erohisms

WWII and Waterfalls in Kanchanaburi

2013-04-02T12:00:00-07:00

Whether you're in it for the WWII history, the outdoor pursuits, or the cheap drinks and Thai ladies, Kanchanaburi has it all. Find out how to navigate this little town that could.

Sights

Have you watched The Bridge Over River Kwai? If so, you're familiar with the POW camps that the Japanese operated in Kanchanaburi during WWII. More than 100,000 men died in this area while building a railroad that should have taken years but took a matter of months. The Allied soldiers are remembered in several museums and cemeteries, but what we found incredible was how many Asian men, essentially forced laborers, perished alongside them. Since the Japanese didn't need to keep war records on "slaves," the POWs receive most of the accolades and shrines. The Thailand-Burma Railway Centre museum does a great job of telling the story of this area, and the bridge itself, while small, brings it home. Taking a ride on the railroad is a good way to pay tribute to the many lives lost.

Nature abounds in the Kanchanaburi region. You can ride elephants and cuddle with tigers, though we did neither as we plan on doing more of those activities in Chiang Mai. If you are craving wildlife encounters, we urge you to avoid the Tiger Temple as many believe the animals are drugged and abused.

A visit to one of the many waterfalls is a great way to spend a hot day. Erawan National Park boasts seven tiers of watery adventury for 200B/pp. Hike to the top and make your way down for the 4pm bus back. Each level has something different, but the flesh eating fish (the ones we think are used in fish spas) are ever-present!

A waterfall that gets less notice is Soi Yok Noi. It's not nearly as beautiful as Erawan, but it does offer a great way to observe Thai families doing what they do best - eating gourmet picnics!

There's also a cool cave to explore and you can take the bus back instead of the train, which saves some money and time.

The last sight is one you unfortunately can't avoid in Kanchanaburi, even if you try. Groups of old potbellied men sit around at bars with several bars of beer, waiting for Thai women to join them. Unlike our hotel in Bangkok, the guesthouses here seemed to have no problem with prostitutes. We saw these unlikely couples at breakfast, at the pool, at dinner, at bars, at the massage place, you name it. It seemed that most men paid for the "girlfriend experience" because the women stayed with them throughout the day. What we found most strange, however, was that none of the women spoke much English. Observing these couples over dinner, you'd think they were headed toward divorce, not a night of passion...

Hotels

You can get a lot for your money in Kanchanaburi, and the best way to ensure you get what you're looking for is to get to town and walk around. We arrived hot and tired from Bangkok, so we settled for T&T Guesthouse, a simple room with a private bath and AC for 500B/night.

When we saw how hot it was the next morning, we set out in search of a pool. Even though Kanchanaburi is set on the banks of the infamous River Kwai, the river isn't swimmable, so a pool was a must. We settled on Tara B&B, although Ploy also looked quite nice. For 670B/night, we got a beautiful room with water bottles, AC, a really nice bathroom, and a pool set on the shore of the river. We ended up staying three nights, partially because of how nice the bed was.

Food

Kanchanaburi was a relief for the wallet! The prices for most entrees at restaurants ranged from 60-120B, and the food was pretty good. We ate at Jolly Frog for breakfast as it was super cheap (35B for eggs and toast for Rob) and at Sri Rung Reung for dinner (tons of veggie options for Lina).

The other good thing about the town was the bars. "Get drunk for 10 baht" signs hung from several streetside stalls and while we didn't take them up on it, plenty of other travelers did. One of these street stalls was across from Blue Jeans Bar & Restaurant, which had live music nightly. They even had a visitor one night.

Transport

Taking the historic "death railway" to Nam Tok, the stop for the Soi Yok Noi waterfall, was super easy. Just ask your guesthouse for the schedule, arrive at the station and buy a ticket. Don't expect the train to be on time and don't get annoyed when you pay 100B while the locals pay 27B.

The local bus is useful to get to Erawan (50B/pp) and leaves at some indeterminate time. Ask your guesthouse for an updated schedule. Jolly Frog has one, but it's out of date. The bus from Soi Yok Noi cost 40B/pp.

