Myanmar Day 3 – Bagan Adventure

Wake up at 7am and continue with my free breakfast included at 7:30am before going to the Hotel entrance to negotiate for a horse cart tour for about 15,000kyats to visit atleast 10 temples which is quite reasonable.



Here is the itinerary in sequence starting from 8am till 4pm for horse cart tour with some summary of the temples:-


Buu le' thee pagoda - The first simple temple which allow climb to the top for beautiful scenery view of Bagan. (Refer to above photos)


Sulamani temple - The temple with beautiful crave buddihsm story on the temple wall.(Refer to above photos)


Dammanyangyi temple - This is the largest temple in Bagan (Refer to above photos)


Anananda temple - This is one of the famous & important temple and it is still very active and lively among the locals for praying.(Refer to above photos)


Thabanyu temple - This is the tallest temple in Bagan.(Refer to above photos)


Shwe gu gyi temple - Another simple temple which allow climb to the top to have another view of Bagan.(Refer to above photos)

Mahabothi temple - Simple temple with the bothi tree.


Lunch at Sarabha at Old Bagan


Bupaya temple - The temple along the river.(Refer to above photos)


Gaw Daw Palin temple - I have no comment on this simple temple.


Htilo minlo temple - I believe it is beautiful red & grand temple between old bagan & nyaung U.(Refer to above photos)


Shwezigon temple - It is a temple similar to Yangon Shwedagon temple.(Refer to above photos)

Next Day

Myanmar Day 2 – Journey to Bagan

Surprisingly there are a wake up call at 5:30am by the guesthouse reception as we need to have our breakfast and then leaving to the bus station at 6:30am where I booked the bus to Bagan at 8am. The bus station is in a muddy place but luckily the bus is a VIP coach with cool air condition and is quite comfortable along the way to Bagan. It is a 10 hours journey cost around 15,000kyats and there are another surprise where I see a good highway at Myanmar which I understand it is newly build. The only disadvantage of the highway is that it reach only the intersection of Mandalay, then the other half of the road is using a single old trunk road to Bagan which is not bad afterall.



I reach Bagan at 6:30pm. The town do not have much building or shophouses and it is all small wooden houses scattered around and I was disoriented a while and having difficulty looking for the target guesthouse. So I took a thrisaw for about US$1 to get to New Park Bagan.where I got a discount room for about US$25/night at New Park Bagan.



After check in and then wanted to walk around but just manage to book a bus ticket to Mandalay and also have a Chinese cuisine at a restaurant just opposite the road of New Park Bagan. I need more rest to focus on Bagan archaeological area tomorrow.


Next Day

Journey to my admire politics’ idol Aung San Suu Kyi Myanmar Land (Day 1 – Yangon Expedition)

I have planned to go Myanmar since I watched the movie ‘The Lady’ that portrait Suu Kyi by Michelle Yeoh. It is a lovely country with its special identity. I wanted to see the changes and the country is developing very quick and it is really different from 5 to 10 years ago.

Here is my Myanmar’s trip report on Yangon, Bagan & Mandalay within a week which is the last week of the non peak season for September. I fly direct to Yangon and then travel by bus to northern which take around 10 hours to Bagan from Yangon.

My flight from KL is at 7am and reached Yangon at early morning at 8:30am. There are a free pick up from Mother Land Inn and there are the only backpacker’s place that provide free pick up as they have consistent customer per day which they can afford free pick up. Some hostel charge US$5 for the pick up. BTW the 2 single bedroom cost me around US$25per night. I taking the bus to Bagan tomorrow and I try to visit some attraction at Yangon.

So I walk around and it was raining and lucky I bring an umbrella. I walk towards the Yangon city hall and also the Sule Pagoda. Then I have a break at a café donuts for a coffee and avoid the rain. Then I continue walk towards the Boyoke Aung San market before ending my walk to Shwedagon Pagoda which is quite a long walk.

