The Great Adventure of 2015 has begun! It's that time of year again. I needed another Great Adventure, and what better place to have a Great Adventure than a return to SE Asia!! It's going to be a bit different this year. All of my Great Adventures have been on my own. This year, I am traveling to Myanmar for a week by myself. Then, I will meet up with my Sister and Nephew in Vietnam for a week. It's super exciting. I've never been on a Great Adventure with other people, so I'm excited to have some travel buddies this time. I've been to Vietnam, so I decided to get out of my element and travel to Myanmar first. I needed some time away from my everyday life and comfort zone, and I love to travel, so it was an easy decision to come to Myanmar. Well, first it was Bhutan, but Myanmar is changing so fast that I decided to come here and explore. Maybe Bhutan next year. Here's how the past three days have gone...
I left Madison at 9:00a.m. on March 11th, and arrived in Bangkok on the 12th at around 11:30p.m. Let me tell you. Those flights are kind of killer. I flew from Madison to Detroit, Detroit to Tokyo, and Tokyo to Bangkok. The flight from Detroit to Tokyo is about 13 hours. I think maybe at hour 10, I wanted to get off the plane. Instead I just had another cocktail and watched my 4th movie. Where was I going to go? Nowhere, that's where. After my 4th Jack and Coke I was able to go in and out of consciousness and get a little rest. Once I landed in Tokyo, I only had 40 minutes to make my connecting flight to Bangkok. I hurried through security, and found my gate just as my boarding zone was finishing boarding the plane. Then another 7 1/2 hour flight to Bangkok. I thought the Tokyo flight was bad, but after being on a plane for 13 hours, then only about 20 minutes off, then right back on a plane, the Bangkok flight was kind of miserable. Plus I sat next to some dude who, during the whole flight, took all the leg room or fell asleep and slowly leaned into my seat. I kept elbowing him. I think he finally got the point at hour 5 on that flight. Enough about long flights, right? It's what it takes to get here so no complaining. I arrived in Bangkok, made it through security and immigration and got to my airport hotel around 1:00a.m. Checked in and finally got to bed around 2:00a.m. Got up at 8:00 this morning and made my way back to the airport to check in for my flight to Myanmar.
I arrived in Myanmar around 12:30 this afternoon. By the way it's about 5:30p.m. on the 13th as I write this. Why am I so obsessed with time? It's weird. OCD I guess.
Anyway, I am in Yangon, Myanmar!! I got here and made my way through immigration and customs and found my ride. Got to the hotel about an hour later and checked in. I was super hungry and wanted to explore right away. I found a noodle shop on Tripadvisor and decided to check it out. As most of you know from reading this blog on previous Great Adventure's, I am HORRIBLE with directions. I mapped out the noodle shop and took off. Of course I went the wrong way immediately. The thing is most of the streets here aren't marked. So after walking about 5 blocks in the wrong direction, I finally saw a street sign and knew I was going the wrong way. I turned around and made my way back the other way. Finally found the noodle shop. I'm glad I waited to find it. It was so good!!! Great noodles in a broth with pork and some spices. I got that, some free tea, and a coke and it was less than $3.00 including a tip. It is so amazing how inexpensive it was considering it was so delicious. After that late lunch, I walked around a bit more and took a couple photos. Then, made my way back to the hotel and here I am. Writing on my blog. Tonight I'm going to go to Chinatown in Yangon. There is a night market and, I hear, amazing food. So, hopefully I can get some more photos tonight. Tomorrow I will have the full day to explore Yangon and see all the sights. Thankfully I have a tour guide tomorrow so I won't get lost. Hopefully. So, until tomorrow, here's some photos from the trip so far...
Madison Airport, the beginning of the Great Adventure of 2015!
My stellar view from my Bangkok hotel... :(
Corn vendor. Yangon, Myanmar
Another view. Yangon, Myanmar
Not sure what these are, but they are fried and maybe come with a tiny egg! They smelled good. Yangon, Myanmar
Street scene. Yangon, Myanmar
Street Scene. Yangon, Myanmar