I reckoned this year would be our travel year and so it is. My sister and I cooked up another overseas trip for our birthday yey! This time around we’re headed to Pattaya (Thailand). It was actually a toss between Chiang Mai and Pattaya but the latter eventually won because we really want to see Pattaya's famous wooden temple called The Sanctuary of Truth. We also had this crazy idea of heading to Chiang Mai while in Thailand so we could hit two birds with one stone but we don't want to spend so much time on a bus while we could do so much with so little time. Our experience in Myanmar taught us one important lesson: do not spend so much time in transit as it has reduced our time for sight-seeing and cultural immersion, our bad really. So, this time we decided to spend 3 days in Pattaya first then the rest of the week back in Bangkok, at least we could still travel to couple of locations in one country yeah?
But wait there's more...
my new travel buddy: The Snap with free zigzag insert. A passport holder/wallet/organizer in one from @keepitmnlfor Php1,080 a piece🤘🏼😍
My sister, out of the blue, told me the other day about Yogyakarta (Indonesia) which is another one of those places she's rooting for us to visit soon which of course I'm totally game for since we both love to hop from one place to another and experience a totally different culture. This is the advantage of having a twin sib as well, we pretty much enjoy the same stuff and we travel as a team, I am the compass (I have a talent for tracking) and my sister, she plans our itinerary (she's good with research which I do not have very much patience for except she could count on me in checking the proximity of this place from our hotel etc. through google maps) then, we just argue and bicker when we get there if there's any mishap lol. Yogyakarta though is still in the works 'cuz I want to take the train from Jakarta (to marvel at Yogya's beauty by land) whilst my sister would like to take the plane to save time and get to Yogya as soon as we land in Jakarta. Anyways, we'll see how it goes then. For me, all I want is to see both sunrise and sunset hopefully in one of those Yogya temples I read about online.
I’m currently stoked with “Younger” a series I stumbled upon on iflix because I could totally relate to Liza, the main character. The first time I watched it I was like wuut? You’re 40, pretend you’re 26 and hook up with a guy who’s just few years older than your daughter?? But then, as I watched along I totally understood Liza’s plight and I learned she was an exceptional mother who would do anything and everything for her only child.
Years from now I’d be in my 40s and it’s true, a lot of companies no longer value one's many years of solid work experience as they are more into young and fresh talents nowadays. Today, solid years of work experience in your sleeve may no longer work to your advantage because companies would rather employ kids with less job experience just ‘social media savvy’ ones who are so glutton for job promotion like there’s no tomorrow and wouldn’t stop selling themselves as tactful as they could i.e boast about their ‘not so many’ previous work experience in front of their fellow applicants not taking into account others are just being humble and keep mum about their accomplishments because that’s what mature people do in the first place. Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand that kids nowadays are so ‘in a hurry’ to be like this and that in no time, having no more respect towards their co-workers’ feelings/morale just to to be on top of the game which I don’t think I would ever get used to. I always have this notion that being ‘humble’ will earn you so much pride wherever you go and at the same time build better interpersonal relationship with your colleagues which could last for a lifetime. And yes, I have came across companies who would bombard you with insurmountable questions during job interviews like it’s a crime to have years of solid work experience (as if you never earned it) yet in the long run still end up hiring you because you’re an ‘asset’ to the company however will give you an effin hard time getting in so wtf right? These companies just want to shove it to your face that you’re too old and that they will give you a hard time because your wage offer is their ‘ceiling rate’ lol.
L-R: In character, Charles, Liza & Josh
Anyways, going back to Liza, a woman in her 40s who just recently got into a divorce (but unable to afford a lawyer to push through with it), had a rough time getting employed because of her age and financial difficulty became an impetus for her to pretend she’s 26 to get back to Publishing, the same industry she spent many years with (before she gave up her career to become a full time mother). Liza was hired by a 40 year old lady boss who thinks millennial babies do not have professional work ethic and knows nothing but party hard and spend most of their waking hours engrossed with social media. She was then forced to have her identity changed, recast her entire Facebook and Instagram page like her past life never existed without her ex-husband and daughter who goes to college in India knowing about it. Liza’s ex-husband was so broke to even pay for their college daughter’s tuition fee so she needed to work her ass off to shoulder pretty much everything. Then, Josh came along, a 26 year old tattoo artist from Brooklyn (who happened to live in the same neighborhood as Liza) unexpectedly.
Josh and Liza became romantically involved and it took a long time before Josh finally learned about Liza’s real age and previous life. Liza’s past life is beginning to haunt her one by one, she met an old colleague at work who almost blackmailed her since nobody knew at work about her past, not even her best friend Kelsey. Liza and Josh broke up many times because of their ‘complicated’ relationship status yet kept patching things up. Charles, Liza’s boss, who belongs to the same age group as Liza (40 or something) and also a divorcee, on the other hand appears to be discreetly attracted to Liza not knowing her real age which I think is mutual anyways except Liza’s with Josh. I know a lot of things will still unfold in the long run and I can’t wait. So far I have finished Season 2 (12 Episodes) and I’m very squeamish to know how Liza’s story will end.
Update (as of 06.12.17)
I just watched the entire Season 3 today which consists of 12 episodes and it was far more interesting than Seasons 1 & 2.
Liza, still torn between Charles and Josh whilst the latter now head over heels with her. Kelsey, after the death of her fiancé on Season 2 is dating again and found her love interest through a New York writer she met in a party one time while her Jewish friend who's name I forgot began dating a former elementary school classmate who's now a Doctor. An unexpected character sprout from nowhere as well who knows about Liza's past began to haunt her. Liza's husband is back in the picture and is still trying to elude their divorce while she's already decided to push through with it. Josh by the way is totally smitten with Liza and is all ready to have a kid with her and take their relationship to the next level, Liza on the contrary thought Josh isn't really ready for anything serious yet and is not willing to give up her career because of pregnancy. Fortunately Liza, turned out to be not pregnant though to her relief, Josh was unhappy. Season 3's highlights were when Liza finally confessed to Kelsey about her real age and when Josh broke up with Liza after he saw her kissing Charles at the Hampton's just when he was about to ask her to marry him, he called her a liar and a cheater. Anyways, I read Season 4 will be aired last week of June. You may check out Season 3 here.
Update as of 07/17/17: Season 4 is now available here (for episodes 1-3).
JJ Express immediately came up when my sister and I were researching online which bus company to book for our Yangon to Bagan trip and vise versa. We thought, this bus company wouldn’t be popular if their service isn’t exceptional because that’s how businesses gain a cult following, through word of mouth/referral or good reviews from bloggers and previous customers who experienced their service first hand.
I always resort to reading reviews from bloggers like myself before I make any reservation because they always provide very useful insights and honest to goodness reviews. According to the reviews I came across with, JJ Express offers first class service compared to its competitors. Booking a trip with them was also a breeze, you just need to message them through Facebook and they will assign your seat number then advise you to pay at the gate when you get there in Myanmar.
movies on loop
the culprit
We were early during our trip to Bagan to pay for our tickets so we curiously checked out how their VIP bus look in real life since we only saw the bus' interior online but not the exterior. We found out that, they were those yellow buses parked in front of the terminal because of the JJ Express logo. They are much bigger than our very own deluxe buses (Joy Bus, Victory etc) and they also have oversized windows with one way tint, couple of exit doors although they're not equipped with toilets unlike our deluxe buses which was an amiss in my opinion. With our Yangon to Bagan trip, the snacks were served few minutes after the bus left the terminal whilst on our way back it was already halfway through the trip.
