Going East week 1: Party in KL and discovering beautiful Myanmar

Hello again! I've been offline a bit, so before getting into the details of my new adventure, let me catch you up with what has happened since I'm back from Peru. I definitely took my time to relax :-) After a few days in Rotterdam and finishing my 'after holiday to do list', I drove home for Christmas. On the way I was lucky to have a beautiful reunion evening with Eef. Christmas back home was great, spending quality time with the family, eating good food, meet friends and again, relax ;-) For new years eve I had planned something special this time. I went with 3 friends to the first hut that I stayed during the Munich Venice hike. It was a great time, we met some nice people, did a great hike up the Benediktenwand, had some wine at the peak and an amazing sky full of stars at midnight. After a couple more relaxing days with family and friends I made my way back to Rotterdam. There I had a perfect farewell evening with lots of my friends and Feuerzangenbowle at my place. For those who don't know what that is: Google it and invite yourself over to my place next winter.

And then it's already time again to get on a plane. After struggling quite a bit with the decision if I go west (again) or east, I finally had booked a flight to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, or KL as all the cool people call it. There I met up with my study friend Timo, who somehow decided a couple of years ago to move to Brunei. And as there is not much to do there and air asia offers incredibly cheap flights, why not come to KL? As I've been there already 6 years ago, he also didn't have to do the touristy route with me. My highlight was definitely the Heli bar, which is as the name says during daytime a helicopter landing on a rooftop. Beautiful views on the city and the Petronas Towers and a Mojito in my hand, I didn't really care about the light and warm rain.
The next day we did some shopping, had great food and went back to our apartment to make use of my duty free gin. Soon some friends of timo joined, we had dinner, some drinks,... well I'll leave the rest to your imagination. Let's just say the heat and sun makes hangovers not more fun. The Sunday started slow and there is not much to tell except I had to say goodbye to Timo once more and finally made my way to the first place I was really excited for: Myanmar. 

