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Incredible edible

By oneillhekhih6165 - 22:00

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Myanmar Aug 2017 various impressions

By oneillhekhih6165 - 22:00

Myanmar Aug 2017 various impressions

Blessed by decades of military dictatorship and being shut off from globalization, the evils of modern times (cars, fast food, fizzy drinks, excessive use of plastic, mobile phones, tourism) have not set foot in Myanmar.

Advice to my readers is to go there as quickly as possible before it gets spoiled and only North Korea (according to reports; I haven't been) remains as a place where you can experience the good old times.

Various impressions in alphabetical order:

Addictions

Cigarette smoking is widespread, and even in restaurants smoking is allowed. Betel nut chewing is wide spread. One of the few negative things I can say about my stay in Myanmar. Picture left one of the many stalls that sell betel and tobacco, right locals processing betel nuts.

Bed bugs

When waking up after first night in Yangon, I had these spots on various places of my body. Slightly different from anything I had before (I have been bitten by ants and mosquitoes, stung by bees, had pubic lice; fortunately I’m not sensitive to insect bites/stings: there is some light itching that I can live with). Check on internet: probably bed bugs, and find out that they don’t transmit diseases. So I will stick with the room for the rest of my stay. I inspected the bed and didn’t find any trace of bed bugs, and swatted one mosquito in my room that had blood (my blood?), but the location of these spots and development over the days (it takes days until they are gone) is different from mosquito bites.

Car and driver

My farang friend FF knew someone in Mae Sot, who knew someone in Myanmar, who drove us from Myawaddy to Yangon in the course of 4 days 3 nights. Rate was 2,000 THB (80,000 MMK) per day (that is 24 hours, fuel for about 200 km per day and the driver’s accommodation and food included). Split by two that makes 1,000 THB per day for me (Mon morning to Thursday evening 4,000 THB = 160,000 MMK for me, clearly beats public transport, hitchhiking, walking). Our driver was circumspect, English ok (no Thai), non-smoker, and I was completely happy with his service and would hire him again any time. He is based in Moulmein. Contact me if interested.

Clothes drying in rainy season

The trip was during rainy season, and even though we were quite lucky with the weather (only minor changes necessary due to rain – Myanmar friend says it can rain an entire week during rainy season), there was high humidity in air which meant clothes wet from sweat or rain did not dry over night. That meant I had to find other ways to dry my wet clothes: on the bonnet of the car with heat from engine or on a poorly insulated hot water reservoir in my hotel.

And two cases of having dirty, damp clothes laundered to get them back clean and dry (in Hpa-An in guesthouse T-shirt 300 MMK, shorts 400 MMK; in Yangon at Metro Laundry 2000 MMK per kg).

Convenience stores

There are no 7-Eleven or Family Mart at all, and local convenience stores (ABC, g&g grab & go, TIPTOP) are thinly spread.

Data roaming
I used the AIS sim2fly from Cambodia (details see there). Inquire in service center if I can use it in Myanmar, and top up (300 THB, cheaper than buying a new SIM for 399 for 8 days unlimited 3G), and I could even tell them to set the starting time of the plan. Everything worked fine.

Drinking water

Most street restaurants do not serve free drinking water like in Thailand, but free hot tea instead. Along the roads, there are free drinking water stations which I used without ill effect. (And yes, I think everyone drinks from the same cup, I know I did.)

When climbing up to the Golden Rock, I crossed a stream and asked a monk if the water is potable. He confirmed and went to fetch water with the empty plastic bottle I gave him. I drank all that water – 0.5 l there and another 0.5 l further up – without ill effect.

(That has to be seen in context with a hiking trip to the Alps with my parents around 1998, where I drank water from a river and got sick. Since then I haven not drunken water from rivers. But now, having drunken tap water everywhere in SEAsia, and a monk confirming it's potable and fetching it for me, what can go wrong?)

Electricity network
Electricity is unreliable, in Hpa-An there was a power outage ever evening (on our 2 days), in Yangon none that I noticed in 4 days. Everywhere I went I saw generators, protection from over- and under voltage, separate cables (?) for emergency lighting, boxes with batteries to power emergency lights (?), and DC/AC converters. If all that money was invested in the network and power stations, there could be a stable electricity supply for everyone!

In the countryside, I saw many solar panels and rechargeable batteries (lead-acid, which leaves the question how charging and discharging is controlled, there must be a circuit that prevents overcharging and deep discharging).

Poor electricity network means less light pollution at night. You can have a walk through Yangon at night without being blinded by LED advertising boards.

