When we arrived at Eden Motel, the receptionist, a friendly Indian guy, told us there were no reservation made. He ask for names, I was like....hermm...戴永明? Romeo ? 1 local and 3 Malaysians ? Give him a phone number ?
It was so early in the morning, we cant go anywhere either, so he took us to Eden Motel 2 right across the street. It was very cold, I saw a horse carriage by the roadside waiting for his early bird customers. Looking straight ahead was a quiet road, leading to the town or market I supposed. As we crossed the street, I felt the gentle breeze, making me wanna pee. When we walked in Eden Motel 2, the PIC was sleeping on the wooden couch. Our friendly Indian buddy looked through the reservation book and he gave up, finally brought us up to a triple room. Very large room, wooden floor, 1 double bed and 1 single bed, with air-con and fans, long bathroom inclusive of a bathtub, makes us feel like we were in 'lao chu' (my grandparents old house). The guy was so kind he let us rest there although check-in time is normally at noon but no breakfast that morning though. Before he left, luckily we remembered to ask the magic question of 'How much' ( not ba lao le cause he speaks English ), he told it was 40USD, it was too expensive, luckily we (Mamu the master ) manage to bargain our way to 35USD. He was pretty blur that time too, I guess he misses his sleep. Haha.
Ji ee and Mamu head straight to bed, they dint sleep well on the bus. I went down to the lobby hoping to contact 戴永明 but the guy was still enjoying his sleep I dint wanna disturb him so I went across to Eden Motel 1 to make a phone call to 戴永明 but there as a connection error. I started to worry a little.
I went back to the room tried to take a rest but I cant wait to meet 戴永明 !! Suddenly I heard sounds from the hallway, I lifted up the curtains from the window next to the door, and there he is.. 戴永明 !!! I recognised his hat from his back ! Haha. I opened the door and started yelling 戴永明!! , in a very high pitch.
He didn't know we were already here, and he tried to get a room for three of us. Poor sleeping receptionist had to carry a tilam for us. But I wasn't thinking of that, too excited , didn't even realised that there's a dormitory at the back and 4 backpackers were sleeping there. The receptionist then move the tilam to the walkway between our rooms and the dorm where 戴永明 rest temporarily after breakfast. Before we left for breakfast, 戴永明 and I got to talking, he was telling me about the train ride, the same bumpy experience we had from Yangon to Kyaktiyo. We exchanged some stories there I guess. Then we walked to a nearby 'kopitiam' for a very local breakfast. The skies were a little brighter then. We had Myanmar tea ( which tastes like teh tarik ) and 戴永明 had some roti canai thingy I guess, I couldn't remember but I do remember him offering me nice imported almonds nuts, I ate that as my breakfast. We were talking and 戴永明 showed me his IC, all written in Burmese, which btw I found out he has a burmese name : Sai Nat.. Cool huh ! There's a section that I'm guessing its the date of birth, so I asked him, what number it was, cant believe I don't know his birthday ! It's 27th of February, two days from then !!! I was like wowwww !!! I must definitely celebrate with him !
But my concerns were that his family and friends don't get to celebrate with him, I feel really bad...
After that we went back to the hallway where the temporarily dorm were. He saw backpackers there immediately he preferred a dorm rather than a room as expected cause his adventurous character meanwhile friendly and happy to meet new friends, there's so much things to learn about him !!! hahaha
Before he took a rest we were discussing about education systems, again, exchanging stories..
*****
After about 1 hours rest....I went to the dorm to meet 戴永明. He was talking to a new friend from US, Alexa Ross. She is a very experienced backpacker, has been on the road for a long time. She was the one who taught us a very powerful backpacking tip
- Bring clothes that we intend to donate, after wearing give them to the children, lighter luggage the way back ( the smile on their faces when they receive it is priceless )
******
Let's Go !!
So we went on the taxi and head to Mount Popa. 戴永明 was very friendly, he talked to our beloved driver for quite a while. He was sitting next to the driver and Mamu and I was sitting at the back, look out the window, we have no idea what are they talking about ( waiting for 戴永明 to translate, haha ). He turned back and said something like this : " I think he's drunk".. HAHAHHA! I'm laughing now but you woudn't believe it was life-risking then ! We weren't sure so we just hoped that he's sober. Haha.
After about 15 minutes, the driver stopped somewhere that looks like middles of a desert where there's this shop that sells 'Tharn Yet'. Biji biji of sugarcane with bits of coconut slice. Sweet and nice ! But it was a little expensive. Anyway, I like it a lot ! Aunty Jacky asked us to buy too. Other than that they sell quite a lot of other stuff. Even knives !!