We headed to Ayuthaya from Kanchanaburi by public bus, which was a ton easier than getting to Kanchanaburi from Bangkok. The tuk-tuk to the bus station cost 40B - bargain as they start at 60B. The bus to Suphanburi cost 50B each and took a bit under 2.5 hours. From there, we had an air conditioned minibus for 80B each, which took about an hour. You can get a minibus directly to Ayuthaya from Kanchanaburi for 380-400B, which takes a bit less time but you'll end up paying at least 230B more than we did and you won't get to meet the local monks that sit at the back of the bus.

More Kanchanaburi

Interested in seeing the sights without paying for a plane ticket? Check out our Kanchanaburi+ photo gallery!

One Month Tally!

2013-03-17T20:30:00-07:00

One month down, an unknown number to go. Here's where we netted out after the first 28 days.

TOTAL SPENT

$1858.25 ($141.75 under budget, which will help offset flight costs down the road)

AVERAGE SPEND/DAY

$33 each

Number of

Countries: 2
Cities: 9 (not counting short stops and day trips to outer regions)
Credit card swipes: 0
Hitchhikes: 1 (in Mandalay)
Market meals: 7
Massages: 2 (each)
Bus trips: 20+ (both local and long-distance)
Flights: 3 (US to Yangon via Seoul, Mandalay to Bangkok)
Elephant encounters: 4 (one in the wild, one on the street, one at work, one at a center)

Coconuts: 4 (three in Burma, one in Thailand)
Alarm clock uses: 3 or 4
UNESCO World Heritage Sites: 2 (both in Thailand; we're shocked Bagan and Inle aren't included--they've been on the "tentative" list for 15+ years!)
Non-guesthouse beds: 3 (one at a hill tribe village, one at a Buddhist monastery, one on a bus)
Waterfalls: 10 (nine in Thailand, one in Burma)
Phrasebook uses: 5 (mostly to order vegetarian food and/or drink with the locals!)
Days with no beer: 0
Days with no internet: 12
Days without feeling lucky: 0

Favorite experiences

Rob

Being seatless in the 3rd class train--and making lots of Thai friends in the bar car! (More on this experience coming soon!)
Sunrise over Bagan and sunset over Inle Lake--both being a photographer's dream set
Eating/drinking as much as possible out of coconut shells

Lina

Getting kissed by an elephant in Ayutthaya
Sunrise over Bagan... followed by the infinity pool at the Aureum
Being tall--I've never seen the tops of so many heads before!

Overall, the first month was incredible. It's hard to put words to the many new experiences we've had... and it's hard to believe that it's only the beginning.

What we may love most is the closest thing we have to a schedule is to look at the map in the morning and ask, "where next?"

We hope you've enjoyed our tales and photography and that you stick around for month two! If you like what you see/read, please leave comments and share the blog with your friends.

-The Erohs

A How-To for Mandalay and Beyond

2013-03-14T17:10:00-07:00

Most travelers nowadays seem to skip Mandalay, with its heat, smog, and so-so attractions. Our Air Asia flight was cheaper from Mandalay to Bangkok than Yangon to Bangkok, so we figured it was worth seeing a new place rather than backtracking.

Sights

We spent a day and a half in Mandalay and then did an overnight trip to the mountain town of Pyin Oo Lwin. The only thing that was a must in Mandalay was the Mahamuni Paya, with its huge gold Buddha stolen from the Rahkaing State.

To be honest, the pagoda and Buddha weren't as impressive as the spectacle of local families, all decked out, coming to pray and have their photos taken.

You can (and should) avoid the camera fee, since you can't even take pictures when you're at the Buddha statue. If you are a man and don't wear long pants in 100 degree heat, longyi are available in the south wing. Rob wishes he remembered the bottoms to his zip-on pants.

The U Bein Bridge in Amarapura, a cab or bike ride away, was worth seeing, though the smog prevented the gorgeous sunset we'd hoped for. Sunrise was supposedly better. This is also where you can see hundreds of monks eat their breakfast in the morning, though according to travelers we met, this activity has started to lose its appeal as there are so many tour buses coming in just for the spectacle.

If you have extra time, Pyin Oo Lwin is a worthy sidetrip. The air is fresher and the temperatures lower than in Mandalay. The gardens outside of town make for a nice afternoon and are where we had our first non-farm animal sighting: monkeys playing in the branches right overhead.