Amenities:
Lazy Boy type seats
Media Player (preloaded with 3 movies)
Blanket
Snack Box (contains 2 delicious croissants /mini chiffon bread on our way back )
1 Bottle of Distilled Water
3 Pieces of Chocolate Flavored MARIE biscuits
Tamarind Candies (optional but free)
A cup of Soda (Sprite/Orange Soda which I think was Royal)
What's not included? Wifi. Yes, they do not have wifi on board which was also an amiss since it's a long journey and could've been more enjoyable if you have online access plus it's a VIP bus so it was kind of surprising.
my favorite part of the trip--the snack box! 😃
Anyhow, JJ Express will definitely put our very own deluxe buses to shame quite frankly (amenities wise) because theirs was first class. My favorite was their infamous snack box as it contained couple of the most tasteful chiffon cakes I’ve tasted. Seriously, they were really good. The movie player only had three movies, no usb port neither so you won’t be able to watch anything except the ones it was preloaded with. The picture quality isn’t very good neither so on our way back to Yangon from Bagan, my sister and I just watched one movie from my Macbook using our headphones and an audio splitter. My only concern though on our way to Bagan from Yangon-- the blanket I had smelled of food (more like curry to me) and it was quite disturbing. I was in denial at first that the smell came from my blanket but I smelled it again and confirmed it was indeed my blankie! That kind of irked me because my nose is very sensitive to scents. I’m not a whiner and I don’t wanna be like a ‘Primadonna’ (a Diva) so I just endured it and shrugged off the smell the whole trip lol. 😂
I was not able to sleep comfortably the whole trip though because the ride gets really bumpy at times and you can badly feel how rocky the road is inside the bus which surprised me since the bus looked really new from the outside yet felt old on the inside the moment it started running as you can feel even the slightest bump when the road gets rocky. Anyway, It wasn't a big deal though since we always arrive safely, and that's what matters the most, that we get to our destination safe and sound. Our trip always arrive on time btw, sometimes even early. JJ Express VIP Bus have couple of stopovers, the first is the longest 20-30 minutes as far as I can recall whilst the second is just very short, about 15 minutes. Burmese are very prompt when it comes to time. One of the lady staff at the Yangon ticketing booth was not very friendly though like she has some angry issue or something. Their staff at their Bagan terminal was friendly and accommodating though. My sister had to call up our hotel in Yangon to advise we'll be arriving very late from the bus terminal phone without any problem. The lady staff at the JJ Express terminal even dialed the number for her and spoke in Burmese to the staff at the Galaxy hotel before she passed the phone over to my sister. And oh, let me just say that their bus terminal in Bagan is far more better than their terminal in Yangon. If you happen to arrive early at neither of their bus terminals, don't worry as there's tons of places to eat in the area anyways except people in Bagan are better in English than those in Yangon in my observation.
Overall, my experience with JJ Express VIP Bus was still superb and I would highly recommend them to those who are looking to go to Bagan, Mandalay, Taunggyi etc. via JJ Express. My suggestions though: Please make sure to keep fresh blankets on board and hopefully free wifi access someday that's all. 😊
JJ Express Bus Terminal (Yangon): Rm. No. (A, 5,6), Mawlamying Street, Aungmingalar Bus Station
JJ Express Bus Terminal (Bagan):No. (A-1), Shwe See Kone Bus Station
My sister and I had a difficult time finding Aerotel because we hopped from T3 to T1 via Changi’s Skytrain and Changi is so vast so my only landmark was the escalator and boarding gate D41. We reached Aerotel at around 4:30PM for our supposed 4PM reservation (6hours). We were already tired from walking and almost on the verge of giving up when I finally saw gate D40, my guiding light and from there we took the escalator and there it was, just right across from the escalator. The reservation was under my name but my sister gave the receptionist her passport (because we’re already both confused as to who’s reservation it was since we had tons of them during our trip, we hopped from one hotel to another) so I said it was my reservation thus handed the guy at the front desk my passport, he asked for our boarding pass, offset our check in time to 4:30PM since we came in pretty late (check out at 10:30PM instead of 10PM) gave us our keycard then instructed us to take the door with ‘EXIT’ sign to get to our room. The hallway was really cozy, it was dimly lit and looked far more different than the other transit hotels we’ve been. We were assigned to Room 25 and you just have to tap your card (facing the wifi sign) towards the door to get in.
Amenities
Our room was really cozy and fully equipped with basic amenities: hair dryer, toiletries such as dental kits (toothpaste & toothbrush), shower cap and hand soap. I just thought it was weird though that the shampoo is also the body wash lol. The room is also equipped with tea making facilities (coffee, tea, sugar, creamer as usual), slippers and the classic bottles of distilled water which all hotels provide regardless. They do not have any bath tub but I love that the bath area have glass enclosures. The room did not come with a fridge neither which was ok since the hotel’s purpose is primarily for layovers and short stays as they go by hours, not nightly rate. I just did not like though that they do not have a hand-held bidet in the toilet.
Aerotel is also spanking new, the room was spotless and very cozy. I love that they have tons of wall outlets to charge our electronic gadgets. We slept soundly for couple of hours just to recharge then woke up at 7PM to get ready, prep up for our flight back to Manila. If only we could stay longer we would because Aerotel is so nice and clean and so quiet too, perfect for light sleepers. I also noticed they do not have windows which I guess was done on purpose.
Will I go back to Aerotel Transit Hotel for future layovers? Yes of course. I would rate it as a 9 out of 10. I hope our very own NAIA would come up with our version of Aerotel someday.
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No. (2A/5A), Okklar Thiri Garden Street, D Expend, North Okklar Township, Yangon 11101, Myanmar
Check inSaturday, March 4,, 2017 (late check in 6AM)
Check outSunday, March 5, 2017 (very early check out at 5AM)
Our stay1 night, 1 room
Room 4th Floor, with Lift; 2 adults
Non Smoking, 1Double Bed
We arrived at the hotel a little past 6AM from Bagan. We booked two nights so we could check in immediately as soon as we're back in Yangon since we came from another nine grueling hours of bus ride from Bagan via JJ Express. Nine hours on a bus will not get you enough rest really because you're sitting the whole time except for couple of stopovers.
Our room for the night
Galaxy Hotel have four floors and you could see the name of the hotel from afar as it's towering. The cabbie charged us 10,000 kyat as it's quite far from the bus terminal than the airport. The hotel is also spanking new just by the the look of the lobby, very western, very familiar. For me, it will be a toss between a 3-4 star hotel compared to the other budget hotels in Yangon.
The lady at the front desk welcomed us warmly and provided us cold refreshments at 6AM though lol but I absolutely appreciate the effort. We waited at the cozy and dimly lit lobby while she scans our passports and as soon as she's done, she handed us our key card and wifi password. The bellboy then ushered us to our floor, lo and behold the hotel has lift so going up and down won't be a problem at all thank God. We were assigned a room on the 4th floor with huge windows and drapes.
Amenities
Our room is fully equipped with pretty much everything; dental kits, comb, shower cap and even a razor with shaving cream, slippers, mini fridge, in-room safe, they even have q-tips, toothpicks for some reason, big flat screen TV as usual with few English channels and again shower gel and shampoo dispensers. The toilet and bath is also equipped with a bath tub, heater as usual and my favorite hand-held bidet. The rubbish bin in the toilet was very small though although they have a bigger one in the bedroom.
Wifi
My sister and I had a little trouble with wifi access initially that we needed to go back down to the lobby to check how come our phones were unable to connect to the hotel's wifi access. The lady at the front desk was very helpful though, she even called up their IT department I think and, restarted their router and after few minutes it's all good. The signal strength though was quite intermittent upstairs and again I guess they may need to put routers on each floor to boost the wifi signal. We were already supposed to head back upstairs but the receptionist called us to let us know that breakfast is ready at the dining hall. Very good customer service I should say.
continental breakfast
Breakfast
Galaxy Hotel offered the best breakfast selections among all the hotels we stayed at in Myanmar. They offered a wide array of items to choose from and theirs is more of a continental breakfast to me than Asian. The food were hot and fresh so we were really enticed to pretty much pick everything. We had fried rice, stir fried noodles, steamed veggies (finally), those lovely triangular dumpling, Papaya slices & brewed coffee. We were so stuffed afterwards and our tummies were very happy with such gastronomic experience. Make sure to grab breakfast at 7:30AM. I love having breakfast when the dining hall is still not so crowded. Their breakfast hours is also until 10AM.
After breakfast, we had some nice and warm shower, rest for hours and decided to head back downstairs in the afternoon to check out what’s outside (possible places to eat, convenience store perhaps or what not). The hotel btw is next to a Monastery thus explains why it’s not noisy nor busy outside. Looking out the window there’s a view of this round lake from afar which serves as their mini park I think where joggers, yogis (the ones who do Yoga) go to in the morning. Less than a 100 meters away from the hotel you’ll find an average sized convenience store (much bigger than 711) that sells pretty much everything except cold cuts lol. They have ice cream, this deep fried something in curry which reminded me of Ministop’s Karimadon, Pringles for 3,000 kyat etcetera. Out of curiosity we bought couple of those Karimadon looking curry something for 1,500 kyat a piece as far as I can remember, Pringles, this sweet bread, and a bottle of distilled water which we paid 6,000 plus kyats in total (about P200.00+) then we headed back to our hotel. The main road is also just right outside where the convenience store is located. You just walk left from the hotel, then turn left again once you see the arch and the convenience store (with sensor sliding door) is right there. Imagine, they have sensor doors at a convenient store in Myanmar? My beloved country where have we been.
