Posts by alex

Permission must be granted before foreigners can enter Sikkim in NE India. A fascinating area- now part of India after being its own kingdom since the 17th Century. We walked over to the Sikkim tourist office in Silliguri to get a permit. The walk had been described by the hotel manager as “pleasant”. We walked…

Moreh is the only border crossing foreigners can use to enter India from Myanmar. It’s a sleepy little village crammed between a mountain range and a river. Once you’ve crossed the bridge, you enter through gates into India! It being Sunday, it was unmanned with relaxed police waving us through. We eventually reached the high…

Bagan is, as far as we’re concerned, the jewel in the crown for Myanmar. It used to be the capital of a separate kingdom- of Pagan, now subsumed into Myanmar. It is an ancient city with the most temples per square kilometre of any other city with about 2200 religious sites remaining to this day.…

We crossed through small hilly roads out of Naypyidaw towards Inle Lake. The road was beautiful- clear of traffic and with only the occasional ox cart trundling past. We went through flooded plains being ploughed by oxen, the vibrant green screamed alongside us as we rode along the concrete road. It was like entering a…

The curious thing about Myanmar is that a bloody history still echoes in present day- ethnic tensions loom large and the UN’s ongoing presence for Human Rights Watch is a sobering reminder that “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil but those who look on and do nothing”.* Having recently been…

The Mae Sot border was a little more problematic but once it was was established that we had no permit and no stamp on our carnets, it all went smoothly. Our tour agency sorted the paperwork for us on the Myanmar side so that the crossing was quick and painless. The only tricky part was…

Waiting in the sweltering early afternoon sun to enter Thailand, we finally got to the head of the queue, solemnly gave our application form and passport, were stamped into Thailand and waved away. The next obstacle had our hearts thumping in our chests. We had to clear customs. There was a small group of officials…

We returned to Kuala Lumpur ready to start our short journey to Myanmar where we were meeting a group to cross the country. It is currently mandatory for foreigners with foreign vehicles to be escorted across the country with a guide and tourist police. With that in mind, we had a 10th March deadline to…

The weather was good, we were told, and as we approached the flat grey blue water we could believe it for a minute as the skies were not overcast for once and a weak sun made an entrance and tried, in vain, to warm us up. Traveling in new and unused luxury we were ferried…

First things first. It should be known that E-Visas are a load of rubbish when entering Vietnam. The Gov.UK website brightly states that one can apply for an E-Visa on an embedded link. This is categorically misleading information! Firstly, UK citizens don’t require a visa if going for less than two weeks, secondly, the visa…