477 - Big breakfast, booked air bus, chat with Malika and new guy, acted as guide
sorta, left, bus problems, airport, no problems, dairy queen blizzard, plane to
Myanmar, guy sitting next to me from Tuanggi, "no bus" from airport, exchanged $10
at 850 kyat, walked 2 km to public bus, 200 ks but took 500 with a laugh, found
hotel - White House (really cool guesthouse, very high and decorated), food, ice
cream, internet, talking with others on roof with myanmar beer

478 - woke, breakfast and socializing, set out, walked all around city, sule pagoda,
donation (not entrance), random wandering, walked towards shwedagon pagoda, big and
gold, monk friend (Ritawi?) walkedback, "steamed rice and pork", rooftop garden
reading and sunset

479 - after breakfast exchanged money (890 ks/usd), then back briefly, train station
to circle train, $2 to go all around city, sat at very back of the train, 3 hours,
walked back, planned and read, internet cafe, ate food twice, chatted with people at
GH

480 - went to train station after breakfast, very hard to buy ticket with shoving
and pushing, train slow but relaxing, country less developed than Laos, arrived in
Bago, kid with bike-taxi took me around to 8 pagodas, saw monk kitchen, big pagoda
under construction, 54 meter buddha, telling me to take picture, no entrance fee,
bus ticket commission, instead of tip "present", bus arrived, Kyaikhitiyo, 1st
guesthouse no cheap rooms available, 2nd $10

481 - woke later than I wanted, bad breakfast (greasy), hiking, 2 hour 30 min to get
to tourist entrance fee office after non stop hike, many begging kids, many tea
shops, got to top, some food for 300, some more food for 3000, tried to go down to
bus station, wrong direction, followed girl, pick up squished, momentum, roller
coaster down, back, french juggler guy, dinner, reading

December 5 - 482 - Kyaiktiyo got bus, learned words from guy at bus station, met
semi-cute Malaysian girl on bus, A-Pong got off, Nwa Labu Dao, left my bag at a
monk's house, hiked up for 2 or 3 hours, met israelis from Bangkok at top (no one
else, very odd), long hike, feet hurt in new shoes, saw pagoda and came down,
followed guy down some of the way, tried to get bus, people tried to get bus for me,
they couldn't but were entertained by me, all buses full, finally bus to Thaton,
guesthouses all full except for one room for $10, first tried to sleep outside, then
submitted to $10 room

483 - woke a bit stiff, got pick up truck, sat on the roof, lots of fun despite
uncomfy, got to Hpa An, checked in, had lunch and a beer, took a nap, no internet at
cafes, finished LOTR 1, relaxed, went to get dinner, mutton curry at the bottom of
the pot, tasted good, felt terrible that night, threw up all dinner

484 - terrible night, still felt bad in the morning, rented a bicycle anyway, biked
many kilometers to Kya kau lat - pagoda on a big rock in the middle of a lake, felt
bad, decided to sleep a bit at the monastery, rested on bamboo platform, very
peaceful, monks gave me water and pillow, offered food, talked with monks, long bike
back, got bus ticket, internet cafe

485 - checked out early for bus, bus fire with jeans, tried to get off bus at Bago
but kept on going to Yangon, only bus north was to Mandalay in 3.5 hours, bus from
hell, smelled like rotten fish, guy next to me first put his ass on my leg, then
nodded off onto my shoulder 8 times, sick kid got onto bus, mother hitting his head,
threw up right below feet so I had to jump up, perched on chair, covered face with
towel to avoid smell and getting sick, still felt terrible, got no sleep, then
passed by the capital which had thousands of mansions and huge street light lit
highways with no one on them, the bus broke down again

486 - somewhere in early hours monks left seat so I changed to theirs and got a
little sleep, arrived in Mandalay, waited for pickup, walked all around for GH,
tourist info, found Nylon Hotel, checked in, breakfast, went out to Palace with
Austrians, 10$ entrance fee, East gate 4 km walk, really empty and sad restoration,
not much to see, free ride back, gave him monk given yellow string from Kyakalat,
sleep, lots of food at restaurant, relaxed

