Myanmar the country that stole my heart
1 september 2018
Booking my ticket to Myanmar was an impulsive decision, like most of the things in my life. Impulse is an amazing thing. I love that insane rush in my head that makes me do stupid stuff. When I think that everything is possible. People call it adrenaline; I call it spike in my blood. In that moment of recklessness, I booked my tickets to Myanmar. Expecting to have a cultural experience with the local people, not a lot of tourism and more on myself. It wouldn't be a bad idea.
MANDALAY
The arrival in Mandalay is saturday afternoon, do a nap to rehabilitate from Bangkok and of course in the night I meet crazy people. That night we end up in the club The Flash. With six white people we have a private table with our own butler. The locals are in general wild, with the closed doors people can be lesbian and gays. I love the freedom they experience here in this club. The afterparty is full of drugs and prostitution. So as you can say, my expectations were a 'little' bit different..
From this moment I found my soul mates, family, friends however you would call it, I love this group of weirdos.
Mandalay itself it's not the most beautiful city. It's the second largest city of Myanmar and last royal capital of Myanmar. You got some pagodas, good massages, a historical bridge (U Beid bridge) and some clubs. I start realizing that I am the main attraction with my Dutch appearance. We visit all of them and continue our journey to Kalaw.
KALAW
Trekking from Kalaw to Inlelake takes us 10 hours walk a day, 3 days in a row. Sleeping in local farmerhouses, pee and poop in the jungle of in a dirty hole in the ground (called toilet) and shower with just a bucket of cold rainwater is part of the adventure. In a nation that has been oppressed for decades, the stretch of land from Kalaw to Inle Lake still seems like an old-world paradise, free from the political issues and frustrations found elsewhere in Myanmar.
Kids running on the streets, the rising mountains in front of you, happy families shouting Mingalabar 'Hello, good morning or good day', schools show their rituals with the kids, the waterbuffalos chilling in the ricefields and my soul mates together. What else do I want?
We call our squad retards. It's hard for us to be quiet for at least 5 minutes. Every conversation is about sex, pee, poop, farting, burping, puking. There is no shame among each other in the jungle.
The squad is crazy and being together it's worse. Everybody is fit and we enjoy to get dirty in the mud. It is even better if we can laugh about somebody! I am the worst and slip 5 times straight in the mud. But eh, who cares?
In the nights we play some guitar, drink a lot of local beers and sing loud. Having diner with the locals and sleep together makes the bound pretty strong. At the end we take a boat for the last part over the river. After our lunch, where we drank at least 2 liters of beer, we need to go to Inle Lake by boat.
INLELAKE
On the river at the boat Sven and me, of course the two Dutchies have to pee. Sven pees in a bottle but yea.... I have to go too. So the plan is 1) pull pants down 2) Ann put an plastic bag under my ass 3) let is go 4) keep the umbrella like a shelter so nobody else sees it. This works! Peeing in the plastic bag is succeeded 💪 except the fact that I let go the whole umbrella so unfortunately the driver, Silas and Ann saw everything. Oioioi, we still have to cry from laughing if we think about it. 🤣
HSIPAW
With the retard squad we do another trekking from 30km in a day, karaoke in a private room (this party was for sure too much), have a taxi in a horse carriage, drive all around the city, visit a winery, have a fancy hotel with our own swimming pool and sometimes we just sit down and do nothing. We became really good friends but there comes a time for goodbye.. After two weeks together Sven and me are the left overs and so the adventure continues together in Myanmar.
BAGAN
Bagan is well known about the thousands of pagodas. It's by far the most impressive testament to the religious devotion of the Myanmar's people. It's the richest archeological site in Asia.
The view is breathtaking and a kind of magical. Our daily thing is waking up for sunrise, afternoon chill at the pool, evening sunset. It is like holiday after an amazing intense time with the squad.
We find out that one of the most beautiful beaches of Myanmar is on the way. So we book a flight and take more holiday on the beach.
NGAPALI BEACH
No tourism in Ngapali beach is amazing. The locals are friendly, generous, happy. As always we end up together in random situations. Like playing guitar with locals on the street, boattrip with our favourite local friend, swimming in the sea by night and catching our own fish. Two Dutchies together is the perfect combination for a lot of bad influence. With amazing memories I say goodbye to Myanmar. The people made it unforgettable for me!