The short motorbike trip to the falls in Anisakan is also worth it. The falls are beautiful and refreshing, so cold in fact that we didn't even swim. Allow 30 minutes down, 45 minutes back up, plus the trip out of town.

Hotels

We found our hotel the old-fashioned way, through a tout at the bus station. The Rich Queen was probably the best room of our Burma trip, through I'd take that with a grain of salt. Still for $25/night, we got a clean room with working bathroom, an okay breakfast, and a downtown location. Wifi (in the lobby) and AC (in the room) worked when there was power. Cross your fingers. There were half as many power outages in Mandalay as there were in Bagan, but that's not saying much.

In Pyin Oo Lwin, we stayed at Golden Dreams, which was a dump. $14/night was too much to pay, but it was the cheapest room in town and we were running low on kyat. Note that there's no breakfast. The nicest hotel that accepts foreigners is Bravo. They quoted us $30/night and wouldn't budge.

Food

For the most part, we again followed Lonely Planet recommendations. Nothing blew our minds, though Mann restaurant was incredibly disappointing. The Chapati Stand recommended in Lonely Planet was pretty amazing for street food. We each had two chapatis and a curry at 1000K each. The chapatis were fresh off the grill and it was truly a local's hangout. Quite a cool dining experience, though after a while some other travelers came to eat there as well, making the sight of us a bit less foreign.

In Pyin Oo Lwin, we highly recommend Krishna, a South Indian place off the main drag. We felt like we were part of the family and the food was amazing. Since we were the only people eating there, we stayed and chatted with the young hostess for quite a while. She's been to India a few times, but calls Burma home. The entire family immigrated after WWII and has no plans to move back. Despite being Hindu in a heavily Buddhist area, we saw no attempts by the family to hide their religion. In fact, blown up photos of all the daughters in traditional Indian dress and makeup decorated the walls and Bollywood played in the background as we enjoyed our dinner (with our hands, of course!).

Transport

We took some shared cabs in Mandalay (4000K/pp for a roundtrip to U Bein Bridge; 2000K/pp for the trip to the hotel from the bus station). Mostly we walked, which was exhausting. Take afternoons off and hope the AC works. A bike would have been useful since the city is pretty flat.

Getting to Pyin Oo Lwin cost us 1500K/pp in a pickup, which is a pickup truck converted into a semibus with benches. They leave from the corner of 27th and 82nd. The driver will find you and, if you're tall, the ride will be uncomfortable. Don't worry, if the engine starts clanging going up a big hill, it's normal. They'll stop to douse the engine with water.

In Pyin Oo Lwin, our half day bike rental for the gardens cost 1000K each. The half day motorbike was 6000K, which was a great deal. When bargaining, make the half day a clear part of a deal.

Share taxi to Mandalay airport was 4000K. Our hotel tried to charge 5000K, so head to a travel agency for a better deal if that's what you're quoted. We used one on 82nd between 26th and 27th. That's also where we exchanged money when the banks were closed.

More Mandalay

Enjoying the pictures? See more photos of Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay, and beyond.

Impressions of Bagan

2013-03-11T17:20:00-07:00

Allow at least two full days for Bagan, even if you're not a temple buff. If you are, allow a lifetime. With more than 4400 temples strewn across miles of desert, that's probably what you'll need. For a regular person, however, two days should suffice and keep you cool and clean enough to still be happy when you leave.

Bagan is a dusty spread out place, and you'll need a good bicycle to make do. We hit the main temple highlights on our first day, stopping for a long lunch in an attempt to stay cool. For sunset, we headed to Pyathada Paya, which is a bit off the beaten track and should have been spectacular. However, as it's dry season, the sunset was a bit ehh. You stopped seeing it about 10 degrees above the horizon. The moving herds of livestock, however, made for a beautiful view.

Make sure you bring TONS of baby wipes (for feet and sweat), a headlamp since the bikes have no lights, and patience. We both got flat tires, which makes riding on deep sand nearly impossible. Push your bike when need be as it's better than wiping out, which I did in spectacular fashion in front of a group of locals. Rob did manage to push through the deep sand (even with a flat tire) by standing and pedaling.

We rose at 5am and biked out for sunrise on day two. Watching from the top of Buledi was spectacular. The air was clear and we were surrounded by temples.

