In Hpa An, the tourist crowds get smaller again. There are few must-sees, but a scooter trip in good company, with stops at monkey-rich Mt Zwegabin (possibly staying a night in the monastery on the top) and some of the caves (be sure to include the bat cave, where thousands of bat fly out at sunset) makes for a fine two days!
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You are by now probably familiar with this situation: you want to leave a city (in this case: Yangon) and have booked a bus ticket, but in order to get to the bus station (Aungminggalar), you are being told to take a taxi at a price which is, if you are a solo traveller, pretty much the same as your bus ticket. At the time of writing, a taxi to Aunminggalar was said to be 7000-8000 MMK (for comparison, a bus to Hpa An cost 7000 or 8000 MMK). If you are lucky, your hostel can hook you up with some other travelers who have to be at the bus station around the same time as you. If you are four, you will be paying (an acceptable) 2000 MMK or less. If you cannot find any tourists to share a taxi ride, you can find minibuses at Sule Pagoda. They bring you to Aungmingalar for 1000 MMK. They leave when (more or less) full. I was at Sule pagoda at 8am and the minibus left before 830am. I arrived at the bus station at 9am. I suggest you verify in your hostel how long it will likely take on the day of your departure. Sule Pagoda is a very central location in downtown Yangon, and walking distance to some great value backpacker accomodation in Chinatown. Home to the renowned Schwedagon Pagoda and some fine colonial buildings, Yangon is a good place to linger for a day or two. Competition between hostels is bigger here, with visible results on the comfort level / price ratio. It is likely also one of the best places in Myanmar to sample some great street food.
A 20-hour bus ride from Inle Lake (in fact: 5 hrs of minibus and 15 hrs of big bus) lies Myauk U, once the capital of the great Kingdom of Arakan, now a pleasant small town far away from the standard tourist trail in Myanmar, with magnificent temples as well as picturesque villages dotting the surrounding countryside. It is also a jumping-off point for boat trips to the villages of the Chin people, who used to tattoo the faces of their married women in order to avoid them being taken from them by their king.
Travel guides will provide you with ample advice on where to watch the sunrise in Bagan. Trouble is, these guides are being read by millions of tourists, and the sound of hundreds of camera’s clicking does somewhat detract from the experience…
My favourite and relatively uncrowded viewpoint for the sunrise is probably the Law Ka Ou Shaung temple. You are not completely alone there (when I was there, I think we were about 30), but the views are great (do not forget to go have a look on the side terrace on the right!) and the viewpoint is normally not really flooded by tourists either. Take a safety margin when going there because maps.me does throw you off sometimes… maps.me location of this temple: http://ge0.me/s0q0Xkbslc/My_Position |
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