It’s incredible how your perspective on a place changes with a) time, and b) the weather! The first time I landed in Yangon, I had no idea what to expect from Myanmar. How much do things cost? How far is the airport from the city centre? Where can I stay overnight, and where can’t I? Also, I was terrified as it was tipping it down and I had no idea how far anything is from anything else. The first time, I paid too much to take a slow way into the city from the airport.

But this time, as I witnessed the sun rise to signal the start of a scorching day in Burma’s second city, I was prepared.

I thought I’d share a quick photo of the Victorian colonial-style building we stayed in:

Thijs never made it to the hostel last night, but said he’d come today, so Clara and I decided to wait a day for him, passing the time by grabbing free bicycles from the hotel and spending a morning at the market. This highlighted two things for me, firstly; just how much history the British military left, and secondly, just how much rice really is produced and used in Myanmar:

After we’d finished looking at vegetables we whiled away the entire afternoon wandering the British-built formal gardens, known as the Kandawgyi gardens. They are a unique area of national park status in Myanmar. As the sun peeked out now and then I took a few photos, including one of the first set of nuns I’d seen in Myanmar. They shave their heads like the monks, though you can tell they’re nuns from the pink robes they wear, rather than the orange monkish robes:

The park in general was really rather pleasant, and certainly kept me smiling all day, especially the quietly creaking giant bamboo forest. Imagine a thousand 40-foot wind chimes clinking in loose rhythm:

There was also a petrified wood museum, a swamp, and quite an impressive “orchard” growing a large range of native and domesticated fruits:

The walk-in aviary had a couple of interesting characters:

The park has a nice treetop walk-around, where you can explore a jungle-like setting at mid-canopy height. Some locals scared off most of the wildlife with a combination of Myanmar rum and a guitar though:

We spent a little time exploring the Orchid and Butterfly museum, but there weren’t many orchids, and all the butterflies were pinned. So I concentrated on taking a couple of shots of live ones instead!

There’s also a pretty tall watchtower, visible from a way away, but free to climb from inside the park. It’s not hard to appreciate the view (and the breeze) at the top:

I feel the Teak plantations are a great thing. Teak takes a long time to go, 20-30 years before it’s at all useful, so plantations of such a scale really show the country intends to stick to its traditional methods for a while, and is really thinking ahead.

On the way back we indulged in an Indian curry at “The Taj” for dinner. Whilst admittedly not very authentic, it was actually brilliant, and being the only people in the restaurant (thanks, off-season!) we were well attended to and the food was all cooked super-fresh:

At the hostel we bumped into Thijs (finally!) and shared a small bottle of one of Myanmar’s local-made damson wines, and then a small bottle of the Grand Royal whisky. Considering the price, at <$3 each, both were really good, but I’m grateful for the early night following that – train to catch tomorrow!!

The morning following the Popa trip, I had enough time at the Ostello Bello to enjoy breakfast and get my things together, but that was about it, and I was essentially prepared for today to be written off to travel time. I hopped a bus to Mandalay, taking around 5 hours, and arrived just in time to find Clara at the hostel (love it when a plan comes together) and jump on a 3-passenger motorbike with an Irishman “John” to catch the sunset at the bridge. We were fortunate the weather held – the experience was near-death enough as it was:

So bridge, I say? Why yes, Myanmar features the world’s longest wooden bridge! It’s hundreds of years old, constantly attractive to walk across, and it’s right here in Mandalay:

Whilst you can walk it for free, even if the weather isn’t perfect it’s quite an experience to jump onto a boat (costs about $8 for 1/2 hour) and see it from the water. I’ve heard it’s great during the day, but it’s especially impressive when in silhouette at sunset. Here’s a taste:

Hearing that it was a “full moon festival” in Mandalay (the moon was admittedly full, no tricks here) we were told that the monks all had a day off, and would frequently invite their families to the main pagoda in Mandalay to celebrate. We stopped by on the way back to relish in the happy, bustling atmosphere, with people lighting candles, halls scented with jasmine, floors cleansed by the fresh rain and every 3rd person requesting a selfie because they’re so pleased to see foreigners at the pagoda:

The three-person deathmobile was our ride home too:

Snapping up a little free wifi at the hostel we ordered beer and takeaway noodles from the shop across the road. You can get the noodles delivered in plastic bags, but this looks a little too worryingly like a fairground goldfish for my taste, so I had mine in a box with chopsticks. Sometimes, it’s the little comforts.