Day 2 | Jindabyne to Echuca

On Tuesday morning, we set off from Jindabyne to enjoy Alpine Way. This is the main road that goes through the Snowy Mountains (I think). It is very windy with nice, rolling twists and turns up and down the mountains. As the last of the winds were dying down from the previous day, I still had to battle 70 km/hr winds at the start of the day.

We stopped at Khancoban around 12:30pm for lunch. That's when we realised that it was still another 5 hrs until we reached Echuca.

The rest of the trip was along the Murray Valley Road, which - compared to the freeway - was a more scenic route to Echuca. The road was still quite straight and made for some tedious riding at times. By this time my knees had decided they'd had enough so were stiff and sore to keep in the same position. A couple of short 10 minute stops ensured that the gammy knees could somewhat function by the end of 5 hrs.

Noel and his family warmly welcomed us with a good ol' fashioned BBQ. His wife had made amazing meringues for dessert. They were a self proclaimed madhouse and with 4 out of 6 daughters home for dinner, why wouldn't you be? One of the girls was getting married on the upcoming Saturday, so I felt it was a sisterly bonding session as well.

Below are some photos at Thredbo and along Alpine Way:

Day 1 | Sydney to Jindabyne

The day started at half hour after dawn, with a casual, quiet scramble to get ready for the long trip without waking the neighbours. It was 6:30am by the time we left the house.


Below is a photo of the Trumpy and Duc, bags laden and ready to go!

Odometer reading at the start of the trip below. Sam's bike has had the speedometer replaced, so it looks like he hasn't done much riding at all!

 

 



Filled up at the BP across from Sydney City Motorcycles on Epping Rd. Sam had a moment where he thought he didn't bring his wallet. He'd unpacked both his sidebags and was getting a bit agitated by the time he got to the top box. He eventually found said wallet in his jacket pocket.

Taking the glorious 'back way' through Sydney's west and ingesting fumes from the finest WRXs, we made our way along Homebush Bay Drive, Hume Highway, Silverwater Rd, then the M5. There was a brood of ducks on the Hume Highway and I noticed Sam had braked slightly to avoid them. I had changed lanes to avoid the upcoming danger (I didn't know what it was since there was a Subaru between Sam and I) and witnessed a duck massacre. The Subaru was too close to Sam and had not seen the ducks, nor did he try to avoid them. I saw bits of duck rolling under his car from the next lane. I death stared the Subaru (as best I could with a dark tinted visor) before overtaking him.


I had booked a 9:00am appointment at MJM Custom Motorbikes in Goulburn to have my bike seat modified to accommodate my vertical challenge :) Mick was a great guy who really knew his way around bike seats. When he came out to greet us, he was covered in specks of foam! I sat on the bike so he could assess what needed to be done and were told to come back around 1pm. Mick had recommended going to The Roses Cafe as opposed to the well-known Paragon, so Sam and I went along with his recommendation. A man who was dropping off his blue Harley for seat mods was giving his two cents about cafes in Goulburn and routes to take down to Echuca.

Below is the result:

 



Poached egg on buttered sourdough, fetta, baby spinach, cherry tomatoes and balsamic vinegar

BIG BREAKFAST - enough said

Mick called at 11:45am to inform us that the seat was completed. Apparently it was peak hour when we'd arrived, but it had quietened down and Mick was able to work unimpeded.
He was able to take 42mm in width from the seat! I felt the difference immediately since I could touch the ground easier.

With new seat fitted, Sam and I set off for Jindabyne via Quenbeyan just after midday. It was mainly freeway driving, which is quite long and tedious. It was also extremely windy across every single open plain! At times there were gusts of wind that I struggled to stay upright, let alone lean into. There were many that would push the bike sideways and I'd have to nudge it back to the centreline. I half expected to have one wind just pick up the bike and carry it away. Later when watching the 6pm news, there were 100km/hr winds at Thredbo. I'd imagine that the wind speeds were not far off 100km/hr! The only advantage a car has is the comfort - the driving is still long and tedious.

 

 

On average, we had 10 minute breaks every hour, partly because of my gammy left knee which gets stiff if in one position for too long. While having a lemonade in a town just beyond Quenbeyan, the clouds started rolling in. The weather cycled through patchy rain, bright blinding sun and sun showers for the remainder of the journey. Travelling behind Sam, I could see the cloud shadows gain on him, then eventually envelope him in its grey cloak Upon the final approach to Jindabyne, dark ominous clouds were seen over the mountains and the rays of the sun highlighted sheet of rain in the distance. It was a race against the clouds.  

