#7 Burma: the land of smiles – chapter one: Pyin Oo Lwin / Burma: mosolyok foldje – elso fejezet: Pyin Oo Lwin (Burma)

English version:

From Kanchanaburi, I went back to the Thonburi station Bangkok, then took a taxi to get to the opposite side of the city. I slept in the Stay In hostel, 10 mins drive from the airport. Then the next day, I flew to Mandalay and my Burma / Myanmar days have begun. The flight only took an hour and a half and from the airport I took a taxi to Pyin Oo Lwin. The journey was incredible as there are no infrastructures in this country therefore the motorway is a road where the directions are separated (that’s a good thing) but asphalt is only 5th meter of the road. The ride took 2.5 hours. The best part was when the “motorway” went through a stone-mine, where machines were drilling the mountain… There are trucks which are hybrids of a truck and a tractor: a bit like a transformer. Will try to shoot a photo of one of those.

Pyin Oo Lwin itself looked like a town in the wild west. People are very nice though. Burmese people look like the happiest nation on planet Earth. They are always smiling, singing together on shared taxies and very very helpful. Each people sends 100% pure love to the outside world, incredible.

I stayed in the Orchid Nan Myaning Hotel, where I enjoyed my stay very much. Staff was amazing, location was great and the restaurant nearby had very good food. On day 2, I hired a moto-taxi and went to see 2 waterfalls.

The Pwe Kauk Waterfalls is a nice picnic locations where locals regularly spend their free time with their families. They can swim in the ponds and do some shopping in the market by the falls.

Magyar verzio:

Kanchanaburibol visszavonatoztam a bangkok Thonburi allomasra, majd fogtam egy taxit ami atvitt Bangkok masik oldalara. Ott toltottem az ejszakat a Stay In hostelben 10 perc kocsikazasra a reptertol. Masnap atrepultem Mandalayba es megkezdodtek burmai napjaim. A 1.5 oras repulout utan beultem egy taxiba Pyin Oo Lwin-ig. Az ut dobbenetes volt, mivel infrastuktura szempontjabol Myanmar atom modon le van maradva. Az “autopalya” azert autopalya, mert az iranyok kulon vannak valasztva (ennyi a jo hir). Aszfalt csak nyomokban. A kedvenc reszem az volt, amikor az autopalya atvitt egy mukodo kulszini kobanyan. Aztan vannak itt traktor-tehereauto osszetakolt hibridek: kicsit transformer-style. Amint tudok, lovok ezekrol egy kepet.

Maga Pyin Oo Lwin elsore ugy nezett ki, mint valami vadnyugati kisvaros. Az emberek viszont nagyon kedvesek es rendesek. A burmaik tunnek a bolygo legboldogabb nemzetenek. Mindig mosolyognak, egyutt enekelnek a kozos taxikban es nagyon nagyon segitokeszek. Mindenkibol 100% tiszta szeretet arad.

A Orchid Nan Myaning Hotelben szalltam meg, ami nagyon tuti volt. A szemelyzet fenomenalis es a kozeli etteremben brutal jo kaja volt. A masodik napomon moto-taxival meglatogattam 2 vizesest.

A Pwe Kauk vizeses egy kellemes piknik terep, ahol a helyiek csaladostul furodhetnek es vasarolhatnak a mellette levo piacon.

English version:

Right after the Pwe Kauk, my scooter rider and I were heading for the Anisakan Falls. I hired a guide – Khin – for 10k kyatt who took me, deep in the jungle. There was already a clear difference between the national park in Thailand and this one. There were no concrete paths to the waterfalls, but more muddy steps and even more rough terrain. We visited 4 waterfalls and for the last 2, we had to go into the waterfall and climb up and down on the rocks. At the 3rd one we went on the edge of the falls which was total nuts.

This was how I celebrated Christmas.

Btw nuts, I found out why the teeth and mouths of a lot of locals are red (including Khin’s). They chew betel leaf and alcea nut for its stimulant effect, looks like everyone is doing it all the time…

Btw timezone: Burma’s time zone is weird: UTC+6:30 hours.

Magyar verzio:

A Pwe Kauk utan robogos soforom es en az Anisakan vizeses fele vettuk az iranyt. Itt bereltem egy vezetot – Khin-t – , aki 10 rongynyi kyatt-ert bevitt a jungle szivebe. Eleg nagy volt a kontraszt a Thai nemzeti park es e kozott. Itt nem volt lebetonozott jarda a vizesesekig, hanem inkabb agyagbavajt lepcsok es nagyon kemeny terep. 4 vizeseshez mentunk el es az utolso kettonel rendesen fel kellett maszni a vizeseken. Masztunk fel es le a vizzel boritott sziklakon es a 3. vizesesnel a peremen mentunk vegig, ami oriasi volt.

Igy unnepeltem a Karacsonyt.

Kozben megfejtettem, mitol piros a legtobb helyi szaja es fogai (Khint is beleertve). Egy betel nevu levelet ragnak ossze alcea maggal, aminek elenkito hatasa van. Ugy tunik mindenki odavan erte.

Burma idozonaja pedig tok bizarr: UTC+6:30.