we were having a quite moment with the townsfolk, when a bit of a stressful vibe came over the people- the Shan Tigers, a local militia force, had marched into town to take supplies back to their jungle camp. They walked by us, and although they were relatively friendly, it took a bit of warming them up, and assuring them that we would keep their location secret. Apparently, they were in an active fight with the Burmese Army, and had we leaked their location to other villages, the army would have come looking for them to engage them in a fire fight. The 12 or so militia members didn’t stay long, but I did have the opportunity to share a beer with them and discuss their fighting tactics. They carry both Chinese-knockoff AK-47’s (Type 56) and American M16A1 rifles. Certainly interesting.
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Another delicious homecooked dinner. This grandfather cooked for his grandson too.
In rural villages like there, there’s no connection to a regular electrical grid. All electricity is either locally generated by solar or water, and most homes power themselves by solar. Lots of solar powered flashlights are left in the sun during the day. Occasionally a village will have a waterwheel hooked up to a crude electricity generating turbine – but it is very rare. Additionally, cell phone service is very weak in the mountains, and even people don’t have cell phones. In villages where there is somewhat usable service, there’s usually a single desktop cell phone for use by the community. The phone is battery powered and rechargeable,and is connected to a very large external cell antenna. Some of the more fortunate families do have a few modern entertainment centers, which usually consist of basic laptop computers or even more basic self contained DVD players connected to car batteries and inverters. There’s a large trade of CD-R video disks, containing pirated, highly compressed copies of burmese music videos, and international movies. On one of our nights in the villages, we were treated to a showing of Star Trek.
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Of course, trekking around village brought kids from every house.
Our final village was a bit closer to a road, and was much bigger. A few families had large solar panels which were able to charge multiple car batteries – a definite luxury, giving them permanently mounted light sources in the home, rathern than handheld solar powered flashlights.
Our final day hiking back to civilization passed us through good farmland, and a nice village with a stream for bathing, and more reliable electricity from a waterwheel.
Traveling to Hsipaw, Myanmar marked the start of my grand exploration of central Myanmar. While I was in Yangon, I had a short discussion with a friend of a friend who was a travel agent, and although doing a travel-agent setup, luxury-themed, cut and dry trip is certainly not my style, I did get some good ideas to persue on my own. I ended up getting a flight on a Yangon Airways ATR-72 from Yangon up to the Central-Eastern town of Laisho, and then moving on to Hsipaw.
Yangon Airways was quite nice, and I loved their somewhat homespun branding attempt.
When I arrived at the airport at Laisho, I didn’t hadn’t really prepared to be let off on a basic backcountry landing stip. There was virtually no airport terminal, and the only other western passengers were a group of doctors going to investigate a Malaria outbreak nearby. After being interviewed by a few armed airport guards for a minute, I was let out of the airport area. I negotiated a bit, and finally found somebody to drive me from Laisho into Hsipaw.
Hsipaw is a basic, quaint little town, and Eastern Myanmar’s center of backcountry trekking and exploration. Although there are a handful of guesthouses in Hsipaw, the best, most popular, and coolest place to stay in Mr. Charles Guesthouse. I stayed there my first few nights, and had a great time meeting other travelers, and locals. Of note, at Mr. Charles they do have hot water for showers, available at night. They make hot water by lighting a wood fire inside a heat exchanger, and running water through the exchanger. Very basic, but reliable and HOT!
I only actually stayed in Hsipaw proper for one day, as planned. What I really wanted to do was to get outta town and explore the rivers and mountains. On the evening of my first day there, I met a cool group of girls who were also looking forward to taking a good day hike and boat ride, and the four of us found a local guide to take us out for the day.
First stop on our way out of town was the local noodle factory.
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And then out to the farmland. Among others. two interesting crops are grown here. Jatropha plants are everywhere around the villages. Originally these were planted in order to make biofuel, but no longer. Now they’re largely regarded as a weed. Additionally, vast fields of genetically modified watermelons are grown, supposedly for export to China. However, the watermelons don’t grow well, and according to my guide for the day, the export business is not doing well. In any case, it was certainly interesting exploring the small villages and fields.
In a few of the villages with small schools, there were UN Aid Request Stations setup.
After a bit of a hike, the 5 of us hopped on a longtail boat and motored up the river for a bit to a nice swimming spot.
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And relaxed with some small monks at a monastery.
A single day trek outside of Hsipaw was great, but I wanted more. On the evening of my second day, I met up with another group of travelers, and the 5 of us planned an even more extensive trek into Myanmar’s backcountry….
