Myanmar Adventure: Celebrating Thingyan Through an Unforgettable 10 DaysSpent 10 exceptional days in the beautiful but troubler country of Myanmar (known as Burma before the controversial name-change). Our visit collided with Burmese new year, known as Thingyan, which made everything more worthwile and rewarding but also more logistically challenging because most forms of public transportation didn’t function as usual. I’m still in the process of sorting out the 5000pictures taken during this trip, and plan to write a more detailed write-up regarding transportation, accessibility (since not all parts of the country are safe and open to (foreign) visitors), challenges, moral considerations regarding a visit under its current political climate etc etc once i finish this.
A list of all the places we visited:
Mandalay (Second biggest city and historical and cultural capital, located in Myanmar’s central heartland. Unfortunately lots of temples got destroyed during the 2025 earthquake, whose destruction is still visible everywhere. Visited the old royal palace, U-bein bridge (longest and oldest teak wooden bridge), Mandalay hill and a couple of monasteries. Transported ourselves by bike (our hotel had only one bike; so me pedalling and my girlfriend at the back), to the big surprise of the locals who gave us a thumbs up/curious smile from time to time.
Mount Popa (Temple located on a lonely rock towering over the central plains. Monkey-infested so be aware of your belongings. Unfortunately i didn’t sort any pictures of this place yet since it’s more spectacular and visually stunning than my description. The village at the bottom of the rock offers great views over the rock and has its own flavour, just like Mount Popa mountain resort. Probably the only hotel in the wide area accepting foreigners, this place is epic: bungalows dating from the british colonial period (and apparently not refurbished ever since), an infinity pool looking out over the temple on the rock,…).
Bagan (When most people think of Myanmar they envision balloons over a temple-filled plain during sunset. This is it. The only place were we encountered other tourists. Rented a scooter and explored the temples hidden in the desert-like plains, connected by small sand paths, on your own.
Kalaw (The most famous and best-preserved of all the remaining colonial-era hill stations in Myanmar. The slightly cooler climate came as a relief after spending a couple of days on the scorchingly hot and poverty-stricken plains around Bagan and Mount Popa. Filled with wooden architecture and multicultural because of the presence of Nepalis and Indians (brought here by the British), this place truly feels like something else. The tribes who inhabit the surrounding valleys (Karen, Shan, various Sino-Tibetan ethnic minorities,…) come into town on tuesdays for market day.
Day hike around the Kalaw countryside (The countryside around Kalaw is a true hikers paradise: we only walked a distance of roughly 30km’s and encountered a wide variety of landscapes: grassland, forested hills, jungle,…). The true attraction lies in the villages you’ll pass along the way: almost every village belongs to a different ethnic minority, which translates into a different language, different types of vernicular architecture, habits and superstitions,… We stumbled upon some sort of Thingyan new year celebrations and were immediately invited to sit down and enjoy the festivities: watching the novice monks of the village sing, getting invited into the village monastery where we took part in the communal new year’s feast along with the villagers, holding a conversation with the village chief who educated us about the history of his people,… After the hike ended we decided to hitchike and ended up in the back of a pickup-truck. Which wasn’t the smartest idea since it made us an easy target for the ones waiting at the side of the road to throw water on the passing vehicles and their passengers (an integral part of Burmese new year/Thingyan is throwing water onto passerby’s-similar to Songkran in Thailand, but way more intense if you ask me).
Yangon (Myanmar’s biggest city and economic center of the country. It’s historic center can be quite intimidating if you never sat foot in countries like India and Bangladesh because of the chaos, dirt, extreme poverty,… However, it‘s filled with a couple of colonial buildings of interest (“The office”, Former high court of Burma, Yangon city hall,…). Riksha’s are the main mode of transport. Because we ended up visiting during Burmese new year the national museum and a couple of art galleries were closed, which we plan to visit on a return visit. There are also a couple of nice temples, with the Shwedagon pagoda as the most notable one. The biggest and most important Buddhist temple for Burmese, this one is a feast for the eyes. It’s main golden-clad stupa is especially impressive during the sunset light, when devotees gather around it.
Was Myanmar worth all the hassle, risk,…? YES! In my opinion at least. It’s culture is extremely well-preserved and interesting mix of its neighbours (Southeast-Asian, Indian subcontinent, China,…) while feeling less corrupted by outside influences like its Southeast-Asian siblings who suffer from overtourism (no nutella pancakes and acai bowls here). The people are curious in a genuine way and happy, even grateful, to see a foreign visitor. Let’s hope the horrible situation they find themselves in comes to an end soon.
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