- On the bus pickup, I got to meet the girl who played the day before at our rooftop. She is studying law and is travelling with her boyfriend who does something in crafting professions. In Chinese societies such couples would never work out (because people value university education more) but in western culture, the basic beliefs or the environment shaping their values are on the same level. (interesting topic to expand)
The bus ride was quite “fun”. The road went up and down and the driver was trying to break his personal best record. There were moments where we almost feared our lives.
I met up with Fabian and Nicolas at the pool in the other Ostello Bello (there are 2 in Bagan) as agreed at 7. We joined the Bingo game back in our hostel which was extremely challenging and fun … nooot. Despite being a bit tired, I decided to go for the free tour next day.
There I met Christopher. A young local uni graduate doing tours now in his hometown. He shaped his perfect English mostly with movies during his studies. We talked openly about any topics in Myanmar, including what is on the media. But there are actually more conflicts than the Rohinjas (more on that later). Chris sat in the shade of the temple and told us what he knows and what he believes in. He values the backpackers because it is us who actually are helping the local economy. By boycotting toursim, the only ones who suffer are the ones relying on the business, not the government.
Chris also taught English in a monastery. It was part of the tour where he showed us the classeoom. He put up a video about continents and let us chat with the monks (from young to old) about where we come from and where we have been. It was nice to see how some kids are interested and some less. Monastery is a way to let kids receive education for those who cant afford school.
We went to watch the sunset after the tour. All temples are not allowed to be climbed since a American girl wanted to take a selfie and fell into her afterlife a few months ago. We managed to find a place with broken gate on MAPS.ME. Sadly some locals discovered us and we were chased down pretty quickly. The lucky in the unlucky was that the sun went into the fog already when they chased us down.
Sunrise was a typical thing to do as well, of course also because of the air balloons. Me and Fabian scouted a spot Chris recommended us the night before and led also 3 other dutch people we met.
Back to people:
Fabian is travelling for 9 months now. He started in Ecuador where he took 2 weeks of private Spanish lessons in Quito. He has spent at least one month in Ecuador, Columbia, Palau, Phillipines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and now is in Myanmar. It is difficult to describe, but all Swiss people have something in their behaviours that confirms that they are Swiss. I haven’t found the exact words yet, but it is something in the conversations, the way they carry on a conversation, or maybe it is simply just the language itself.
We met a dutch couple after the sunset. They are a bit older. We actually just joined at the table, and started talking. The guy is divorced and runs a building emergency service company. His gf, mike,works at oil company who has 45 days of holidays in a year! He has a pilot license and showed us some pictures from the cockpit as well. They are very grounded person and the conversation felt easy flowing where we would exchange equally.
There was also a dutch guy the next morning who was doing internship in yangon where he was organizing sport events.
On the day tour there was a Brazilian girl who spoke Portuguese, Spanish, very well English (a year in the US) and got a job in Shanghai to teach English and learned Chinese as well. And she spoke well! She is very talkative and uses all the chances to practise. That is what sets her apart.
We met Alfie again after the sunrise and together with Nicolas and Fabian, we ended up discussing about Bitcoin, our jobs, slavery, raeggae, passive income.
Then my second diahrrea hit strong … I was not able to puke it out as last time so I had my troubles for a while before leaving for Pwin Oo Lwin. But not too many details needed …
Me, sitting in a calm cafe on the riverside in Luang Prabang (Laos positively surprised me!)