We arrived to Jindabyne at 4:30pm and checked into Lake Jindabyne Hotel Motel. As the name suggests, the hotel motel is located right on the lake. All safe and sound, I have Tiger Balmed the place out, hoping that that gammy knee will recover for tomorrow.

Final Day + Flight

This will be a short and sweet post.

I was too lazy to wake up early for a river ride to the Royal Palace. Instead I slept in, ate a late and massive breakfast to tide me over for lunch and lazed around in my room until the 12pm checkout.

Upon checkout, I walked upstairs to the business centre on the mezzanine level. I had earlier noticed there was a bookshelf, so I settled in with Kirstie Clements The Vogue Factor.

I was about 20 pages away from completing the book when the lovely reception lady came upstairs to inform me that the taxi for Don Mueang airport was ready.

These reception ladies were great! To make up for the fact I was blatantly scammed on my first night, they arranged for me to share a cab with two Chinese friends (also going to Don Mueang) for no cost.

Check in went well. I was unable to claim the VAT for the watch and shoes as I skipped the step to have the items inspected outside of Customs. Note for anyone wanting to claim VAT - make sure you read the instructions on the back of your VAT claim form.

Disheartened, I snubbed my nose at the tour busloads of Chinese travellers who were raiding the duty free store. Pushing, loud screeching, squatting, scavenging, you name every social etiquette and consideration you can imagine - they were broken by these cheap bargain seagulls. Walking to the gate, I did not need to look at the boarding pass. You could tell which one was the Sydney bound (via Kuala Lumpur) flight due to the amount of foreigners waiting at the gate.

Example of excessive shopping earlier in the trip - but it's ok because the idjits can squat next to their brand new shiny things!

The flight to Kuala Lumpur was uneventful - it was over in 90 minutes. The guy next to me was in such a deep sleep that he was snoring on the plane!

The layover in KL meant that I could eat dinner. The plane had landed at 8:30pm, and what does one eat at 8:30pm? A Medium Quarter Pounder meal, that's what. Malaysian Ringgits make you feel like a king (queen). When exchanged from AUD, you receive so many notes that you don't know what to do with them. I ended going to the Body Shop and buying a Vitamin E packed face moisturiser and rosewater face spray just to finish up the ringgit. I found a secluded Sports Lounge where two Bogans had decided to put their feet up - literally - and had an hour or so of peace and quiet.

At 11:30pm, the predominantly Aussie passengers boarded the plane for the final leg home. Dinner was served at midnight (really Air Asia??), then the lights were turned down for sleeping. I'm definitely not a plane sleeper as I would awaken at every sound and bump. It didn't help that the 'fulli sick' bro behind me was incapable of getting up without pulling on the back of my chair. 

As the sun was starting to rise, I also saw a correlation between the people closest to the sun also rise - with grumbly remarks. A spike in toilet usage was also noted at this time.

The plane touched down in Sydney at 9:25am. Border Patrol were filming at Sydney Airport that morning so I had to be on my best behaviour, being Viet and all. I had marked that I had plant/wood products so I was ushered over to the Quarantine Checking line. This line was empty so I made my way to the officer in charge of divvying the passengers to the different stations. I told him I had wooden chess pieces, to which he responded 'Is that all? You're right to go'. I'll have to remember this trick for next time.

70 dollar taxi fare later and I was home.

Bangkok - Chatuchak Markets

Sunday was basically Bangkok's last chance to redeem itself after the taxi fare incident.

It was a slow start to the morning - breakfast at 9:30am. Breakfast consisted of 2 eggs with toast, toast with jam, cornflakes with milk, a plate of fruit (dragonfruit, mangosteen, longan and rockmelon), tub of yoghurt, orange juice, two mugs of tea and a small piece of dry banana bread. God I love hotel breakfast buffets!

I had a plan to go visit Chatuchak markets as this is one of the largest weekend markets in Bangkok. Chatuchak markets is located right next to Mo Chit station and Chatuchak park. and is north of Siam I walked to the BTS Sky Train (brand spanking new monorail), which is 5 minutes from Bangkok Loft Inn. A one-day pass cost 130 baht (AUD4 - 5), so I made my way to the right platform to get to Mo Chit station.

