i headed into town for another wander around the streets. i had dinner at a street stall and bought an assortment of junk to eat in the evening; chocolate fudge, a giant apple, a hot corn cob and beer.

day 317 – i was woken up by someone talking on a loud speaker at 3am. at first i thought it was prayers from the nearby mosque, but it sounded different. it could have been some buddhist sermon or something else … i don’t know. it was quite loud and took me a while to get back to sleep.

i woke up later, had breakfast and checked out. i checked my email then got a taxi to the airport. my flight to india was business class (yay!) so i spent the free time in the vip lounge drinking beer, eating snacks and watching bbc news.

the flight to india started late and, due to the stopover in gaya, arrived in kolkata in the early evening. it was dark by the time my taxi reached sudder street and many of the guesthouses were booked solid. i ended up staying in a dorm, with three other koreans. i bought a lonely planet india, had dinner and slept.

day 318 – i changed hotels in the morning, returning to hotel maria – an old favourite from my previous trip to india. i walked around the markets, withdrew some money and bought myself a train ticket to mumbai.  i mailed some packages to korea and australia, then found a bookshop and acquired a copy of ’1984′ by george orwell. i had been wanting to re-read it and snagged a copy very cheaply.

i headed back to the market, looked around some more, and spent some time online. i returned to my room and started the book. i bought some delicious kimchi bokeumbab for dinner from the street stall outside, read some more and went to bed.

day 319 – i had breakfast and checked my email. then i devoted a few hours to finding a sleeping bag. i had no luck and decided to leave it until i got to mumbai. i returned to the same bookstore i’d gone to the previous day. this time the owner showed me some rare and expensive books he had for sale. some were beautiful, but there was no way i could buy them. i picked up a copy of ‘around the world in 80 days’ by jules verne. it’s an old classic that i’d never had a chance to read. i also got a book on buddhist dharma for free.

i walked through the market, had a great beef masala for dinner, then returned to the hotel to read and sleep.

day 320 – after a cold shower, i checked out of my hotel. the train to mumbai was late, so i had all day to kill. i had breakfast and continued reading 1984. then i spent some time online playing chess and chatting. in the afternoon i got some take-away kimchi bikeumbab from the same restaurant, jumped in a taxi and headed to the train station. i ate dinner on the platform, read my book and waited for the train.

the train departed and i read for a little while longer before going to sleep.

day 312 – my morning routine had settled into breakfast and coffee. the small cafe had a few seats in the sun and the owner had started seeing me regularly, but today would be the last day. after breakfast i bought my train ticket back to yangon.

the day before i’d spoken to a cycle rickshaw driver about where i could get another tattoo. so today he took me to a small place hidden in a back alley. the guy was a decent tattooist, so after a long conversation we decided on a design. two hours (and $15) later i had my tattoo. i returned to the hotel for a rest.

i had a really good hamburger and beer for dinner, then went to see ‘the moustache brothers’ show again. it was my second time to see them perform, and i was disappointed that i couldn’t organise a video camera to record the whole performance.

day 313 – i woke up early, had a quick shower and got the train to yangon. it was a long, boring day on the train with nothing much to see.

we arrived in yangon on time, which was nice, and i walked across town to my hotel. actually, my arse was sore from the wooden seats on the train, and i was quite tired. i grabbed a quick dinner and went to sleep.

day 314 – i returned to the indian embassy first thing the next morning. i paid for the visa, which i was able to pick up in the afternoon. i returned to the hotel and changed rooms, taking a room with a much nicer view. i read my book on the balcony for a while and then went for a walk around town. i stopped by the air india office and bought my ticket to kolkata

i hadn’t felt like taking photos, so i just wandered through the markets and streets. i had lunch and walked past a yangon united fc store which was just opening up. i bought some souvenirs to send back to craig and headed back towards the embassy. i collected my passport and visa, enjoyed another sugar cane drink from the local street vendors and went back to the hotel. i read my book and slept.

day 315 – after breakfast i decided to relax in the rooftop hammocks and read my book. i got talking to an american tourist, also called dave, who shared with me a prize collection of lonely planet pdf files. sweet!! i wandered into town, checked email and stumbled across a small group of locals playing chess. i stopped to watch and ended up playing three games. i got thrashed each game by a guy who clearly spends a lot of time playing chess!

i had dinner and returned to the hotel. in the evening i finished ‘the book thief’, messed around with some mp3s and went to bed.

story: customs and the battery pack.

during my first trip to burma, i dropped my camera on some concrete and cracked the camera housing. as a result, the battery compartment sits loosely and the battery doesn’t always connect. the camera is out of warranty and i don’t think there are many options for getting it fixed. honestly, i’m probably going to have to replace the camera. i don’t want to spend that much money, so i came up with a solution: use my battery pack.

it was a simple, good idea. i emailed my friend in korea who is holding some gear for me. he agreed to send the battery pack via dhl to burma, where i could pick it up. a mutual friend in burma would receive the pack, hold it for me, and i could collect it upon my arrival.

