Bagan with Friends - 21 June 2015

In Bagan, locals believed that their wish will come true if you visit these four pagodas namely Tant Kyi Taung, Law Ka Nan Da, Tu yin Taung, and Shwe Zi Gon on the same day, before noon. Of course, you can only make the same one wish at all four spots. 

Due to the widespread locations of the four pagodas and the need to take ferry across Ayeyarwaddy river to reach Tant Kyi Taung, we set our alarms for 4am and set off from hotel around 430 am.  Our kind hotel F&B team went an extra mile and prepared packed breakfast of fried rice and watermelon juice for us!

The route to the top of the mountain to pray at Tant Kyi Taung was so rough and it is recommended you rent car and driver from locals.  If your group is big and want to save money, light truck (20,000 Kyats per round trip with capacity up to 15 pax) is the one.  However, expect the ride to be quite bumpy.  We hired 2 small cars, which accommodated 5 pax each. Rental fees including driver was 18,000 Kyats per round trip for each car. 

Sun rise view from Tant Kyi Taung 

Bagan with Friends - 20 June 2015

I had been to Bagan once with my family when I was about 12-13 years old and another time with Mister, during his first visit to Myanmar in 2012.  I did share about my second trip on this blog but bear with my writing as I had just started blogging then. Hopefully I have improved since then? 

http://musingsofmissn.blogspot.com/2013/03/myanmar-day-4-bagan-22-may-2012.html

http://musingsofmissn.blogspot.com/2013/03/myanmar-day-5-bagan-popa-23-may-2012.html

Food for Thought 5 [Hallyu Wave - from a Fan's perspective]

[Disclaimer: all images used in this post are obtained from Google image search.  None of these are my own.  For my personal encounter with stars and respective filming location visits, I will upload my own photos in another post.]

Once we mention the word "Hallyu Wave", many of us already knows its meaning - Korean Wave - the increase in global popularity of South Korean culture through performing arts such as drama, movie and music. There has been many researches and articles already written on this phenomenon since its such an unexpected development with the potential to challenge the monopoly dominance that Hollywood was enjoying in the entertainment industry, at least in Asia. 

BUT I wouldn't bore you with all these academic arguments. Instead, I will be reminiscing about my love affair with the Korean entertainment. I am actually surprised and glad to have witnessed the beginning of Hallyu Wave myself.

List of My Travelogues

It's March 2017.

A whole 4 years since I started this little blog.  

So if you had been following my blog and reading all the posts, be it entertaining or downright boring, I thank you.  I am neither a writer with a great flair nor an expert photographer, yet you bear with me. You followed me as I opened the door into unknown through a whirlwind of my travels. Despite the prolonged silence that stretched over a few months, you are still here. For that, thank you, my dear readers!  

USA Trip Day 30 - 3 Oct 2014 - San Francisco Suburbs

I had to finish packing early as my highschool friend would pick me up around noon for lunch. 

We haven't seen each other since I was 17-18 years old so it has been a decade! I was happy our friendship remained the same despite being apart for such a long time. 

I don't know about others, but I very much prefer face to face catch up over emails or Facebook. I feel that giving time to be with each other shows sincerity in keeping that relationship, rather than just for show to others in social media. 

Do you know what else I was happy with? Lunch!

This family-run Millbrae Pancake House has been around for almost 60 years and I must say, pancakes were delectable. (But IHOP would still be my No.1, shhhhh)

USA Trip Day 29 - 2 Oct 2014 - Across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito

What a whirlwind voyage it had been! We took it slow today, and left home around 10am to visit Mister's late grandfather. After stopping by to get a bouquet of flowers, Uncle drove us to cemetery, where we paid our respect to the deceased.

After a brief stop at Target, we took a spin to Mountain View's Castro Street around noon for lunch. It's a lovely area with diverse options of restaurants, to spoil you for choice. 

 Mountain View's Castro Street

 Isn't it a delightful place to enjoy lunch al fresco? 

USA Trip Day 28 - 1 Oct 2014 - National Cathedral & Zoo in DC

After a full day of touring museums and sightseeing that covered several iconic buildings which formed the heart of the American political system, we wanted to do something completely different. So we diverged from our original itinerary and took a impromptu trip down to the National Cathedral & Zoo.

With a Virgin America flight to catch at 5:10pm, we managed to reach National Cathedral by 10:30am after a 30 minute commute using subway and bus (30S or 33 or 96). 

Gothic Architectural Style