Lift ; Breakfast Bar/dining hall
Movie time as soon as we came back to our hotel room, I had a portable USB drive with me which I loaded with few movies from my Macbook, then plugged to their TV with USB port and we have automatic English movie without Burmese subtitles lol (we watched "Lalaland"). We kind of noticed that they always have Burmese subtitles on all their English movie channels probably because English isn’t really something they would explicitly include in their school curriculum.
Anyways, we decided to spend our day inside our hotel room because we’re still tired from our Bagan trip the day before. We climbed Mt. Popa’s 777 steps wtf so our leg muscles still hurts and if only we could bring those heavy free foot massage equipment at the Changi Airport we would. Slept soundly that night and woke up at 3AM to prep up. We left the hotel at 5:45AM. The hotel staff called a cab for us to take us to the Yangon Int’l Airport. They do not offer free airport service btw just to clarify. Their 24 hour airport service is at your own expense, the hotel will call up a cab company to pick you up then take you to the airport for roughly 4,000 kyat. Our cab driver though only charged us 3,500 kyat which I gave him 500 kyat as tip because we just need to dispose our kyats before we head home.
To sum it up, I had a great time at the Galaxy Hotel plus it’s really close to the airport. The breakfast was superb and the hotel was really clean and well maintained as it’s also still brand new. The hotel is situated in a quiet area, accessible from public transport other than cabs. Taking a cab is also the most convenient way to get around Yangon. In my opinion though, Galaxy Hotel is the best airport hotel in Yangon and if ever I would go back there I would still prefer to stay there and having said that therefore I am giving them a 9 out of 10. I would of course recommend Galaxy Hotel to finicky travelers especially if you’re not the backpacker type. We also did not experience any power outage at all during our stay so cheers to that.
We arrived at Sky View Hotel around 6:30AM from Yangon. It was a very late check in though because our reservation was for the day before (March 1, 2017 2:00PM check in) but our trip via JJ Express lasted for 9 hours although my sister called the hotel up from the JJ Express Terminal in Yangon to let them know we will be arriving very late which is technically the next day. I’ve worked for the hotel industry in the past and all hotels are ok with very late arrival provided you still pay the nightly rate in full and it’s very rare for hotels to accommodate very early check in until 12NN which is by far the earliest. So as a guest, you’re left with no better choice than pay in full so won’t take your chance if they have availability the time of your arrival. Hotels don’t pro-rate as they charge on a nightly rate basis.
Moving on, we took a cab from the JJ Express in Bagan to Sky View Hotel for 15,000 kyats which was a total rip off on my previous blog but that’s a different story. The hotel is about 10-20minutes from the bus terminal (I think) if we are to include the traffic. It’s very chilly in Bagan in the morning which is reminiscent of the weather where we’re from about 15-19ºC. But, wait until 10AM onwards as the temperature suddenly heats up to about 30-40ºC which was kind of weird. I guess this sets Myanmar apart from the Philippines because back home, especially in Manila, if it’s hot in the morning then it’s no different in the afternoon. The only difference is, at least we have the north where people would clamor to during the summer season to experience a cold climate.
Sky View Hotel do not have lift neither but at least they only have three floors and thank God we were assigned a room on the second as it’s just a staircase away from the roof deck where the dining area is. We booked this hotel because they mentioned on their ads that you should see the hot air balloons from their rooftop which Bagan is eventually famous for. The hotel has its own website but it’s more convenient to make your reservation from a third party so we booked our stay through Agoda. The people at the front desk again have challenge speaking in English but at least they have more staff who are able to speak and understand English compared to other hotels in Myanmar based on our experience. We handed our passports for them to scan it, filled out some forms and again we were given our key, yes an actual key to open the door (the other keycard is for the electricity), wifi password and we were ushered by the bellboy to our room on the 2nd floor. The hallways were pretty quaint but the room is absolutely modern. We were assigned a room with a huge window, we can even see from our hotel room if there are any hot air balloons on sight (I spotted one when we arrived, around 7AM). The bellboy told us that breakfast is at 7:30AM upstairs. We did not change clothes anymore, just rest for a while, unpacked our stuff, took some photos and waited 7:30AM to grab breakfast.
Breakfast
The hotel offered better breakfast options compared to the hotel we stayed at in Yangon. However, if you want to eat eggs, you need to request for the cook who’s right there to cook it for you so it’s hot and fresh. My sister and I suit ourselves with what’s there because we’re already starving and egg is not really something we cann’t live without in the morning lol. I had some fried rice, vermicelli or Pancit Bihon back home (everything’s pretty much deep fried anyways), some veggies, fried tofu with amazing sauce, red watermelon and coffee. This time around we had bigger breakfast to prepare us for whatever tour we could avail for the day.
Amenities
We love our room at this hotel. We were assigned a deluxe room with one double bed, a mini fridge, a long table to place your laptops with tons of wall outlets, dental kits as usual, one bottle of shampoo and body wash and couple of small soaps and slippers. The toilet and bath is also equipped with heater as usual, a bath tub which I love and a hand-held bidet which I can’t live without. However, no coffee & tea making facilities/ no tea pot in short although everything’s pretty much complete except for that one thing we’re particular about because my sister and I love to drink tea in the evening and no in-room safe neither. The roof deck/dining are is pretty vast as well and is quite cozy whether it’s night or day because it’s open air. It’s also a plus that you really get to see the hot air balloons early in the morning while having breakfast along with the sunrise if you’re an early bird. They also serve dinner up there if you don’t want to eat out. We had some Burmese fried rice and sunny side up egg that night and some lukewarm pineapple juice though lol. We only spent a good 8,400 kyat for dinner which was not bad at all. Food is generally cheap in Myanmar. And oh btw, they have 3 ATM machines at the lobby.
Tour
Few hours after our arrival, my sister decided to call the front desk to check if they offer any tour packages around 8AM. The receptionist then gave her couple of options: The Full Day Tour for 35,000 kyats, unlimited temple hopping from 9AM until sundown OR Half Day Tour for 25,000 kyat from 2PM to sundown, private car and driver included whichever package we choose. We decided to take their full day tour option simply because we want to scour the whole of Bagan as early and as much as possible since we really do not have much time (we’re only staying for couple of days). We immediately prepped up (less than an hour) and were both ready before 9AM. We headed downstairs right about that time, paid the hotel 35,000 kyat upfront while the driver wait outside. My sister clarified with the receptionist over the phone that it’ll be a private tour, just us and nobody else because the last time we had a private tour in Hanoi, we were surprised that it was yes a private car but we’re going to tour with bunch of others and even ate lunch together which we totally despised. We are private people really and it really feels awkward touring with a group as we’re used to tour on our own in all of our trips. It’s really awkward to tour around with strangers plus you have to wait for everyone before you move on to the next place on the list. We’re just the type of people who enjoys “anything goes” when it comes to our itinerary. The tour went well despite another language barrier with our driver because he barely understand and speak English. Nevertheless he took us to Moon Restaurant, a Vegan restaurant we read about online before we flew to Myanmar. We called it a day pretty early and did not wait for sundown anymore because it’s already too hot to walk barefoot in the Temples and we’re already running low on kyats. We asked our driver though to take us to the nearest money changer then back to the hotel but he did not understand so he took us back to our hotel before and not the money changer geez. He was very polite though so I gave him 1,000 kyat for tip and was very patient waiting for us under the scorching heat of the sun as we did some souvenir shopping and took roughly an hour in some of the Temples we visited to take pictures.
Overall, we had a great stay at Sky View Hotel because communicating with the staff was not as difficult as it was with the other hotels in Myanmar since they have the most English speaking staff compared to the other hotels plus they have ATM machines right at the lobby which is so convenient if you ran out of cash. No, they do not have pool but they have in-room bath tubs anyways lol where you could soak after a long day visiting the Temples of Bagan.
No. 35, Thiri Kan Thar Street, North Okkalapa Township, Yangon, MM
Check inTuesday, February 28, 2017 (2 PM)
Check outThursday, March 1, 2017 (noon)
Our stay1 night, 1 room
Room Budget Room (5th Floor, No Lift); 2 adults | Non Smoking, Double Bed
Total amount paidP1,902.76
High Five Hotel is located in Yangon's outskirts where the rest of other Airport hotels are. It’s not visible from the main road and you have to make a turn to get there but it is definitely accessible to cabs and other transportations. The hotel is located in a quiet neighborhood and is quite known to locals. From the airport it is roughly within 10-15 minutes to get there including traffic and cost us 6,000 kyats if you’re going to take an airport cab which is as usual always higher regardless of the country you go to as airport cabs charge a hefty.
