Myanmar - Mandalay

About 1,5 hour flight north from Yangon we had our other launch symposium. Only spent a day here but was lucky to be able to see some of the local sights and history. Amazing city it was! Warmly recommend to spend 1-2 days here.

First place of interest was U Bein's Bridge a bit outside the city in prefecture called Amarapura. One of the most amazing sunset I've seen 

A loooong wooden bridge stretching over the swamp 

Lady selling sparrows, free a bird and get good luck because you did a good deed. I did, twice! 

Magical 

Beer seldom taste this good

Get your lucky ticket from this guy 

Or maybe some intestines from this guy? 

Night walk around Mahamuni Temple. Gold is the color in Myanmar! 

No ladies here...

Following morning we visited Kuthodaw Pagoda. There are 728 identical white small pagodas build around it 

First I thought this cat had caught a rat. Looking closer I noticed it was a tiny tiny kitten the mommy was washing. Soooo small still 

Mandalay Hills about 30 minutes drive from Downtown. Amazing view over the whole city from here. A bit haze though 

Coming up to Mandalay Hills by escalators, this was the first time I rode an escalator bare feet 

Temple up in the hills 

Mandalay Hills and Palace from one of the Hilton rooms with a balcony 

Palace walls, huge area! 

Launch symposium in Mandalay for our products 

And a victory beer after all work  

Myanmar - Land of Gold

My 50th country! I hadn't really been counting to how many places I've been to before. Downloaded an app called BEEN, you easily click and add places you been to. The app tells you how many countries and how many % of the world you have seen. Also works offline. Now I've been to 20% of the world!

Good night Yangon! Sun sure is red here 

 First night I stayed a bit more north of the city. Got a high floor overlooking the Inya lake 

 The 50th country

 Woke up very early because the time difference to Tokyo is 2,5 hours. 6 am sunrise was gorgeous, worth to wake up a bit earlier.

 Rough around the edges and a true rustic touch to it! Just how I like it. Feels very cozy somehow 

 Just the kind of brand I want to have when I turn 70 

 Shwe Pagoda top of the city. Picture does not do it right, it's huge!! 

Entrance to the Pagoda 

Pagoda from a closer look, that is a LOT of gold 

 The cryptic alphabet they have 

 Found the tree of life behind one of the Pagodas 

Sule Pagoda is in the center and lighting up the night like a christmas tree 

 Sule by day 

 Independence monument from the British in 1948

 During the night there are a lot of people playing football in the streets. There are also a lot of rats running around....

Lunch at Novotel was probably one of the top 5 buffets I had. Luckily it was my birthday so a lot of cheat-eating could be done. Cheers, now 34 

 Our product launch, here we come Yangon

Took a boat over to the other side of the river called Dalla. It's just a 10-15 minute ride. Was a lot more messier on the other side.

This little girl kept following, gave me some cookies to throw to the birds from the boat 

 Dalla sunset. Rented a bike and a guy who took me around 

Dalla shore

Football here also. Wonder when the Myanmar team will play in tournaments. Moe Kaung Pagoda 

Shwe Sayan Pagoda 

The old British customs house 

 Birthday dinner in Strang Hotel, a nice gem. Old colonial hotel, not very big but a must try dinner. Super affordable also. Just 5-8 euro per dish. 

Travellers bar 

Would love to have a sip of this historical 1901 whiskey 

Pool by night was looking nice 

When I went to bed on my birthday the charger was just at 84. What's the odds, same as my birth-year on this day! 

 A whole days training with our new partner, local lunch was nice! 

 Good night Yangon, looks like we will be sitting in traffic quite a bit tonight....

 Some more city exploring before leaving the city. It's a very small and compact place, you can walk to most places

Makes you sad to see this amount of trash in the river 

 100 meter up in the air! 

Long way down...

 

Welcome to Yangon 

 Now this was a cool crossing view! 

 Floating palace restaurant 

 Pigeon attack

 Zoological Gardens, love the umbrella colors 

 Old British court house 

 One of the most amazing train stations I've seen 

Rooftop bar next to the Shangri-la hotel called Yangon Yangon. Great view!! 

Cheers Yangon, amazing city. Time to head back to Tokyo now