English language proficiency

English is not widely spoken, and many speakers of English have a pronunciation that can only be described as awful/horrible. Nonetheless, in restaurants or when asking for bus I always found someone who could help me in English.

A friend says the last person who had contact with native speakers where their grandparents under British rule, and from then on teaching English was Chinese whispers.

Food

I ate local food throughout my week in Myanmar. Most meals were good, some were delicious, at prices similar to Thailand (and in strong contrast to Cambodia where food cost twice as much and was awful). The second day in Myanmar I noticed my body odor changed to sweetish with a hint of vinegar, and after two days back in Thailand back to normal.

Hitchhiking

I didn’t have a situation where hitchhiking was necessary. A Myanmar friend told me it’s done with hand flat, towards the oncoming traffic, and move arm up and down.

Internet cafes are sparse

On Friday, I was looking for an internet café to book flight to Bangkok for Monday. I thought this is trivial, but it was not! I asked reception and they sent me a fast food place that has free WiFi (but I want a computer with a keyboard, where I can have several browser windows open). From there they sent me to Scott market, from there to Super One Hyper Market, from there to Junction City, there I gave up and went to tourist information near Sule Pagoda, and they recommended post office just around the corner (North-East). There I finally got internet (500 MMK/h, I was charged 250 MMK for about 30 minutes), after 4 hours of erring around town (I like to walk around town anyway, but it’s better to walk without destination than looking for some place). Later I found some internet cafes by chance in 13^thand 14^th street (400 MMK/h).

Money exchange

MMK = Myanmar Kyat. At time of travelling Aug 2017, rounded: 1 EUR = 1600 MMK, 1 USD = 1350 MMK, 1 THB = 40 MMK. I went to Ratchadamri where various Superrich and others have offices, and found same rate buy 0.0252 sell 0.0248 THB/MMK everywhere; the inverse is buy 39.68 sell 40.32 MMK/THB. One shop did not have MMK in stock, but at green Superrich I got MMK.

FF went to Superrich Silom and fortunately phoned them in advance: they don’t stock MMK and need one day advance notice, and only his passport would be accepted as proof of identity.

From 10,000 THB that I exchanged to 396,000 MMK, I have 49,250 MMK left. Add visa 1600 THB and flight Yangon to Bangkok (Nok Air 2100 THB), and one week Myanmar cost me 12,370 THB (Bangkok to Mae Sot by my friend's car was free).

Overcharging

Several places are free for locals, while Foreigners have to pay (Golden Rock 6000 MMK, Sule Pagoda 3000 MMK or 3 USD, Shwedagon Pagoda 8000 MMK).

Price comparison to Thailand

Yangon bus aircon 200 MMK = 5 THB (in Thailand from 10 THB and up to 20 for long rides).

Food prices comparable.

Haircut 2000 MMK = 50 THB (in a local area, and the board said “Tourist 2000”, the rest was in Burmese, so I assume locals pay much less, say 1000 MMK = 25 THB, where I would pay 50 THB in Thailand).

Hotels in Yangon about twice as expensive as similar standard in Bangkok, Hpa-An about the same, Kinpun Sakhan (Kyaitko, base camp for golden rock) about three times as expensive.

Yangon taxi (no aircon) from near Sule pagoda to airport 17 km 8:22-9:16 8000 MMK = 200 THB similar to Bangkok (there are no meters, price estimated independently by Myanmar friend in Bangkok and by hotel staff).

Underwear: I bought two trunks on sidewalk at 1000 MMK = 25 THB each, cheaper than in Bangkok where similar would be 59 THB or two for 100 THB.

Public transport in Yangon

The circle line train is rather infrequent (there is a gap of 3 hours between 13:40 and 16:40 for the eastbound train from Central Station), but I was lucky and had to wait only half an hour.

Buses are plentiful, but I didn’t prepare with a bus map or app, so I had to ask locals at the bus stops which line goes in my direction. Most lines have the line number only in Burmese numbers!

Road conditions and traffic
Traffic in Yangon is very light compared to Bangkok, I would guess the traffic density is ten times less! That means you can get around by car without much traffic jam, and as a pedestrian cross roads quickly. Motorbikes are prohibited (?) in Yangon, and I noticed only 2 in 3 days. I saw a few bicycles as well.

Roads are not as good as in Thailand.

Cars drive on the right side of the road (originally left side as a British Colony, changed in 1970). But most cars are imported from second hand from Japan and have the steering wheel on the right side.

