The taxi to Heho airport was fine, but comparatively expensive. When we arrived at the tiny airport, we were told that check in would open in ten minutes. Fifteen minutes later, we were told that we could check in in another fifteen minutes. After a bit of faff, we were allowed to check in, and then left the airport to go across the road and have a beer and soft drink, complete with wasps. We later returned to the airport, went through very lax security, and were shown to a waiting room. This was pretty bare and we could not buy supplies, so it was lucky we'd managed to smuggle some water in past security.

We watched a couple of planes land and depart . Ours was a bit late. When it did arrive, it was like buses – suddenly there were three at once. We walked to the plane we thought was ours and climbed on. Noone seemed concerned with our boarding passes or passports, and luckily we were on the right plane. It was a short thirty minute journey to Mandalay, which passed smoothly. This was despite the plane company being part government owned and part heroin producer owned, which was, frankly, a worry.

Having collected our bags, we took a taxi to Mandalay city centre and to our accommodation, ET Hotel. Jack and El were upgraded to an en suite room, and Ken and Jayna were upgraded to a room with a double bed. Luxuries. The place seemed nice enough and was certainly fit for a night's sleep, so we were happy. Later, Jack and El went to a beer station for beer and food. Ken and Jayna headed out for some bland food for Ken’s stomach, and we found delicious pizza at a place we’d been to on new year’s eve. Suitably sated, we headed back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. At last.

Next stop – back to Bangkok! Again!


Myanmar is an amazing country. We loved the quiet, friendly people, who would do seemingly anything for us. We felt entirely safe the whole time in the country, and had no problems in leaving our belongings behind whilst going off to look at something – we knew they would be safe, and they were.

Tourism is only now starting in the country. This means that the tourist infrastructure is very much still in development. It also means that, during peak season, like January, it is essential to book ahead. Unless, of course, you have plenty of time to hang around in places waiting for a boat ticket to become available. Luckily for us, El had pre-booked everything we needed so we had no problems with this. Myanmar is large and has a diversity of landscapes, though much of this is still off-bounds to travellers to the country. There is a definite area which is safe for travellers, and we covered most of that ground. We were surprised to see so many tourists during our travels, but as tourists can only access a portion of the country, maybe this shouldn’t be so surprising.

We found the country overall to be cheap to travel, with a full dinner available from as little as 50p in British money. The anomaly to this is the accommodation, which is generally relatively expensive, though always came with breakfast included. The train network (introduced by the British) was pretty good for travel, but the narrow gauge was genuinely disconcerting. We were pleasantly surprised by how many English signs were around, and how many people in Myanmar spoke very good English. We’d read that public transport was often late and unpredictable, though everything we took at least started out on time. It is a right hand drive country, yet all the cars are also right hand drive cars, which we thought odd. We loved the dress of the people, where both men and women wore beautiful longyis (like a long skirt). We also loved the cheek patterns of women in particular, who cover their faces in a tree extract which is gold in colour. When not overdone, the effect was very strikingly pretty. The place was extremely dusty. The downsides of the country were too much rubbish, and the people being exceptionally poor. Plus the cold, though we shouldn’t complain about this. The guides on our trek did point out that it is winter.

Our personal highlight from the country was Bagan, which was simply stunning. Hopefully, with continuing improved openness in the future, accessibility to the coast will be improved and we would love to return to the country to do some diving.

All in all, we loved it. Myanmar was a great destination for us, and we were so glad to have our good companions with us. A huge thank you goes to El in particular, who did so much work on organising the trip for all of us.