Travel
It's been over four months since I last wrote a blog post so I thought it was about time I came back online and said a quick hello. Quite a lot has happened in those four months, the biggest being my move to Hong Kong.
If you didn't already know from my here's to new adventures post I'm currently living in Hong Kong and will be for the foreseeable future which is both exciting and a little scary.
14/03/2018 / myanmar , Travel
Thingyan Water Festival Myanmar: what you need to know
Myanmar (Burma)
You may have heard about the Songkran water festival in Thailand, but have you heard of the one in Myanmar. I suspect you haven’t unless you’ve been and experienced it for yourself. I didn’t even know it existed until we were a week into our trip and glanced at a calendar in the hotel reception. I didn’t even consider that it might be similar to the one in Thailand and completely forgot about it until it actually began.
One positive of the Thingyan festival being a lot less famous than the one in Thailand is that if you choose to involve yourself in the festival it is nowhere near as touristy or hectic as the Songkran festival. I’d still very much like to experience this one and was a bit disappointed that our route meant we were missing it but I’m so glad we still got the experience in Myanmar.
Obviously, the festival will vary depending on which areas of Myanmar you are in during the festival period. We met people who had been in Mandalay and they told us that it had been quite intense, the streets had been flooded with water and you couldn’t go anywhere without being soaked.
We experienced it in a quieter area of Myanmar; Bagan. Still very much a big part of the tourist path in Myanmar but a much smaller town Bagan seemed like the perfect place to experience the festival. Not that we’d chosen it, it just so happened to be the next stop on our route.
Now I’ve experienced it for myself and knew very little if anything before my trip I thought it would be useful to others to put together a post about the key things you should know about the festival and what you should expect.
If you keep up to date with my posts you may remember that, long ago, I mentioned wanting to teach in Vietnam. This was soon forgotten both on the blog and in real life. Then I came home from travelling and started to hint in my monthly summary posts about sorting out my plans for 2018.
Basically, I needed to get my shit together. But that took quite a while. However, I did start to do this and even hinted about making progress with project sort out my life. I was very vague and totally one of those people who say they have exciting news but don't tell you what it is. Except I didn't actually say I had exciting news so maybe I'm not that bad.
Travel itineraries are very subjective. Each person has their own personal preferences. Those who like hiking will make sure their itinerary includes the best hikes in the area they visit. Beach lovers will choose to prioritise beach days.
Having said this I, personally, love reading other peoples itineraries, especially before I head off on a trip to the same destination. It's a great starting point for creating your own itinerary or for picking out the key sights to see.
Having said this I, personally, love reading other peoples itineraries, especially before I head off on a trip to the same destination. It's a great starting point for creating your own itinerary or for picking out the key sights to see.
In today's post, I thought I'd share my Interrail itinerary with you. Hopefully, it will inspire some of you to go and explore Europe or help you if you're already trying to plan one. I visited both Eastern and Central Europe, we tried to see some more off the radar places, ones that we wouldn't necessarily visit for a weekend away and decided we'd sacrifice places such as Rome and Berlin as these are good options for weekend trips. My trip lasted around 5 and a half weeks and I'm surprised at how much we managed to fit in. Sometimes we were moving to a new place every other day or so but I didn't feel too rushed or tired out and I like to have lots of rest time!
Of course, my itinerary isn't perfect. I don't think any itinerary is. Because of this, I've also included changes I would make at the end of this post including where I felt we needed more time. Again, this is subjective but may be useful if you're trying to finalise your own route.
Of course, my itinerary isn't perfect. I don't think any itinerary is. Because of this, I've also included changes I would make at the end of this post including where I felt we needed more time. Again, this is subjective but may be useful if you're trying to finalise your own route.
THE ITINERARY
Split: 3 nights
I had plans to leave the country at least once more before the end of 2017. At one point I even thought I'd be leaving twice. I was planning a birthday weekend away and a weekend to Vienna to visit a university friend. The birthday weekend was postponed, somebody already had that weekend off work. No big deal. I'd go another weekend.
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