The flight there was only 2 hours and gave me the chance to catch up a bit on sleep. In the immigration queue I was lucky to meet some very nice people and we decided very quickly to share a cab to town. And three of us directly met after checking into our hostels again for food. We had delicious street food dumplings, chicken and spring rolls and called it an early night. My hostel was very nice, perfectly located in downtown Yangon. And for the first time in my life I experienced sleeping in a pod. What that is? I think most people know it from Japan. Instead of having a bunk bed, which offers no privacy and can be very shaky and squeaky, these are kind of big holes in the wall. So you have wall on all but one sides around you and a curtain at that other side. Usually two above each other, with a ladder to the top one. I am a big fan! Next to the above mentioned advantages, you also have a little bit noise reduction and don't lie right under the airco. After a great nights sleep I met up again with the airport gang and we had a great sightseeing day in Yangon. We hit all the Pagodas we could find, finishing with the big highlight: the Shwedagon pagoda. It's huge, it's gold and the biggest attraction in town. We spent some time there, taking pictures and enjoying the change of light and color when it got closer to sunset. We had a nice chat with some monks who were trying to practice their English. They still have some way to go in their language training, but it was still very nice to chat with them. With sunset we went next-door to the people's park, which had a great view on the pagoda and some nice surprises. The fountain suddenly started a great light and sound show, we walked past a real plane and an amusement park. Unfortunately the rooftop bar we wanted to go to wasn't open, so we went back to the city center and had a drink there. We got even a great tip for a little excursion the next day. We all had booked the bus to Inle lake the next evening, but had nearly all day to further explore. Some of us decided to take the train around the city, but Helen, me and a guy from her hostel decided we go for a bit more excitement: visit the snake pagoda! With real snakes :-) Already the trip there sounded cool. We started of the next morning taking the ferry across Yangon river, which you usually don't get to see as there is a big street and container harbour between the city and the river. After a short trip with nearly only locals in the boat we decided to take the standard mini bus, which is cheap but a bit slower than taxi and involves a little bit of walking in the end. Despite the bumpy road I really enjoyed the ride as it gave a great impression into rural life in Myanmar. We had told the driver where to go, but started to doubt a bit, so started to Google it. Unfortunately neither Google maps nor maps.me knows it! We finally found some coordinates and the driver pointed the same direction. So we started walking. We came past a school that had just finished and became the main attraction for the kids. On the way a man asked us where we want to go. After showing him the description of the place, he said we were at the wrong place. But his English was not good and he couldn't explain. So he brought us to his house, where first his daughter and then his father tried to explain to us that we are more than 5km away from the place. The family was super sweet, offered us a seat in the shade, offered water and their help. I was impressed with the grandpa's English, but Myanmar was British colony until the 40s. As we had to catch a bus at 6pm, we decided to take their advice and negotiated a price for the son and a friend to take us on their scooters  to the pagoda. Although scooters are forbidden in Yangon city, out of the city they are still the main means of transportation. During the ride we realised that we went about halfway back to where we came from. Seems like the minibus driver had thought we wanted to go to the pottery in the village. Now we were at the entrance of the pagoda and happily walked in. But where are the snakes? It was (another) nice pagoda, but no snakes. Right when we asked the local kids who were watching us we also found a temple in maps.me that fits the description. So the three boys became our guides and walked ahead of us to the 500m away temple, this time the right one! It is a cute little building on a lake, with two pathways leading there. We walked over, entered and there they were! Big pythons, about 30 or 40 of them. Some on the altar, some sleeping on the windows, some curled up next to the guys watching the temple. Pretty amazing and scary and crazy at the same time. I have to say that only one of us actually liked snakes, the two others were a bit scared. No need to say it was the girls. We didn't touch the snakes either. Taking pictures and trying to stay away as good as we can at the same time was already a challenge. Thank God I brought my zoom lense! The way back went a lot smoother, as well because I voted for taking a taxi, which was only 1 euro per person more expansive. After a short lunch at our favourite street food stall we made our way to the bus terminal. There we met back another girl from the airport who had the same bus than Helen and me. The bus was VIP and some parts were great: seats and space, snacks and drinks and a screen with movies. The bus was nearly empty so we could really spread out. The negative parts: no toilet and a stop every 3 hours. I woke up every time. And it got really cold during the night. Luckily we had been warned and also could use all the blankets from the unoccupied seats. When I woke up, the sun was just rising and the beautiful view of the lake made up for all of it.
After check in we met up with some more people from the airport crew, with again some new people. After breakfast we decided to rent bikes and ride around the lake and to a winery. We ended up being a bike gang of 7 people. Helen and me had rented the cheap city bikes (omafietsen for the Dutch) for a euro the day. The others all had fancy mountainbikes for 10 times the price. At least I had an excuse for being slower :-) It was a great trip, biking along the west side of the lake for 10km, skipping the hot pools as they were part of a fancy hotel and it was hot anyways. The highlight was the boat ride across the lake. Our bikes were put in one boat, we were in the other one. It was a beautiful drive and with the traditional boats you sit really close to the water. On the other side we had lunch and then made our way to the winery. A vineyard in south east Asia is something special! Unfortunately all 500 TripAdvisor reviews were right: a beautiful view on the vineyard and lake but the worst wines I had in quite a while. And I had wine on the plane. Way worse! One of the tasters I would challenge to be red painted terpentine. We thought about staying until sunset, but we just couldn't get ourselves to order another wine to make it through the 2 hours. So we biked back to town. There we had some amazing Indian food from a funny Nepalese Eminem fan. The night ended with a smaller group at the hostel and a last beer.
Next day the standard tourist attraction was on the program: a boat ride on Inle lake. In the whole town people would address you with their offer for taking you in their boat on the lake. We learned that they are quite desperate, as despite being high season this year there are not many tourists. Bad for the economy, great for us. I don't want to see the lake with 100 more boats. I was already a bit worried after my awful tour on the titicaca lake in Peru. So we found a boat driver that would take us only to a couple of the standard stops and then drive us further out than usual. Today our little group was Helen, me and the two German girls that we had met again in the bus to Inle. The trip started off being as touristy as I was fearing. While we were sitting the day before like the locals just on the ground on the boat, today we got chairs, life vests and a blanket. The first 2 stops, a silver workshop and the longneck women were awful. Very short explanation and then trying to sell us souvenirs. We were back in no time to the surprise of our boat driver. The next stop was a market, which was mainly a local market with food, clothes and everything needed for the locals, but also some souvenirs. We decided to have lunch at a local food stall, which surprised our driver when we came back to the boat as a standard tourist restaurant on the lake was planned. It turned out that we chose well. The next stop was a pagoda further down the lake. As we had adjusted the agenda and skipped some stops we managed to be the first ones there and had it all to ourselves. Already the arrival was fascinating, with women washing clothes and themselves at the lake and men bringing fire wood with buffalo carts to the shore to sell. The pagoda itself was a great one, different than what we had seen before, with many little stupas next to each other. We wandered through them, enjoyed the great view down on the lake and setup two offer candles at the temple. When we came back down to the lake the first other tourists were arriving. The next stop was the highlight of our trip. We had asked to be brought to places where not many people go. So we visited the pagoda and then the driver brought us to his village on the lake. And he even invited us inside. We were welcomed by the family and got tea and rice crackers. It was super nice, only a pity we couldn't really talk with each other. A bit later suddenly the room filled with people. It seems like the neighbours were curious about us as well :-) The house itself was a typical wood/bamboo house on poles. The ground level is about 1m above the water and had a little weaving workshop. Many people on the lake earn a bit of money by making scarfs and clothes. The upper level was the house, basically two rooms: one for sleeping one for everything else. No table, you just sit on the floor, which is made of bamboo and a carpet on top. We really enjoyed that stop and learned that we were so quick that we had time for 2-3 more stops. We chose first to go to a silk and lotus weavery and luckily found the first workshop we actually enjoyed. We got a great explanation how it works and even could try ourselves to get a string out of a lotus plant. It is crazy time intensive, for the little roll of string that the girl had made they estimated 1 month.
Next up we were driving through the floating gardens. It was nice to see how they manage to grow crops on the bit of land above the water that they have available. As it is not really season now we only saw some tomatoes. Last stop of the day: a monastery with jumping cats. Unfortunately they don't jump anymore, after their trainer had died no one continued to train them. So it was basically a temple with some cats in it. Not a long stop for us :-) I really enjoyed the boat ride back, it was still a nice and sunny day. And we could watch the fishers with their one legged rowing technique, the lake is so famous for. There are also some on the lake that are in the traditional clothes and with the old baskets, but they actually don't fish anymore. They just pose for pictures and want money for it. No thank you.
At the end of the day we were really happy we found a driver who would fit the tour more to our interest and it was a really great day. 