The main lobby is not as big as this is common with majority of small hotels we’ve been in Southeast Asia. We noticed as well that the front desk is right across the dining area which is quite odd in my opinion. I think they just tried to maximize whatever space they have to cater to guests’ needs although I noticed they have tons of meeting rooms in every floor which are not in use and could’ve been converted to a dining area.
The staff at the front desk were very friendly though despite difficulty expressing themselves in English. They were very warm and accommodating and always wore a smile on their face. I even asked to break down my 10,000 kyat bill to so I could pay our cab (yes Myanmar has a 10,000 kyat note) which the lady at the reception gladly did. We were asked to present our passports, fill out forms and in no time she handed us our key card, wifi password on a computerized small piece of paper and the bellboy carried our staff to our room. One of the bellboys btw handed us cold orange juice while we wait for our passports at the reception area plus couple of cold wet towels (I guess to wipe our hands with or I don’t know). We checked in early (around noontime although the usual check in time is at 2PM).
The hotel do not have any lift which my sister found out after we already made our reservation. It’s not the big of a deal though since we’ve been to other hotels in the past without any lift such as the one we stayed at in Hanoi last year. However, we made a big mistake in requesting for a room on the 5th floor so wtf right? The stairs were pretty steep and I mean REALLY steep plus they were also small so imagine how a huge person would walk on such small steps. The stairs have matting on them probably as cushion in case someone accidentally fall, lol. No, seriously, I think that’s really the purpose of that plus the steps would be slippery without those rubber mattings. High Five Hotel is pretty quaint I guess that explains why they do not have a lift. The 5th floor is their highest floor and we were assigned a corner room since we requested a quiet room and I really appreciate hotels like that who listen to their guests’ requests as noted on their reservation. We booked this hotel through Hotels.com since most of the hotels in Myanmar do not have any direct website where you could book your stay thus must go to a third party booking site (Expedia, Hotels.com etc.) to make a reservation. Anyways, the bellboy told us what time the breakfast is served downstairs, etc. so I gave him 500kyat tip for bringing my luggage upstairs. I was catching my breath as soon as we reached our room. That was a good 30-40 steps though!
Amenities
We were happy with the room the we got as it was really spacious and everything that you need is their. The toiletries were complete, there’s a hair dryer, tea making facilities, flat screen TV with few channels but at least it has an English channel, soaps, toothpaste & toothbrush, a shower cap, mini fridge, in-room safe and of course they granted our request for an iron and ironing board even if we will just be staying for one night so kudos to High Five Hotel. They also have a toilet and bath equipped with pretty much everything that you need. I was just a little weirded out that the shampoo and shower gel were not stored on individual bottles but a dispenser attached to the wall like some hand wash although not the big of a deal neither. I love that they also have hand-held bidet (this is consistent with most asian hotels). The T&B was also very spacious which I was totally happy about. It does not have a bath tub which I could care less anyways but it was complete. The toothpaste though tasted really awful but this did not apply to this hotel alone as all hotels we’ve stayed at in Myanmar used the same brand of toothpaste so if you’re kind of finicky I would suggest you go bring your own toothpaste (which I should’ve done ‘cuz I am quite finicky when it comes to that sort of thing). I should’ve also brought my own shampoo and conditioner because the shampoo provided for by all the hotels we’ve been to in Myanmar made my hair really dry geez. Our beds were also huge because they adjoined couple of those double beds so it was good they granted one of our little request as well. Breakfast
I felt a little iffy with where the dining hall is situated as it was right across the front desk. Dining halls should give guests privacy because you wouldn’t like to eat where people see you right in your own homes neither right? A hotel is supposed to be your home away from home and a dining area is a private space. I could’ve cared less if I am eating in a public place like a restaurant or food chain as it is place where herds of people often eat anyways. The hotel had limited breakfast items but it was ok as it’s free anyways. We were asked upon arrival if we prefer Asian or European breakfast and we opted for Asian breakfast. We had breakfast at around 8AM (breakfast time 7-10AM I think) and they only had a cup of fried rice available and noodles. I took advantage of the only remaining cup of fried rice because my sister said she’ll eat something else, grabbed some of those small sausages, yellow watermelon, cold orange juice and that’s all for me whilst my sister had toasts with butter and jelly, an orange juice as well and we settled to our seats. We also had cereals with milk afterwards. The hotel staff at the breakfast bar was very helpful, he took the cup of fried rice out for me, poured in our juice, fixed us some spicy vegetable salads and gave us spoon and fork, Burmese hospitality at its finest. Some Issues Moving on, my sister and I we’re really happy with High Five Hotel except for one minor thing and couple of major ones:
the reflexology slippers: I understand they want comfort for their guests thus explains the reflexology slippers (the one with spikes on them), I totally appreciate the good intention and effort, however, the spikes were a little too hard on the feet so it was really uncomfortable to wear them and I’m hoping they would get rid of those someday, just saying.
hmm..what's on the menu?
wifi access: My sissy and I are very internet savvy people since roaming could be very pricey in contacting your family when you’re abroad so we rely on Viber, Skype etcetera to get in touch with our family back home. The thing was, the wifi signal inside our room was really fucked up that it would take you minutes just to upload a photo on Instagram. The only reliable app we were able to make use of was Viber because it does require high bandwidth I guess. We were so stressed out the whole time because we can’t even upload photos to Photobucket.com to back up our pictures in case something goes awry and the crappy internet access went on the entire duration of our stay. I think one way to resolve that is by simply placing separate routers to each and every floor or sort of a signal booster so it would be convenient to their guests who are mostly travelers. power blink: our last major concern was the frequent annoying short power outages. It’s just really weird to experience a power knock out when you’re checked in at a hotel. The short power blink is ok but a minute or so is just a little disconcerting while power back ups already exists nowadays. The short power outages happened six times or so for as far as I can remember. Our stay would’ve been a high five except for those things which (eventually) affected our experience/stay at the High Five Hotel. We checked out 1PM of March 1st (late check out granted by the hotel Manager) and the hotel arranged the cab for us bound to JJ Express Terminal so we could pay for our tickets for our 8PM trip to Bagan. Overall, I should rate High Five Hotel a 5 out of 10 (the wifi signal took so much points off and the power interruptions quite weirded us out). Nonetheless, when it comes to hospitality, a 10 out of 10, hats down. The hotel staff were very nice and I think the hotel owner even carried one of our luggages one our way out and spoke to the cab driver (who would drive us to JJ Express terminal) like a mother sending off her kids to make sure they have a safe travel ahead. I totally appreciate as well that they granted even our tiniest demands although I am fervently hoping they get these little blips addressed for a much better guests experience.
I’m finally back from my week long trip to Myanmar and as promised I will blog about how my vacay went. I just came back home last Monday btw and I’m still quite exhausted although I really had a great time there no matter how hot the weather was the whole time I was there. Myanmar is by far the closest I’ve felt from home among the countries I’ve visited so far here in South East Asia because of the similarities with the weather and their metro area (Yangon) which reminds me of Pasay, Ortigas and Makati infrastructure wise. The weather in Myanmar is more arid though, like almost no air especially during summer season when the temperature spikes from 30 to almost 40ºC, it was fire hot outside!
My sister and I (my constant travel buddy) booked this trip on a whim couple of weeks ago to simply take advantage of the cheap airfares offered by Tiger Airways to Yangon because that's rare (I’ve been monitoring the airfares and the one we booked was by far the lowest rate) because on a regular basis, the cost of flying to Yangon is often expensive since there’s no direct flights from Manila to Yangon. Our flight was Manila to Singapore first then Singapore to Yangon. We chose to connect in Singapore because we've been craving for SG's Chicken Rice and their delicious Bubble Tea plus it’s been six years since the last time we were there.
Bound to Manila
02.27.17 | Monday
My sister and I are coming from the north so we decided to book our bus trip to Manila few days in advance. Our first option was Joy Bus (owned by Genesis) days before our flight since they drop off passengers directly at the NAIA Terminal 3 (like what we did last year for our Vietnam trip, Joy Bus dropped us off to T3 where our flight will depart from and it was oh so convenient). However, this time around, our flight will depart from NAIA Terminal 1 and if ever we get the chance to book through Joy Bus we will just take the NAIA shuttle from T3 to T1. Unfortunately though, Joy Bus was fully booked because of Panagbenga (Flower Festival in Baguio) so we took our chance with Victory Liner and luckily we were able to book their VIP bus bound to Pasay (travel time: 5-6 hours nonstop via SCTEX vs. 7 hours for regular trip).
