Journey to Bagan, Burma / Popa Mountain, Myanmar / Inle Lake, Nyaung Shwe

Our Journey to Bagan, Burma or Myanmar? This is actually only a debate for the English language. Burmese locals speak they are from Burma but write formally they are from Myanmar. It is said that letters B & M also Y & R are interchangeable in Indo-Chinese languages.

Formally known as Burma and was renamed Myanmar in 1989 by a Military dictatorship which overthrew the government in the 60’s and 70’s. The State Law and Restoration Council formed in 1988, thought that the previous name Burma coming from the majority ethnic group called Bama originated as the British Colonization name for its country and underrepresented all ethnic varieties in its lands.

Myanmar has encouraged tourism since 1992, but United Nations showed caution to foreign tourism due to its governments instability.

Now Tourism is very successful, yet untouched by western culture. There is no western fast food restaurants and still traffic is as most asian countries, organised chaos on the streets.

Bagan is another accent city we have visited recently and we thoroughly enjoyed the peacefulness. Freely riding our eco-electric scooter through fields of hundreds of pagodas. Stopping and exploring selected places of worship, accepting their cultural rules.

- Removing shoes and socks before entering
- Covering the legs of women
- No sleeveless vests or singlets are to be worn
- Walk Clockwise around the temple and not in front of people praying
- Never point your feet towards the Buddha.

We always use booking.com for our accommodation

Serenity Inle Lake - inle-resort.en-gb.html
Popa Mountain Resort - popa-mountain-resort-popaywa.en-gb.html
Hotel Temple View Bagan. - temple-view-bagan.en-gb.html

Visit Asiatico Pub if your in Nyaung Shwe, great expat bar. Pool tables, cheap alcohol and a fun atmosphere.
Also we visited Aung Traditional Puppet Show. There is many puppet shows in Nyaung Shwe. We were told this was the best. Please let me know in the comments if there is a better one! We thought is was great although we had a couple under our belt.

While we were in Nyaung Shwe we visited a monastery in the rice fields and met the Monk U Kon Da La, such a calm sole, he offered us bananas and told us of the changing seasons he has witnessed over last 39 years on the rice fields that surrounds the monastery. He spoke also how developed China is and of course named all the animals he knew of Australia.

On the way to Mount Popa there are many lest fortunate people on the side of the road begging for people to drop money for them. You will see in the video the people collective truck in front of us throwing money out for them.

Mountain Popa Resort was very professional, peaceful and has the most amazing view of the sunsetting behind the Temple placed right on top of a mountain. If you are visiting Mount Popa on a day trip from Bagan, visiting the resort just for a relaxing drink, lunch or swim in the infinity pool will complete your memory. Binoculars are also provided at their lockout point.

Traversing the Popa Mountain was quite pleasurable in the afternoon as the morning crowds subside and travel back usually to Bagan. Woman at the bottom fold corn kernels into paper prepairing for the monkeys feeding frenzy. The monkeys gave us no trouble although we were warned.

All in all we appreciated the warm welcoming by every person we met in Myanmar. The raw untouched culture was amazing to see and given another change we will be back to explore again.

Instagram - @priddley
- @supernenaraquel

My new Camera used - Canon M50

Music is all Youtube royalty free.

We always Download the App maps.me and download the regions map before entering the unknown. These maps are offline maps and usually are very accurate, also show heaps of tourist sites.
We visited the most delicious vegetarian restaurants located in Bagan. Be Kind To The Animals The Moon and The MOON 2. We highly recommend this restaurant.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Be-Kind-to-Animals-the-Moon/879830988724239?__tn__=kC-R&eid=ARDDd4f70GN8aAnQd67YDbK2IDX_wDpmqG-fZVjM-Eeur2lT7SOkD680v3vmPt7BGFuIYko_2yF7yzau&hc_ref=ART5XVpOayrU5Pc67oYcG6Uv60uu5c3TAj_LsozCfp55Gl1-VLe2kn3dGSF4N7RdlpY&fref=tag&__xts__[0]=68.ARAejp7Juvgk9djbWpQFvvpYTa78Rcl60gQSeUabfRWIScWbf5mdyYZwEiiOUUG-S1zgeCX9hvbUUMUghGT9zg4qaolzVaqd4p-Pf23ZJRJjZ5UIgt6-ZnXEzANzpn-BbJ1p2iixXwTtjia_xi-swbgmVm5ZjSWPKu8p_PtLomwBTGytjaEY3rAOImpN3VrWPBN-nxLMdhErtYYoIjDgyO73mZOpcOKnyCCs7nyeuaB8srj1h-nwR-_aZaHvzSG0-SGVbfUChzrtDksF_cnhzG3XLy0fpd4QLYSxr6emz033ne18ZUJXIW0NxYZtu4gbcFw_w0S6

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