Arrived at the bus station at 4.30am unfortunately it was a bit outside the city and not useful but I hadn't got off the stop before as I thought the bus would go closer to the hotels as the conductor had asked me which hotel but there was only one other foreigner on the bus so there was probably nobody going to a hotel. So I went back into the city (for those that don't know this is the capital city) and grabbed some super moon pictures which with my camera won't be great. The bus station area was pretty dead so I couldn't find out about buses to my next place. Instead I found a hotel to leave my suitcase and went wandering. Unlike other cities in Myanmar Nay pyi taw really does have pavements, unobstructed ones and in both sides of the road. The problem is that it's a modern designed for car city and there is rarely anything next to the pavement, no shops, houses or hotels. The hotels for example are all resorts and have a road or driveway up to them, it really does make it very different to other places and the shops and buildings mostly open at a set time like 8, 9 or 10am unlike other towns /cities where shopkeepers open up early. If you only visited this place then you really wouldn't know what theers Country was like. I carried on walking and by 10.30 had done about 22,000 steps without really seeing anything. I went to a museum marked on the map and they wouldn't let me in because I'm a foreigner. Now I've been to a lot of museums and they are usually a good way to get others to understand your Country, history and culture so I'm not sure what kind of museum they have.
Went a different way and was lucky there was a good deal of shade as it was boiling hot, I almost burnt my hand touching a fence. Came to city hall which was also on the map but was very gated so I didn't expect to get in and no surprise when I couldn't although their English was not good enough to explain why. Carried on the same road and came to a water fountain park. 700 entry so I had a look and it was nice although incomplete and more disappointingly none of the fountains were on. I thought maybe it could be like in St Petersburg where the fountains turned on when people stepped on a certain place and then got wet. They did have a pool with some kids swimming so I went for a dip and all 3 pools were really shallow which is a shame. After I went to the bus station and considered various places to go and settled on Mawlamyine as it meant I could arrive at a good time (fingers crossed). It was getting on for 3pm so I headed back to thr hotel to pick up my bag and was walking along barefoot as my feet were starting to and a youngster offered me a lift on his bike which I accepted and then worried that I had no shoes on so if I gad to get off at speed I'd rip my feet to shreds. Still I managed to hold on and it was kind of him which is something there is a lot of in Myanmar. I heard a lot years ago about how nice and friendly people in Thailand were but then never really saw it myself so I wonder if progress will lead to the same happening here and if so it's worth asking if it's really progress. to be fair some people in England can be helpful like there was a time I ran out of petrol and someone turned around to pick me up and drive me to the petrol ststion and back to my car but really it's rare that I need help in my Country these days on the other hand there are also people who take advantage so you can't be too careful, there was a woman I worked with who fell and broke her arm and instead of helping someone grabbed her purse and ran off. anyway I got my stuff together and managed not to fall asleep at the bus stop, thd bus was a bit empty to start and really nice with a plug socket and neck cushions for everyone.
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January 2017
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