Mt.Popa with Friends - 22 June 2015

We took our time savouring breakfast, chilling around the resort and packing our bags before checking out.

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

Myanmar Day 5 - Bagan & Popa - 23 May 2012

We woke up around 7am and tried to finish eating breakfast by 8am.  The restaurant owner where we had our dinner the day before had arranged a horse carriage to pick us up at our hotel at 8am. It was just 5000 Kyats / USD 6 for a one hour ride! We were pretty excited about it as it was a truly interesting way of sightseeing all the noteworthy pagodas and relics in Bagan. However, my aunt and cousins did not find it very interesting since horse carriages are one of the common methods of transportation in their hometown - Kyaukse.  So they just decided to rest at the hotel while we explored. The horse carriage guy was very punctual! He actually waited for us at the front of the hotel even before 8am!

Myanmar Day 4 - Bagan - 22 May 2012

As the drive from Mandalay to Bagan is about 4 hours, it is best to set out early in the morning so you can avoid the hot afternoon heat. Otherwise, trying to sightsee hundreds of pagodas in 40C heat can be frustrating. So we left Kyaukse around 5am and stopped at Meik-Hti-Lar Pit Stop for breakfast.  The food was slightly more expensive compared to other places BUT that pit stop opens 24 hours, it was really clean, the service was efficient and there was free Wi-Fi. So I guess its worth it yea.

Mister's First Trip to Myanmar (May 2012)

Although we have started dating since 2008, Mister has not been to Myanmar, not even once. Of course, that is not acceptable yea :D So we planned! 

Since I was already planning to go home for a short visit after my final exams in the NUS (National University of Singapore), I asked him to go with me.  As we were planning his trip, he had doubts like "would he be granted a tourist visa because he held a US passport".  [Nope, I am not dating an Ang Moh. He is just an ABC - American Born Chinese :D] I had to repeatedly reassure him that he would be given a visa and there is nothing to fear at the immigration. Of course, as I told him, he easily obtained a visa.  By the way, Myanmar Embassy (Singapore) is located near Orchard Road. The address is 15 St Martin's Drive, Singapore 257996.