Love from the Finnish
In the south of the Netherlands we celebrate carnaval at the start of the traditional fast before Easter. In Finland they’ve got their own way of celebrating: Laskiainen. The day I celebrated Laskiainen coincided with valentine’s day or ystäväpäivä. The university I went to had a cool program for exchange…
So what’s the deal with Mrauk-U?
Mrauk-U, pronounced Meow O, is a small town in the west of Myanmar, not far from Bangladesh. The town makes it on some itineraries because of the incredible temples and the possibility to visit some Chin villages. It is a pretty sleepy town, where most of the roads are still…
Travel theme: Gold
There is definitely no lack of gold in Myanmar!
Getting blocked
I arrived in Kalaw at the beautiful hour of 5AM. We had arrived early. If the bus driver hadn’t tapped me on the shoulder, I probably would have opened my eyes in Inle lake. My travel buddy Jelle and I were the only ones to get off at this stop.…
Chiang Mai’s alternative to temples
Chiang Mai is known for its many, many temples. If I hadn’t spent a lot of my time visiting temples all over Thailand and Myanmar yet, I would have loved to walk around and gaze at the shimmering golden Buddha statues, the pagodas and temple life in general. However, I…
My Myanmar travel guide
I spent four weeks in Myanmar, the full 28 days that you are allowed to stay on one visa. I met many people who just had 10 days. Some people asked me “What on earth did you do for 4 weeks?” My question is “How can you only do 10…
A day around the mighty Shwedagon
The Shwedagon pagoda is perhaps the main attraction of Yangon. Even the Burmese themselves make pilgrimages to this gigantic pagoda. It is one of the most important ones in the country. I decided to combine a visit to the pagoda with some of the surrounding attractions. In front of the…
A visit to the Chin people
Myanmar has many minorities. Before Myanmar was Myanmar, it consisted of different empires and areas with different peoples. One of the poorest minorities in the country are the Chin people. Most of them live in the Chin state, but that is off limits to tourists. A few of them have…
The circle train, a moving market
The hostel I stayed at in Yangon was a really good place to get to know other travellers. The first night I met Douglas, who was also interested in riding the circular train, so after breakfast we walked to the train station. We almost walked past it, but I noticed a…