We left at 11:20AM and slept the whole time on the bus. Victory’s VIP Bus is quite cramped up though compared to Joy Bus’ Deluxe one although the price is pretty much the same. Victory also served snacks on board (a chiffon bread, pack of chocolates and a bottle of distilled water). They did not provide any blanket. I can’t help but compare Joy Bus from Victory because the other bus has more leg room plus they provide blankets to keep you warm the whole trip as the bus can get too cold at the times. Joy Bus’ route from the north is via TPLEX which is somewhat faster compared to Victory’s deluxe bus.
UBE Express Shuttle Bus
Our bus arrived at the Pasay terminal around 5:00PM past as far as I can remember. Whilst at the Victory terminal we started looking for HM Transport Shuttle Bus because we read online it will only cost P20 to get to NAIA through them but we weren’t lucky to find them and instead, as soon as we got off bus, we found these group of men and women in purple shirts (near the sign that reads Shuttle) offering shuttle to the airport so we decided to go ahead and take that one instead of looking for the HM shuttle service. We later on found that it was UBE Express and that they will take you to all the NAIA Terminals for P200 per person which is not bad compared to taking those airport cabs which would charge you a hefty just to get to the airport. The UBE Express buses are pretty nice (looks more like the buses you see in Singapore), it’s air-conditioned and offers free WIFI. They will ask first what time is your flight, Terminal number, issue you a receipt, wait for a little while and depart the Victory Pasay terminal in few minutes even if the bus isn’t full yet.
NAIA Terminal 1
Manila - Singapore
We got off at the NAIA T1 before 6PM, paid our travel taxes (P1,620 per person) and checked the departure boards to see which check in counter Tiger is assigned to. Since our flight is not until 9:35PM and the check in counter won’t be open until 7:35PM we decided to grab a bite first. I personally do not like the NAIA Terminal 1 because it looks old compared to T3. I hope it undergoes a total renovation to make it more cozy and comfortable for passengers and their families who are to wait with them before they fly out. The 30-minute free wifi access for everyone is good but I’m hoping NAIA will also offer something longer than half an hour.
7:35PM
Check in time-We just got our boarding passes since we do not have any bags to check in so it was pretty swift. I spent a good worry though procrastinating if our carry-ons will exceed 10kgs because we did not weigh them.
TigerConnect
Since we took advantage of TigerConnect, we were already handed both our boarding passes for Manila to Singapore and Singapore to Yangon so all we need to do once we land in Changi is to look for our boarding gate bound to Yangon.
Now it’s Nuninoo time. Our flight took off a little before 10PM.
boarding gate finally...
Changi Airport Terminal 2
Singapore to Yangon
6 hour layover
02.28.17 | Tuesday
Duck Rice @Singapore Food Street
It was quite a bumpy plane ride bound to Singapore (that’s why I hate evening flights) nevertheless, we arrived safe and sound past 1:00AM. Changi Airport felt like a ghost town except for the 24 hour food stalls. My sister would like to eat some Chicken Rice badly at the Singapore Food Street so we took the Skytrain from T2 to T3 only to find the food stall that serves Hainanese Chicken Rice is closed so we just suit ourselves with some Duck Rice and Coffee O’ (brewed coffee with some milk). All the stalls at the Singapore Food Street btw do not accept cold cash which we had no idea at first. You have to exchange your cash to a 'food street' card which they will swipe like a debit card. It's not advisable to exchange so much cash to debit because the exchange rate affects you moneys worth. All the money changers were also closed so we had our 20 bucks exchanged instead at the Food Court counter. I didn’t really understand the Singaporean guy at the counter at first because of his heavy accent when he asked me something so I was surprised when he handed me a Singaporean Food Street card in exchange for my 20$. I decided to figure out myself what the hell the card was all about through those letter sized paper boards posted in pretty much every stalls there. I learned that, it’s best to check the food prices first before you order anything so will only exchange whatever is the cost of the food you’re eyeing to the food street card. Then, as soon as we’re done eating, I returned the card back and the guy gave me Singaporean dollars as change which is pretty much the same exchanging them through money changers.
touch down Singapore...
Six hours was just enough for us to explore the airport, take advantage of the free foot massage pretty much all over the terminals. The Skytrain closes at 2:30AM and resumes at 5AM so we decided to go back from T3 to T2 by foot but hours of walking did not do us any good so we just decided to wait for the Skytrain five minutes before 5AM. We also took advantage of Changi Airport’s free 24hour wifi access by simply scanning our passports on one of their wifi kiosk. How does it work? Just scan your passport, a code will be flashed on the PC monitor and from your phone just look for #Wifi@Changi and it will take you to a landing page where you could input the code from their computer. Afterwards, it will redirect you to another page where you have to provide your roaming prepaid number and they will send you an activation code and you’re good to go. The speed was fast enough for us to upload photos on Instagram.
7:20AM
the skytrain during wee hours...
Our flight took off from Changi T2 bound to Yangon. Singapore and the Philippines btw is under the the same time zone so we’re 1.5 hours ahead from Myanmar. We were expected to land in Yangon at 8:45AM (10:15AM Manila time). i decided to add another city instead to my iPhone clock app so as to avoid myself getting further confused lol. I love the flight to Yangon as it was already daylight and the weather was really good. I enjoyed my seat on the plane which was right next to the window because I was able to clearly see those big fluff of clouds. I know it cost more to pre-select a seat but we could care less because my sister and I cannot afford to NOT sit side by side. We would often argue as to who sits beside the window, I know it may sound funny but this is the enjoyable part in riding a plane, who’s turn is it to sit right next to the window just for the view lol.
DAY 01 Touch down Yangon!
Myanmar 's local currency
Kyat ("chat")
We landed in Yangon few minutes before 9AM and boy it was hot outside. Their airport is not as extraordinary as Changi, more of like our very own NAIA T1 only a notch better. The Yangon Terminal 1 is not as vast but they have pretty much everything that you need there as usual (convenience store, fast food like KFC, coffee shops, souvenir shops, money changers etc.)
As soon as we’re done with Immigration we immediately looked for the money changer counters to have our fairly new US dollars exchanged to their local money called kyat (pronounce as ‘chat’). The exchange rate at the airport is pretty good as it did not veer away from the actual conversion rate (It was a bank counter for as much as I recall). Our 100USD was converted to 136,000 plus kyats. Before you head off to Myanmar btw, make sure to carry along pristine US dollar bills, brand new ones preferably because its value depreciates the more old your dollar bill is. They want one without any marks, crisp and not folded USDs.
Munch Time
Yangon International Airport T1
Bites @ Yangon Int'l Airport T1
It was a little before lunch time already and we’re both starving so we were torn whether or not to try their local dishes first or eat at KFC so the food is served faster. I insisted to try their local dish first so we would at least have an idea how Myanmar food taste like (although I had an inkling it would be spicy since Myanmar is geographically located between Thailand and India). We went to Bites across the check in counters and check out their menu. They have the Chicken Nasi Lemak ones which we knew would be spicy since we’ve tried Nasi Lemak before when we lived in Singapore years back and it was tasteful, spicy but good. So, we had their Chicken Lemaks, one fried and one wasn’t and paired it up with Coke zero which was ok. I love how hot and spicy it was plus the peanuts and anchovies (or Dilis in Tagalog, yes the small fish). We were happy with our meal absolutely but we were just a little concerned with the mosquitoes while were eating. Oh make sure to always apply those mosquito repellant lotion if your going to Myanmar (we read this online) because there’s a lot of Mosquitoes in public places, just to be safe.
We already booked our pretty much all our hotel accommodations back home so we only need to worry about buying souvenir items and food. We agreed to check in at this Airport hotel called High Five back home because they offer one of the most competitive rates plus the room photos were good. We booked through Hotels.com and prepaid our hotel room.
Yangon Int’l Airport Cabs
Reminds me of home because men would clamor to carry your luggages to your cab. We agreed to pay the cab 6,000 kyats from the airport to High Five Hotel. The thing was the luggage guys started asking for tips and when I gave then 200kyats each they even complained and said it’s ‘too low.’ It was really funny though, few minutes of their time cost more than 200kyats? Unbelievable. We would’ve carried our luggages ourselves lol.
