my wand3rlust: stupas

I took the local bus headed to Monywa in the morning. I was the only foreigner on the bus, and it took about 4 hours to get there (about 85 miles). The reason for the long ride was the fact that the bus stopped a million times to pick up passengers to stuff onto the bus with all their packages and belongings. Good thing I got a window seat so I wouldn't have to deal as much with the crowdiness. I'm pretty sure the bus shouldn't have to withstand the excess weight from the people and luggage, but that's the way to do things in Asia!

Monywa was a very small city, maybe even smaller than Pyin Oo Lwin, and a lot more peaceful. There were less vehicles on the road, which meant less honking all day. After checking into my hotel, I took a walk around the city, which didn't take too much of a toll since the weather was overcast and most of the city center was near the hotel.

I visited the Shwezigon Paya, which was a large religious site with numerous shrines and stupas. It has become one of my favorite places to visit so far in Myanmar because it was so peaceful and empty. It reminded me of Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai. I guess my visit was enhanced due to the fact that this city isn't really one of the touristy stops. No other tourists were around, and no honking could be heard from inside the grounds. I spent about an hour and a half just sitting there, listening to music and watching people come and go as their stopped to pray.

After dinner, I decided to come back again to see it at night, enhanced by the artificial light, which made the stupas glimmer even greater than during the day. More people were there at night. I suppose it is a gathering site for people at the end of the day.

Tomorrow I head to Pokkoku by bus, before transferring to Bagan by boat down the Ayeyarwady River.

This was offered to me as a side for my lunch...not sure what I could possibly eat from it...

We would tour the capital city of Laos on our own time by renting bikes and following our Lonely Planet guides. The guide offered a 7km bicycle tour around the city's landmarks and we would get a chance to share the roads with the Laotians.

The traffic in the capital was not bad at all. Not at anytime in the day was there any serious traffic and it was relatively easy to make our way through the streets without feeling in danger. We searched the streets for some authentic Laotian food and found a small food stall that offered sticky rice and a melon dish to accompany the rice. I think it was authentic...

After brunch, we headed to the Presidential Palace, originally built for the French colonial governor before it was taken over by the Laotians. It was gated, so we went on to the next stop, which was the French Embassy and a Catholic Church...I swear, some of these stops recommended by the guidebook seem like filler recommendations...

The weather was unbearably hot (again in SE Asia), so we took a break and visited the Talat Khua Din - which was an open air market, hoping to cool off in the shade, but it was even hotter walking through the shaded stalls! Heading back out, we set out to see Patuxai, which is a gate/landmark/arc, also known as the Asian "Arc de Triomphe." It is dedicated to those who fought the battle to gain independence from France, and provides great aerial views of the entire city.

Continuing on the tour, we stopped by the U.S. embassy and That Dam, which is a giant stupa in the middle of a turnabout. Since we were already at the U.S. embassy, I decided to get additional visa pages here, hoping that it wouldn't take forever to get processed. Since no one was there, I got it done in 20 minutes! Since I was an American, we were led to an A/C'd room with comfortable seats to get all the processing done. In the room were pictures of Obama, Biden, and Clinton. Outside of the A/C'd room were the lines for foreigners, with fans and benches for them to sit on. We couldn't have provided the same amenities to non-Americans?

Afterwards, we headed to the Lao National Museum to learn a little more about the history of the country, much of which I don't really remember unfortunately...and I couldn't take pictures to remind myself... Before Dinner, we went to one of the temples, Wat In Paeng, which had really intricate and color pictures and doors to the temple. At the end of the day, we went to a famous Herbal Sauna. It was the hottest sauna I had ever been in, and it was tough just trying to breathe inside, but my skin felt a lot cleaner after I sweated all the toxins and dirt off.

Taking in the nightlife, we met with our new CS friend, who took us to a couple of the popping clubs in Laos. We met some of his French friends who were in Laos for internships and schooling. The Laotians party hard with their BeerLao and Johnny Walker Black Label Whiskey until 4am in the morning...