Myanmar: On the Road to Mandalay from Meiktila (video)

Watch: 40 Day 2 on the Road to Mandalay from Meiktila, Myanmar (Burma)

We Said Go Travel http://www.wesaidgotravel.com/ October 24, 12 Honey Hotel has issues, trash around the lake, unidentifiable food but friendly staff! My suggestions for this hotel: clean up the hallway, stairwells, and rooms especially the refrigerator. I did not included the video of the moldy dirty refrigerator but really if you are going to have one. You have to clean it. Adding a choice at breakfast like different types of eggs, fruit and clearing a path to the Lake would all be good improvements.

We tried to wander around the lake. I think a promenade around the lake would do wonders. Lonely Planet says you can bike around the lake but then again they said ask for room G2 in a building that seems long gone. Not sure the Lonely Planet reporters have been here in decades.

We did not see the British officers quarters where Aung San Suu Kyi and husband honeymooned. We did see many pagodas, monks asking for alms and school children in green longyi uniforms.

We walked to the main road from the guesthouse in about six minutes, we stopped after we crossed the street and instantly there was a bus. We said, “Mandalay.” They said, “yes,” so we hopped on. At first it seemed far too crowded but I jumped over a motorbike and there were two seats in the last row.

Within about ten minutes many of the passengers got off and we wondered if we were going to the Meiktila bus station but we zoomed on. We got on the bus around 9:30am and arrived at the Mandalay station 12:30pm. We had one stop for food around 11am but we were not hungry so we just waiting and stretched our legs.

There were many stupas, fields and tollbooths along the way. Road construction is a big priority and I was told that private companies are doing the building and they can charge tolls. If they try to overcharge, they will lose their right to the route.

Back at ET Guesthouse, the man at the desk seemed surprised when I said, “Do you need the passports? We were here three weeks ago.” I think now that the Air Asia route is open from Mandalay to Bangkok; they will start to see more repeat guests. Unless people do the route like us like and fly into Yangon and out of Mandalay.

George told me today we have spent about $1300usd in 27 days(not including our flights). We changed $680 to kyat. My dumb money move was trying to open PayPal in Myanmar. It is a sanctioned country for PayPal. I cannot believe I am in Paypal Jail AGAIN on this trip!

This movie is from our 28 days in Myanmar (Burma) from September 28, 2012 to October 26, 2012 and our year TRIP in South East Asia, see all the videos from our trip.

Our Memoir, Traveling in Sin, is available on Amazon.

Lisa Ellen Niver

Lisa Niver is an award-winning travel expert who has explored 102 countries on six continents. This University of Pennsylvania graduate sailed across the seas for seven years with Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Renaissance Cruises and spent three years backpacking across Asia. Discover her articles in publications from AARP: The Magazine and AAA Explorer to WIRED and Wharton Magazine, as well as her site WeSaidGoTravel. On her award nominated global podcast, Make Your Own Map, Niver has interviewed Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors, and as a journalist has been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded three Southern California Journalism Awards and two National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and been a finalist twenty-two times. Named a #3 travel influencer for 2023, Niver talks travel on broadcast television at KTLA TV Los Angeles, her YouTube channel with over 2 million views, and in her memoir, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty.