Day 31: Yangon

-Breakfast at the hotel before heading out to the Shwedagon Pagoda. It started pouring when we were there. We drove past the Lady’s house and the US Embassy. We couldn’t go into the Lady’s house and couldn’t see much. The guide thought we would want to go into the US embassy for some reason, but we were ok. I don't know what we would really do there. The new embassy is very close to the Lady’s house.

Shwedagon Pagoda:

-Then we went over to the Reclining Buddha to take a look around. Then went to Kan Daw Gyi Lake to walk around and look at Karaweik Palace, which is an expensive place to go for dinner.

Reclining Buddha:

The palace/restaurant:

-We then went to take a look at Sule Pagoda in downtown Yangon.  Then drove to the wholesale vegetable market, which was not a touristy place. We got a lot of stares there, but it was amazing to see.

Sule Pagoda:

The vegetable market:

Day 30: Thailand -> Myanmar

-The never ending night. We went back to the hostel around 2:30am and stayed awake until we left at 4:00am for our flight. It was a struggle not to fall asleep in the cab on the way there.

-Of course all of the exchange counters were open after our transaction fiasco. We were all freaked out for nothing. We had some Burger King for breakfast and I safely hand-carried on my bag with all of my liquids and pepper spray.

-Customs in Myanmar took a long time but we got through and met our guide. We were both still half delirious while we drove to the guesthouse and dealt with all the tour logistics. Each bill we gave to pay for the tour was scrutinized but Marco and I had done pretty well at getting new bills and only five or six were rejected. Anything we don't use here we'll exchange in Vietnam.

-We managed to check in early and napped and relaxed until 2pm. Then we were picked up for our first day of adventures.

-At 2pm we were picked up to go to Bogyoke Market, also known as Scott's Market and Aung Sun Market. I bought a couple of shirts. We then ate lunch at a place nearby. We had afternoon tea at the Strand hotel, the oldest hotel in Myanmar. Later we had a rickshaw ride along Mawtin Jetty. Everyone was staring at us and we saw almost no tourists. Saw Botataung Pagoda, complete with a sacred hair relic of Buddha. Then we walked around Chinatown for a bit. Head back to the hotel and ate at Feel, which had some questionable food.

Tea at the Strand Hotel:

Rickshaw ride:

Botataung Pagoda:

Near the sacred hair relic:

Down by the jetty:

Some local food at Feel:

Day 29: Bangkok Day 3

-Early morning start to head to the floating market. It was really cool to see but very touristy. We took a little boat ride around. There was no organization to boating. The rule seemed to be push your way through.

-Once we were back near the hotel we had a very healthy lunch at McDonalds

-In the afternoon we napped and tried to figure out our money for Burma. We tried to do laundry but the dryer refused to dry our clothes.

-In the evening we headed to dinner at MBK then had a huge freak out because all of the exchange places were closed and we needed money for Myanmar. We left so early the next morning we didn't know if the places at the airport were going to be open and didn't want to risk it. We had to rush back to the hostel and ask if they knew of any places that would be open. They could only suggest Patpong road, one of the major red light districts of Bangkok. We took a tuk tuk over there since the taxis were being weird again. It was chaos. People were walking slowly, people kept asking us if we wanted to go to ping pong shows and Marco and I were running around trying to find a place to convert money. We finally found a place but then the lady started stamping all of the $100 bills! In Myanmar every bill has to be perfect- unstained, no fold creases, no tears, post 1996. Finally we found one, it was a shitty exchange rate but I was willing to pay the extra money just to put my mind at ease.

-Finally we headed to Thong Lo to meet up with Johnny and Molly. We went to a few bars with them before heading to RCA for some clubbing.

Day 28: Bangkok Day 2

-Slept in a little and had some breakfast at the hotel.

-Taxi to the Grand Palace. People trying to trick us- Marco was mad.

-Some information on the Grand Palace: It was built in 1782 by King Rama I. The previous capital, Thonburi, had been across the river but the new king decided to move it across the river.

-Au Bon Pain for lunch

-Taxi over to Chinatown where we walked around

-Set-up plans with Molly and Johnny and we finally met up. Went to the Royal Dragon Restaurant- the Guinness World Record's largest restaurant in 1992. It can serve 3,000 items per hour and seats 5,000. The waiters wear roller skates and some use the 'flying delivery' system. There's also private rooms with their own karaoke systems. Of course when we went it was only seating about 15 people (that's stretching it) so none of the theatrics were really at work. We had some jellyfish though, which was interesting!

-Soi cowboy

Day 27: Ayutthaya -> Bangkok

Wednesday morning was spent wandering around the temples in Ayutthaya. We took a cab into the old city, which is about 14km west of the new city. Some more info on Ayutthaya to come. We didn’t have long because we wanted to catch the bus to Bangkok around 2pm so we only looked at the temples in the center of the old city.

We started out at Wat Ratchaburana. Marco enjoyed these ruins a lot more than the ones in Ayutthaya. We debated renting a bike but decided against it. We then checked out Wat Maha That before taking a tuk tuk over to Wat Phra Si Sanphet. At that point we were a little ‘ruined’ out so headed back to the hostel.

