Myanmar -

Myanmar
Crossing at most southern part with Thailand traveling north to Mandalay
Myanmar was a detour country for me on my travel back home. It is/was also a key destination however, as this is the source of the meditation technique that I practice. So visiting the key places of the tradition was a key motivating factor. The question I had was where to cross. As a foreigner you are quite restricted to where and how you can cross. Also depending on your type of visa. There are many blogs and websites on this subject, here is wikitravel. but after little contemplation I decided to skip the more traditional crossing point of Mae Sot and to cross at Ranong-Kawthaung the most southern point.

Transportation Options and Experience
The roads were pretty bad down South below Mawlamyine. I was advised it was best to fly from Kawthaung to Yangon, but that was not what this trip was about so I asked around and got the mini-van route up north. All I can say is, as posted on Facebook at the time, is take a flashlight with you and some toilet paper. The rides are long and hard, and I traveled at the beginning of the rainy season and at night. I promised myself not to travel at night again by mini-bus. :). From Yangon to Mandalay I took the train and a hard sleeper. This was not too bad. Then from Bagan to Yangon again, was looking for possible river route, took a larger bus, which was hectic to say the least with the steering on the wrong side for traffic and I was the one who, after a short while, went up to the driver and told him to slow down... and received welcoming remarks and support from fellow travelers. So ... conclusion... traveling options limited and it can get rough!

VIRTUAL TOUR - Kawthaung (most southern city)A wet and dreary couple of days in Kawthaung which is reflected in the photos taken. Not many folks here speak english, and the travelers you do find are pretty hardened solo travelers who are off the beaten track. Kawthaung is a scruffy town and developing, I did meet some locals on my walk-about who clearly have not seen many foreigners. But all very friendly and a little shy to speak english, but after a while surprising themselves too (Double-click for full-screen. Click photo and drag mouse to navigate the 360)

VIRTUAL TOUR - Myeik Kawthaung was not for me .. so I quickly organized my next leg up. This was a bus journey of 12 hours to Myeik. I was warned by the seasoned solo travelers that flying was probably the best option for getting North. But as I have mentioned a few times ... "I am not flying!!!" so the option presented was an approximate $11USD overnight 12 hour bus ride. The only thing I will say here, and it is posted on my Facebook page, was that 12 hours turned into 14. Down South it is very much a developing region and we had to have one emergency stop on the way and it was fortunate that I came prepared with a flashlight and toilet paper :O) I stayed for a couple of days in Myeik to recover from the bus trip. This also gave me an opportunity to explore the city a little. (Double-click for full-screen. Click photo and drag mouse to navigate the 360)

VIRTUAL TOUR - Dawei Dawei is a town next to a river and more flat terrain. As the trip from Kawthaung was at night and I was determined to capture a little of the countryside and share the experience of traveling on the mini-buses. The next day I went on my walk-about with an objective to see the large pagoda that we saw the night before all lit up. With a 360 VR walk up the main pagoda and Buddha shrine pier. (Double-click for full-screen. Click photo and drag mouse to navigate the 360)

VIRTUAL TOUR - Mawlamyine. With 1 EMBEDDED VIDEO in the pano. There is a lot of colonial history in Mawlamyine with associated names like Rudyard Kipling and George Orwell ( Travelfish and Wikipedia.) So I was quite interested to see more. After having trouble getting to my first hotel. I knew that a walk-about would not be possible. It is a spreadout city divided by a ridge/hill, which actually gave some good panoramic views. So I did a "bike-about" for motorbike taxi for about $3usd but I gave him $5 at the end. (Double-click for full-screen. Click photo and drag mouse to navigate the 360)

VIRTUAL TOUR - Yangon (The capital) Next stop the capital, Yangon. Arrived late in the evening and after an eventful time at the bus station (which is ways from the Bahan Township and captured on video, I spent a couple of days walking around Yangon. I was recommended to visit the famous Shwedagon Pagoda .. which started my whole thinking about spiritual tourism...umm. The most surprising thing about Yangon was there was a clear lack of motorbikes. Nearly every Asian city I have been to, the main source of transportation for most folk is the motorbike. Here I could not find/see a motorbike taxi and generally not many around. But loads of cars.. and traffic jams are very normal. I was in a cab, he switched off the engine. What I noticed was that their traffic signals are not like most other countries with regular frequency flow. Here they stay on for one direction for a while.
For each 360 degree picture or tour ... (Double-click for full-screen. Click and drag mouse/finger to navigate the 360)

VIRTUAL TOUR - Bagan I arrived in Bagan on the 10th of June. Read my post of "Spiritual Tourism" but the cool thing about my arrival was that I stubbornly decided to walk. Fortunately this was the start of the rainy season and not too hot. It was spitting a little with rain. After again walking away from an high offer to bring me to my hotel. I headed in the rough direction of New Bagan and the main temple structures. After a while I was very happy that I did because I had not expected to see what I did. Below is a nice video moment of my stumbling across a "newish" pagoda and getting really excited about being able to walk to the top, it is not on any map. Not famous .. but gave me a wonderful view of 2 big temples. I felt like a kid again and my Indiana Jones moment! 🙂 🙂
For each 360 degree picture or tour ... (Double-click for full-screen. Click and drag mouse/finger to navigate the 360)

Less than $50USD/day
For all the cities traveled through I was able to keep to within my budget of less than $50USD a day for a place with good Internet and en-suite bathroom. I probably average about $30 USD a night. Only one hotel did not have hot water. And that was the hotel furthest South. I did all my bookings through the main booking sites supported by Trip Advisor. But the only thing I would say here for now is that 1) Booking online was easy. 2) Most independent review sites are good but are quickly out of date. Also the prices depend on supply and demand and the season. This trip was really off-season. (Rainy season) and the hotels which were most attuned to inventory management using their online booking sites offered the best deals which were hard to beat for value for money. So advising which hotels are best would be difficult. but i choose the hotels based on my criteria. if the Internet did not work or the bathrooms were not good I moved on. I did not have to do this for the deals I got on the internet booking engines. Again all the hotels I stayed in are on my google map reviews and the relevant booking engine sites, and you can just search for my name. I have also taken spheres of the bedroom and bathrooms of the hotels I have stayed in. so they are publicly available as well on Google Maps

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