By highway bus in Myanmar

Waiting to leave Aung Mingalar Bus Terminal, Yangon

Driving out of the Aung Mingalar Bus Terminal, Yangon

Heading East to Mon State

Village stop, Mon State, Yangon bound

The passing game, Mon State, Yangon bound

Driving west in Mon State back to Yangon

Went from Yangon almost to Kyaikto return

Ticket office in the Aung Mingalar Bus Terminal, Yangon

Waiting in the Aung Mingalar Bus Terminal, Yangon

Serious lunch, bus break, return trip to Yangon

After the lunch break, return trip to Yangon

WITH A TOUCH of melodrama, the bus maneuvered carefully out of Aung Mingalar Bus Terminal. At the front of the coach, a Burmese soap opera was unfolding on the monitor above, drawing our attention away from the chaos outside. Meanwhile, the bus horn sounded constantly, as we edged out slowly to the open road and yes, more traffic. We were leaving Yangon, and travelling towards Mon State. My destination was the Golden Rock, high up on Mt. Kyaiktiyo. All morning we travelled across flat green countryside—mostly lush fields fringed by trees. Towards midday there was a meal stop, at a busy roadside restaurant in Bago, with few private cars, but a colourful fleet of parked buses. 

Well beyond Bago, the bus left me at a small junction in Mon State. I wondered how i would reach Kinpun village, at the foot of the Eastern Yoma Hills. This was also where trucks  took pilgrims up the mountain. It was not long before i was spotted by two motorcycle taxi drivers. The question was, how could a big guy like me, fit on a small motor cycle like these ones, with my heavy backpack. Well i did! Hanging off my back was 18 kgs (40 lbs) swaying above the tail light, but we did manage to wobble across the highway and follow a country road to my destination. Nothing awful came of the precarious ride and in twenty minutes i stepped off, with relief, in Kinpun Village. With luck i got a simple, clean room in a modern hotel, right across the road. The shared bathroom, down the hall, was hardly used by anyone else, breakfast downstairs was included the next day and the price was right too.

From here in the story becomes a fork in the road. This post will continue with the ride back to Yangon. The next post will be keep to the area around Kinpun village, where i stayed the night.

By bus | Go-myanmar