Traveling up through Southern Thailand and into Bangkok was a great experience. Thailand is a great country, and truly is the land of smiles. People are nice, life is easy, and as a traveler, almost everything I needed was at my fingertips and easily available. Thailand has had mainstream tourism for a long time, and knows how to do it well. After a few weeks on the well traveled route in Thailand, I was ready for a change – ready to remove myself from the easy life in the land of smiles, and go exploring the newly opened frontier of Myanmar.
Lucky for me, I was invited by my friend Carla for a drink at the Strand Hotel in Yangon – so, after my 5th day in Bangkok, and with a fresh Burmese visa in hand, I packed up and headed for Yangon – to grab a drink with a friend, and explore the country. Myanmar has only really been open to proper tourism for about a year now, and because of that, nothing was as easy as you’d expect. The only good way to get across the border from Thailand is by air, and even then, entry is not a guaranteed thing. I flew on Air Asia, and actually had a fairly unremarkable flight.
Since I was making travel plans on a day-to-day basis, when I arrived in Yangon, I didn’t yet have anyplace to stay for the night. I did a bit of research in the Lonely Planet PDF for Myanmar that I have on my iPhone, and after talking to a few other bewildered travelers in the airport, I decided to cab it over to the YMCA in downtown Yangon. Certainly not the nicest spot in town, but it was relatively clean, and had a great community vibe to it. I was one of only 2 or 3 foreigners staying there, and the rest of the people were locals.
After a good night’s sleek at the YMCA, I spent my first full day in Yangon really just walking around, getting a sense of the general vibe of the town. Yangon is a hectic, energetic and emerging city. Basic services exist, people crowd the streets selling everything imaginable, and there’s a definite sense of building and progress as you walk around. I did a complete lap around town, sampled the local food, and talked with a bunch of the locals.
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And had a good time catching up with Carla and friends at the Strand Hotel.
Of note, telecommunications in Myanmar are very flaky right now, and a reliable landline for POTS voice calls is hard to come by. In spots where there is a viable telephone line, locals will set up card tables, and splice their own phone connections into the main telephone line. These phone booths I found on the street were all hand-hacked into the local phone network.
Mobile phone service is available, but it’s very spotty and unstable. I was unable to purchase a SIM card for my phone, and heard from friends that since there are currently multiple carriers competing for overall control of the cell network, SIM cards are scarce, to avoid exceeding the relatively unregulated network’s small capacity.
On day two, my new (and now close) friend Taeko arrived in Yangon, and we spend the next two days exploring town.
Sule Pagoda is a beautiful pagoda located right in the middle of Yangon. Locals stop by all day to pray, relax, and nap.
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Basic utilities like electricty can be hard to come by in Yangon. On my second night in Yangon, Taeko and I went out to dinner in town. Right in the middle of our meal, power to the entire part of town we were in was lost, and the entire area was plunged into darkness. It wasn’t dark for long, however. The locals are used to frequent power outages, and immediately turned on their battery powered LED light, and business continued as usual.
Day 3 was hot, and the value of a glass of cold water was certainly realized. On the streets, people put blocks of ice in strainers, and sell glasses of cold water, made by pouring water over the block of ice and letting it filter out to bottom of the strainer. Additionally, cigarettes are hand-rolled in little booths on the street. They use Lime as a binder for the cigarettes, which ends up turning people’s teeth blood red.
I also had the opportunity to visit the legendary Shwedagon Pagoda, one of the largest pagodas in Myanmar. The place is beautiful, and ornately decorated. Taeko and I even met a few new friends.
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And finally, we spend a great evening strolling along the Lake Kandawgyi Boardwalk, and then had a great dinnner at my favorite bar in Yangon, 50th Street.
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My intro to Bangkok was fantastic, and but after a few days, I was ready for a break from the city, but wasn’t quite done with Thailand. I was fortunate to meet two cool guys at my hostel in Bangkok, and the three of us decided to make the short bus trip out of Bangkok to the river town of Kanchanaburi.
Our agenda was simple – two days of relaxing and kayaking.
Departing from Bangkok was relatively easy, and a two hour bus ride.
In Kanchanaburi, we stayed at the Jolly Frog, a great and relaxing hotel with a perfect riverside location. My room was on a floating raft, and the lapping of the water at night was very relaxing.
Sunset on the River Kwai. The three of us rented Kayaks, and made the float trip down the river to the famous Bridge over the River Kwai. On our way down, we encountered a number of huge party barges, with the drunken occupants waving and calling to us excitedly. Floating down the river was beautiful, and we arrived at the bridge just in time.