and thus, a problem arose. the battery pack was valued at $60 (actually it’s worth $150, but that’s irrelevant). burma’s customs (ie government) said that any item over $50 requires an import licence. this ridiculous rule is accompanied by the rule that any items that aren’t permitted will be automatically confiscated, rather than being returned to sender, in accordance with international laws … i guess when your government is a dictatorship and you’re under economic sanctions, you don’t really have to care about anything else.

after a lot of wrangling, arguing, cajoling, talking, emailing and begging, dhl agreed to try and help me get the battery case. i was blaming dhl for the problem (since they didn’t warn us that this would happen) and eventually they got me to fill out some forms, which they took to customs. they convinced customs to release the battery pack and i collected it (after paying $12 for “fees”).

i was glad to get the battery pack, but really annoyed at how this could happen.

that evening i had dinner with u myo aung, the friend who’d been trying to help me collect the battery pack. i had also agreed to meet the koreans for beers on the balcony (to celebrate new years). however, i fell asleep and missed new years in burma. damnit!

day 307 – new years day - i went to the indian embassy and submitted my visa application. then i faxed the documents required by dhl. i walked around town, had some ice cream and returned to my hotel. i bought a bus ticket to mandalay, then spent a few hours drinking beer on the balcony, lying in a hammock, reading my zusak book.

later, i walked around the markets and bought a pair of cheap sunglasses. i had noodles and sugar cane juce for dinner. when i got back to the hotel, dhl called and told me that customs had released my package.

day 308 – i had a big breakfast and walked to the dhl office to pick up my battery pack. i walked around the flight agencies to figure out an itinerary for getting to india. i also went to the train station to get prices for trains from mandalay.

i packed, checked out, and got a taxi to the bus station (which is a long way out of town, for some stupid reason). i had dinner, chatted with the locals (who rarely see foreigners) and got the bus to mandalay.

the trip was really uncomfortable. it’s the middle of winter and they insisted on using the air conditioning on the bus … at full blast. the music and shitty burmese dramas were also playing at full blast on the tv. i was freezing cold and at a break stop i convinced the driver to turn off the a/c.

day 309 – the bus was still cold and i managed to borrow a blanket. i finally got some sleep and arrived in mandalay early in the morning. i got on the back of a bike for the cold trip into town, found my hotel, checked in, curled up in the warm blankets and got some more sleep.

i must have been tired, and i know i was on the verge of getting sick, since i slept all day. i had a hot shower and returned to bed, sleeping all night.

day 310 – i woke up feeling good. i had breakfast and walked around the early morning market. i bought two longyes and a long sleeved shirt. i had some coffee and went to the train station to inquire about tickets. it turns out that i can only by tickets one day in advance, so i had to return later.

i bought some razors, soap, shampoo and organised a ride to amapura (ubein bridge). arriving at amapura i hired a boat, walked across the bridge, checked out the little temple on the other side, and hit the water to get my sunset shots. the sunset was awesome and i got a bundle of good photos.

after dusk i returned to the banks of the lake and bought a tshirt. i also discovered that my driver was drunk and didn’t want to return to mandalay. i paid him less than agreed, but still enough to keep him satisfied. i got on a horse cart to the main road and rode in a pick up truck to town. it was a long ride and i was a little annoyed at my driver. but i wasn’t too bothered, and returning to town i had a beer with dinner, then went to bed.

2009 was a year of extreme highs and lows. i had a lot of fun traveling and seeing so many new places. i returned to australia for the first time in 8 years. on the reverse side, i didn’t get to see some important family members when i went home, i had my ipod stolen in mongolia, and i endured some horrible bus rides, embassy blackmail and constant struggles to negotiate visas.

while the year ended on a high by reaching myanmar in time for new years, it was soured by the fact that customs won’t clear my camera battery pack (delivered via dhl) and it looks like i could lose the battery pack forever (the govt doesn’t return stolen confiscated items).

for me, 2010 will hopefully eclipse 2009 in terms of sheer awesomeness. i’ll be bagging at least 50-70 more countries, hitting africa and hopefully getting out before the craziness of the world cup. i’ll be meeting up with “the girl” in turkey. i’ll be driving through europe this time next year.

well, that’s the end of 2009 and i’m sad to see it go. i’ve had a great run … so far.

happy new year to one and all … i hope your 2010 is as prosperous and incredibly awesome as mine will be (if i survive it!).

btw, 2010 will be year of the tiger when lunar new year passes.

after lunch i checked my email and walked around town. i bought a bus ticket to medan, a very cheap tshirt and returned to the hotel for dinner. i had a few beers with a finnish tourist, packed and slept.

day 287 – i had a fantastic banana pancake for breakfast and jumped on the ferry across the other side of the lake to parapat. i got on a minibus which raced up the highway to medan.

i reached town and headed to the bus terminal. my destination was bukit lawang, where there’s an orangutan rehabilitation centre. when i got to the bus terminal i was told that i needed to go to a different terminal. i hadn’t gone to the wrong terminal, i just hadn’t realised that after 3pm there are no more buses from that particular terminal … stupid fucking bus terminals. what bizarre system.