Our cab driver was nice and even offered to take us for a tour at our preferred time, gave us a flyer and business card but we told him we’ll think about it later in the day since we’re still tired from our flight. The cost for the tours are ranging from 10,000-35,000 kyats depending on the place you’re looking to go to and the number of hours. In Myanmar 35,000 kyats is already good for an all day tour. It’s pretty cheap and their rates is kind of similar to the tour packages offered in Cambodia. High Five Hotel is pretty close from the airport because it only took us less than 15 minutes to get there. High Five Airport Hotel
The reception people were very warm and accommodating. One of the hotel staff
Asian breakfast at the hotel
High Five Hotel
even provided cold orange juice for my sister and I while we wait as they check our reservation. I found Burmese people love to stare but not in a bad way, I guess that’s just the way they are with people from other countries. And as always, we have been constantly mistaken that we’re from Thailand so we would often tell them we’re from the Philippines. Somehow it was flattering because Thai women are slender, fair skinned and pretty mostly. On the other hand it made us wonder how come Filipinos aren’t as recognizable in this part of the Globe considering we are neighbors with them. Going back, High Five Hotel is quite small as the dining area is right across the reception desk. They don’t have any lift and the stairs were pretty steep thus we made an effing huge mistake for choosing a room on the 5th floor lol. Anyways, I’ll make a separate review about the hotel just to give other travelers like us an idea whether or not they should stay at this hotel while in Yangon.
Our DIY Tour
As soon as we’re settled in our hotel room, my sister already wanted to take a tour of Yangon right away. I was apprehensive at first because I’m still tired and I need to recharge, nap, take a bath or whatever but she was so squeamish in taking the tour since we only have one day here as we’re headed to Bagan tomorrow night. Ok, so we tried contacting the cabbie driver who brought us to the hotel but the line was busy so we decided to just tour Yangon ourselves and take a cab. We rested for a while, took a bath, put on some light make up (because we know it will melt away anyways because of the heat), changed to comfortable and light clothing then headed back down to the reception area to ask if they have any tour packages. My sister wanted to go to pretty much to all of the temples in our itinerary but I disagreed big time as it’s pretty late already to go to all of them (past noon time). I firmly suggested that we go to Shwedagon Pagoda first as it’s one of the most popular place to visit in Yangon then we’ll figure out what’s next later on. I’ve always anticipated plans and itinerary may change once you’re in the actual place as this happens all the time every time we travel. You may think one temple is close enough from the other just to learn that you’re wrong as it can be minutes to hours away. We then asked the hotel staff to call a cab for us that would take us to Shwedagon Pagoda as per the receptionist’s recommendation as well. High Five Hotel to Shwedagon Pagoda cost: 6,000 kyats. Cabs in Yangon looks pretty old but at least they have AC.
Shwedagon Pagoda
Shwedagon Pagoda
The outside of Shwedagon Pagoda has couple of massive lion statues and you have to take off your shoes/footwear as soon as you walked past the entrance as it’s a sacred ground. We brought ziplock bags so we could put our shoes inside our bags (sad fact: we Filipinos are very wary people because back home if you leave your footwear outside in a public area it’s a goner when you come back to retrieve it 90% of the time lol). Walking barefoot in such a huge place is something new to us because back in Cambodia, tourists were never asked to take off their footwear in any of their temples so I guess that’s a indication that the Burmese people are very religious and conservative I think. Almost all men we’ve seen wore Longyi (pronounced as “Long-jee”) and women all long skirts. Don’t be surprised by the way to see people with brown chalk like texture stuff on their faces as they call them “Thanaka” which sort of has a cooling effect on the skin.
and more of Shwedagon's beauty
The Shwedagon Pagoda is uphill so you have to walk many stairs to get there. Along the way you’ll see tons of souvenir items to choose from. It was just a little uncomfortable walking barefoot that’s all. The entrance fee to the Pagoda cost 8,000 kyat per person which you have to pay at the booth to your left. In our case we did not see the booth so this guy approached us and asked us to pay at the booth. They gave us a ticket, a sticker and a thick flyer which shows what’s inside Shwedagon. I was just surprised they charge to enter their “church” technically. I guess the proceeds go to the rehabilitation of the Pagoda as some areas were damaged by last year’s earthquake in Myanmar. Shwedagon Pagoda was massive and our jaw dropped in awe when we saw the many golden temples inside, they were all intricately made. It felt like transcending to a totally different place from of a book. The experience was just priceless and i said to my sister “I told you so.” I highly recommend this place you will be visiting Yangon, never miss it. It was actually the highlight of our Yangon trip. The next on our list was Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda & Reclining Buddha.
Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda & Reclining Buddha
We took another cab to get to the Reclining Buddha which only cost us 2,500 kyat as it’s not too far from Shwedagon anymore. Cab drivers in Myanmar varies from the highway to hell drivers (the over speeding ones) to the modest ones who will only charge you what is deemed fit for the travel distance.
The Reclining Buddha..
It was about 3PM when reached Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda & Reclining Buddha because we spent about an hour or so in Shwedagon. What we noticed at first at the Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda was the number of dogs sleeping outside the temple like nobody cares lol. Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda houses the massive Reclining Buddha. It wasn’t as phenomenal though as the Shwedagon Pagoda probably it’s ‘cuz we’ve seen something better. The good thing was they do not charge anything for entering the temple, just donations. It just took us a good 20 minutes to round up the temple then afterwards we bought souvenir items right outside. I bought some fridge magnets 3 for 6,000 kyat (originally 2,500 kyats each), couple of shawl/Pashminas for 4,000 kyat each for our other sister and a family friend whilst my twin sister bought a longyi for 7,000 kyat, a scroll display for her friend 3,000 kyat then off we got to grab a bite somewhere since we were both starving after walking endlessly.
Roughly 200 meters outside Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda we found a restaurant thank God! Burmese people mostly do not speak in English so the best way to communicate with them is by pointing out something on the menu and gesture a peace sign if you want couple of orders. We Filipinos have this term colloquial term we call “nose bleed” if we’re already having a hard time expressing ourselves in English, in Myanmar we turned “nose bleeds” in communicating with the locals because they do not understand English neither so I guess it really wouldn’t matter whether you speak fluent English or not.
restaurant receipt
Past 4PM - catching a taxi ride along the highway was quite difficult as it’s already rush hour in Yangon. All cabs were pretty much booked but with ample patience we were able to catch a ride. The only thing was, the driver we got was the racer type as we were holding on to our seats the whole time, hearts throbbing, the moment the road is clear from the heavy traffic jams. We got back to our hotel around 7PM, yes that’s how heavy their traffic was. Good thing, some Burmese music kept us entertained. The funny thing was, when I handed the 6,000 kyat to our cab driver before I alight from the cab I said “bayad po” in Tagalog (“here’s the payment” in English) totally forgetting I am abroad geez. My sister laughed her heart out. We dozed off before 11PM because we were too caught up transferring/editing photos from our phones to our laptop. This day was awesome, the food and places.
DAY 02
Yangon to Bagan
03.02.17 | Wednesday
Faludah..
We woke up a little early to avail the free breakfast at the hotel. The food at the breakfast bar have limited items though but not bad at all. They only had one cup of fried rice available by the time we had breakfast so my sister just had toast with jelly, orange juice, some yellow watermelon whilst I had some sausage and fruits as well. We also tried their cereal with milk. We just stayed at our hotel room to rest until our check out time which was at 1PM. The hotel manager gladly allowed us to stay until an hour past check out time (usually 12NN) even if they were fully booked which we really appreciate. We asked for late check out btw before we checked in yesterday. We regret though we did not add another day to our hotel reservation in Yangon because we loitered for 7 grueling hours near the JJ Express Terminal doing nothing but eat at this restaurant close by. We had Chicken Curry for lunch, a big bottle of water and the refreshing Faludah (similar to our very own Halo-Halo in the Philippines).
JJ Express Terminal
Room No. (A 5,6), Mawlamying St.,
Aungmingalar Bus Station, Yangon
The JJ Express terminal is 10 minutes away from High Five Hotel and it cost us an average 5,000 kyat taxi ride to get there. Our trip to Bagan is not until 8PM but we decided to go to the terminal around past 1PM since we already checked out at our hotel to pay for our tickets (booking is done through Facebook, payment at the gate or no other than the bus terminal itself). The lady at the ticketing counter was quite grumpy because I can’t understand her and I just realized she’s confirming my name on their booking list because she said the word “name” really differently (language barrier is one of our biggest dilemma while in Myanmar) then she uttered something in Burmese. I opted to pay in USD, 19$ per person for the trip to Bagan so I paid 40 bucks. However, she doesn’t have 3 bucks so she wants to give me 5$ and I give her 3$ so we’re even but I don’t have 3$ neither since my sister and I only have 10, 20 dollar bills available so she asked me to pay in kyat instead which was such a hassle because my sister had to walk all the way to the money changer to exchange our 40 bucks to kyats and that the money changer exchanged our dollars to a little lower rate because it wasn’t ‘so pristine’ after our ordeal making the payment we finally got our tickets and we were assigned to Bus #16.
