Myanmar part 3 - Mindat and Nagapali
It was a long ride from Bagan to Mt. Victoria (Mindat). The road is only frequented by minivans and it takes 12h or more to arrive in Mindat. When we arrived there we had to acceppt that a trip to the top of Mt. Victoria would cost us at least three days and that we would have to take motorbikes or other vehicles to get to the mountain first. That and the fact that the view was quite poor because of many fires led to the decision to do a short trek in the area the next day and then leave again to the beach in the south. If you ever make it to Mindat there is a place you should visit: an abandoned building next to a church and a priests house (it is marked on "maps.me"). The view from there is great and right next to it is the towns soccer field where you can watch monks (and half the town) watching soccer, quite funny to see ^^
Our trip from Mindat to Nagapali beach took two days and three nights. The first part was per minivan again but then it got interesting. There were only two busses continuing in our direction. They both were old, without AC and were stuffed with vegetables and other goods. We decided to take the one that looked (and smelled) a bit better. It was stuffed with crates, cabbage and guessing from the smell had also lots of tobacco loaded. A few seats were left free of goods so the bus could take a few passengers. To actually get to our seats we had to climb up crests full of tomatoes and then descend again into our seats. Apart from us and the two drivers there was a local mother with two kids and an israeli guy. I enjoyed the ride. The windows were permanently open and I had two seats for myself. It was all in all an interesting experience.
Arriving at our last stop before the beach, Pyay, we were forced to stay over night due to fully booked minivans. The next night we finally arrived in Nagapali and after some difficulties finding the hostel in the (very) early morning we were able to get rid of our backpacks and made our first trip to the beach. I was never a huge fan of beach hollidays, but I must say that I liked the beach in Nagapali. It is beautiful there and absolutely not crowded.
Last night we drove back to Yangon and this night I am flying back to Germany. It was a great trip. I enjoyed the country, Its people and nature and especially the company I had :)
The people in Myanmar are very friendly and what adds to it is that they are not as annoying as in Vietnam or Cambodia when it comes to selling things to you. I can only recommend visiting Myanmar!