The remains of 10,000 ancient temples and pagodas

By now, it all seems so routine. Try to get a flight around midnight so I don't have to rush to JFK Airport. Try to get a flight that takes off when I am tired and ready to sleep, because it takes at least 12 hours to get to Asia. Last time, my layover was in Dubai, this time, Taipei.

The flight was around 15 hours and it seemed like I slept on and off for 10. I'm so grateful to have an iPad! When I'm awake, I typically switch back and forth between movies, books and music videos. My music video for my 1st flight was Metallica's Quebec Magnetic. I also watched U2's From The Sky Down and read Lonely Planet Myanmar.

The layover in Taipei was so quick, my Burmese friend and I only had time to get a smoothie before boarding the China Airlines flight to Yangon. I'd never flown China Airlines before, but it wasn't any better or worse than other airlines I used to get to Asia.

The flight to Yangon was less than 5 hours, which seemed like nothing compared to the previous one. I watched God Bless Ozzy Osbourne and PJ20, and spend the rest of the time talking to my Burmese friend. The flight seemed less than 1/4 full which was not totally shocking, since I'd been on Air Asia flights, which were HALF FULL (that's a Pearl Jam song) at best.

After landing, my friend and I had to get in separate immigration lines, this was THE FIRST TIME (that's a U2 song) that I had to get a Visa before I left my country. I booked the flight on Monday (Memorial Day) night and left just over 72 hours later, which is rare for me. It took less than 24 hours for my Visa to be approved and I made it through their security with the same ease I make it through security everywhere except driving into or out of Canada.

We were picked up at the airport by my friend's family and the first thing we did was went to eat. As soon as I stepped out of the airport, I can feel that Southeast Asia heat! For me, there was only one thing I wanted to try.........MOHINGA! I wasn't disappointed and I looked forward to eating more in the coming days.

After spending a day (and night) in Yangon's Chinatown, my 2 Burmese hosts & I took an overnight bus to Bagan. Like 5 years earlier in Turkey, the buses were very nice, but unlike Turkey, it was difficult to sleep in the bus because of constant horns honking and potholes. 

Most of our day in Bagan was spent looking at all the old temples & pagodas. It was repetitive, but any time I travel in Asia, my hosts insist that I must see many, many pagodas & temples. There's always one more we need to see!

East meets West

So my plan for this trip was to just hang around Istanbul for a week. I found a hotel in a very good location at an affordable price. I read RICK STEVES ISTANBUL and figured I could see everything I wanted to see in a week without waking up early every morning and being exhausted at the end of the trip. WRONG! Before I even made it to my hotel, I wandered into on of those offices that sells tours and had a 4 day excursion planned before I even got to my hotel. I enjoyed Istanbul. The people were probably the friendliest I've experienced in my travels so far.  The food was good, but became repetitive after a week.

Anzak Koyu

The place of Churchill's disgrace, but it goes to show that you can always bounce back from failure. This was the closest I've ever been to Greece. My original plan for this trip was to visit Greece instead, but when I ran the numbers, Turkey cost less than half of what I would have spent in Greece. I will still visit Greece someday though!