We even got to see a bunch of hot air balloons get ready for takeoff--only to be deflated due to "wind." (There was not one leaf rustling on the trees, so go figure.) Sunrise is an absolute must at least once, no matter how miserable you are when the alarm goes off (we actually woke up before our alarm). Because it was so hot, we knew we wanted to find a pool for part of day two. In actuality, we ended up spending all day at the infinity pool at the Aureum Palace Resort, by the watchtower. The grounds were incredible and at $10pp for visitors, well worth it. Thanks, Lambert, for the recommendation!!

After our refreshing day at the Aureum, we decided to stay another night. On day three, we opted for an afternoon river boat tour to see older temples from the 11th century. We bargained to 13,000K for the boat and visited temples that rarely see tourists. A resident monk unlocked gates and climbed stairs with us, pointing out his meditation and sleeping areas as we went. We later stopped at a fishing village, where children wandered alongside pigs and goats and squealed in glee as I fashioned crowns out of flowers. As we watched the sun set over the Ayeyarwady River, I couldn't help but think of those children. They had asked for shampoo...

One of the most fascinating aspects of Bagan was how many local families were out on the temples with us. Bagan is not just a tourist attraction; it's something the Burmese people are incredibly proud of. Most temples are from Burma's heyday, about 800 years ago, and they still carry a tremendous amount of power for the locals. The one thing that makes it better for them is us--the tourists. Rob and I were asked to be in at least 50 photos over one day. Considering all the photographing you're likely doing of the locals, do your best to oblige.

On a limited budget, the only place to stay is Nyaung Oo, which is a bit far from the main temples but doable. On a bigger budget, head to Old Bagan, which is literally set amidst the temples. A few decades ago, locals actually lived here, but the government kicked them out to an area south, now known as "New Bagan." What you have in the Old area is now luxury hotels and tons of temples. Enjoy it for those who no longer can.

More Bagan

Like the photos here? See why it was almost as hard to narrow down our Bagan photos as our Inle Lake photos. Interested in finer details? Plan a trip with our Bagan logistics page.

Impressions of Inle Lake

2013-03-07T16:50:00-08:00

Mystical? Dreamlike? Magic.

During the course of calling 20 hotels to try to find one that had availability, I started wondering whether going to Inle was even worth it. Having spent four days here, I can say with utmost assurance that it is. Go to Inle. And go now.

For the most popular of all destinations in Burma, Inle still somehow feels undiscovered and untouristy.

Sure there are touts trying to get you on their boats, but it says something that there are still empty boats to be had. We topped out our budget at Inle at about $70/day, but it was worth every dollar and kyat. Plus, that covered EVERYTHING. In San Francisco, that's how much I threw down for a dinner with wine--for one.

The main reason to go to Inle is to spend a day on the lake. There's no reason to book with your hotel as walking down to the bridge in Nyaung Shwe means you meet plenty of boat drivers--or at least people who tout for them. An all day boat trip should cost around 15,000K, which you can split with up to six people. Rob and I had nobody to share with, so we did a private trip and asked for it to include Indein, which is an ancient site with over 1000 crumbling and/or restored stupas.

The beautiful petite Burmese lady near the Mirror Pagoda quoted me 20,000K for the trip including Indein, then quickly dropped it to 18,000 when I told her it was too expensive. Her name is Ma Than Tahn Aye and her husband is Ko Soe Lin. Their nephew took us around, and though his English was limited, he understood what Rob wanted: photo opportunities. Over the course of one day, we saw the floating gardens of Kela with squash and tomatoes; artisan shops for paper umbrellas, cloth, cigars and silver; long-necked women;

several villages, including one in the process of making a similar boat to the one we were in (1 month, 4 men, $2500US); and a monastery that used to make its cats jump until tourists protested that it was "un-monklike." (The cats will still jump for you if you pet them and then make a circle with your arms in front of their eye level.)

The most incredible part of the trip was just being on the lake itself. Inle is a misty place and the fog doesn't dissipate until late in the afternoon. Throughout the mist and the calm waters all you see are stilted houses on patches of grass, the spray of water coming from the motorboats, and the silhouettes of the local fishermen who use one leg to row, one leg to balance on the very edge of their boat, and both hands to fish. Whether it's the most effective way to fish is questionable, but the strength and balance required to pull it off is impressive, and incredibly picturesque. The highlight of the trip was sunset, during which time the mountains surrounding the lake finally pop out of the mist, outlined in shades of orange and pink.

