Another update, and my situation changes regularly!

I received a friendly email from Naypyitaw explaining that I will not be allowed to do my ham radio hobby until the state of emergency has ended, (which is unlikely to happen for some time). So no surprises there..... Because of this situation, and because I don't want to rent a lock-up unit in Bangkok for the next lifetime, I actually have donated my bulky radio transceiver to a young radio ham in the UK. I can still engage in my radio hobby, but only receiving signals, such as images from satellites.

A welcome email from a school in Mandalay! They want me to be their school Principal :) I've managed schools previously in Laos and Yangon, and it can be a 'difficult' job. But they appreciate my educational charity work in Myanmar and maybe no-one else is 'stupid' enough to take the job!! In any case, if I work as principal, then my monthly income (pension+online teaching+principal salary) will typically be at least $5,500 USD, which would allow me to soon drop 800,000 THB into my Thai bank account for a future 'retirement' visa in Thailand.

I have a Zoom interview later this week :)

51 minutes ago, simon43 said:

Another update, and my situation changes regularly!

I received a friendly email from Naypyitaw explaining that I will not be allowed to do my ham radio hobby until the state of emergency has ended, (which is unlikely to happen for some time). So no surprises there..... Because of this situation, and because I don't want to rent a lock-up unit in Bangkok for the next lifetime, I actually have donated my bulky radio transceiver to a young radio ham in the UK. I can still engage in my radio hobby, but only receiving signals, such as images from satellites.

A welcome email from a school in Mandalay! They want me to be their school Principal :) I've managed schools previously in Laos and Yangon, and it can be a 'difficult' job. But they appreciate my educational charity work in Myanmar and maybe no-one else is 'stupid' enough to take the job!! In any case, if I work as principal, then my monthly income (pension+online teaching+principal salary) will typically be at least $5,500 USD, which would allow me to soon drop 800,000 THB into my Thai bank account for a future 'retirement' visa in Thailand.

I have a Zoom interview later this week :)

Hi Simon, best of luck with your zoom interview.

Oh dear! It looks like AirAsia has recently suspended flights between Bangkok (Don Muang) and Mandalay airport :( So now I'd have to fly on MAI (expensive) or Bangkok Airways (from Swampy and even more expensive). Drat!

39 minutes ago, simon43 said:

Oh dear! It looks like AirAsia has recently suspended flights between Bangkok (Don Muang) and Mandalay airport :( So now I'd have to fly on MAI (expensive) or Bangkok Airways (from Swampy and even more expensive). Drat!

Sorry to read Simon.

For me, was considering booking a flight later this summer on Cambodia and Malay Air Asia's new flag ship service from Siem Reap/Phnom Penh to Kuala Lumpur (avoiding Bangkok DMK) and then on to London Gatwick (LGW) but via Bahrain! Fortunately I have now saved 379$, (283 GBP) the one way promotion fare, including baggae in hold!

2 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

Sorry to read Simon.

For me, was considering booking a flight later this summer on Cambodia and Malay Air Asia's new flag ship service from Siem Reap/Phnom Penh to Kuala Lumpur (avoiding Bangkok DMK) and then on to London Gatwick (LGW) but via Bahrain! Fortunately I have now saved 379$, (283 GBP) the one way promotion fare, including baggae in hold!

Lol, there's an unexpected silver lining!

Today I received my annual, multi-entry retirement visa for Cambodia, with minimal admin paperwork needed. So with that sorted, I've now got my Cambodian 'base' sorted, and can arrange my trip to Myanmar, but avoiding the Water Festival (since air fares will rocket). I plan to stay in Mandalay on this first e-tourist visa trip, so I can visit the Girls' orphanage, a second orphanage and the Mandalay School for the Blind, plus drop into the school that is considering me as Principal (they must be mad!! lol). I hope to stay for about 3 weeks.

I've set up a drop-off address in Bangkok for receipt of Lazada parcels/packages, since the cost anf postal delays to Siem Reap are huge. So I can order eg - flashcards from Lazada, and pick them up as I pass through Bangkok on my way to Myanmar.

Finally I have booked a 3-week stay in the Inle Lake and Taunggyi region, leaving Siem Reap next weekend. I have various flashcards that are already waiting for me at my Lazada mailing address in Bangkok, and I'll print off A3 posters locally in Taunggyi.

