Savoy Yangon (Rangoon)

... mines, no the the explosive ones but the ones left over by the cows:). Those piles can be eight inches deep and almost 12 inches wide. After an growling 30-40 minute track we finally got to the small village. The name I can not recall. Upon our arrival we were welcomed in a highly honored way. The church was a shack made from bamboo, tree bark that served as wall coverings, and palm branches that served as a roof by preventing rain from pouring in. <br><br>The Bermese ...

... biggest city in Burma. Oh, sorry, it&#8217;s officially not the capital anymore since 2005 when the generals were apparently afraid of an Iraq-like invasion and surprised everyone by building a new capital in the middle of the country, a huge process that cost $122-244 million by some estimates.<br><br>The kind of backwardness of the country however causes a couple of annoyances for travellers. First, the country doesn&#8217;t have any ATM&#8217;s, so you need to ...

... their fantastic remains, and make it up to the Shwe dagon Pagoda. This temple is pure gold with lots of little other pagodas surrounding it. Before I wasn't really convinced that Buddhism was a religion like the West has Christianity, but sure enough it is. People come there to pray and give offerings, and Buddha offers advice on how to live your life. So yeah. It's definitely a religion. The only downside to this Pagoda is that you ...

... hotel. Bill selected another one from our book and we were reluctantly taken there. Mr Zew was not pleased that we are not going to use his travel service, but went on his way. We stayed at the Ocean Pearl Inn. There is no ocean near by and it is not a pearl, but what can you expect for $15? Our room was relatively clean, has a/c and a private bath. We had to look past the mould though.... We walked to the downtown area and chose a restaurant for lunch. Bill loved ...

... So it wasn&#8217;t like I didn&#8217;t know what I was getting into. <br><br>After landing in Yangon, the former capital we headed north to Bagan, one of the great wonders of Southeast Asia. Its civilization flourished for almost six hundred years moving from Hindu to Buddhist before finally being destroyed by Kublai Khan&#8217;s army in the 14th Century I believe. During nearly six hundred years they filled their valley along the Irrawady River with ...

... lesser electricity, no air con or other frivolous uses of electricity. Everyday we have to walk a great distance from our hostel to get to some decent restaurants. The walkways are treacherous, uneven, bulging with wires criss crossing in your path and then there are the people and traffic. Thank god there are no scooters, I can't imagine how bad it could be. There are taxis and buses weaving around the streets, people hanging off the back, one must avoid them because they ...

... appear less oppressive in the main tourist areas. If you do go one great trick I saw at the airport was classic and should be followed. It is a nightmare at times changing money as you can only change perfectly clean dollars. The slightest mark or tear renders it valueless. I'm not sure why but it must be related somehow to the military's stash of dollars locked away somewhere (i've never found an answer so anyone who knows please post a msg). Anyway on exit you have to ...

... everywhere we went. Thai people are also extremely friendly and willing to chat, but their constant exposure to tourists has made us less of a novelty and therefore less intriguing to them. And the travelers in Thailand are possibly the least friendly in Southeast Asia: deluged by other foreign faces everywhere, most tourists just try to ignore everyone else so they can relax on the beach. Disappointingly, the majority of travelers in Thailand won't even return a ...

... extra. When it came time to fill in the declaration form on the plane, I caved and reported our true holdings. One look at the Spartan terminal (it reminded me of entering Yugoslavia before the breakup) and I was glad I wasn't trying anything risky. <br><br> <br><br> Turns out it really didn't seem to matter. Maybe the truth had set me free and I had an aura of confidence. More likely they really don't give a whit for less than $10,000. Of greater ...