Aside from a boat trip, you can also do a self-guided bike tour. Half day rentals (after noon) should cost 1000K per bike. Going across the bridge takes you through beautiful scenery and about an hour later you hit a hot springs resort, $8 pp for coed bathing with three pools. After spending some time there, continue on the road until the next town and negotiate for a boat ride across the lake. We paid 6000K, split amongst four people.

Once on the other side, you cycle over a long teak bridge and make a left to head back to Nyaung Shwe. Some people stop at the winery for sunset, but we enjoyed it on the road, amidst farmers, cows, and water buffalo.

More Inle Lake

It took Rob a long long time to narrow down from the 2,000 photos he took around Inle Lake, so be sure to check out our Inle Lake photo gallery. Interested in more of the nitty gritty? Check out our Inle logistics page.

The Good, Bad, and Ugly of the Kalaw to Inle Lake Trek

2013-03-05T11:30:00-08:00

The main reason to go to Kalaw is to do the three-day, two-night trek to Inle Lake. The typical route takes you through many hill tribe villages and has you spend one night in a family house and another in a monastery.

Kalaw is FULL of "guides," so picking someone to do your trek with can be difficult. Taking a recommendation from TripAdvisor, we went with Ever Smile, an independent company run by a woman. We paid 12,000K per person per day, which included food and accommodations. (We had four people in our group; a tour for two costs 15,000 pp/day.) In addition, we paid 3000K each for bag transport to Inle and split the 17,000K fee for the boat ride at the end of the trek.

The Good

Incredible scenery reminiscent of Bay Area hills in the dry months of the year (less the hill tribe villages)
Children, children, and more children, with smiles the width of their faces despite them carrying their brothers and sisters on their backs
A truly non-touristy look at the way locals live, farm, cook, and bathe
This farmer is getting pulled about the field on a board by his water buffalo. It was facinating to watch the random movements that eventually plowed the land.
An alarm clock of novice monks (aka monksters) chanting at 5:30am at the monastery

The Bad

Our guide's English could have been a lot better. We had hoped this trek would allow us to learn a bit more about the Burmese people and culture, but unfortunately we were limited to the names of villages and plants.
Homestays weren't really homestays. The local families served us dinner and showed us where to use the bathroom, but other than that, they did not go out of their way to interact with us. Perhaps it's because they're now too used to tourists.
With about 20 minutes of trekking to go, I got stung by a ginormous bee. Usually, Rob and I take a first aid kit with us when we hike, but because we had a guide, we left it at home. Our guide had no tweezers, no wipes, nothing. He took the stinger out with dirty fingers. My hand was swollen for three days afterwards, so much so that I had to remove my (fake) wedding ring.

The Ugly

Our guide: our small group noticed our guide seemed to be taking shortcuts that took us via dirt (unshaded) roads instead of trails. On the second day, we also noticed that when we arrived at a family house for lunch, our lunch wasn't ready even though the two other groups in the house got served immediately. After waiting about an hour, we got noodle soup instead of the lunch spread the other groups had. When we questioned our guide about it, he got incredibly defensive and essentially ignored us the rest of the trek.
The boat: for 17,000K, we expected to get the boat for the whole day. When we requested some stops, the guide said it would cost extra. We agreed to up it to 20,000K, but the boat driver took us to the wrong pagoda and then refused to take us to the correct one because it was "too far." Instead of being the negotiator and translator, our guide basically did nothing. We figured it was because he just wanted to go home. The worst part was that the boat driver still expected the 20,000K when we arrived in Nyaung Shwe. We refused to pay it, which led to our first, incredibly passive local altercation.

Takeaway

Perhaps it was just a fluke with our guide - Ton - but we would not recommend Ever Smile as a trekking operator. Groups that paid that same amount we did had better guides and an overall better experience. The A1 guide seemed particularly interested in actually being a guide, as opposed to getting the tour over with. That said, the one place we heard repeatedly to avoid was Golden Lily. If you stay there, they will constantly talk to you about trekking with them.