Myanmar, you stole my heart❤️
MANDALAY
The arrival in Mandalay is saturday afternoon, do a nap to rehabilitate from Bangkok and of course in the night I meet crazy people. That night we end up in the club The Flash. With six white people we have a private table with our own butler. The locals are in general wild, with the closed doors people can be lesbian and gays. I love the freedom they experience here in this club. The afterparty is full of drugs and prostitution. So as you can say, my expectations were a 'little' bit different..
From this moment I found my soul mates, family, friends however you would call it, I love this group of weirdos.
Mandalay itself it's not the most beautiful city. It's the second largest city of Myanmar and last royal capital of Myanmar. You got some pagodas, good massages, a historical bridge (U Beid bridge) and some clubs. I start realizing that I am the main attraction with my Dutch appearance. We visit all of them and continue our journey to Kalaw.
KALAW
Trekking from Kalaw to Inlelake takes us 10 hours walk a day, 3 days in a row. Sleeping in local farmerhouses, pee and poop in the jungle of in a dirty hole in the ground (called toilet) and shower with just a bucket of cold rainwater is part of the adventure. In a nation that has been oppressed for decades, the stretch of land from Kalaw to Inle Lake still seems like an old-world paradise, free from the political issues and frustrations found elsewhere in Myanmar.
Kids running on the streets, the rising mountains in front of you, happy families shouting Mingalabar 'Hello, good morning or good day', schools show their rituals with the kids, the waterbuffalos chilling in the ricefields and my soul mates together. What else do I want?
We call our squad retards. It's hard for us to be quiet for at least 5 minutes. Every conversation is about sex, pee, poop, farting, burping, puking. There is no shame among each other in the jungle.
The squad is crazy and being together it's worse. Everybody is fit and we enjoy to get dirty in the mud. It is even better if we can laugh about somebody! I am the worst and slip 5 times straight in the mud. But eh, who cares?
In the nights we play some guitar, drink a lot of local beers and sing loud. Having diner with the locals and sleep together makes the bound pretty strong. At the end we take a boat for the last part over the river. After our lunch, where we drank at least 2 liters of beer, we need to go to Inle Lake by boat.
INLELAKE
On the river at the boat Sven and me, of course the two Dutchies have to pee. Sven pees in a bottle but yea.... I have to go too. So the plan is 1) pull pants down 2) Ann put an plastic bag under my ass 3) let is go 4) keep the umbrella like a shelter so nobody else sees it. This works! Peeing in the plastic bag is succeeded 💪 except the fact that I let go the whole umbrella so unfortunately the driver, Silas and Ann saw everything. Oioioi, we still have to cry from laughing if we think about it. 🤣
HSIPAW
With the retard squad we do another trekking from 30km in a day, karaoke in a private room (this party was for sure too much), have a taxi in a horse carriage, drive all around the city, visit a winery, have a fancy hotel with our own swimming pool and sometimes we just sit down and do nothing. We became really good friends but there comes a time for goodbye.. After two weeks together Sven and me are the left overs and so the adventure continues together in Myanmar.
BAGAN
Bagan is well known about the thousands of pagodas. It's by far the most impressive testament to the religious devotion of the Myanmar's people. It's the richest archeological site in Asia.
The view is breathtaking and a kind of magical. Our daily thing is waking up for sunrise, afternoon chill at the pool, evening sunset. It is like holiday after an amazing intense time with the squad.
We find out that one of the most beautiful beaches of Myanmar is on the way. So we book a flight and take more holiday on the beach.
NGAPALI BEACH
No tourism in Ngapali beach is amazing. The locals are friendly, generous, happy. As always we end up together in random situations. Like playing guitar with locals on the street, boattrip with our favourite local friend, swimming in the sea by night and catching our own fish. Two Dutchies together is the perfect combination for a lot of bad influence. With amazing memories I say goodbye to Myanmar. The people made it unforgettable for me!
Myanmar, you stole my heart❤️
