Asia III: Sri Lanka - South India - Laos - Myanmar - Brunei - Korea

Before my classmate took me to the Taiwanese chamber of commerce new year banquet (10-course Chinese food), we stopped the Lotte Hotel lobby and enjoyed the shore views of the Inya Lake. The Inya Lake is an ancient relic from the British colonisation, and it’s used as a reservoir in 1883. The banquet had line dance and folk dance.

My classmate took me to the trendy Rangoon Tea House for a Burmese foodie adventure. Tea is the way of life in Yangon, and pretty much everyone has a cup of tea, everyday. Teahouses are a place where locals gather and socialize over some snacks and a cup of tea. The Tea House has an elegant blend of classic and modern Burmese culture. Besides, the cafe has notable facilities of projector playing classic Burmese movies and music. While it borrows elements from neighbouring India, Thailand, and China, Myanmar’s cuisine is easily recognisable with its unique flavours served piping hot and fresh. We ordered Mohinga (a noodle dish smothered with a hearty fish broth and toppings available to you, such as chilli flakes and cilantro), Onnokauswe ( of thicker noodles in a thick soup of coconut milk added with chicken), Laphet thote (a salad of fermented tea leaves and a variety of nuts and sliced vege), spicy pork curry, and Burmese milk tea.

I was so happy to see my classmate since 1992 who lives in Yangon over two years. Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, is a bustling cosmopolitan city in Myanmar (Burma). He taxi-toured me around town today to sites out of walking distances, fed me lavish meals, and helped me to get overnight bus tickets to other cities. We walked along the Kandawgyi Lake and took photos in front of the reconstructed Karaweik Palace (now a restaurant), with the gleaming Shwedagon Pagoda as background (which is a 98m gilded stupa but under repair, so we skipped it). We visited St Mary’s Cathedral, with its exterior of striking red bricks and colossal spires, is Myanmar’s largest Catholic cathedral. Beautifully maintained from 1909, the interior is resplendent with intricate patterns, enough to make it akin to the venerated cathedrals in European. We discovered a little bit of Yangon’s up and coming art scene introduced by returned overseas students. We walked...

I rushed out of Yangon airport to change $ (very picky for perfect $100 bills), buy a SIM card, and take the shuttle to downtown. I walked into my hostel after 11 pm. After a good night sleep, I had a great spicy cold noodle, soup and fruit breakfast (including in my $6 per night bunk bed), while soaking in the views of the city and Yangon River from the 8th floor terrace. Life is good.

I am impressed by AirAsia’s efficiency and low price. My flight out of Vientiane, Laos unloaded and reloaded passengers with no break and flew into Bangkok, Thailand 15 minutes earlier. I used up Laos kips to buy a piece of candy. Vientiane airport is small, cold, without water fountains or free WiFi, yet there are AC shuttle bus from downtown to the airport. My daily expenses was $20 in Sri Lanka, $14 in South India, and $15 in Laos. I changed some Thai baht to buy myself a chicken leg plus spicy shrimp rice for dinner. The flow of Chinese tourists in Bangkok Don Muang Airport turns it into a zoo. I found a quilt corner to rest 4 hours for my flight into Yangon, Myanmar. The stores in the airport only take Thai currency, and no other currencies or credit cards. I could have bused via ChingMai to visit some sights I missed in 2012, but it will take more $, time, and bumpy rides.

I visited the COPE Visitor Centre, a locally run charity that helps victims by providing them with both prosthetics, and the much needed support required to get them back on track. Laos was devastatingly targeted by the US during the Vietnam War. In fact, per capita, it’s the most heavily bombed country in history, with a planeload of bombs being dropped on the country every eight minutes, 24 hours a day for 9 years. It’s estimated that of the 270 million cluster bombs that were dropped on Laos during the war, almost a third of them never detonated.