Arriving in Myanmar

 



Arriving in Yangon International airport, I was excited. While I'd been told a bit about Myanmar, much about it was a mystery to me. I quickly found that reality see-sawed either side of my expectations, and was forced to abandon all preconceptions and give way to discovery and learning (as any traveller should). 

 

My first stop within the airport was the visas on arrival desk. I already had a valid 28 day visa, but I was staying for 32 days and wanted to find out about the two week extension I'd been told about in Kuala Lumpur. The visa office in KL had signs indicating an extension was available and I was told by a staff member that I could apply for it in Yangon. Here in Yangon, however, I was told that the 2 week extension is only for business visas. I was casually told that I could just pay an overstay fee at the airport when I was leaving.

After going through immigration, I was surprised to be standing in a room lined with ATMs and money changers. I was with my partner, who travelled Myanmar in 2012 and had believed that back then there were almost no ATMs in the country. It looked like times had changed. MasterCard advertisements sat on the walls above almost al of the exits and I started to wonder whether our efforts to get perfectly crisp, flat, unmarked US dollar bills in KL was necessary.

Moving through the airport, my attention was drawn to the local men’s attire. They wore long longyis (sarongs), mostly in dark colours with a fine checkered pattern.  I’d seen men in longyis in India before, though I hadn’t seen them teamed with business shirts and flip flops. It’s an interesting combo.
Many women wore thanaka (a paste made from tree bark and water) painted across their cheeks, a somewhat primal choice of cosmetics in this day and age.

We were flying through to Sittwe and had a layover, during which I took a gamble and searched for a free wifi network. I connected to the free REDLINK_WIFI_YIAP network. After about six attempts, I managed to post on Instagram, but booking my flight from Heho back to Yangon online was impossible; the connection dropped out too frequently for me to complete the booking.

 

Yangon's domestic terminal is a beautiful old building with carved timber pillars and balustrades. The baggage scales are analogue and the check in desks are little stalls with fake flowers and vines strung along them – very sweet.

When we checked in with Air Bagan for our flight to Sittwe, I was surprised yet again – this time by my boarding pass. Two years before my boyfriend had been issued hand-written carbon paper boarding passes. While Air Bagan have upgraded to printed cardboard boarding passes with stamps on them, the stamps only detailed our flight number, our destination and the date. A sticker with a seat number had been added, but the gate, boarding time and flight times were left off. I found it funny that they had advertising on the back of their tickets, but on the front they' were missing many of the details a Westerner would consider necessary information.  

Boarding announcements were made in the gate lounge, though distorted and in Burmese. To back up the announcements visually, a man with a placard bearing the destination and flight number made laps of the area. We waited for the placard man to do his thing for flight W9309 and once he did, we boarded our plane.

Intrigued by what I'd discovered within a few hours in the airport terminals, I was eager to explore and find out more about Myanmar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Travelling light

Until recently, I was the type to back a bag til the zips burst – my handbag, a backpack, a suitcase – it didn’t matter what size or type – I’d load it up. I’d travel with 6 headscarves and little bags of jewellery. For a total of thirteen months over 2 trips, I travelled with a torch, a poncho, Bandaids (plasters) and all kinds of other little things that were never used. I’d hoard plastic bags, rubber bands and sachets of condiments “just incase” they came in handy. Sometimes they did, but realistically I could have sourced them when I needed them rather than lugging them around.
I’ve had honey leak through my things and my bags were so far over the weight allowance in 2011 that I had to ask all three friends I was flying with to carry things in their bags to help me out.

When planning a trip to the Philippines where I’d take 9 flights in three weeks, the thought of waiting for luggage on every flight and lugging a big bag on and off of boats made me cringe. The thought of travelling carry on only seemed like a dream, I was doubtful that I’d make the 7kg cut off that most of the flights had when carrying my camera, a spare lens, a tripod, a laptop, a hard drive, chargers and adapters.

Four weeks before leaving for the Philippines, I decided to extend my trip an extra three months to travel through South East Asia. I had the choice of adding extra luggage or continuing carry-on only. For me, there was only one choice - travelling light - and I haven't looked back.

Here are a few key things to think about for those of you who’d like to pack light too.

Multifunctionality is key. My favourite items:

·         Sarong – sheet, beach towel, sarong/dress/skirt, can be worn over head and/or shoulders in mosques or temples.

