Resting, recovering and preparing

This Saturday morning I have sorted out most of the photos and trying to fight a cold that was trying to invade my body, but with the help of Emergency C, vitamin B12, and Ester C, I think I have this thing licked! Nery should be arriving home just about now and I am trying to get organized for my travels on Monday.  The more I think about Myanmar the more in awe I am of the people and their sweetness. To have no running water, no electricity and have to cope with the challenges of the weather, bugs and everything else thrown at them, and yet they seem to be so kind, inviting and warm. Don't get me wrong, we did see a mother screaming for her teenage daughter, waiting for her to cross the tracks, with a baby in one arm and a clenched first in the other, as her daughter approached, she clocked her in the face full throttle! I had not seen someone get hit in the face in such a long time, I was in shock. Nery caught the entire thing on video. Of course, the girl eyes welled up, but no way did she allow a tear to drop. The mother after a few minutes gave the girl money to go buy medicine for the baby. Mother's remorse, I guess. You could see the anger in my face and me exclaiming WTF in the video. 

So my story of the trip that we call "crazy business", here it is....

When Nery told me that she was coming to visit, I started getting quotes for Vietnam and Myanmar. The quote for Myanmar came in at $360 pp for ten days, and 2 for $680. I thought wow, this is really cheap and decided Myanmar it was! We knew that we had to pay everything in cash, since no credit cards are allowed and they do not have ATM's. We arrived to the hotel and our guide presents us with the bill that says $2,680. My mouth dropped, David the owner of the company failed to put a comma in his price and the boy wanted his money. Well, on the customs form it states that you have to declare everything over $2,000.00. This was the beginning of our trip. I told the kid we had been deceived and I was only going to pay him the $680.00 and the $60.00 for the visa.  I took my money out and started counting. He kept on insisting that my money was old and he could not take it, and then asked "Don't you have any Benjamin's". That was it! I had had it with this punk, I told him I was not an ATM and that I could not print money, that he had no choice but to accept my money. Nery and I went on to Bagan the next morning.  

For the next eight days or so we were gently threatened, if we didn't pay the rest of the trip would be cancelled.

This is no way to enjoy a vacation, I finally told Sue, our guide to tell the man to stop calling and stop threatening us, or I was going to go home and he would never see any money. I wanted to see his eyes and have a conversation in person and that I would meet with him upon our return to Yangon. Meanwhile, all of the hotels that were stated on the itinerary were not the dumps that we stayed at, so we started asking hotels their prices, so we could get an idea of their cost. In Yangon, we met with the two men that were sent to collect their money, again we danced around the fact that David forgot to place a comma in his quote, David by the way is French and very well knows what a comma signifies. The men decided they wanted to estimate the costs of the hotels we did stay at, the airfare and the expense of guides and driver.

They came back the next morning with an excel sheet and everything they wrote was complete. B.S.. I started to raise my voice, told them that I was done with their bullshit and I was going to pay them what I thought was the correct amount. I had to step out of the hotel for a moment to cool down. They could not believe that I raised my voice and they started looking around the lobby to see who was watching. I came back and paid them $2,000. total told them I was done, and goodbye. They were in disbelief, I told them, that I was not stupid and that they were insulting my intelligence. They tried to continue the negotiations, Nery and I shook their hands and went off on our tour, after I had them sign a note written by me that I had no further obligation with them and that they were accepting my $2,000.00 

Beware of Hein Thuzar Travels and Tours, Goto-Myanmar.com. The most ironic part is that on his itinerary he states "Don't worry, just come!" 

Here are a few more photos of the beautiful people of Myanmar!