Apart from the orphanages etc that I already know about, a 3-week visit will allow me to visit local KG/primary and secondary schools, since they too are no doubt short of learning/teaching resources.

I'll update (and with photos) for this trip :)

10 minutes ago, simon43 said:

Finally I have booked a 3-week stay in the Inle Lake and Taunggyi region, leaving Siem Reap next weekend. I have various flashcards that are already waiting for me at my Lazada mailing address in Bangkok, and I'll print off A3 posters locally in Taunggyi.

Apart from the orphanages etc that I already know about, a 3-week visit will allow me to visit local KG/primary and secondary schools, since they too are no doubt short of learning/teaching resources.

I'll update (and with photos) for this trip :)

Good luck with your travels and teaching Simon and stay safe and well.

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

Good luck with your travels and teaching Simon and stay safe and well.

Thanks.. It is certainly more easy to travel to/from Myanmar when based in Cambodia, as opposed to the UK.

My purchase of the domestic flight from Yangon to Inle Lake (HeHo Airport) was declined by Wise because of the UK's sanctions against Myanmar - I'll have to buy that air-ticket using my Bangkok Bank account. I have previously taken the overnight bus from Yangon to Inle Lake, but it takes about 14 hours because of the many police checks on the way. Besides, my bones are getting old, so I've decided to fly. That flight was once shot at as it was coming in to land at Heho Airport, so I'll take my tin hat with me :)

Hotels are cheap in Nyaung Shwe (the small town at the head of the lake), typically under $10/night for a basic hotel. This isn't a holiday for me (although in the 3 weeks of my trip I certainly hope to do some sightseeing). Apart from the 8 or orphanages that I already support, I plan to visit as many government schools as I can, including the primary schools in some of the floating villages on the lake.

I also want to use my time to improve my Burmese language knowledge, which is pretty basic right now. I can read/pronounce Burmese OK, and get by in conversation, so long as it concerns schools, books etc etc.

I need to find a Burmese wife..... :)

Yes, Wise card doesn't work at all in Myanmar. I tried mine in each of the 5 different bank ATMs in the Yangon airport arrivals in March 2023. My Thai Kbank atm/debit card did work there. Curiously, my UK issued MBNA credit card worked in all the restaurants we tried in Yangon (at least those few that accepted cards).

1 hour ago, soi3eddie said:

Yes, Wise card doesn't work at all in Myanmar. I tried mine in each of the 5 different bank ATMs in the Yangon airport arrivals in March 2023. My Thai Kbank atm/debit card did work there. Curiously, my UK issued MBNA credit card worked in all the restaurants we tried in Yangon (at least those few that accepted cards).

In fact, (as I found out yonks ago), even trying to use ATM cards from UK banks can result in card suspension or account locking (my UK Paypal account was locked yonks ago when I tried to access it from Myanmar). I would normally take clean US dollars, plus some emergency funds in my Thai and Cambodian bank accounts.

This trip will also allow me to drop into the various schools/colleges in Taunggyi to follow up job applications :)

Getting to the Inle Lake region is a bit of a journey. That's not due to the problems in the Middle East. Rather, it's because the flight from Bangkok to Yangon departs (for some unknown reason) at 2am on Sunday morning, arriving in Yangon about 1 hour later. My flight into Bangkok from Siem Reap arrives the previous afternoon, so I have a lot of time to kill AND I also need to teach 2 online lessons. Rather than fire up Zoom at a noisy airport, and risk having not enough 'juice' for my laptop, I'll stay for the afternoon at a cheap(ish) airport hostel that I know near Swampy.

Once I arrive at Yangon, I have about 6 hours to kill before my flight to HeHo airport, which is about 1 hour from the small town of Nyaung Shwe, at the head of Inle Lake. As previously mentioned, I have neither the time nor the interest in taking the long coach journey from Yangon to Nyaung Shwe!

My hotel in Nyuang Shwe is cheap, less than $10 USD/night. They also informed me that there is mains electricity for about 3 hours per day, (a fact that I remember being similar when I was in Nyaung Shwe about 14 months ago). The hotel internet and mobile internet is fine, so long as I buy SIM data cards for 3 different mobile networks when I arrive (Atom network is krap, so I won't buy that SIM), then use 3 different mobile phones at the same time AND the hotel wi-fi also to obtain a reliable internet connection, connecting all devices to my laptop using Speedify software. I've done this before in Myanmar and that works OK.

