Nov 30, Safe in Yangon.

I didn't even get my camera out today.

The bus trip took 13 hours, the first 6 of which were switchbacks on a narrow bumpy road. I measured the width of the highway with my feet and it was 11 and a half of my size 10 feet wide. That's barely room for one bus never mind passing a bus or truck. During that time we had to pass a lot of people and again that required a lot of honking.

The bus wasn't as cold this time, probably because it was an older bus and the air wasn't as powerful.

The last half of the trip was better road and we even got onto some four lane highway.

Eventually, we rolled into Yangon's dusty bus terminals where I thought I had hired a taxi but the guy went and got 3 more people to share before we could go. I guess time was money because we had the taxi ride from hell through town this morning.

Got my room early thankfully and got a few hours of sleep. Then just went out for Internet and food.

Tomorrow morning I fly back to Bangkok.

My impressions of Myanmar.
1. Not to be missed. It is beautiful.
2 The people are lovely and kind to us tourists.
3. Accommodation is cheap. I paid as low as $4.00 US per night up in Mandalay and $15.00 in Yangon. That included breakfast in both places.
4. I should have stayed longer than 10 days to fully appreciate it. A month would be better.
5. Neither the drug wars on the boarder nor the communist government had any detrimental effect on my experience.

The thing that bugged me was the driving which was completely haphazard and dangerous not to mention noisy.
Transportation within the communities was also rather expensive. I spent far more on that than food and rooms.