When crossing the border from Mae Sot to Myawaddy, I saw the traffic sign for change of lane that I have been looking for elsewhere in vain:

(From Nong Khai to Vientiane, Aranyaprathet to Poipet, Baan Hat Lek to Cham Yeam change somewhere on the road without sign, Huay Xai to Chiang Khong there is a loop in the road to change the side.)

Scams

In central Yangon, I was approached twice by locals who speak good English. After general chat, he told me he collects coins, and asked if I have coins from Germany. No. He would take banknotes as well. No, bye. (I knew this scam from internet.) The second who approached me with the same introduction, I cut him short to save time.

In Sule pagoda I was approached by a local who speaks good English, and even some German. He showed me pictures on his mobile phone of pagodas, then Barack Obama at Shwedagon, then a White woman surrounded by children. Here I saw where this is going (donations for an orphanage) and cut him short: “What are you looking for?” – “Spenden” (German for: donations). “No sorry, bye.”

In Shwedagon pagoda, a local with a bunch of flowers approached me and led me to one of the small shrines to pour water over the statues. But when he was putting flowers on the shrine, and asked me to hold the flowers, I saw where this is going (make me pay for the flowers), put my hands in my pockets and said “I won’t touch these flowers, I will go now, bye.”

Somewhere else a woman with a baby approached me “I don’t want money, I want rice for my baby”. I knew that scam already from Indonesia (the rice, or milk in Indonesia, is returned to the cashier and the money the tourist spent buying it is split).

But all of them polite, not aggressive, and instantly let go of me once they realized I know their scams.

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Cambodia

Cambodia general observations Jun 2017

By oneillhekhih6165 - 22:00

Cambodia general observations Jun 2017

Various observations in alphabetical order of my visit 5 to 9 jun 2017 Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Koh Kong town. “We” refers to Farang friend FF (with car and drone) and I. I had no plans to go to Cambodia, but FF persuaded me to join him and it fitted into my visa run schedule and I know several boys in Cambodia.

Angkor Wat
Price for 1 day ticket has risen from 25 USD (my first visit in Aug 2014) to 37 USD (Jun 2017). That’s an inflation rate of 14% per year! (In comparison, Eiffel tower is 17 EUR, I remember 18 EUR from 2012.) None of that money is invested in infrastructure. Even around Siem Reap, roads are poor, electricity network has outages (most hotels have generators), mobile network is spotty, garbage is dumped on the road, land mine victims are left to beg and orphans left to collect garbage for recycling.

For more rants about corruption and infrastructure in Cambodia and Siem Reap in particular read here:
http://riverqueencambodia.blogspot.com/2016/06/darling-viewers-its-been-best-of-times.html

On a rainy day near closing time, you can have Ta Prohm for yourself for some minutes:

At the Bayon / Angkor Thom, locals show tourists how to pose (probably expecting a tip) to give the impression of touching, even kissing, the stone heads.

This is blasphemy! Shows once more that all religious teachings are quickly dropped when they come into the way of fun or earning money (and I have to say glad this is so, as those who follow religious teachings to the letter bring problems on us).

Overall, it’s overpriced, the infrastructure is poor, too many tourists, too hot, I wouldn’t recommend Angkor Wat. (I came to the same conclusion after my first visit, only to accompany FF I went again.) There are only few things that can destroy the beauty of a place like masses of tourists: earthquakes, tornadoes and nuclear bombs.

Coffee
I don’t drink coffee, but FF does and praised several of the coffees he had.

Drone flying
Drone flying is prohibited in Angkor Wat and internet says they are serious about it (arrest, fine). So we went to office and asked for permission: usually not granted to tourists, and anyway it takes 5 working days normal or 3 working days express (but can be done by email) and costs 1000 USD per day. Drone flying is prohibited in Phnom Penh, in addition it was raining whenever we had a chance to do so, so no flying there as well.

7-Eleven
There are no 7-Eleven in Cambodia, and similar shops are not widespread. I marked those I came across near my hotel on google maps so I can find them. But there are some imitators:

Food
First there is the language problem. In average local restaurant, people speak no English and we speak no Khmer, and often no menu at all, we had to skip many places for lack of communication. When you get someone who speaks English or a menu in English or with pictures, food costs about 2-3 time of comparable in Thailand and takes twice as long to prepare for no obvious reason. Most meals I had there were so-so, some were awful. This is the lowest point:

Chicken fried with vegetables. The chicken was mainly bones and bone splinters. I wouldn’t feed that crap to my dog! (Figure of speech, I don’t have a dog.) Even the vegetables were contaminated with chicken bone splinters! When I had pork bone splinters in a pork meal, I decided to switch to vegetarian or Western food (similar prices as in Thailand).

