Day 236 The journey continues. Next stop Myanmar

Yesterday I arrived in Myanmar. Finally. I really wanted to visit Myanmar on this trip, but I always postponed it because of the weather or because it didn't fit into the itinerary. But now I'm here. I flew from Kuching to Yangon via Singapore.

The first unusual thing was that I had to set my watch back 1 1/2 hours. Myanmar is one of the few countries that doesn't have a full hour time difference. The second unusual thing is the traffic. I slowly got used to driving on the left side of the road, and it's always one of the first things to figure out, which side do the cars drive on. Myanmar is right-hand traffic, like in Europe. But the cars they drive are designed for left-hand traffic. I was sitting in this taxi and it took me a while to realize that. I just knew that something wasn't right.

Today I went for a walk to explore the city on foot.

After breakfast, I walked through the city and came across a market street. There mainly fruits and vegetables were sold. But also flowers and on one street meat and fish. There was quite a crowd, as the market stalls took up a large part of the sidewalk.

My first destination was a smaller pagoda near my hostel.

After visiting the pagoda, I took a little detour to the park with the Independence statue right next to the pagoda.

In the hostel, I was recommended to take a train ride around the city. So I walked to a train station and bought a ticket. The next train was leaving in 30 minutes. I observed the hustle and bustle at the train station during this time.

When my train arrived, I got on and enjoyed the ride. The ride around once is supposed to take about 3 hours.

The first 1 1/2 hours were quite calm and the train was half-empty.

But then it started to get hectic. At one station, dozens of women suddenly got on the train, loaded with baskets and bags full of vegetables, fruits, and herbs. And now the train got crowded. But nobody complained. I watched the whole hustle and bustle with interest and tried not to get in the way.

The women, apparently all farmers, then got off at various stations with their goods, presumably to sell them at the local market. After 3 hours, I was back at my starting station and it was time to get off.

Then I walked to a park with a lake to enjoy a leisurely ice cream and the view.

The wooden walkway along the lake was partially in poor condition. But the beams that shouldn't be stepped on because they were loose or slightly rotten are nicely marked with a white X. So no problem at all

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After visiting the park, I wanted to visit a pagoda before heading to the famous Shwedagon Pagoda.

But while visiting the smaller pagoda, a local approached me. We started talking and he explained things to me about Buddhism and how to practice it. After he asked me if I had ever meditated before and I answered no, he told me that he is a meditation teacher in a monastery. He invited me to his meditation school to meditate for a while. I accepted his offer and we went to his meditation school, which was only a 5-minute walk from the pagoda.

In the meditation school, he showed me around and showed me everything. All rooms are separate for men and women. So there is a residential building for the nuns and a residential building for the monks. The meditation rooms are also separated. The women are on the ground floor and the men are on the first floor. The silence in the rooms was impressive. Although there were at least 30 people inside, there was no sound to be heard.

Outside, my teacher explained to me what to pay attention to while meditating, then we went into the monks' meditation room and I was allowed to meditate there for 10 minutes. A very exciting experience.

Afterwards, my new friend showed me around the monastery of his 91-year-old uncle.

He told me that his uncle taught him everything and that he would soon become a monk himself. He already meditates 3 times, 2 hours each, a day. The first time at 4 o'clock in the morning. Finally, we visited his uncle and I had a private audience with this monk. He gave me his blessing and now I am allowed to wear his symbol. An armlet that is supposed to help me make the right decisions.

The highlight of the monastery was a huge reclining Buddha, which he proudly showed me.

After the visit, he invited me to come to the monastery for food and accommodation the next time I come to Yangon. A really great guy.

Actually, I wanted to visit the most famous pagoda in Yangon, but the sun was already setting. And it's not as much fun at night.

So I postponed this visit to tomorrow. I made my way back to the hostel with a little detour to the market to buy some food.

I ended my first very exciting and eventful day in Myanmar with a beer.