We woke up this morning when our bus made it to the bus station outside Bangkok. Not our stop but the lights were turned on at 6 AM and being awake we could enjoy the last hour of Bangkok morning rush hour traffic and the city slowly waking up.
Dropped off at 7 AM the "bus station" close to Khao San road we still had some way to go to the Don Mueang airport and our Air Asia flight at 11 AM to Mandalay. 300 Bath for a taxi and it took us nearly one hour to the airport. The line for the check in was already long and it kept getting longer as we were waiting but with the 11 AM departure we weren't in a rush - that is until the nice lady at the counter denied check in for us. Apparently having a printed Myanmar E-Visa was mandatory.
We tried to explain to her that we had just arrived from a small island, didn't carry our own printer in our back packs. Didn't work. In the end she told us to forward our E-Visa documents to one of her colleagues mail to have it printed there. A "runner" came back with two pieces of paper a few minutes later and we got our boarding passes. So much for digital stuff.
Based on that experience we decided to head through immigration and security as soon as we had some much needed breakfast and then book flights out of Myanmar just in case that would be an issue with immigrations in Mandalay.
We had some last minute shopping in the airport, headed for the gate, booked tickets for Vietnam a month ahead, boarded the plane and enjoyed a super smooth flight to Mandalay. We touched down on time, headed for immigrations and when it was our turn to hand in passports and immigration forms we were also asked for the printed version of the E-Visa. Big thanks to Air Asia for helping us with that. No questions about onward transportation though.
Before leaving the airport we plundered the working ATM at the arrivals area leaving with 600.000 Kyat (Kwat) in 5.000 Kyat notes. We are RICH :-) Then the usual fun started - getting transport to Mandalay and our "Tiger One Hotel".
The guy with the shared mini-bus won and we spent the next hour heading towards the centre of Mandalay on really bad and bumpy roads. Pagodas everywhere both on the left and right side of the road. We were dropped off in front of the hotel and two guys came rushing out to get our big bags while we were served orange juice and cold towels. So much for being a back packer. Check in done, got our room and had a short nap and a shower before heading out to have a look at the town and some late lunch before sunset.
21 hours on the road (straight) from Koh Phayam to Mandalay and we are ready for some weeks in Myanmar. And some much needed updates to the blog. We have been so busy relaxing, snorkelling and diving in Thailand.
Dropped off at 7 AM the "bus station" close to Khao San road we still had some way to go to the Don Mueang airport and our Air Asia flight at 11 AM to Mandalay. 300 Bath for a taxi and it took us nearly one hour to the airport. The line for the check in was already long and it kept getting longer as we were waiting but with the 11 AM departure we weren't in a rush - that is until the nice lady at the counter denied check in for us. Apparently having a printed Myanmar E-Visa was mandatory.
We tried to explain to her that we had just arrived from a small island, didn't carry our own printer in our back packs. Didn't work. In the end she told us to forward our E-Visa documents to one of her colleagues mail to have it printed there. A "runner" came back with two pieces of paper a few minutes later and we got our boarding passes. So much for digital stuff.
Based on that experience we decided to head through immigration and security as soon as we had some much needed breakfast and then book flights out of Myanmar just in case that would be an issue with immigrations in Mandalay.
We had some last minute shopping in the airport, headed for the gate, booked tickets for Vietnam a month ahead, boarded the plane and enjoyed a super smooth flight to Mandalay. We touched down on time, headed for immigrations and when it was our turn to hand in passports and immigration forms we were also asked for the printed version of the E-Visa. Big thanks to Air Asia for helping us with that. No questions about onward transportation though.
Before leaving the airport we plundered the working ATM at the arrivals area leaving with 600.000 Kyat (Kwat) in 5.000 Kyat notes. We are RICH :-) Then the usual fun started - getting transport to Mandalay and our "Tiger One Hotel".
The guy with the shared mini-bus won and we spent the next hour heading towards the centre of Mandalay on really bad and bumpy roads. Pagodas everywhere both on the left and right side of the road. We were dropped off in front of the hotel and two guys came rushing out to get our big bags while we were served orange juice and cold towels. So much for being a back packer. Check in done, got our room and had a short nap and a shower before heading out to have a look at the town and some late lunch before sunset.
21 hours on the road (straight) from Koh Phayam to Mandalay and we are ready for some weeks in Myanmar. And some much needed updates to the blog. We have been so busy relaxing, snorkelling and diving in Thailand.
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| Early morning in Bangkok |
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| On our way to Don Mueang Airport |
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| Luggage parked while we do the morning exercises |
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| Our plane ???? |
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| Arrived in Mandalay international airport |
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| On the bumpiest road from the airport to Mandalay city |
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| What's behind the curtain? |
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| A real window |
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| 600.000 Kyat - we're rich - sort of |
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| Not the prettiest little city |
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| Making friends with the lady selling street food |
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| Pick and choose |
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| And we're back in action |
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| Red hot lava |
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| Found the lady doing fresh orange juice, check |
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| Looks like food from Kashgar |
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| At least we know there is an option for boiled chicken |
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| Snacks |
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| Not snacks |
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