i finally found a minibus but encountered a second problem – i had no money. there was no atm anywhere near the bus terminal (the nearest one was 5km away, in town). i had barely enough to cover the bus trip but i knew that there were no atms where i was headed – buket lawang was a small town with no banks.

i gave up. i’d had enough of buses and bullshit transport problems in indonesia.i got into a local bus and rode into the city centre. i looked around at the limited hotel options, which were crap, and managed to find a nice hotel (which had just opened) not too far away.

my next priority was food and an exit strategy. i had decided to leave indonesia and make for malaysia. i began looking for ferry ticket to get to georgetown on the malaysian peninsular. i had no luck and discovered that the schedule had been changed. instead of daily ferries, they were only 3 times a week. the next one wasn’t for 2 more days. screw that! i checked my email, set my alarm and went to bed.

day 288 – i got a taxi to the airport early in the morning and, despite checkins being closed, talked my way onto a flight to kuala lumpur. i had breakfast on the plane and when we reached kl i jumped on the bus into town.

i found myself in chinatown. i looked around and found a hotel next to a cool reggae bar. i had lunch there, checked email and walked around chinatown. then i got a taxi to a big shopping mall (B&B i think) where i got the nikon 85mm f1.8 that i’d been lusting for. i didn’t get a good price, but i didn’t care.

i returned to chinatown keen to put the lens through its paces. i took some photos and found a cool little hindu temple. despite being small, the temple was actually the main hindu temple in malaysia.

in the evening i went to a street cafe for dinner. i discovered that all the waiters there were burmese refugees … one of them even showed me his united nations refugee status card. pretty cool. we talked for a while and i told them that i’d been to burma. we had a great conversation about it.

back in my hotel i figured out that the wifi from the reggae bar (next door) worked in my hotel room. sweet! i stayed up all night chatting online. i also tried to update my linux, which broke the installation, making me curse and swear a lot. i decided to fix it in the morning.

day 289 – i reinstalled linux and headed to the myanmar embassy across town. the asshole embassy worker was so difficult. he kept saying that i’m a cameraman (because of my nikon) and that i can’t go to myanmar because i’d changed my passport but didn’t have a copy of the old passport. the guy was being such a douche. eventually he let me submit my passport and i paid the extra to get the visa in one day. i also had to get photographs, which fortunately, were available in the embassy.

i walked an hour across town back to my hotel. i walked past the famous petronas twin towers which used to be the tallest buildings in the world. i relaxed for a while, avoiding the heat of the day, and walked back to the embassy. i left early and i was very glad that i did. it started pouring rain about half way there and i was stuck at a mcdonalds for 30 minutes while i waited for the deluge to subside. i actually wasn’t far from the embassy and debated getting a taxi the rest of the way … but fortunately the rain stopped and i walked.

when i got to the myanmar embassy i was told (by the same embassy asshole) that i “maybe” couldn’t get my passport back today. it “maybe” will take one week. i was angry, but of course, it’s impossible to get angry at an embassy official who is holding your passport. then he said that he could get my passport if i give him something. he wanted money. i’d already paid $45 for the visa, but he wanted a “tip”.

it cost me an extra $20 and i got my passport. motherfucker!! i was pretty angry and stomped for a while back towards town. but my spirits lifted quickly. it was pretty funny in retrospect and i had my visa to myanmar. $65 was still less than i’d paid for visas to other countries (india and bangladesh), so i was in good spirits by the time i got back to chinatown.

i had dinner at the same restaurant so that i could tell the burmese guys about the blackmailing embassy bastard. they agreed that he was an ass.

day 290 – in the morning i went to the post office to mail my extra lens to korea. on the way i bought christina a birthday present and included it in the package. the post office was a freaking labyrinth and it took me 15 minutes to find the international parcel section. i sent the package off and headed back into town. on the way i found an indian visa office and discovered (which i had already suspected) that it would take five days to get the visa. i decided that i couldn’t get a visa in malaysia because i didn’t want to wait that long. i decided to take a risk on getting the visa in myanmar.

i returned to the hotel, had a short sleep, and walked to the travel agent. i didn’t get a ticket, realising that the schedules were really retarded. i had dinner and went back to the hotel.

top – shwedagon pagoda at night (photographed from my hotel room)
middle – par par lay, a burmese comedian who’s been jailed three times
bottom – girls clean shwedagon pagoda

top – a man prays at a shrine in shwedagon pagoda
middle – a boy in traditional dress is carried around the pagoda as part of a ceremony
bottom – morpheus the monk

top – a boy pokes faces at the camera
middle – a monk imitating the buddhas behind him
bottom – shwedagon pagoda, burma’s most famous pagoda

top – a monk stands by burma’s famous golden rock
middle – an old woman walks through a market
bottom – a happy girl smiles for me

top – tomato plantations grow on a river, photographed at sunset
middle – a girl sells hand made cigarettes
bottom – an old woman poses for a photo