My End of Year Vacation

​Let me tell you about the nice vacation I had. It all started on the night of December 24.

A few years ago, I used to be a freak when organizing my trips. I used to make lists of things to do before leaving my house and calculate the times it would take to do it all. Most of the time I followed the list like a recipe; however, this time I only planned the dates and places I was travelling to. I did this just to secure good prices on bus and air fare. I learned a very good lesson too, the best things happen when you don’t have a plan!

I was very lucky to have two friends that I met in Canada come and visit me; Alyssa and Rabbie. Aly is also a Cuso volunteer but she is doing her placement in Laos. We had planned to spend Christmas together before we left Canada back in October. Rabbie is from Bangladesh and he took advantage of a trip back home to see his family, for a quick side visit to Myanmar.

We were planning to visit four places in Myanmar in only six days: Yangon, Shan State, Mandalay, and Bagan. Then we would travel to Bangkok, Thailand to receive the New Year. It turns out we were too ambitious and we had to skip Mandalay because we couldn’t find tickets to travel on Christmas Eve.

My friend Maureen and her boyfriend Marco saved our Christmas Eve. They invited me to dinner and accepted two extra guests. We had so much fun and ate a lot of sea food! 

Shan state

Inle lake

Maureen and Marco decided to travel with us to Shan State. The trip was amazing! Inle Lake is a freshwater lake, home of many who live on the lake itself and around it. The main transportation is small boats.

​We rented a boat for the day and we got to see how people live on the lake.

Fishermen have a unique style to fish. They fish standing up. These fishermen however were just posing for the camera

It is interesting how locals grow their vegetables and fruit. I’ve seen large gardens floating on the surface of the lake. They also have a floating market; unfortunately, we were not able to see it as it wasn’t open that Saturday.

My favorite part was meeting Kayan Lahwi women. These women are part of an ethnic minority in Shan State and wear brass neck coils. If you see the pictures below you’ll notice that there is a very young woman sitting next to me. They start wearing these neck coils from a very young age! 

I learned that girls start wearing small rings at the age of 5 and they replace them with longer and heavier ones over the years. Although there are different theories about why these women wear these neck coils, the women say it is their cultural tradition associated with beauty – the longer the neck the more attractive they are. I felt very happy and fortunate to have been able to see Kayan Lahwi women as I never thought I would have that privilege.  

​The Pindaya Cave

On Sunday, we rented a car and visited another amazing place: The Pindaya Cave. Decorated with thousands of Buddha status all throughout the cave, it was impressive to see. I have never seen anything like this before. 

As you can see, the cave is full of Buddha’s statues and a pagoda in the middle. Yes, there were many babies crying that afternoon… 

Bagan

The next destination was Bagan!

Bagan is a city that has thousands of old temples and pagodas. We arrived at our hotel at 3:00 am but our check in time wasn’t until noon (we got there a bit too early)! We were so tired that we ended up sleeping on the reception floor. At 6 am the receptionist sent us to the second floor and provided a mattress for us to use temporarily. Maybe he just wanted to clear the reception area!

We finally got a room at 8 am. Although we were tired, we started our tour at 10 am. This time we rented electric scooters (a whole day for only USD 5). We had such an amazing time! At the end of the day we got to see the sunset. It was magical!    

​This was my second time in this beautiful city but it was the first time exploring it on a scooter. It was definitely a different experience. 

thailand

We traveled to Bangkok on December 31st. My friend Ann recently moved to Bangkok with her family and invited me to stay at her place. She also accepted guests : )

​We had nothing planned… 

new year's eve

That day before noon, something came up and we ended up having a great plan for the night! Sabbir, Rabbie’s friend, invited us to spend New Year’s Eve on Bangsaen beach with his family and friends. Bangsaen beach is 90 minutes away from Bangkok. We had so much fun. It was a different experience to light lanterns while making wishes. It was also beautiful to see fireworks while waiting for the countdown to 2016. We were surrounded by Bangladeshi people who were very courteous and made us feel welcome.      

I just love this video. It shows just a little how perfect the night was 

On Saturday we went to Aythaya Historical City with the Bangladeshi gang and we met Mikyung Seo, a beautiful Korean girl. Because we were such a diverse group, learning names was a bit challenging so the guys decided to call each of us by our countries: Canada, Bolivia, Korea, Somalia, and Bangladesh. You can meet the gang in the slideshow above. We had a lot of fun!

bangkok

To be honest I knew nothing about Bangkok before traveling. It was a great surprise to see such a clean and modern city full of tall buildings!

Bangkok has taxis, tuk-tuks, buses, sky trains, underground trains, and boats. The boat service is amazing!  Ann’s house is very close to a canal so it is easier to get downtown. It takes approximately 40 minutes to get downtown and there’s no traffic! The best thing is that everything is written both in Thai and in English. Therefore, it is very easy to move around.

The signalization in boat stations is just like in train stations. They have the number of the station,  the name of the previous and next station. Both in Thai and in English

On January 1st, Aly and I were exploring the city. We took the boat to get downtown and found a huge mall: “Central World.” The mall has H&M and Forever 21!! We had to go in and shop! It is funny how these little things comfort you and make you feel like you are not away from home. Although Aly hates malls in Canada, she was in heaven at Central World!

Also, there is a 7/11 at every corner of the city. You can find delicious Thai tea there and ham and cheese sandwiches. That was our breakfast for 3 days. By Sunday I couldn’t drink Thai Tea any longer. Although I love it, it felt too sweet (Thai tea is red tea mixed with condensed and evaporated milk).

Aly left on Saturday night and Rabbie left on Sunday morning. It was sad to see them go but I was so happy to have spent so many days with good friends

I had to stay in Thailand a bit longer to renew my Myanmar visa so I had a few more days to explore the city by myself.

Sunday was my time to do sightseeing. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my tripod to Bangkok so I could only take selfies on my phone or postal pictures on my camera. Below you will find all the beautiful places I got to see! I walked for six hours in 41 C and I didn’t bring a hat so I was very tired at the end of the day.

crossfit in bangkok

​I was so happy to find three crossfit boxes in Bangkok. I chose the closest one to the place where I had to get my Myanmar visa: Crossfit Ten500. I’m glad I chose it because the coaches were great! They were always correcting postures and explaining everything in English.

I forgot how much I loved Crossfit and how happy it makes me. The first day it felt so difficult and I felt very weak as I haven’t done a complete WOD since October. I’ve been doing pull ups, hand stands, double unders, and other things in Yangon but it is not the same. I felt stronger on the second day and almost died on the third day (Check picture 3 below to know why).

My vacation was great! Thank you to all the people who were part of it.

Thank you Ann for inviting us to stay in your beautiful apartment. I had a great time with your little monkey! Also, thank you for providing me with high speed internet. I wouldn’t have been able to upload these videos and pictures if it wasn’t for you!

​Thank you Sabbir for being a Thailand ambassador showing us so many places and taking us everywhere!

My little naughty monkey (Ann's baby)