We then went to the mini-bus station to catch a 90-minute ride into Bangkok. In order to get to the station we went one at a time on the back of a staff members motorcycle. It was my first time on a motorcycle and I was helmetless and sitting with my huge bag between the driver and I. However, it was a surprisingly smooth ride! We waited in the mini-bus for about 30 minutes because they wanted to fill the whole thing up of course.

We arrived in Bangkok 90-minutes later and were immediately back in the city frenzy atmosphere- very different from a laid-back temple town. We somehow managed to get the skytrain. Luckily Marco knew where we were going because I mistakenly bought a ticket to the wrong stop. We finally made it to Lub d Bangkok, which means sleep well in Thai. It was really nice as far as hostels go and was in a great location right by the BTS (the local subway).

We checked in and settled into our room and then headed to the MBK center across the street to grab some lunch. They check your bags when you walk in, which I found a little strange. On the top floor they have this food court that has a fake credit card system. They give you a card with 1,000 baht on it (about $35) and you order whatever and pay when you leave. Pretty fancy. I had some delicious chicken caesar wraps.

Next up was trying to meet up with Molly and Johnny, who are both interning in Bangkok at the moment. That turned out to be a complete failure. First I went to the wrong ‘Thong’ stop on the BTS. We had to head back to the hostel and call Molly (of course I forgot to write down any of the information, which is pretty unlike me). Then we planned to meet up at the Skybar but were waiting in two different lobbies so completely missed each other.  Luckily both of us had the good sense to go and get a drink anyway. The bar was super crowded but had a great view of Bangkok at night. We chatted with an American couple that had been visiting Thailand with their kids. The wife was appalled that we had been staying hostels. Apparently the bar is featured in Hangover 2 but neither Marco nor I have seen it. 

Day 26: Sukhothai -> Ayutthaya

-Woke up early for a quick breakfast and early morning check-out before heading into old Sukhothai. The nice thing about old Sukhothai is that everything is within biking distance of each other. We rented bikes for 30 baht each ($1) and then could bike around the whole park.

-There were 3 main zones to the park. The inner zone was the biggest with some gorgeous ruins. Of course Marco got bored so we decided a time to meet then went our separate ways (that way he could rush through things and I could take my time to enjoy them). The only problem was he went off with the map where all the important things were marked, so I was left to guess which ones they were.

-I went out to check out zone 3. Zone 3 was a little more out of the way. I thought I was going the wrong way for quite a while. All I was seeing was rice paddies and cows. I even saw a scorpion in the middle of the road. I didn't dare stop and take a picture. While biking along the last part I ran into Marco who decided to join me for the rest of the journey.

-In Zone 2 we took a sneaky way into the temple so we didn't have to pay the entrance fee. I could feel Buddha's eyes judging me once we were in there, may not have been the best idea. Marco had already done this part of the old city, so we biked around a little before heading back to our hostel.

-Once back we had some lunch and chatted with a Dutch girl we met on the way back. Then we checked out and headed to the small bus station to start our 6 hour journey to Ayutthaya. Surprisingly the bus was full, that wasn't the case in Malaysia. The buses were also a lot nicer there. The bus stopped at several different places so we had to be on our toes. Once we finally got to Ayutthaya we were dropped at this tiny stop by the side of the highway. Luckily there was one taxi there, unluckily he charged an exorbitant 200 baht to get to our hostel.

-Our hostel in Ayutthaya was called 'Grandparents Home,' which we both found quite funny. It was nice enough though and we settled into our little room. I had heard the night market in Ayutthaya was really good, but when we finally found it it was very disappointing. We were planning on eating there but soon changed our minds. We then tried to find a street the hostel staff had recommended for eating but that proved to be difficult. Eventually we settled for some western food at a pizza place about 20 minutes from the hostel. Of course when we left it started pouring with rain and the tuk tuk we saw wanted an exorbitant $2 to drive 2 minutes (thats relatively a lot here). I refused so we walked home in the rain!

Day 25: Chiang Mai -> Sukhothai

-After our last delicious breakfast we took a tuk tuk to Arcade Bus Station to take a 5 hour bus ride to Sukhothai.

-A little bit on Sukhothai: It was Thailand's first capital and it's name means 'rising of happiness'. The old city, 14km outside of the new city, is full of ancient ruins. That's really about it.

-Once we got in we could tell it was a small town. Our 'resort' was really the only place to stay. It was too late for us to go and check out the ruins like we wanted. Instead we settled in and then went for a bike ride around the new city. It was absolutely terrifying with all the traffic. I've never biked on busy streets before and don't know if I would be any good at it. Of course, Marco just went the wrong way the whole time and wouldn't listen to me when I said so. It was too early for the night market and there was nothing else to see so we headed back.

-A few hours later we headed back out to the night market. I had some delicious pad thai. Marco got the weird spicy version and regretted it, so went for an oyster omelette instead. We biked back (I was a little more agressive this time) and went to bed.