JJ Express VIP Bus to Bagan
Quarter to 8PM
After many hours of doing nothing around the JJ Express Terminal it’s finally boarding time yey! We started boarding before 8PM and the bus was parked less than a hundred meters away from the terminal so we had to walk a little to get there since there’s another bus about to depart from parked right in front of the terminal. The JJ Bus Terminal is also close to Shiva Temple in Aungmingalar Highway, so if you see any golden temple close by, then, the bus terminal is definitely just around the corner.
purple towel, snack box with really good chiffon cakes,
movie player, and a sticker you have to stick on to your
clothes which reminds me of those tour bus stickers 😂
🚍 Bus Amenities:
snack box - the mini cakes were really good
bottle of distilled water
tamarind candy - it starts to taste a little weird as it melts in your mouth though.
cup of soda
blanket - to keep you warm, this helped me sleep the whole trip. My only complaint—my blanket smelled of viand which could mean it wasn’t newly washed.
movie player (loaded with 3 movies so make sure to bring your own earphones)
Reclining seat with foot rest
I will be making a separate review as well regarding my trip to Bagan via JJ Express VIP Bus.
DAY03
Bagan, Myanmar
03.03.17 | Thursday
We arrived in Bagan before 6AM (Yangon to Bagan is 9 hours and vise versa) and it was still pitch dark outside. We didn’t even realized we’re already there because my sister and I were both asleep and just awoke to the bus attendant’s announcement that we’re already at the Bagan JJ Express Terminal. We alight from the bus and started collecting our bags when a guy approached us and asked if we want a cab. I really would like to get to our hotel and lay down, nothing beats sleeping inside a real room and a bed. We asked how much they will charge first (you have to ask every time while in Myanmar to make sure it’s reasonable before you get in the cab) and we were told it’s gonna be 1,500 kyat although my sister said she heard 15,000 kyat then off we go. The cab driver we got is again one of those who drives abso-f*ckin-lutely fast as if he’s driving on a race track. I think our speed the whole time was between 100-200KPH. Gadh. We reached our hotel in no time of course because our cab felt like flying in mid air so what do you expect right? And yes he charged us 15,000 kyats which was a total rip off as the usual rate from the terminal was between 7,000-8,000 kyats only (which we learned later on). Moral of the story, make sure to listen properly when talking to the locals since language barrier is a big problem in Myanmar.
Sky View Hotel
Bagan
View of the hot air balloons from
our hotel's roof deck
Sweet
Nevertheless, we were warmly welcomed at the Sky View Hotel. The people at the front desk weren’t as versed in English when we arrived there but as we went along we noticed that they also have few staff at the front desk who’s quite good in English. Not a biggie though, what matters most was they were nice and very polite. So far they have the most number of English speaking staff compared to other hotels we stayed at in Myanmar.
We booked the Sky View View Hotel online through Agoda.com and the reason behind that was they offer a good view of Bagan’s infamous hot air balloons from their rooftop/dining area which happened to be true since we saw them ourselves during our stay there. However, you should check out the hot air balloons quite early and I mean between 5-7AM or sunrise because they’re gone by 7:30AM onwards. We had breakfast at the rooftop (7-10AM) few hours after our arrival. They also have limited breakfast items but who cares they’re free anyways lol.
All Day Tour
8:15AM
stalls at the Shwezigon Pagoda
My sister called up the reception to inquire if they offer/can arrange any tour around Bagan last minute and thank God they do. The receptionist gave her two options; a full day or half day tour. The full day tour would cost 35,000 kyat until sundown, a private car & your own driver whilst the half day tour starts around 2PM. We wanted to make the most of our stay in Bagan even if we’re still tired so we went ahead and took the full day tour instead which was all worth it since we visited tons of temples in one day.
some of the temples we visited
We first visited Bagan’s famous Shwezigon Pagoda (yes, if Yangon has Shwedagon, Bagan has Shwezigon) where we bought 50% of our souvenir items. If you’re looking for elephant pants then the shops at the Shwezigon Pagoda is so full of those. I even bought one myself and a black tee with gold prints for 5,000 kyats each. However, if you’re looking for fridge magnets I did not find anything there. We spent roughly 40,000 kyats for souvenirs at the Shwezigon area. After Shwezigon Pagoda we went to tons of other Pagodas such as the Ananda Temple, Buphaya, Hitominlo Guphaya-gi, Mahabodhi Temple, Thiri Zaya Bumi Bagan Golden Palace, Mya Zedi Pagoda to name a few. We had lunch at the Moon Restaurant (Vegan) close to the temples and had a vegetarian meal (Tofu with tomato sauce) and Coke zero
Moon Restaurant
which cost 9,300 kyats in total. We went to few more temples which I’ve gone tired of remembering since they pretty much all look the same. After few more hours I told my sister to call it a day because my feet is already aching and it’s unbearably hot outside to walk barefoot (just bring slippers if you’re looking to temple hop because you will take them off anyways so there’s no point in wearing shoes really) plus we’re running low on cash and we need to exchange more dollars to kyats. We told our driver to take us first to the nearest money changer then back to our hotel. The problem was he barely understands English so he took us to our hotel and not to the money changer first to our dismay. We had no choice but suit ourselves with whatever kyats we have left except that we need to eat dinner and the most convenient place is at the hotel of course so we just withdrew some cash at the ATM machines downstairs beside reception. They have 3 ATM machines at the hotel btw so don’t fret if you do not have anymore kyats on hand.
DAY04
Bagan to Yangon
Check out day at Sky View Hotel
03.04.17 | Friday
7AM
Black tee and elephant pants i bought
for 5,000 kyat a piece from the souvenir
shops at the Shwezigon Pagoda in Bagan.
We decided to have breakfast early today and we’re happy to see more hot air balloons on sight. Tonight we’re off to Yangon again because our flight to Singapore is going to be on Sunday (the trip back to Yangon is again for 9 hours from Bagan). We requested for a late check out but the hotel is fully booked so check out at 12NN. The hotel called a cab to take us to the JJ Express Terminal in Bagan (7,000 kyat) but it was way too early for so our cab driver offered a tour to Mt. Popa which was an hour away from Bagan. We thought about it and asked the driver to take us first to closest money changer which happened to be at the downtown area so we paid another 5,000 kyat. The another funny part was whilst at the money changer we left our backpacks in the cab and just carried our shoulder bags then told the cab driver to wait while we exchange our USDs to kyats, however, he drove away as soon as we stepped out so I had a panic attack and told my sister the driver must’ve misunderstood (my fear concerning this whole language barrier thing is getting worse lol) so he drove away with our stuff still in the trunk! The more embarrassing part was we chase the cab as he turns around like fools on parade wtf lol. The moral of the story again is don’t be so paranoid.
Anyways, the money changer refused to accept one of our 10$ bill because it was a little ripped so we gave him a ‘newer’ one and we just exchanged 90bucks to 118,000 plus kyats so we’re friggin’ rich again lol. We headed back to JJ Express terminal so I could pay for the tickets and left my sister in the cab to guard our stuff as per her suggestion and so as not to replicate the same stupidity we did whilst at the money changer. When I came back she spoke with the cab driver and he told her again about the tour to Mt. Popa for 35,000 kyats. Since we have more than enough kyats to spare, I said why not go ahead with the Mt. Popa tour, we’re extremely early for our 8PM trip anyways.
1:30PM (or around that time)
Our driver took us first to this Palm farm on our way to Mt. Popa where they make candies out of palm sugar, alcoholic drink made from palm juice (fermented and all), palm oil and house decors using palm leaves. It was nice to know that a Palm tree has a gender: the female one bear fruits whilst the male one does not and that the female palm tree must be planted beside the male one in order for it to bear fruits. Awesome fact right?
Nat Temple
Nat Temple; Mt. Popa summit, 777 steps indeed.