The Shwedagon pagoda do have a entrance fee with US$5 which is quite expensive but it is my 1st day and I have to visit this attraction.


There is my itinerary for first day at Yangon and manage to swap in a drinking place at Powerlight entertainment for a beer where there isn’t much bar or pub at Myanmar as I believe it is buddism country and everyone is quite religious I believe.

I would like to share that the ATM manage to withdraw kyats money at a local supermarket's ATM. So it is developed at Myanmar.


Next Day

Guideline driving to Singapore from Malaysia

My family visiting Singapore mostly every year to visit my sister's family. So most of the time we are driving into Singapore.

First of all, there are 2 check point into Singapore where one is toward Johor Bahru using Woodland cross border or check point. The second one would be Tuas check point where it is against the Johor Bahru city center to avoid Johor Bahru jam. If there are no peak period and less jam, then Woodland is highly recommended.

Entering SIngapore require to get a autopass, once you reach the passport clearance at Singapore. After that park along the counter where you need to purchase a autopass with the valid roadtax captured for validation. The autopass is SG$10 and you need to top up for additional VEP and ERP charge. Normally each car was given a 10 free VEP and there are no charges during public holiday and weekend as well. So you need to count the charges and top up the autopass accodingly.

Another important reminder when depart from Singapore back to Malaysia and we need a 'Touch & Go' card for the imigresen clearance. We can't pay by cash and if you do not have one then you need to park your car and buy one at the check point.

Hope this provide driver an idea for entering Singapore. Happy driving to Singapore.

Short Family trip to Aonang Beach, Krabi with some recommendation

We planned a trip to Krabi from 15th May to 18th May with family and an 11 month old baby. It is a challenge to bring a baby to oversea with stroller and things to consider during stay and eat at Krabi. So far we still manage to divide and conquer the attraction places and some restaurants.

The very first day we reach Krabi in the afternoon and I organised Krabi Shuttle to pick us up at the airport with the online booking. I also booked AonangOrkid’s Grand Superior with seaview with Baht2000 for a night. The sea view room is considering average and of course the deluxe room is much better. We rest after check in for baby sleeping time before going to our very first dinner at Aonang beach. We had our dinner at Aonang Cuisine with average food as I notice it is the oldest Aonang restaurant.

Then we stroll along Aonang beach for souvenir and book for our 4 island day trip at Krabi Trek. There are 4 of us and we need to divide and conquer for taking care our baby. So we divided into 2 groups as for myself and wife booked the longtail boat trip to the 4 islands as my both mother and in law booked for the speed boats trips. The longtail cost Baht400 whereas the speed boat cost Baht900 each.

The next day is our 4 islands trip as we had our simple breakfast before the agent pick up for the trip. The jeep pick all the tourist and heading to the jetty where we go into the longtail for an hour to reach Tub Island. This island is supposed to link with another island but it is high tide and we can only stay on the main island. Then the boat proceeds for a snorkelling short stop near Chicken Island. We stop at the third island, Poda Island for lunch break and also taking many photos of the giant rock at Poda Island. We are so lucky that it is a sunny day and it is a hot day at Poda. Then we proceed to our final destination which it is a highlight to me. It is called Phranang Cave beach where it is listed as one of the beach beach at Tripadvisor. It is indeed a beautiful beach but too crowded with tourists.

We visited Aonang Hilltop for our second dinner at Aonang beach and it is a beautiful restaurant with good view and the food is reasonable as well. Once you reach the bottom of the hill by tuk tuk then there are free pick up by the restaurant. The restaurant will send you back to your hotel or Aonang beach street for free as well.

Then the third day of the trip is supposed to be our parents turn to visit the 4 islands and we stay at Aonang beach to relax. But unfortunately our baby got a fever and it is also raining which is not a good day. So we visited the government clinic and got some antibiotic and luckily our baby temperature reduces at night. Both I and wife still manage to buy some souvenir for friends and families.

We depart back to Kuala Lumpur safely on the fourth day at noon.