Stay Away from 戴永明 ! haha
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| Some 'weapons' they sold :) |
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| Mummy buying Tharn Yet |
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| Alcohol ! He let us smell it ! |
Although we just bought 2 packets of Tharn Yet, the owner invited us in to have our very first Naypitow ! (not quite sure of the spelling, will ask 戴永明 about it ) It's a traditional and very popular burmese snack. Taste good !! A little similar to our 'Mian kam' concept. There's quite a few types of nuts and tealeaves dipped in some yellowish paste that gives the salty taste.
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| There ! Looks yummy huh ! |
We were ready to leave after eating ( and drinking myanmar tea too ! For free ! ), but our driver isn't. We are pretty sure he's drinking again. Alcohol to be specific. We went back to the car. Worries started to grow. 戴永明 tried talking to him A LOT. But what he replied is totally non-related. Haha. We find it really funny then. He did mentioned something about being a very experience driver and stuff like that. After a while we stopped somewhere where we can see the majestic Mount Popa from a distance. 5 mins the driver said. For us to take photos, for him to refresh too I supposed. haha.
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| That's Mount Popa ! |
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| Row of owls..I wasn't sure what this means.. |
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| First few of the 777steps :) |
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| The photo makes it look like asking : 'Will you marry me ?" haha The women selling flowers and monkey food. |
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| One of the MonkeySSS...And this is the medium size onces..... |
777 Steps, We'll Conquer you ! One by One !
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| So proud of you Mummy ! |
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| Mother and Daughter :) |
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| I like this pic ! |
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| Every step closer to the top |
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| Yeah ! |
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| I'M HERE !!!!!!! Look how magnificent the view is ! |
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| We've made it ! |
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| I wonder how they moved this stupa up to high. |
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| The pointed mountain. View from where we sat. |
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| Sunset.. |
It was getting darker, plus our drunk driver was still waiting for us down there. So we took off.. As we reach the bottom, these monkeys came snatching 戴永明's hat away ! Luckily the ladies selling monkey food helped to get the hat back but distracting them with food ! HOW PRO ARE THEY !!
Good technique learned ! On the way up one of the monkeys actually took our bottle of mineral water too ! But failed to open the cap...Wanted to help them with it instead of taking it back but I was too much of a scaredy cat :( I remembered grabbing 戴永明's bag while closing my eyes very tightly when we're walking pass them.
We were ready to leave, just looking for our driver. We recognised a friend of our driver and asked him where he were.
Friend : He's few meters down there
戴永明: Thank you, Is he drunk ?Friend : Yea, becareful...
We were like........ I seeeee...........
I was thinking...Hermm..It's gonna get interesting..And IT DID ! haha
One and a half hours back to the hotel..was a mixture of humour and life-risk moments.. Adding to that is the windy roads enough for just one way traffic but they made it a two-way.
Thw whole way back, what the driver said was : NO PROBLEM, NO PROBLEM.. I'M AN EXPERIENCED DRIVER..
Haha that explains my title..
Despite being in 'slight danger' I enjoyed it ! Without him our trip woudn't been so fun !
We had a little rest , took a bath , ready to go out for dinner. Together with a new friend we met from Croatia, Irena ! She's really really friendly and interesting, very tall too ! :) We walking along the road that leads to Old Bagan. Where we plan to go tomorrow..
Found this restaurant, about 30mins from the hotel. The food is super yummy but I was full :( , plus , having this weird lip allergy thingy. Ji ee didn't join us as her stomach was still not well.
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| Dinner ! |
On the way back I asked mummy to buy me anything that can pass as a cake. Before dinner I ran out to a few convinient stores nearby the hotel but I couldn't find anything :(
Anyway, mummy bought this bun looking thing :) That's great :) The hotel receptionist was very helpful too! At noon, I told her I needed a candle (after doing a lot of charades! haha ) she gave me a packet of them, mini red candles, for free.. Perfect, we have candles and ..something that looks a little like a cake. :)))
I was waiting for 12 midnight.. All the backpakers in the dorms were sleeping, I didn't wanna disturb them, ji ee was going to go to bed too. I was constantly checking the time on 戴永明's phone as he was charging his phone there, when later it strike me to leave him a message on his wallpaper :)..
Few minutes before 12 I prepared the candles and two buns on a plate. I felt so guilty I didn't know his birthday earlier, hope to make up for it :D After lighting the candles I left the 'birthday cake' on the stairs... I went to the dorm to wake 戴永明 up or a moment, so sorry to disturb his sleep, but come on, it's a birthday :)))
Mamu helped to sing the birthday song too :) Still remember how blur he was at that time hahaha :D
Anyway I hoped you enjoyed your birthday ! :))
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