Mt. Popa, Bagan
2PM past
According to Wikipedia, Mount Popa is a volcano 1,518 metres above sea level, and located in central Burma about 50 km southeast of Bagan in the Pegu Range. As we drove along, the cab driver pointed at the mountain heading north then said that’s where we’re headed so we became excited because we never heard nor read about Mt. Popa when we did our pre-travel research about Bagan probably because it was already too far. This is what I love about exploring further, you get to discover far better more things although at the back of my mind though it was a little risky as well because we’re headed to an unfamiliar location an hour away from Bagan on a foreign country just us, two women, with a stranger plus the way to Mt. Popa was pretty desolate as well. Nevertheless, we reached Mt. Popa safely and we were astonished to find that there’s a temple on top of the mountain thus explains the name Mt. Popa as it is literally at the peak. We were also fascinated with the monkeys at the foot of the temple, some will charge at you if you touch them whilst some are cool as cucumber. Barefoot hiking here we go again. There were tons of souvenir shops as usual on our way to the top of the mountain and monkeys, more monkeys.
Smize. They may look cute, but never pet them.
We’re already starving so we decided to eat lunch halfway. We bought couple more of those cold one liter distilled water bottles, ordered soup and Myanmar salad (you may choose between noodles or papaya shreds, we chose noodles so we could climb up the steep stairs). After we devoured our spicy lunch we continued walking our way up to the temple. I am unable to climb anymore stairs because it’s such a bad idea to walk uphill with a full stomach without any warm up. My leg muscles were already stiff and my heart is already drumming so fast so I got scared and told my sister that’s as far as I could go. She said she’ll continue on and she’ll just meet me back on that same exact place as soon as she reached the temple on top of the
Myanmar noodles mixed with bare hands
mountain. After a good 20 minutes I texted my sister (good thing we’re both on roaming) and told her I will climb up as well. I told myself to not quit because I’m already halfway through and I will not let this trip pass without finishing what I have started so I climbed roughly about a hundred more steps to reach the summit. I did not find my sister there because she took the short cut to go back down that’s why. I was just a little disappointed that the top doesn’t have much to offer except for the temple and the scenic view of the neighboring mountains. Going back was another agony but I was glad I did not quit. I may have climbed those stairs inch by inch but at least I did not quit, at least I saw for myself what’s out there and I am proud to say someday I’ve been to Mt. Popa’s summit (where Nat Temple is) and climbed 777 steps to get there. Rock on.
4PM
On our way back to Bagan. We passed by group of people who would be attending a monk ordination ceremony and they were all dressed up for the event. I think becoming a monk in Buddhist countries is a prestige.
5PM past
Back to JJ Express Terminal. We had some local french toast and lemonade for snacks.
8PM on the dot
JJ Express VIP bus departs Bagan. Off we go to Yangon again. This time around the snack box was served in the middle of the trip.
10PM past
First stopover. Took roughly 30 minutes if I’m not mistaken. Loo break. Watched the movie “Everest” from my mac book for a good couple of hours then my sister and I slept again afterwards. Night trips is good for sleeping since there’s nothing to see outside but infinite darkness.
DAY 05
Galaxy Hotel
03.05.17 | Saturday
minutes before 6AM
❤️ Galaxy Hotel
Our bus arrived in Yangon. We took a cab to Galaxy Hotel (another hotel in Yangon close to the airport) for 10,000 kyat. The bus terminal was quite far from the hotel though. The Galaxy hotel is also spanking new.
Breakfast
The hotel is situated beside the Monastery so it was peaceful and quiet in the area. Galaxy Hotel is also obviously fairly new because it’s pretty modern and the interior reminds me of Holiday Inn. The receptionist served cold orange juice for us while we wait as she scans our passports. None of the hotels we stayed at in Myanmar asked us to leave our passports unlike in Vietnam. We booked two nights at this hotel so we don’t have to wait for check in time which is normally at 12NN. The first day was for a very late check (March 3-4) since we arrived at 6AM whilst the second day we checked out very early because of our connecting flight bound to Singapore. Sadly, we still paid the full couple of days as hotels do not pro-rate it.
DAY06
Yangon to Singapore
03.06.17 | Sunday
3AM
en route to Singapore again...
Woke up early so we have ample time to prep up. We planned last night to check out at around 5:30AM today so there’s enough time for the hotel to call a cab which would take us to the Yangon International Airport for our 9:25AM flight to Singapore.
5:45AM
cab arrived at the Galaxy Hotel. 10-15 minute drive to the airport.
6AM
reached the Yangon airport but the driver dropped us off in Terminal 3. Our fault though because we assumed he knew we’re supposed to go to Terminal 1 so we walked from T3 to T1 so early in the morning geez.
6:30AM
Breakfast at KFC Yangon Airport. Our food cost 5,200 kyat for a bunch of french fries and bite sized steak burgers I think.
7AM
Got out boarding passes for both Yangon-Singapore and Singapore-Manila flight. Picture taking time at the airport then passed through Immigration. Another stamp on our passports accomplished.
9:25AM
plane took off. Singapore again in few hours for a 12 hour layover. At this point I set my clock back to Manila/SG time. Slept on the plane the whole time. We’re just bunch of sleepyheads because we woke up really early today. We’re early birds every time we have a flight because we cannot afford to be late otherwise our connecting flight will be messed up as well.
Skytrain at the Changi International Airport
Changi Int’l Airport T2
Hainanese Chicken Rice for 5.50SGD @ Singapore Food Street in Terminal 3
Touch down again Singapore. We had lunch at Singapore Food Street again but this time around we were able to finally taste Chicken rice again yum! Mission accomplished. Our next plan was to find the closest place at the Changi airport that sells bubble tea, unfortunately you have to pass through Immigration to get to KOI Express and we can’t since we availed Tigerconnect so better luck next time. We exchange our 20bucks to Singapore dollars so we could buy some more souvenirs and food while here in SG. We bought this pack of fridge magnets for 12SGD, a pack of mini Snickers for 8SGD and another pack of mini Kitkat for 11SGD I think and some pies for us 1.20SGD a piece.
3:30PM
Took the Skytrain from T3 to T1 for our 4PM six hour reservation at Aerotel Transit Hotel in T1.
4:00PM
Changi - Terminal 1
it took us roughly 15-20 minutes to find Aerotel as it’s quite far from the Skytrain (boarding gate D41). Landmark: D40 escalator - Aerotel’s front desk is righ across the escalator.
Aerotel Transit Hotel
4:30PM
Aerotel is by far the nicest transit hotels I’ve been. I badly need shower and nap. Our room was spanking new. My only conerns (although not that big of a deal): the toilet doesn’t have hand-held bidet and no separate body wash & shampoo dispenser. But, nonetheless, I love the place. And yes, they have Colgate! I miss these familiar toothpaste brand because they did not offer any of these on any hotels we’ve stayed at in Myanmar. Set my alarm to 7PM then dozed off.
7-10PM
woke up again, had shower, put on make up, pack stuff again for our onward flight to Manila, had coffee. All set by 10PM.
10:15PM
Checked out at Aerotel, had a nice sleep. Warm shower always saves the day. Took the Skytrain to Terminal 2 and waited for boarding time. Had some free foot massage around 11:30PM for roughly half an hour.
12AM
Checked the departure boards and found out that our flight had been re-assigned to a different gate. Good thing we checked.
Manila at 5AM
DAY 07 Back to the North
03.07.17 | Monday
1:10AM
I think we boarded right about this time.
5:25AM
"Home is where the heart is"
Touch down Manila. I missed my bed, my cat and oh the cold up north.
7AM (I think)
My sister made an advance reservation with UBE Express whilst in Yangon couple of days back. Their airport shuttle picked us up at the NAIA T1 then dropped us off at the Victory Liner Terminal in Pasay. We reached the Victory terminal around 7:30AM and decided to take the 8AM trip to Baguio as it was the next earliest one. We did not grab breakfast anymore so my sister just bought some hotdogs at the terminal.
souvenir items from Yangon
& Bagan
Homebound finally! I had a great time in Myanmar despite the very hot weather. I climbed Mt. Popa, visited over ten temples including The Swedagon and Shwezigon Pagoda, tried their spicy yet delectable local dishes, walked barefoot inside and outside the temples, immersed in their culture and above all gained another experience traveling across oceans.
soft adhesive foot pads;
photo from google images
Useful tip: If you plan to go temple hopping in Myanmar then I would highly recommend to use one of those soft adhesive foot pads because they are quite sanitary especially if you feel iffy to walk totally barefoot. I should've bought one except I wasn't aware they are very strict when it comes to shoes/foot wear inside their temples.
Alright then, another country off my bucket list. So where to next?
Here's a video clip regarding how our Burma trip went ☺️