·         20L dry bag – useful on boats, doubles as a day bag, saves me buying/carrying a beach bag or large handbag. It's the perfect day bag because it protects my things when I get caught in sudden downpours.

·         Shockproof/waterproof/snowproof/dustproof camera – these babies are great size wise, functionality wise and durability wise. They’ll fit in your pocket or small handbag, they have a range of functions and shooting options, are easy to use and can be taken sight-seeing, snorkelling, snowboarding, rock climbing, rafting and partying (trust me when I say that you don’t want sticky cocktails jamming your camera’s shutter).

·         Smart phone – use wifi to access the net in cafés, hostels and airports. Watch movies, read, take photos, calculate exchange rates, read maps.

Size & Weight

·         This is a game of prioritising. For every item you take you will need to analyse whether there’s a lighter or smaller option, or whether you need it at all. Light clothes can take up a lot of space and small things can be heavy.
On this trip, photography and writing are my top priority so I gave the majority of my weight allowance to my camera, notebook and their accessories. My bag was 7.6kgs and my tripod, spare lens, SD Cards, external hard drive, adapters and chargers weigh 3.8kgs.

·         Minimise the extra bags and packages that you’re carrying. Take new SD cards, razors, toothbrushes etc out of their packaging and you will find that you have more space and less weight.

 

Bag

 

·         Choose a light, comfortable and appropriate bag. A rolling suitcase is good for cities and sealed roads, a backpack is far better for boat trips, dusty, uneven roads and for climbing stairs in hostels and train stations with your bag on.

 

·         Organise your bag so that you know where things will be kept. This makes it easy to find things and also means you can re-pack your bag systematically to fit everything in comfortably (rather than having a phone charger jabbing you in the back). I like a bag with a few small pockets inside and out. I keep all of my chargers, adapters and SD cards in my “electronic sack”, which is just a mesh bag that came with a travel towel. I have a little makeup case for my makeup and jewellery just so that I can find them easily.

 

·        As far as a packing method goes – I recommend folding or rolling your clothes and keeping small items in mesh bags or side pockets. I’ve done vacuum bags and advise against them because every time you need an outfit I had to open and seal a bag for underwear, one for a top and one for bottoms. It was time consuming and noisy for my dorm mates.

 

Clothing

·         Adaptability. Take clothes that are appropriate in a variety of situations. Take tops and shorts that you can wear to sleep or sight see. I feel that shorts and pants are better than skirts and dresses for bike riding, windy conditions, bungy jumping, rock climbing or falling asleep on a train without flashing your undies. Skirts and dresses are nicer to wear out to dinner or clubs, and are far easier to wear if you are in a country where you need to use squat toilets. Use tights underneath pants/skirts for cooler weather.

Adaptability example – singlet, sarong, hippy pants.

      Bed: singlet and pants as pyjamas, sarong as a sheet.
Beach: add a bikini. Sarong can be worn and also used as a towel.
Religious building/site: singlet and hippy pants with a sarong as a shawl.
Dinner and bars in backpacker areas: singlet and hippy pants dressed up by styling your hair, adding some jewellery (guys, that’s for you too) and a bit of makeup (guys, take it or leave it).

·         Acceptability. Are your clothes acceptable to the communities that you will be staying amongst? Can they be worn in places of worship? Your denim short-shorts will not attract the attention you’d like in Muslim areas and will be seen as disrespectful by many other cultures and religions.

·         Weather suitability. Choose clothes that suit the conditions you’re going into. For warm weather, choose clothes that can be “warmed up” with a jacket, tights or a change from shorts to pants.

 

·         Coordination. Can all your tops and bottoms be worn together? There’s no point taking things that you won’t wear together. Carefully consider your choice of colours, patterns and styles so that you can rotate your wardrobe. An outfit relying on what’s clean and what’s dirty is not what you want.

·         Ratio. Be reasonable about your top:bottom ratio. I think 3-4 bottoms is enough: shorts, pants, something to sleep in and something dressy if need be.  

·         Tradability. If you are smart about packing and happy to ditch clothes for new ones as you see fit, you can easily travel through summer into winter or vice versa. You’ll just need to carry/wear a big jacket and boots on your flights in colder weather. This is the factor that will allow you to travel for years through all seasons. You must be willing to lose/trade your clothes for other more appropriate things along the way. Your clothes will wear out quickly if they are being washed and worn once or twice a week. They’ll stretch, fade, get bally and possibly be stained or broken during your adventures. If you love it, leave it at home.

