Bhutan to Myanmar via Thailand

I got up this morning and we headed to the airport. While I was looking forward to Myanmar I was starting to realize that it would probably not be able to top Bhutan. In fact, even though there are a lot more countries to explore, I’m pretty sure I’ll never find one to top Bhutan. I went through customs and boarded the Drukair flight to Bangkok. I was a little sad to leave this magical kingdom, but also knew I was bringing some of it along with me.

I originally had three hours in Bangkok and planned to get a Singha beer and Thai pancake. However my flight was changed and I now had only an hour. I flew in on Drukair and was flying out to Yangon, Myanmar on Thai Airlines, and they could not check my bag all the way through so I was carrying it with me. I repacked everything so that my day pack fit in my main pack. I let Drukair know about my tight connection and they were kind enough to let me deplane with business class. So I strapped on my back pack and got on the bus that would take us to the main terminal. I was rushing, but exercised some caution when getting off the plane, remembering that ancient wisdom that had been passed down to me, "Man who gets off plane sideways is going to Bangkok". Once in the main terminal I consulted the directory to see if I needed to go to the East or West transfer station. I quickly started to panic when I saw Thai Airlines listed under both East and West. I checked with the information desk and she pointed me to the West, so I took off running. Bangkok was, as always, hot, and I had on jeans and a fleece which kept me warm in Bhutan but was now just extra weight, along with my 30 pound pack on my back. I got through transfers and found my gate as they were boarding. I checked in and they checked my passport and visa. They had not yet called my row so I went aside and took off my fleece, and found my dark t-shirt nicely highlighted all the areas I was sweating. I packed away my fleece and stood in front of one of the blade air conditioners found throughout Suvarnabhumi, until my row was called. Because I was one of the last people on, and because I had my big back pack with me, I got to be the guy who walks all the way down the aisle opening each overhead compartment looking for space for a bag that everyone thinks I should have checked, not knowing my circumstances. About eight rows behind my seat I finally found room and put my bag away. I went and sat down, I again missed my Singha beer and Thai pancake, but I made my flight and could not be more relieved. 20 minutes in to the hour flight I was served a nice meal and a glass of wine, and things were good.

My interest in Myanmar started back in 2007 when I took a 10 hour overnight train from Hanoi to Lao Cai, Vietnam, and met a couple that had been traveling there a year earlier. They told of amazing people and of some of the most amazing, and largely untouched ruins. When I got home I looked up some pictures, and it, like Bhutan, only took a single image for me to add Myanmar to my list, and that was the sunset over Bagan.

Visiting Bhutan and Myanmar on this trip made sense in that they were not that far from each other but would provide very different experiences. Bhutan was cold, Myanmar was hot, Bhutan had a government working for the people, Myanmar suppresses its people and is controlled by a military regime, Bhutan practiced Mahayana Buddhism, while Myanmar practiced Theravada Buddhism. However there was one thing that was almost identical between them, the food. The Myanmar people mostly ate rice, noodles, and vegetables, all covered in chilies.

I arrived in Myanmar and it took almost 30 minutes to get through immigration. Everything is hand written and it takes them two to three minutes to process a single person. So while the line seems short and may only be 10 or so people, it moves very, very slowly. But I made it through and was fortunate enough that I also did not have to wait for my luggage. I found my guide and we headed off to the hotel. On the ride to the hotel I encountered a number of interesting facts. Myanmar uses miles, feet, and fahrenheit, like the US, but unlike the rest of the world. All the cars in Myanmar are refurbished imports from anyplace they can get them, this means sometimes you will see a car with the steering wheel on the right side and sometimes you will see one with it on the left side, it depends on where they imported it from. And then my guide informed me that Myanmar is in a special 30 minute offset timezone, instead of the normal 60 minute intervals found around the world.

While you can convert money at the airport it is not a very good rate, and you can do much better on the black market. When I met Michelle back in Bangkok on my layover, she told me about a guy behind the very hotel that I was staying at that had really good rates. My guide told me about this same guy as well as took me there. He had an actual stand and I guess it’s pretty common and completely accepted to do a lot of things on the black market. I gave him $250USD and he said a lot of things that I did not understand, and then handed me two thick stacks of bills along with a few extras. I had no idea what was going on and looked at my guide for approval. She said it was a good rate. Just to double check I asked her if this was real money, I mean this was not the kind of guy to give out a receipt, and she said it was fine, and it was. I never had any problem with it.


It was a long and stressful travel day, but I was here in Yangon, Myanmar, getting ready to start the second half of my trip. They actually had internet here, and while highly censored and monitored, I was able to send an email home to let everyone know that things were great and I was doing well. With that done I headed to the hotel bar to finally relax with a Myanmar beer. They had a local band who were playing and singing American music, yet they could not speak English.

VIDEO: Myanmar Introduction