And that is already week one of my new adventure. I have to admit that sometimes I am still a little bit sad I couldn't spend more time in south america. But Myanmar is really keeping me more and more fascinated. It is an amazing beautiful country, the people are unbelievably friendly and helpful and the food is also great. The country is unfortunately still not completely safe and open for travel. Some adventurers are trying to go everywhere, but it is not easy. So for me it will be the challenge to try to get outside the 'kite', the standard route Yangon-Inle-Mandalay-Bagan, without making it too complicated. I am not worried about safety, the lonely planet even states that women solo travellers are only to expect extra help from locals and that fits with my experience. And they are definitely making sure that tourists are staying away from where fighting is taking place, no tours will be offered, even if some people still try. As for me, I'm starting to struggle to say I'm traveling alone, because I have literally not been alone longer than 2 hours since I arrived in Asia. I'm excited to see what this beautiful country still has to offer. My visa is for up to 28 days and I haven't booked anything further, so my favorite style of travelling applies: let's see where I'll end up next :-)

 

View from the Heli Pad in Kuala Lumpur 

 

Chinese new year is coming up, so the mall in KL gets ready. We are moving to the year of the rooster!This dance is typical Chinese, I call it dragon dance but I think officially it is another animal 

 

Arrived in Yangon, Myanmar. Tourist tour with my airport friends

 

Beautiful lake full of sea roses,  unfortunately no flowers as the guy in the boat picks them. I thick they sell them and offer it in the temples

 

Fun with shadows, Yangon

 

Huge sitting Buddha, Yangon  

 

Even bigger lying Buddha, Yangon  

 

Look back on crazy road, Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon  

 

Shwedagon Pagoda at sunset, Yangon  

 

Monks at Shwedagon Pagoda who practice their English on tourists, Shwedagon Pagoda Yangon  

 

The group in front of the pagoda, Yangon  

 

View on the pagoda from people's park with water fountain, Yangon

 

One last night view on Shwedagon pagoda, Yangon  

 

Back to the big Buddha, Helen and me taking a moment to enjoy

 

After some searching we made it here: the snake pagoda! Close to Yangon  

 

Selfie with snakes in the background, snake pagoda 

 

The patents didn't seem to care that the python is less than 1 meter away from their kid, snake pagoda 

 

Happy to have the zoom lense with me, snake pagoda

 

Fields on our way from snake pagoda to yangon.

 

 

Bike tour around Inle lake  

 

To not bike around the full huge lake we stopped at this beautiful place to take a boat across, Inle lake 

 

The bike gang sharing a boat to cross local style, no chaos just sitting close to the water, Inle lake  

 

Wine tasting. As every comment on TripAdvisor said: amazing view but 'interesting ' taste of wines, Inle lake  

 

Typical fisherman, Inle lake  

 

Arriving by bus in Inle lake, I woke up after a bad bus ride worth rites amazing view, Inle view 

 

Tourist boat ride on Inle lake, with chairs and blankets 

 

The one legged fishermen is what Inle lake is famous for 

 

Some long necked women live and work on Inle lake  

 

I love the foggy mountain views of Myanmar, Inle lake  

 

From big lake to small channels, beautiful scenery at Inle lake  

 

Next stop: market day at Inle lake  

 

Fruit, spices, snacks, clothes... everything you need on the market on Inle lake 

 

More views, Inle lake  

 

We had asked for the tour that not everyone else goes to.So we made it to this far out pagoda, enjoying the quiet, Inle lake 

 

Stupa next to stupa at this pagoda, Inle lake 

 

Water buffalo cart for fire wood, Inle lake  

 

Real fisherman on Inle lake 

 

Highlight of the tour: our guide brought us to his village. Still water and no boats making for a perfect reflection 

 

Small weavery at the bottom of our guides house 

 

Lotus plants into a fibre for weaving is really hard work 

 

Cute kitten which does not jump anymore at the monastery of jumping cats, Inle lake  

 

Typical picture on Inle lake: typical fishermen actually don't fish like this anymore but pose for pictures for tourists.  

 

Flashback to Kuala Lumpur: welcome drinks work Timo. Great start of the night.