 

Underwear, bras, swimwear

 

·         Take 5-6 pairs of underwear, this gives you enough for a fresh pair each day and night for 2-3 days and enough time to wash and dry them in between.

·         Consider your wardrobe when packing underwear. If you have light pants, make sure you have more than one pair of light coloured undies.

·         The smaller and quicker-drying, the better.

·         Pack 2-3 bras and wash frequently. Remember they’ll be washed and worn frequently – don’t take your best lingerie.

·         If you’re swimming every day, two pairs of board shorts or bikinis is best. I wore my one and only bikini every day for more than a week in the Philippines and it didn’t always dry properly in the humidity so it started to smell. Not cool.

 

Shoes

 

·         Bring shoes that you’ve worn in. Blisters are not fun when you only have 1-2 pairs of shoes.

·         In Asia, you take your shoes off a lot to go indoors. I considered sandals so that I’d look a bit nicer when I went out partying, but knew I’d get annoyed at the effort they take to get on and off. Thongs (flip-flops) or ballet flats are far easier. In European/American winters you might be wearing boots all the time – walking, partying, sightseeing…

·         Be reasonable with the number of pairs of socks that you pack. If you’ll be living in thongs (flip-flops) or sandals and using closed shoes for occasional activities, pack one or two pairs. In warm climates, thin socks will do the job and they will dry more quickly after washing.

 

Toiletries/Medicine/Cosmetics

·         Take small amounts (60-100ml) of shampoo, conditioner, bodywash, moisturiser with you and buy products along the way to top them up. You will often find that you can top up shampoos and body wash at hostels who provide it.

·         Use roll on deodorant to save space.

·         Leave perfume/cologne at home.

·         Minimise “incase” medicines/tablets/creams. If you get headaches weekly, take painkillers with you. If not, you can buy them in any country if and when you need them.

·         Girls – minimise the amount of make up that you take. If you must take some, a powder foundation, eyeliner, mascara, a small eyeshadow with 3-4 colours and a couple of lip pencils will do the trick. Use the lip liners for your lips & cheeks.
 - 2-3 hairties is plenty and I advise taking just 10-15 bobby pins, not a whole case. If you lose or break them, just buy more.

 

Towels

·         Carry one for swimming and one for bathing if you’ll be swimming a lot.

·         Personally, I don’t like microfiber travel towels. They aren’t really absorbent, they just push the water around on your skin. They also smell bad really quickly. This is the one thing I get laundered rather than washing it myself.

·         I highly recommend sarongs, and think I will travel with two next time rather than taking a travel towel. When you’re buying a sarong, make sure you get an absorbent one, synthetic fabrics aren’t good.

Elastic clothes line

·         This is a MUST HAVE! It saves you time, money and running out of clean clothes.

·         You don’t need pegs as you can pinch your clothes between the twists of elastic.

·        To hang it, you can either use the suction caps on windows or tiled walls, use the hooks or loop it around curtain rods, bed posts etc.

 

 

Happy packing!

 

My Travel Scrapbook

My mum was always snap-happy when I was growing up, and has an album of 300 photos or more for each year until I was a teenager. She didn't just take photos, she ensured that they were well framed, that the lighting was right and that the backdrop for group photos was as nice as it could be. On family holidays, she encouraged my sister and I to keep travel diaries. We'd write about the events of each day and draw pictures inside. As I grew older, I continued writing travel diaries on short getaways with friends, road trips and extended travels abroad. I developed a passion for photography and my diaries became scrapbooks, filled not only with stories of my adventures, but also with postcards, magazine cut outs, maps and business cards from places I'd visited.

 

One of my first travel diaries.

In India in 2011 I happily spent 5 hours of a 13 hour train journey cutting, tearing, pasting and writing things into my diary. Later that year, my diaries, scissors, glue and the backlog of clippings I was carrying weighed close to 2kgs and weren't helping my already bulging bag meet airlines' luggage limits.

Currently on a four month trip through South East Asia with only carry-on luggage, I've decided to take things digital. I'll share my research, experiences, tips and photos with whoever wants them.

 

Enjoy!

B x