487 - Out to Mandalay hill with the Austrian girl, pagoda, went up hill, thought we
were at the top 3 times, cloudy and rainy, no visibility at all, not very
impressive, went bback down and to the "big Book Pagoda", met Cherry, blue eyed
Myanmar woman, had tea with her, monastery and other pagoda, back, no English books
at the store, supermarket where met (not Carol) woman from Yangon

488 - Shared taxi tour to Amarapura, first to tourist shop, then another hill, still
raining so again bad view, thennnnn to the island, paid for boat across, did not pay
for the horsecart, walked instead in the muddy streets, monastery, pagoda, watch
tower, drunk locals, lunch, taxi trouble, U Bien bridge, took photos, eagles, taxi
back, again no books at another store, met Brian, skater from N Carolina, gave me
Ishmael

489 - early morning got on slow boat, met woman again, separate chairs for tourists,
long relaxing boat ride, saw rural life, read a little, chatted, good fried rice,
finally arrived, walked to Pinsa Rupa, really bad pizza with boat friends

490 - was sick so joined Jenny on half-day horsecart, saw main temples outside old
Bagan, so many temples/pagodas, really peaceful, vegetarian lunch, back, relaxed,
slept after amazing chicken noodle soup, internet cafe sucked

491 - took pickup down to old Bagan (500 kyat), Ananda temple, a few other temples,
walking just around, saw restoration work, followed long path down south to big
temple, grasshopper attack that broke shoes, great view from temple, shoe lost on
free motorbike ride to new bagan, horse cart took me to pick up shoe so he could
have it, took me to pickup station, pickup charged me 1000 kyat, woman helped me get
local price of 500 kyat, got cheap new shoes, fried rice

492 - still had cough, pickup to Mt Popa with spanish guy, passed to another pickup,
very long ride, finally got there with very little time, climbed up and down in 30
minutes and was exhausted, just enough time for a photo, rice and then got the
pickup back, payment confusion (first pickup never paid second when changed), got
another pickup, decided on taking bus to inle, garlic pizza but no wifi at
restaurant

493 - early got on bus (4 am), long ride, little sleep, about 4 pm arrived in Nyuang
Shwe, shared taxi with others, peaceful countryside, arrived, checked into Gypsy,
walked around, saw Brian again, fight with mosquitos at night, arranged for boat
tomorrow

494 - boat at 8, first rode to market, lake serene, fishermen paddling with legs,
market was nice, breakfast 500 tofu stuff + 200 rice, cockfight, hit head hard,
floating village, weaving store, monastery with dinosaur eggs (buddha heads),
blacksmith shop, other monastery in ruins and no one, silversmith shop, lunch very
expensive (so skipped), tomato garden and other veg floating farms, all these not in
exact order, jumping cats, back, total was 9000 between 4 people, reading

December 18 - 495 - rented bike after cheap breakfast, biked up to the train
station, check times out but couldn't understand so took picture, biked back, went
to the bookstore, swapped Ishmael for SHerlock Holmes, used internet, then went over
to the east side of the lake, biked through farmland, came back, napped, returned
bike, beer and soup

496 - got pickup to train station, got tickets, train a little late, got on at 11:30
AM or so, nice relaxing ride, read a lot, beautiful countryside, got very cold,
chapati dinner, tried to sleep but hard

497 - switched trains at 3:00 AM in capital, put me on slow train, friend Zay,
beautiful countryside again, finally arrived at Yangon at 6 pm, White House was full
but had office room for me to sleep in, bleb Indian food, had ice cream, internet,
back, sleep

498 - morning went to market to buy souvenirs, long time there, carefully planned
out expenses, no shirt i was looking for, taxi to airport, $10 airport tax :(,
flight to bangkok, dinner and Family Mart snacks (craved chocolate), found soft
chairs despite what info person said, finished sherlock holmes, sleep at airport

499 - woke at airport, pretzel was all i could afford, got hot water, milk candy
with the last of my money, plane to Kolkata, sleeping guy taking up room, landed, no
problems with pickup, Ananda's father's office worker picked me up, drove to office,
had lunch, sightseeing, victoria from distance, ganges walk, then to train station,
ATM search, train, met Bose at Jamshedpur, dinner, chatting with him and family,
sleep