There is one good thing about the dire food situation: I skipped several meals and I lost 0.8 kg over the trip to Cambodia.

Mobile data
Most trips abroad I weasel through without local SIM, but here travelling with FF and staying in different hotels, we needed reliable communication. So I followed advice of another FF and got sim2fly (http://www.ais.co.th/roaming/sim2fly/en/, Asia 399 THB, 3 GB to be used within 8 days of activation) which worked well (after some discomforting messages “Your balance is insufficient…” and with poor coverage – but that might just be the poor network in Cambodia). Now let’s see if I can top up that SIM and use it for upcoming trips.

Money
At time of writing, 1 USD = 4070 Cambodian Riel. In general, everything above 1 USD is paid in USD, fractions are paid in Riel. The bigger the USD notes, the better they have to be to be accepted. On the internet, I read “You can starve in Cambodia with a 100 USD note because nobody has change”. And indeed, when I wanted to pay a 1 USD item in a shop similar to 7-Eleven with a 100 USD note, the cashier didn’t have change. Then in a restaurant, paying for a 7 USD meal, the owner reluctantly accepted the 100 USD, after asking for smaller notes (I did have smaller notes, but I have to fob off the 100 USD onto someone). In another place, our meals were 6 USD combined and the cashier didn’t have change for 10 USD! Even more than in Thailand, you have to manage your banknotes! The one good think is, US-Americans don't have to change money!

Money exchange
ATMs have a fee of 4 or 5 USD, in addition I don’t know until later what rate my visa card gives. For Thailand, I found bringing cash is the most efficient way. Apply this to Cambodia. Following this lead http://www.khmer440.com/chat_forum/viewtopic.php?t=30992, I searched for the place recommended and walked along street 51 (Pasteur) from south to north and checked banks and other places along the way for exchange rates to exchange EUR to USD. Tue 6jun2017 around 9 am on xe.com 1 EUR = 1.12635 USD. Most banks don’t have exchange rates displayed, but if you ask they will tell you their exchange rate (not my style, skip). A place Wing (green, street 51 diagonally opposite Heart of Darkness disco) 1.08. Lang Daro pawn shop (green, near st 144) 1.105. Somnea (gold shop, st 136 between st 51 and st 53, south-east corner of Central Market) 1.121. Or Sovann (gold and jewelry, across st 136 from Somnea) 1.121. Exchange there. (Update: recommendations for Ly Hour Exchange elsewhere on the internet, will check next time.)

Roads and driving
When going by public transport I don’t pay attention to traffic, but here in front seat I had to assist FF in driving. National highways and main roads in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap are ok, everywhere else is poor, sometimes awful. Only part of the national highway network is two lane. Everywhere else, one lane, that means we were often stuck behind trucks (huge number of petrol tank trucks around) or overtaking, which considerably slowed down average speed. Add in cows crossing day and night or even lying on the road, other vehicles without light or with full/high/upper beam at night or driving on the side in the wrong direction. No thanks, I don’t want to ever subject myself to that again as front seat passenger!

Shoe theft
My hotel has a policy of removing shoes and leaving them on a shoes rack outside, and so I did. The following morning, my sandals were gone! Add the attempted mobile phone theft on my first trip in 2014, and the visa on arrival scam (see below), Cambodia is the country where I have been scammed or become victim of attempted or successful theft much more than anywhere else.

Taking a Thai car into Cambodia
FF owns and drives a car in Thailand, which we took into Cambodia. This was possible without much delay or bribes or documentation, but can only be done at two border crossings: Hat Lek (Trat province) / Cham Yeam and Kap Choeng (Surin province) / O’Smach (information from internet). Taking the car back to Thailand should be possible at any border crossing, however upon entering we learned that we have to come back to the same place (Hat Lek, our place of entry), recent regulation. If I had known that before, I would not have gone. In addition, you are only allowed to drive in the province of entry, but we kept the red number plate they gave us (to be displayed behind the windscreen?) in the glove compartment as to not draw attention, and drove all over Cambodia without being stopped.

I entered separately from FF as a pedestrian, and taking car in took about 30 min longer. Here what he told me: red number plate costs 1000 THB, an obscure fee 100 THB for stamps and documents, a tip 5 USD for a taxi driver who led FF to the various offices.

Going back into Thailand on Sat 10jun2017 we did together, and indeed from their pile of documents they (Cambodian customs?) picked out the one relating to FF’s car, for him to present elsewhere at the border.

