สวัสดีค่ะ ให้แฟนเขียนเวอร์ชั่นอังกฤษดูบ้าง 55555 ภาษาไทยก็มี แต่อยู่อีกกระทู้นะ
After a few days back in Maha Sarakham I was already getting restless and ready to go exploring again. This time we were headed for Myanmar! Our flight was from Don Muang in Bangkok at 10.30am so we took the night bus from Sarakham. Our fancy Nakhonchai Air bus left at 10pm and we enjoyed an evening of movies and other entertainment on the back of the seat in front of us.
We jumped off the bus in Rangsit and got a taxi to Don Muang by which time it was only 4am! So we had a long wait in the airport before our flight. We found a comfy seat near burger king and snoozed for a few hours. We had some thai food for breakfast which cost 190 baht and would normally cost about 80, damn airport prices! I withdrew the whole trip budget in Baht and then changed it to new crisp perfect condition USD. They aren't a big fan of creased notes there apparently.
Eventually boarding time arrived and we got on to the plane, my first trip with Nok Air. The flight was fine, they even gave us a small snack which is a bonus on a low cost airline.
We landed smoothly and joined the queue for passport control. After a few minutes I looked at Sally and realised we were missing one bag. Oh shit! I had left Sally's carry on backpack in the overhead locker on the plane! I went to talk to someone at the information desk and told them what happened. We waited for five minutes or so and then she said someone would get the bag and we could pick it up from lost and found after going through passport control. Phew! We got our passports stamped no problem and then got my check-in bag and the forgotten bag. Big thanks to Nok Air for not flying back to Thailand with Sally's bag.
The next thing to do was change the USD to Myanmar currency, Kyat pronounced "chat". I changed 500USD and got 593500 Kyat with the biggest note 10000 Kyat, but mostly 5000 notes. This turned out to be a pretty sweet wad of cash!
Now we were ready to leave the airport and explore Myanmar! I had decided to try to catch the bus into town and researched how to do it. Wikitravel said just walk 2km from the airport and then catch bus number 51 into town for just 300 kyat. So we started walking and when we got to some intersection I asked some people which way to the city center. They did not speak english and I had real trouble getting a clear answer, but we carried on in what I was fairly sure was the right direction.
After 20 minutes or so we got to a street where quite a few buses started coming down. Only problem was, they didn't have english numbers displayed! Only numbers in Myanmar letters! We got to a bus stop and waited for some bus to stop. I tried to ask if it went to the city center but was told "no no no". Many other buses just went straight past and didn't stop even if I tried to hail them down! So we continued walking and halfheartedly trying to hail a bus down.
We passed two Welcome to Yangon signs and took the opportunity for a few photos.
After maybe 4km we arrived at a shopping centre and took a break for some food and drink. I asked some man outside the shopping mall for bus 51 and he pointed towards a bus stop just down from the mall. With yet more help from the people selling food near the bus stop we successfully got onto a bus 51! I had no small enough notes so I think I put 1000 in the box for the two of us and we were on our way into the center.
The next challenge was deciding when to get off the bus at a point not too far from our hostel. I asked the bus driver for 21st street but according to Sally I spoke too fast and he thought I said 13th street so when he told us to get off, the next street sign was indeed 13th street. The traffic was really slow so as we walked to 21st street, our bus was going about the same speed as us and I wondered what the driver was thinking if he saw us walking all that way. This was a great way to get a feel for the town before even dumping our bags at the hostel. We were introduced to the loud and fairly constant horn beeping of Yangon traffic. Eventually we came to 21st street and to our hostel, glad to be able to put the bags down before heading back out to explore more. Welcome to Yangon!
10 Days in Myanmar - June 2016 [English]
สวัสดีค่ะ ให้แฟนเขียนเวอร์ชั่นอังกฤษดูบ้าง 55555 ภาษาไทยก็มี แต่อยู่อีกกระทู้นะ
After a few days back in Maha Sarakham I was already getting restless and ready to go exploring again. This time we were headed for Myanmar! Our flight was from Don Muang in Bangkok at 10.30am so we took the night bus from Sarakham. Our fancy Nakhonchai Air bus left at 10pm and we enjoyed an evening of movies and other entertainment on the back of the seat in front of us.
We jumped off the bus in Rangsit and got a taxi to Don Muang by which time it was only 4am! So we had a long wait in the airport before our flight. We found a comfy seat near burger king and snoozed for a few hours. We had some thai food for breakfast which cost 190 baht and would normally cost about 80, damn airport prices! I withdrew the whole trip budget in Baht and then changed it to new crisp perfect condition USD. They aren't a big fan of creased notes there apparently.
Eventually boarding time arrived and we got on to the plane, my first trip with Nok Air. The flight was fine, they even gave us a small snack which is a bonus on a low cost airline.
We landed smoothly and joined the queue for passport control. After a few minutes I looked at Sally and realised we were missing one bag. Oh shit! I had left Sally's carry on backpack in the overhead locker on the plane! I went to talk to someone at the information desk and told them what happened. We waited for five minutes or so and then she said someone would get the bag and we could pick it up from lost and found after going through passport control. Phew! We got our passports stamped no problem and then got my check-in bag and the forgotten bag. Big thanks to Nok Air for not flying back to Thailand with Sally's bag.
The next thing to do was change the USD to Myanmar currency, Kyat pronounced "chat". I changed 500USD and got 593500 Kyat with the biggest note 10000 Kyat, but mostly 5000 notes. This turned out to be a pretty sweet wad of cash!
Now we were ready to leave the airport and explore Myanmar! I had decided to try to catch the bus into town and researched how to do it. Wikitravel said just walk 2km from the airport and then catch bus number 51 into town for just 300 kyat. So we started walking and when we got to some intersection I asked some people which way to the city center. They did not speak english and I had real trouble getting a clear answer, but we carried on in what I was fairly sure was the right direction.
After 20 minutes or so we got to a street where quite a few buses started coming down. Only problem was, they didn't have english numbers displayed! Only numbers in Myanmar letters! We got to a bus stop and waited for some bus to stop. I tried to ask if it went to the city center but was told "no no no". Many other buses just went straight past and didn't stop even if I tried to hail them down! So we continued walking and halfheartedly trying to hail a bus down.
We passed two Welcome to Yangon signs and took the opportunity for a few photos.
After maybe 4km we arrived at a shopping centre and took a break for some food and drink. I asked some man outside the shopping mall for bus 51 and he pointed towards a bus stop just down from the mall. With yet more help from the people selling food near the bus stop we successfully got onto a bus 51! I had no small enough notes so I think I put 1000 in the box for the two of us and we were on our way into the center.
The next challenge was deciding when to get off the bus at a point not too far from our hostel. I asked the bus driver for 21st street but according to Sally I spoke too fast and he thought I said 13th street so when he told us to get off, the next street sign was indeed 13th street. The traffic was really slow so as we walked to 21st street, our bus was going about the same speed as us and I wondered what the driver was thinking if he saw us walking all that way. This was a great way to get a feel for the town before even dumping our bags at the hostel. We were introduced to the loud and fairly constant horn beeping of Yangon traffic. Eventually we came to 21st street and to our hostel, glad to be able to put the bags down before heading back out to explore more. Welcome to Yangon!