Yangon -> Mandalay

Up around 8:00-ish, showered, went for breakfast, then used internet, slow but workable. Got to update one journal enry.

Hotel is trying so hard to be a big time, nic hotel, but it's rundown, decaying, and the workers are soooo anoying, trying to be friendly and catering to everything. They try to tell us we should rest because it's hot out. Everytime we leave the hotel, they ask where we are going. It's ANNOYING!!! Leave us alone, hotel! As well, this hotel is useless when trying to get information on busses or trains or sights to see around Yangon.

We checked out at 11:30, and hung out in the lobby of the hotel, me reading and dad doing crosswords. About 1:15, we went for lunch at Cafe Aroma. Dad ordered pizza, didn't finish it, so had it put in a box. When we left the cafe, a kid started begging for the leftovers. He didn't give it to him, instead gave it to a starving mother with her infant son a short distance away.

As we were walking to the cafe, some guy was sitting on a concrete block along the sidewalk. As I passed, he said "Give me one dollar!". I looked at him and said "NO!". At another point, some vendor woman said "Hello!" to me as I walked by. I said "Hello" back. She said, "I love you!". I turned around and smiled at her, she laughed.

I've been having some diahhroea recently, so took an immodium this afternoon for the bus trip.

Surprising number of Christian and Catholic churches here. Must be from the British colonial days.

About 2:30, walked to the bus office. He told us to come at 3:00, and it was only a 5 minute walk, but dad was getting impatient and concerned that everything would leave without us. He has a little bit (ok, a lot) of his father in him! We got the bus ticket office at 2:35 and then waited for an hour, then got into the back of a songthaew for a 45 minute ride to the bus depot.

The bus depot is craziness!! There must've been a hundred busses, maybe more, all over, all waiting for passengers. Very lively, lots of people selling snacks, fruit, local newspapers and everything else someone might need for a bus trip. It was pretty awesome. We didn't see any other tourists at all. When we got off the songthaew, the bus company dude showed us where to go and which bus to get one.

As we waited for our bus to open it's doors, a local woman started talking to us in good english. She's from Myanmar, but she now lives in Bangkok, and does things with gems. She was quite helpful for the rest of the bus trip. Rita was her name, she was travelling to Mandalay with her mother.

At 5:00, the bus doors opened, and everyone got on, and it left about 5:30. The seats are tiny, and sitting beside dad is kind of annoying. He's easily to big for the seat, so half of his stomach and arms are in my seat, and I'm squished against the window.

At about 7:30, the bus stopped for supper at some very local restaurant. Rita helped us out with the restaurant, telling us what was what and how much everything was. The meat here is very local, a lot of fat and cartilage and bone on the chicken or pork when you order something.

The bus played Burmese music video's (complete with karaoke lyrics) and some Myanmar comedy shows. Everyone was laughing except us.

At 11:30, the bus stopped for no apparent reason for 1.5 hours. The locals on the bus where getting restless, throwing what I assume were insults at the drivers, trying to get on the move again. According to my Lonely Planet, bus drivers do this sometimes.

It was quite an uncomfortable ride.