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Requisite late night drinks on Kanchanaburi’s main strip. We started off at the best bar in Kanchanaburi – 10 Bhat Bar. And then moved on to another few bars with a large group of girls who were there for a “hen party”.
The next day, I packed up and made the trip back to Bangkok, so that I could catch my flight to Myanmar…
The city I’ve been looking forward to visiting for years and years – Thailand’s capital city of Bangkok. A major world city, center of commerce, culture, transportation, and chaos.
Leaving Phuket on an evening bus, I made it across Southern Thailand to the town of Surat Thani. From there, I boarded the overnight train direct to Bangkok. Overnight trains are great if you can get a sleeper car, which I did. I had my own very comfortable bunk bed in a large shared car. After boarding, I made myself comfortable, and passed out in my train bed. The train traveled through the night, and the next morning I woke up rested and refreshed in Bangkok’s central train station. In my opinion, if a good quality bed can be had on an overnight train passage, it’s one of the best ways to travel. I generally tend to get a decent night’s sleep on the train, which takes care of that night’s sleeping accommodations, and I get to wake up in a new spot – both transportation and accommodation solved in one classy step – what could be better.
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Arriving in Bangkok, I made my way from the train station over to the excellent Skytrain public transit system, and then onward to the Soi 1 Hostel in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Neighborhood. Although I certainly could stay in hotels if I wanted, I love staying in hostels while traveling alone. They’re inexpensive, and provide a very social and fun atmosphere. Everyone is there to meet each other, and it’s a genearlly very social and fun environment.
After getting setup at Soi 1, I met up with a few friends across town for noodles and drinks, and then we walked over to Bangkok’s famous Lumpinee Boxing Stadium for a bit of Thai Kickboxing.
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Day two in Bangkok was a bit of touring the town. I started out taking a ride on one of the numerous water taxis that race up and down the canals and river penetrating deep into bangkok. Getting around a massive city by boat is really very relaxing, and everyone seems to have the loading and unloading figured out smoothly.
Bangkok’s Grand Palace and Reclining Buddha were next. Armed guards keep watch over the massive amounts of tourists who visit thi place every day. Also of note, since it’s such a big tourist attraction, the group of Tuk Tuk drivers, touts, and pickpockets is especially aggressive just outside the gates. Once inside the palace however, things slow down, and monks can be seen serenely walking around and praying.
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Every major city has a Chinatown, and Bangkok is no exception. Although I only had an hour or two to walk around, I managed to experience chinatowns markets, shops, jewelry stores, food shops, and waterfront.
Evenings in Bangkok are as exciting as days. During my travels up through the south, I had met a few good friends, and had the opportunity to go out to two essential Bangkok experiences with my friend Peach. We hit up both the Skybar at the LeBua State Tower, and went to see a movie. Skybar was great – after working with Lebua on digital strategy for a while, and hearing lots about this bar, it was nice to finally see it in person. Although crowded and filled with a healthy portion of annoying tourists, the view was still spectacular, and drinks were decent. Best though was the company! :)
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Peach and I also went to see the new movie “Ironman 3”. The movie was great, but even more remarkable was the Bangkok cinema experience. Thai people take going to the cinema seriously, and demand only the best cinema-going experience. First of all, before we even got to the theater, the ticketing process was great. The Siam Paragon Major Cineplex has a convenient iPhone app for booking, and unlike in most American cinemas, when tickets are bought, seats can also be chosen. That way, you can arrive at the theater at your leisure, and know exactly where you’ll be sitting. Very convenient, and avoids the long lines. At the theater, picking up tickets via scanning a QR code on my iPhone app was smooth and easy. However, once I picked up the tickets, I realized that I may have booked the wrong theater – I went to the front desk and explained to the cashier that I wanted to be sure to see the movie in the “Dolby Atmos” theater, and he knew exactly what I was talking about, and quickly switched out my tickets for the correct ones, no charge, no hassle. We saw Ironman 3 in a theater equipped with Doby’s new “Atmos” sound technology. Dolby Atmos pushes theater sound to the extreme, providing 64 discrete channels of audio. Bangkok is lucky to have one of the first Atmos-equipped theaters in the world, and Ironman 3 was one of the first movies to be mixed for it. Also notable at the theater, our seats were extremely comfortable and in the perfect position for the huge 3D projection – and the projection of the movie was just perfect. Overall, going to the movies in Bangkok was easily the best cinema experience I’ve had.