The monorail was a smooth ride. It took 14 minutes to arrive at Siam station. The connecting monorail was on the same platform, so I hopped inside just as the doors closed. It was pretty easy to work out whether the platform was correct because the mass of people inside the first monorail shifted into the waiting monorail. Must be a popular market. From Siam to Mo Chit station, it was again very punctual and we arrived in about 10 minutes.

Giddy with shopping anticipation, I followed the shifting, lumbering mass out of the station and into Chatuchak Park. The markets were in sight and I was already searching for a drink stand. Being in air-conditioned comfort, I'd forgotten the weather outside was about 37 degrees and super humid. A chrysanthenum ice tea (complete with icy slivers) for 10 baht hit the spot. By this time, I'd relaxed my rules about consuming drinks with ice.

If you ever go to Chatuchak markets, bring some crumbs, rice, anything, so you don't lose your way. I spent about 4 hrs wandering around the narrow warren of stalls, stalls and more stalls. Occasionally I would come out of one set of markets and onto a pedestrian fare. On these rare events, the opportunity was taken to drink, eat and drink in the atmosphere, before delving into the shopping underworld. I must say that shopping-wise, I didn't buy much - a pair of kid's size 2 Converse for 350 baht (AUD12) and a pair of white/blue/red Tigers for 700 baht (AUD25).

I ate an amazing coconut ice cream for 35 baht (AUD1.20), in which the ice cream was contained in a coconut with shaved pieces of coconut and topping. I chose the lychee topping. I was also given a small cup of coconut water for free. I guess when the ice cream goes in the shell, you've got to get rid of the water somehow. Best 35 baht ever!

After I realised it was about 3pm, I wandered back over to the BTS station. I'd had a vague notion of getting off at Siam and checking out the shopping there, so decided to make it so at Siam Paragon. Let me just say - there's not many shops in the centre (most of it is taken up by Paragon department store) but it certainly was enough for me to stay four hrs inside the place! There was a massive food court on the basement floor, and 5 levels of shops such as Zara, H&M, Mango, Michael Kors, a Lamborghini showroom and an aquarium. I spent a lot of time in Paragon department store, mainly due to the fact that they stocked all the brands names and there was a sale on.

Long shopping story short: I bought a Baby G for AUD165, several pens for AUD0.30 (yes, I have stationary fetish) and two pairs of Steve Madden flats in shiny patent colours (yellow and coral) for AUD103.

Dinner was udon noodles in the food court for 85 baht (AUD2.20) and treated myself to a Cinnabon for 69 baht (AUD2.10).

I made my way home at 8pm. The day was topped off by playing Heroes of Might and Magic 5 until midnight. Yes I like outdated lame PC games.

Mmm... 6 hrs less flying time to get to a Cinnabon store!

The photo op outside the aquarium

TRES advert on the BTS station

Most of the Baby G watches had 15% off... except this one. At least it has a tidal calendar

Bangkok - Scammed on the first day

Flew out from Mandalay to Bangkok on Saturday around lunchtime. Got talking to a Filo girl sitting next to me on the plane who had been working as a teacher in Mandalay. Her name was Monette, and we decided to hit up MBK Centre upon arrival at Bangkok for late lunch.

All was fairly uneventful - had udon noodles for lunch and Monette was trying to look for a particular shop from her last visit and I was trying to balance my 10kg backpack, plus 5kg day pack while hobbling along. Being a packed shopping centre, I bumped many people along the way.

When it came to catch a taxi, we departed ways at the taxi rank. Being a taxi rank, I figured it would be legit. Basically I asked several times for the meter to be put on, only to have a flat fare of 400baht thrown at me. I had a sense that something wasn't right but since the taxi was already moving, plus I had 2 bags and a bung ankle, I gave up and just went with it. If I had a good ankle, I would done a runner at a traffic light at the earliest opportunity.

Upon arriving at the hotel after the 'one hour, traffic ridden' trip - it was 20 minutes - I threw the money at him, called him a f*&^king cheat and liar, then spat at the taxi. I'm pretty sure he didn't care. If I see the dodgy MOFO again, I will punch him.

Upon reading the Lonely Planet guide and other online forums, never trust anyone who charges a flat fare. It's usually about 3 times as much.

The hotel staff were very appalled and sympathetic and informed me that the trip would've been 180 baht max. Anyway, lesson learnt.

Since it was about 6:30pm by this time, I just stayed in my room to email, Skype, eat my coconut and sugar filled buns I'd bought and catch up on more sleep.