Top Tips

Take tons of baby/face wipes, as the "bathrooms" are squat toilets and the "showers" are buckets of water out in the open
Be careful with the tea at the many stops. Sometimes the locals don't boil the water all the way, which means some of the bacteria lives. Rob got really sick from the tea at the train station. Amazing views of rice paddies across the tracks though!
Take warm clothes. We slept in fleeces and ski jackets under several blankets. The couple we were with woke up with colds because they didn't have jackets.
Read updated trekking guide reviews on TripAdvisor. Internet in Burma is really limited, so I had to go off of information I read a month earlier. If I had checked more current reviews, perhaps our experience would have been different.
Be prepared for harder trekking than the tour operator says. Over 3 days, you will go approximately 60km and it's no walk in the park!

More Kalaw

At the end of the day, we witnessed amazing views and local culture for 3 days straight and it was well worth the time despite some difficulties. Check out our Kalaw and Kalaw trek to Inle Lake photo gallery to see the natural beauty we encountered on the trek. Interested in just Kalaw? Check out our Kalaw logistics page.

Why?

2013-02-28T13:27:00-08:00

If there’s one question people ask more than any other, it’s why. We thought it would be, “Where are you going?” or “How much will it cost?” or even “Where should I join you?” But it’s not. It’s “why?”

It’s not a bad question really. Both of us are leaving exciting enough/well-paid jobs at eBay, as well as a good amount of unvested stock. We’re leaving our beautiful loft apartment, which we love, and our families and friends, which we love even more. We’re delaying getting a dog and starting a family and getting Rob the Tesla that he so wants.

Why?

Because we want to wake up each morning and be excited for what the day brings. Because we can’t wait to look back on each day and feel like we accomplished something, whether that’s learning to scuba dive and kiteboard, spotting a wild elephant, komodo dragon, or orangutan, or ordering a beer in a new language. Because we’re too young for “cushy” and too old (and married) to do the things that spiced up our lives when we were 18. And because we can—we’re extremely fortunate to have enough savings, guts, and desire to make the next year work.

You may not agree with our decision, or even understand it, but we hope it at least inspires you to see what’s possible. And who knows, maybe we’ll see you on the road one of these days. Because after “why,” the thing we hear most often is, “that’s awesome!”

We woke up at 4:45 this morning, before our alarm, to see this amazing sunrise in Bagan, Burma. We were sitting near the top of a pagoda similar to the one in the left of the background. Awesome.

Impressions of Yangon

2013-02-24T22:00:00-08:00

Yangon is a crazy city, with monks and motorbikes sharing dusty alleys that are either framed by buildings that look like they were razed by the Japanese yesterday... or bright gold stupas.

For a girl who's lived in a lot of cities, Yangon was like nothing I'd ever experienced. What stuck out for me more than anything was that you couldn't just show up and find your way around. Places to stay and eat are more or less undiscoverable and it is only with a guidebook and a lot of luck that we were able to find a place to stay and eat.

The real standout of Yangon for us was 2500-year-old Shwedagon Paya. This collection of 82 shrines, temples, and stupas covers several city blocks and was beyond anything we imagined. The entire complex is supposedly built on a hill in which eight hairs of the Buddha are buried. Buildings have to be retouched every two years with gold leaf, which makes the original stupa, built in the 15th century by Queen Shinsawbu and gilded with her own weight in gold, seem an easy feat in comparison. The main stupa, or zedi, is now about 100m tall and has accumulated more than 53 metric tons of gold leaf.

From monks that meditate for hours, to entire extended families having their dinner picnic inside a temple, Shwedagon dazzled with its over the top gold leaf, mirror mosaics, and LED lights above Buddha's head.

We spent several hours moving from temple to temple (barefoot, of course) and taking in the viewpoints that each wooden floor brought. Rob was able to capture amazing scenes, but our camera missed:

monks walking on the different rungs of the main stupa as the sun set behind them
chanting of all kinds intermingling between the temples
worshippers lovingly washing the many Buddha statues as a sign of respect

All in all, Yangon seems like a city of contradictions, with so much money going to temple upkeep and so little going to repairing the buildings destroyed in WWII and the more recent cyclone in 2008. What infrastructure changes are happening seem to be occurring on the personal level. On a 100 degree Sunday, we saw groups of men--starting at age 10 and ending at around 70--digging trenches in flip flops for what we can only assume will be a pipe for running water. The people, if not the government, seem dedicated to fixing their city. We hope they're able to do it without losing sight of their past.