Visa on arrival at land border scam
When we arrive at Hat Yeam Mon 5jun2017 shortly after 8 am, already busy with locals crossing (but only short queues). Opening times 6-22 are posted at the border crossing. Stamp out Thailand 8:11, stamp in Cambodia 8:30.

I was aware that there are scams running, but didn’t have details. When applying for visa on arrival at Cham Yeam (in a room with table and chair, whereas the arrival/departure card and passport was handed through a window while I was standing outside), I was asked for 1600 THB (47 USD), and without saying a word, I handed them 30 USD. Then I was presented with an officially looking document (about A4 paper laminated, with signs of wear and tear), that said something like “Ministry of …, Announcement on …, Visa is 30 USD + 7 USD processing fee, stamp, signature” which I was not prepared for. The idea to ask to take a picture came to my mind, but I dismissed it. I should have asked to take a picture! And show them my old passport with previous visas from Phnom Penh airport with 30 USD stamped in. But I was flabbergasted and handed them a 50 USD note and received 13 USD change. My visa sticker does not have the price stamp.

Summary
Even without any particular mishap (we didn’t get stopped by police, rain disturbed our plans only little), a poor trip. Overall, I can’t recommend Cambodia as a travel destination. I can understand that everyone who does not belong to upper class and has internationally marketable skills or a body to sell wants to get out.

I traded the freedom of traveling alone (can change my plans any time) for the comfort of traveling by car (FF’s car, so I had to compromise, and having to exit the same border checkpoint was just one restriction too many), and found that freedom is more important than comfort to me.

Nonetheless, I will go again to meet old and new Cambodian friends and to ride the one public bus line in Phnom Penh and the one passenger train to Sihanoukville.

Copyright 2017 ChristianPFC

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food

First World problems

By oneillhekhih6165 - 22:00

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Blogger

Coffee In The Clouds, Cloud 23 At The Hilton

By oneillhekhih6165 - 07:05

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Asia

A Taste Of Vietnam, Hoi An

By oneillhekhih6165 - 19:04

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Asia

Discovering Street Food, Vientiane

By oneillhekhih6165 - 07:17

So we're a third of the way into our 3 month trip and we've finally decided to pluck up the courage and sample some of the local street stall delicacies.

Getting a little bit fed up of sticking to the same restaurant style dishes and paying the same restaurant style prices, we've decided to give the 'not-so-attractive-looking' food stalls a go. And what a cracking decision it was. Our first venture into this world was in Vientiane, Laos and we found ourselves sat down on little plastic (kids) chairs around an equally as plastic little table. Be warned though, the place doesn't look great and would probably get a zero in hygiene ratings had we been back in the UK, but good god the food is delicious.

We were brought over our menu's and picked what we wanted off the short list they offered. We thought we'd be adventurous as well as playing safe, so got a few things to snack at whilst waiting for the mains to arrive. A main delicacy over here in Asia is 'sticky rice' often served with diced mango, but this time we had pork wrapped in balls of sweet sticky rice instead. Being vegetarian I couldn't try it, but it went down a treat with the rest of the group!

The next on our list to try were these strange looking square slabs of rice, which we found out to be once again, sticky rice. This time they were coated in different flavours and sprinkled with seseme seeds - we had coconut and peanut flavoured. Surprisingly, they were so so tasty! And stupidly cheap.

Shortly after sharing them around, our mains came out and we tucked in. We had a mix of steamed vegetables in an oyster sauce, BBQ pork with rice and a traditional Laos broth that comes alongside many of the dishes.

It was so so tasty but the best thing about these food stalls and restaurants is the price, they're so so cheap - paying no more than £1 a meal! It really is crazy. But the food from these places are hands down the best we've eaten so far out here, and really do allow you to taste the culture of the country. The locals know exactly what they're doing when they make it, and seeing as they make it all night most nights they have the recipe down to a T - delivering the most delicious dishes.

Ever since plucking up the courage, we've been eating non-stop at these little food places and have saved an absolute fortune whilst happily filling our stomachs. We call going to western restaurants a 'treat' now because we're so used to this new lifestyle. So if you're thinking of visiting Asia or happen to find yourself outside one of these places on holiday, 100% sit down and try what they have to offer. You won't be disappointed!

♥

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Incredible edible

Myanmar Aug 2017 various impressions

Cambodia general observations Jun 2017

First World problems

Coffee In The Clouds, Cloud 23 At The Hilton

A Taste Of Vietnam, Hoi An

Discovering Street Food, Vientiane

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