Mandalay - Final Day

After a whirlwind tour of Bagan, I was back on the 9:30pm overnight bus to Mandalay. Luckily it was a coach and not a mini bus, so I managed to sleep for 2 hrs. I would've slept longer if the bus didn't keep stopping for noisy breaks next to markets and if the lights were turned off.  

I arrived to Mandalay at 2:30am, back at the hotel by 3:10am at the cost of 4000kyats by motorbike (USD4 - this is a rip off compared to normal rates!). I pottered around with laundry, cold shower and emails so wasn't asleep till about 4:30am.

I was awoken by a message at 8am from Chen (the Chinese guy I met on the plane to Yangon) - he and Ryan had arrived to Mandalay the night before. We agreed to meet at 10am at the Royal Palace as they had not seen it yet.

The day spent with them was fairly uneventful but nice to have the company. We walked around the palace for about 90 minutes, then decided to have lunch. Lunch was another 45 minute walk away, so we saved ourselves the ridiculous taxi fare of 5000 kyats (USD5) for 5 minute drive.

Too Too restaurant had traditional Burmese food, which the guys were happy with. They had been raving on about the awesome, delicious 10 dish meal in Bagan which cost 2500 kyat (USD2.50), so I was intrigued to see it. Unfortunately Mandalay is considered a city and cities are usually not as generous with food servings as their rural counterparts. Chen and Ryan were disappointed to see only 5 side dishes, along with the main. The ladies did keep topping up the dishes whenever we finished, so that made up for it... a little. Lunch was 3000kyat (USD3), which was reasonable.

We departed ways afterwards around 3:30pm; they were catching the 6:30pm bus to Inle Lake (which I was very jealous of) and I was going to have an early night to recover on 2 nights worth of sleep and pack my bags.

I had a nightcap later that night (one free cocktail during happy hour), let the Myanmar waiter talk to me for about 30 minutes to practice his English, then was sound asleep.

Chen's Polaroid shots - at Royal Palace in Mandalay

At Too Too restaurant.... the lady is not a born photographer

Infiltrating developing countries with giant billboards

Bagan - The Quiet Life

Bagan. Definite highlight of the trip, along with Angkor Wat. Best part of the Myanmar leg of this holiday. The sheer amount of pagodas (general term covering both stupas and temples) don't even hit you until you are on top of one such monument and look over the countryside around you. They are everywhere!

My tour guide Zaw is in his mid-20s, plus spoke great English. He was very knowledgeable about each pagoda and made the entire day really interesting. I wasn't pagoda'd out by the end of it! It may have also helped that I had a half hour nap inside one of the temples after lunch. It was so warm and I had at most one hour of sleep in 30 hrs, so that gave me the pick-me-up to continue. I was drooling as well, so I must have needed it.

The first pagoda visited for the sunrise was a peaceful affair. Zaw had taken me to a smaller, lesser known pagoda, but it had great views for photography. In the distance, there were people clambering over the tallest temple for the sunrise. Zaw explained that beyond that tall temple, there aren't as many pagodas in the foreground to take nice photos. Plus I had a whole temple to myself, which made the experience quite intimate and peaceful.

Many of the pagodas are made from brick produced down south (near Yangon). Considering that Bagan is more than a few 100km north, it seems quite a feat to transport so much brick. The brick laying showed that there was not much mortar holding the structure together, yet it felt quite solid.

Many of the pagodas range between 11th to 17th century, with majority of the pagodas within the 11 - 13th century. This was due to the reigning king feeling at peace after speaking to a Buddhist monk; afterwards, he decided to convert the entire country from Hinduism to Buddhism. To have a legit tribute to Buddhism, a pagoda needs to have a relic of Buddha inside. A relic could be a piece of hair, piece of his cloth from his robe, toe nails, etc.  The king in the Mon (?) state down south did not comply with providing the other king some Buddha relics, so Mon state king was invaded and relics taken by force. This also allowed winner king (I forgot his name) to also take charge of all the artisans, craftspeople and manual labour to create the numerous pagodas.

The paintings inside the pagodas are pretty cool and reflect the changing times, i.e. shift from Hinduism to Buddhism around 11th century with flat, 2D drawings, with Chinese influence and '3D' features shown in the 17th century.

Pagodas (stupas and temples) weren't exclusively for the reigning king/queen or rich to build. Ordinary villagers could also build their own monuments to Buddhism, provided they could get the brick and  manpower.

If you notice that there is an Old Bagan and New Bagan, it started in the late 90s (1999 I think). People lived and farmed side by side to the pagodas for centuries. However, the government wanted to scrub up the area to make it UNESCO friendly, so the villagers were relocated to an area created called New Bagan, which is sad for the villagers.