I was lucky enough to have a full weekend in Bangkok, and by far the most engaging weekend experiences was getting lost in the Chatuchak Weekend Market. The weekend market is just that – a market that operates only on the weekend. And it’s massive, and bursts out of the designated market area into the street next to the Skytrain stop. Vendors of every type have stalls in the massive sprawling market complex, and just about anything imaginable can be had, including food, clothing, homegoods, hardware, music, movies, electronics, textiles, and even massages. It’s huge, and great. The market is loosely organized into sections. Notably, in the clothing section, there’s a huge variety. I loved checking out the “Remake USA” section featuring stalls filled to the brim with used levis jeans and nike sneakers, western shirts, and belts. There’s also a large section of local independent designers stalls, staffed by 18-25 year old aspiring designers selling hand made tshirts, dresses, shirts, ties, and everything else. The kids working the stalls seem to love the opportunity to sell at the market, and each brings their unique character.
After the weekend market, getting a TukTuk back to my hostel was easy and fun.
No trip to Bangkok is complete without at least a brief walk through one of Sukhumvit’s entertainment districts. Me and a few friends from the hostel took a fun walk through Soi Cowboy, one of the big streets in Bangkok to feature Go-Go Bars. A similar, but slightly different vibe than Phuket.
My next stop after Bangkok was Myanmar, and in order to go there I needed a visa. My application for a Burmese Visa at the embassy in Bangkok was relatively smooth and easy, and is where I met my good friend Taeko, whom I ended up hanging out with in Yangon.
Khaosan Road, Bangkok – certainly not a place I was particularly looking forward to, but a required visit, I felt. It was just as I had expected – out of the way, dirty, and full of tourists on the trashier side. There’s certainly a few cool places to explore in the Khaosan road area, but it’s definitely not my pick for good places to hang out in Bangkok.
And finally, my favorite shopping mall in Bangkok – Siam Center Mall – part of the massive Siam mall and entertainment complex in the heart of Bangkok. This mall features generally smaller stores and designers, and has a great design aesthetic throughout the entire space. As much as I liked the stores there, unfortunately I don’t fit into “asian cut” clothes very well – so my shopping was restricted to just browsing.
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Overall, I had a great time in Bangkok. It’s a city I had been wanting to visit for years, and my first visit did not disappoint. Plus, I ended up making a couple of great friends during my time there. I’d love to go back sometime soon, either for work or vacation.
After a few days in Bangkok, and with a fresh Myanmar Visa stamped in my passport, I headed out for a quick trip to Kanchanaburi, and then on to the airport for my flight to Yangon, Myanmar, where I was going to be meeting up with friend’s Carla and Taeko.
Escaping Ko Phi Phi got me away from the trashy frat-boy beach parties, but landed me squarely in the epicenter of Southern Thailand’s Entertainment and Sex industry. I had made it to Patong Beach, Phuket. Much like Phi Phi, Patong Beach certainly didn’t strike me as “my scene” by any measure. However, it was certainly an interesting look at a particular quirk of Thai culture. I had only originally planned on spending one day in Patong before continuing northward to board a live-aboard dive boat bound for the Similian Islands. Unfortunately, as I was arriving in Patong, I came down with a serious illness, and found myself laid up in my hotel room with a fever and chills for a solid 4 days. Luckily it wasn’t Malaria of Dengue, but it still knocked me down for a few days, and forced me to cancel my diving trip in favor of making progress towards Bangkok.
The center of nightlife in Patong is along Bangla Road. the 5 block long stip is packed to the max with bars, clubs, restaurants, and stores. During the day it’s relatively peaceful, with random tshirt and sunglass stores, a few cafes, and a small strip of daytime “Beer Bars” where thai women sit with foreigners drinking beer and playing games. I actually did participate in this aspect of Patong – sitting at the bar in the late afternoon/early evening and playing Connect 4 was a fun way to kill an hour.
At night, Bangla Road transforms into a crazy party scene.
To begin the night, street vendors fill the streets selling novelty party goods, lights, necklaces, etc.
Additionally, touts roam around with cards advertising the various shows and services available at the myriad of clubs. In addition to the big clubs with street frontage space, there are lots of side alley clubs, catering to every need.
All of the bars and clubs open their doors, and are saturated with barely-clothed thai girls screaming and clamoring for the attention of passing men. The street is closed to cars, and fills up completely with tourists and girls walking around between the different bars and clubs.
Stipper poles are set up on the edge of each club, so there are girls basically dancing in the street.
In addition to strip clubs, there are also racier clubs down side alleys. Suzy Wong’s is one of the more famous ones.
Overall, Patong Beach in Phuket, Thailand was a very interesting experience – seeing the industry up close was a definitely unique part of Thai culture. I feel like it’s one of those things certainly worth checking out once, but not necessary to return to.
After getting over most of my sickness in Patong, I ventured northward to Bangkok.
