Off to Myanmar

Friday, Sept. 2, Bangkok to Yangon

It's 12:30 and I am checked in and through customs. I still have 6 hours before my flight, but what was there to do but come here? The alternative was an 8 a.m. flight. I would much rather take my time sleeping in, having breakfast, etc., before leaving. I even watched a morning movie, Two Bits with Al Pacino, before leaving the hotel.

I took a regular Number 29 bus to the airport. It came straight here from my hotel for only 18 baht. And it probably is just as fast as the airport bus which costs 100 baht and has to make hotel stops along an awkward route. It took me 1 hour with mid-day traffic to get here.

I had a surprise at the airport. I had forgotten that this is one which charges an exit fee that isn't on the ticket. I didn't have 500 baht, so I had to use an ATM. I went ahead and got 100. That, with what is in my pocket, will give me about 800 baht for when I arrive at the airport next year. If I think I am returning to a country, I carry over extra money. I'm a walking bank with currencies from South Korea, Thailand, India, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Denmark, the U.K., and the E.U.! Oh, I forgot the USA.

Myanmar (pronounced with "ah" as the ending sound--the "r" is silent and meant only to elongate the "a") will be a different coudntry moneywise. I won't use ATMs, and I won't use credit cards to make charges. The government adds a fee of 6% to all credit card transactions. It is cheaper to exchange cash (US dollars) for cash (Myanmar Kyats). Even 2% is added as a fee for using traveler's checks.

While waiting for my flight, I have started a new book--The News from Paraguay by Lily Tuck. It's a National Book Award winner, but it had split reviews. People either love it or hate it, I guess. I've now read two chapters ( 1/8 of the book) and I am enjoying it. Maybe that's becasue I have traveled enough to know all the references they are making to Paraguayan (really South American) culture.

I've also spent part of the afternoon trying to make new travel plans. With Arne dead, there is no reason for London to continue being the starting point for my tickets. Bangkok would probably work better, and the tickets are just as cheap from there. Also, I have been trying to determine the better months to be in certain areas of the world. Asia (including India) is better in Jan-Mar. That's the dry season. Most of South America is better in the winter season (instead of Jan.-Feb. when I am going there now--the hot and heavily traveled vacation season). Also, I don't need to be away from Texas 7 months as my traveling requires now. It would be better to travel 5-6 months and be in Texas 6-7 months. After my travels this year, all I really have left I want to see in the Americas is more of northern S America and Central America. I probably should do that with frequent flyer miles and use my around-the-world ticket to fly me to more places in Europe and Asia. That would also allow me to split my visits in Texas so that I would be gone no more than 4 months at a time. Right now I am looking at this plan:

Jan-Mar Asia
April Asia, Europe, Texas
May-June Texas
July-Aug. South America, Central America
Sept.-Dec. Texas

To implement the plan, I would buy my 2007 around-the-world ticket (ending Jan. 5, 2008 in London) so that I would not leave the US for Asia until December. I would schedule a non-stop flight pon Jan. 3, 2008, to London from Bangkok and jsut abandon that portion of the ticket. I would buy a new ticket in Bangkok for late Jan/early Feb., 2008, that would get me started on the new schedule. Someday when I decide to stop the ATW traveling, I would just plan my last ticket from Bankok to include all the miles except for TExas to Bankok before arriving in Texas and then abandon the rest of the ticket.

The flight left after aq 25-minute delay due to late-arriving transfer passengers. I sat next to a businessman who had trouble keeping within his space. I'm glad it was a short (1 hour 15 minutes) flight. The meal was light (salad of sliced apples, shredded carrots, and peanuts on a bed of lettuce with a spicy dressing, two pigs-in-a-blanket made with puss pastry, and two pieces of chocolate--one dark and one white.

The airport in Yangon is about the size of the one in Corpus Christi. It's not air conditioned. It took 45 minutes for me to get my luggage and over half the people on the plane were still waiting when I left. They've dropped the requirement of a mandatory exchange of money ($200 previously) for FECs (Foreign Exchange Units--toy money that is no godd outside Myanmar and , therefore, money that HAD to be spent under the previous rules). The offical taxis wanted $5, but a young man just beyond their barrier offered to drive me for $3 and was friendly and helpful with his advice on the way to the hotel. I paid him $4.

Yangonseems nice based on the drive into town. Tehre were wide streets lined with trees. It's a dark city, however. People were out everywhere, but with limited lighting. Although my hotel is in the center, I cannot see down the street because there are no street lights.

The hotel has the smell of mold and mildew. This is a wet climate, and now is the end of the wettest season. It's obvious looking at my ceiling that there ahs been a leak above my bed. it's a worn-looking room, but it has a mini-fridge, an a/c, satellite TV (BBC and 2 movie channels), etc. It's only $10 per night including breakfast, and it is considered a mid-level hotel. I'm glad I'm not in a budget place!

Spending Update: I spent a total of $247.91 over 6 days in Thailand (including $76.43 in medical and dental expenses) for an average of $41.34 per day. Since departing Texas, I have spent $618.64 over 15 days for a daily average of $41.24 per day or $1237.20 per month.