More Yangon

For more pictures, check out our Yangon photo gallery. Interested in more details or planning a trip? Check out our Yangon logistics page.

And... we’re off!

2013-02-15T10:20:00-08:00

Apartment (almost) rented, furniture and all belongings in storage, backpacks packed.

It’s been an intense 48 hours and after a night spent sleeping on our yoga mats in front of our fireplace, we’re off to SFO, where we’ll board a 12-hour flight to Seoul followed by a 7-hour flight to Yangon.

Our first destination is Burma, which has recently become something of a Western tourist hot spot. Why? The government has promised to (somewhat) stop killing and oppressing its people and has released pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from her decades-long house arrest. This has led Western countries like the US to relax sanctions and Western tourists like us to not feel like we’re putting money directly into the hands of the bad guys. Read more about it here.

We’ll be spending a bit over two weeks in the country, with primary stops in Yangon, Inle Lake, Bagan, and Mandalay—what most guidebooks call the “Big Four.”

Even though Burma will be the least developed country on our itinerary, we expect it to be one of the most expensive due to the recent influx of tourism. Hotel prices have doubled or tripled in the past year alone, which will make sticking to our $1000/month budget difficult, especially if you consider that the only way in and out of the country is by air. Why? Something along the lines of guerilla tribal fighting in the areas closest to the borders, plus the fact that the government likely doesn’t want tourists to see how bad the poverty is in non-tourist areas.

Because we don’t land until 11pm Burmese time, we’ve booked our first night’s accommodation at the Chan Myae Guesthouse. It took several attempts to reach this guesthouse by Skype and we hope they actually have our reservation. If not, the adventure will begin earlier than anticipated! Well... it looks like we are in for an adventure. Called Chan Maye Guesthouse last night to confirm and they couldn't find our reservation. Let the games begin!

We have plenty of long (12-14 hour) bus rides planned for our Burma leg of the journey, so expect more detailed posts about the country, as well as more information on our six-month travel challenge.

TOTAL SPENT: $23.60 (business class one-way flight bought on miles)

Welcome to our new life!

2013-02-11T10:00:00-08:00

We’re Rob and Lina, and we’re incredibly excited for the next year of our lives. For the past six months, we’ve been planning a one-year trip abroad, starting with six months in SE Asia. Two weeks ago, we put in our notices at work. This week, we’re doing last minute preparation and packing. On Friday, we’re off, and we’ll be chronicling our adventures here.

Our (tentative) itinerary for the first six months

Burma – February 15, 2013
Thailand
Laos
Cambodia
Vietnam
Philippines
Indonesia

Our shared travel goals

Wake up each day without cursing the alarm clock
Take (and share) photographs that are worth 1001 words
Dig up stories only discoverable off the tourist path
Keep our spending to $1000 (each) a month
Pave the way for others to engage in long-term travel

Our personal travel goals

Lina

Don’t over plan. I love guidebooks, almost as much as I love building itineraries. On this trip, I’m going to try to not pre-book anything unless absolutely necessary.
Live in the moment. Unlike Rob, I find it difficult to focus on the here and now. Even when I’m doing something amazing, my mind wanders to tomorrow’s chores, projects, and bills. This year, I intend to make the most of each day, even if it consists of a 14-hour bus ride that only covers 150 kilometers.

Rob

Try as many different foods as possible. I don’t suffer from Lina’s (mostly self-imposed) dietary restrictions, so I intend to make the most of the amazing foods we’ll find along the way. Crickets anyone?
Learn at least ten words in each language. Lina picks up languages faster than I do and even when she doesn’t, her mime skills rival the best out there. I’d like to pull my weight, or at least increase my word count.
Evaluate startup opportunities in the travel space. Travel has always been my passion. I’m hoping to find a way to also make it big part of my next venture.

Our promise to readers of this blog

When we (and by “we,” we mean Lina) were planning this trip, the most frustrating thing was the lack of information on the logistics. We promise that we’ll tell you how we got where we got, what we paid, and where we stayed. That way, you can recreate our adventure or at least assure yourself that living on $25 a day really isn’t half bad.

You can learn more about us here and subscribe to our blog updates on the right. Also, if you have specific questions, leave them in the comments section and we’ll do our best to answer them in an upcoming post.

-The Erohs