In total I visited:

• 15 pagodas including Shwe zi gone pagoda, Gubyaukgyi, Htilominlo, Ananda temple, Shwe San Daw pagoda, Sulamari, Dhammayangyi and Manuha

• Lacquerware workshop - the process was more intensive than I thought!

• Soy bean paste factory - this is Myanmar's most popular soy bean paste. It is also exported worldwide. When you see the 'factory', you wonder how on earth they manage to supply since the process is very manual and slow

• Local markets off Nyaung U-kyauk Padaung Rd - I was shown the village market and explained what many of the items were. One item I thought was cheese was actually soap! I also ate mohinga with Zaw (local Myanmar breakfast) for 200kyat - that's 20c!

• The Moon restaurant for lunch - awesome vegetarian restaurant with a great dragonfruit, mint, ginger and apple juice

• Irrawaddy River - went to see the river just before sunset. Apparently the Irrawaddy dolphin that is found only in 2 places in the world - the Irrawaddy river and Samoa

Booking a tour guide and driver was well worth the USD I'd set aside for this part of the trip. It had cost USD80, but this is from 5am pick up to catch the sunrise over Bagan until 7pm, when they both kindly waited for me to eat dinner and drop me off at the bus station. I would highly recommend a tour guide for Bagan since there are so many pagodas, you wouldn't know which one to start with first. It also made the experience much more interesting since the guide covered cultural, architectural, religious, historical and general information about the pagodas we visited. The above is basically what is covered in a 2 day tour as well, but I did not feel rushed at all. Also Zaw was happy to tell anecdotes about his village life, which added to understanding the Myanmar culture and lifestyle.


If anyone is going to Bagan, I would highly recommend Zaw. I had originally emailed Thein Than (who is recommended on Tripadvisor) but he was busy. Fair enough since I emailed at 1pm the day before going to Bagan. Instead he recommended Zaw and it is a recommendation that I wholeheartedly endorse :)

The cheap alternative is an e-bike (electric bike) and a map - at USD8, you can't go wrong either! I felt sorry for all the bike riders who got caught in the late arvo downpour though!


TOILET ALERT: I used the squat toilet several times! Most temples don't have Western toilets, so I had to learn fast as I ate something that didn't quite agree with me. I finally did it - albeit really slowly because the sprained ankle means that I'm not balanced :\

First light... 5:20am



Sun is up a bit higher... This is probably about 6:00am now

Unilever infiltrating developing countries. Even Myanmar people know that 1 in 4 people have a Unilever product!

 

Soy bean paste 'factory'... first heat the soy beans in water so all the good stuff like nutrients come out

Discard the beans and cool/re-heat/repeat until you get a thick paste

This the soy bean paste packing process - yep, these guys scoop the paste into sachets and seal for distribution

I can't remember what this temple is called but it the biggest one in Bagan

Colourful tiles donated by Belgium

No one knows where these guys came from but they're really old. Note the Mayan influence in Buddha's faces

I forgot this temple's name but this is where a German archaeologist got a bit saw-happy in the 19th century and cut of slabs of paintings for his own collection

These guys knew how to earthquake-proof their building in the 11th century. Note the vertical bricks to add strength to the structure

The

Does this need a caption?

This painting is on cloth. I'm amazed it's lasted so many centuries

The German archaeologist had the gall to leave his signature in another temple. Fool.

Forgot the name of this temple, but this is the most beautiful temple out of the 3500+ pagodas in Bagan. Note the restoration effort - clean on the right, still undergoing restoration on the left hand side (black walls)

This Buddha is small in comparison to a lot of other ones I've seen

City gates of Bagan. They are protected by a brother and sister spirit, whose alcoves are located on the left and right of the road

Lacquerware process. Yes I realise there is a bottle in the way. Sorry.

Physical samples of the lacquerware process. It's darn labour intensive

Drying cell for the lacquerware

One out of many things you can make out of bamboo and wood!

Treasures would often be hidden in either Buddha's head or tummy. This is why this Buddha is missing his tummy - looters got to him.

An example of Chinese influence via painting in the 17th century

Temple which showed a good example of the Chinese influence (inside)

Irrawaddy River. There is a dolphin found here native to this river and Samoa.

At the top of the tallest pagoda in the area, waiting for the sunset (or rain)

The Thai girls who let me crash at their hotel at 2:30am :) Thanks again!

Zaw and I