Reverie of Thoughts

This year CNY,  I went on a trip to the land of Golden Pagodas, Myanamar. Where did I go? Yangon and Bagan in Myanmar (GMT: +0630), it's 1.5h behind SG Time. How was the weather? The weather in Bagan reached to about 18C in the morning and about 30C in the afternoon. It was a mixed of hot and cold weather.  The weather in Yangon was hot all throughout, roughly 30C to about 35C. How did I  manage to go around? I engaged a local tour agency, One Stop Travel & Private Day Tour  where they handled all tours including hotel transfer and hotel bookings (if you wish). You can find some tips here.  How did our day went? Day 1  : Yangon City tour I boarded Singapore Airlines, SQ988  (Airbus 330-300), 2h 55 minutes flight to Yangon. In a nutshell, I (together with my companions) went to the following places: aung san museum, royal lake (photo stop), shwedagon pagoda, ngar htar gyi(sitting Buddha), chauk hatgyi (reclining Buddha) Day 2...

On the last day, woke up to have breakfast at 6AM. It wasn't all that great.. (I'd prefer their breakfast box of 2 eggs, bread, butter and jam). It was a buffet breakfast, and not much selection (unlike the Bagan resort). It wasn't hearty too. After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and met up with the guide at 7.30AM. The guide mentioned that since our itinerary had a lot of temples he decided to take us to see a different side of Yangon. Since it was too early for Bogyoke Market (they fully open at 11AM) . We headed to St Mary's Cathedral, a Catholic Church in town. and the whole view of the church (panaroma shot of what my phone is capable of .. ) After which was a trip to Chinatown and Chinese temple. Since it was still in the festive season of CNY, there were still some lanterns that hung in the street poles. The whole view of the temple The two deity that was guarding the temple ... Inside the temple .. and the co...

Day 4 The last day in Bagan. Like in any day, a good day should start with a hearty breakfast. ( The bacon was really a must and the hot chocolate served at the hotel!) Promptly at 9am (after checking out of the hotel), Day 4 started by visiting an ancient marker where once a civilization had started (the marker of the First palace) ... then it was off to the first activity of the day to see the various ways a palm can be used after its harvest. One of the byproducts of palm is palm sugar. At this place, one can try out the desserts made out of palm sugar like the one here :  and the juice extracted from the palm are boiled in this makeshift distillery to make palm wine.. A brewed wine .. You can't leave Bagan without trying the tea leaves salad served in lacquerware.  and a sample of their  fresh tempura veggies .. After that educational palm plantation excursion, the next activity was to take a look a...