To ensure that I can do my online lessons during these 'black-outs', I need to bring my trusty 12v/220v inverter and car battery charger with me (2 useful travel items when visiting Myanmar!). I'll buy a car battery when I arrive in town. I already have a strong LED light that clips to my laptop, and a solar-powered torch for getting about in the dark :)

Car batteries are heavy, so I'm off to the local Sakura (secondhand item) shop today in Siem Reap to buy a cheap but strong bag to carry the battery, since I might travel up to Mandalay as well. The battery has to be 'abandoned' before I return home - can't take it on a plane.

A Christian nun in Taunggyi emailed me yesterday about a new orphanage that's just opened with about 80 children, caught up in the civil war, (many people were evacuated from the town of Loikaw, south of Inle Lake). She said that they are teaching the kids English, but any teaching resources will be most welcomed. I think the local print shop in Taunggyi will be getting good business from me.

I should emphasise that 'orphanage' doesn't always mean 'orphans'. Many of the kids do have parents, but the latter are destitute, and it's better for the offspring to stay at a monastery school or Christian orphanage, where they are safe, have clothes, food and other kids etc.

My hotel also told me that nowadays the police ban foreigners from hiring motorbikes in Nyaung Shwe. That's annoying, because I don't want to be reliant on taxis to get around locally. I can rent a bicycle, and the furthest-away orphanage is about 8 miles from Nyauang Shwe - so that will be a nice ride. (I'll have to move hotels to Taunggyi when visiting the orphanages in that town).

Also, my Burmese language skills are up to asking "I want to buy a car battery because there is no electricity at my hotel. Where is the shop?" However, whether or not I can understand the reply remains to be seen.... I hope that by immersing myself for a few weeks in a (mostly) Bumese language enivonment, I can improve my language knowledge.....

5 hours ago, simon43 said:

Getting to the Inle Lake region is a bit of a journey. That's not due to the problems in the Middle East. Rather, it's because the flight from Bangkok to Yangon departs (for some unknown reason) at 2am on Sunday morning, arriving in Yangon about 1 hour later. My flight into Bangkok from Siem Reap arrives the previous afternoon, so I have a lot of time to kill AND I also need to teach 2 online lessons. Rather than fire up Zoom at a noisy airport, and risk having not enough 'juice' for my laptop, I'll stay for the afternoon at a cheap(ish) airport hostel that I know near Swampy.

Once I arrive at Yangon, I have about 6 hours to kill before my flight to HeHo airport, which is about 1 hour from the small town of Nyaung Shwe, at the head of Inle Lake. As previously mentioned, I have neither the time nor the interest in taking the long coach journey from Yangon to Nyaung Shwe!

My hotel in Nyuang Shwe is cheap, less than $10 USD/night. They also informed me that there is mains electricity for about 3 hours per day, (a fact that I remember being similar when I was in Nyaung Shwe about 14 months ago). The hotel internet and mobile internet is fine, so long as I buy SIM data cards for 3 different mobile networks when I arrive (Atom network is krap, so I won't buy that SIM), then use 3 different mobile phones at the same time AND the hotel wi-fi also to obtain a reliable internet connection, connecting all devices to my laptop using Speedify software. I've done this before in Myanmar and that works OK.

To ensure that I can do my online lessons during these 'black-outs', I need to bring my trusty 12v/220v inverter and car battery charger with me (2 useful travel items when visiting Myanmar!). I'll buy a car battery when I arrive in town. I already have a strong LED light that clips to my laptop, and a solar-powered torch for getting about in the dark :)

Car batteries are heavy, so I'm off to the local Sakura (secondhand item) shop today in Siem Reap to buy a cheap but strong bag to carry the battery, since I might travel up to Mandalay as well. The battery has to be 'abandoned' before I return home - can't take it on a plane.

A Christian nun in Taunggyi emailed me yesterday about a new orphanage that's just opened with about 80 children, caught up in the civil war, (many people were evacuated from the town of Loikaw, south of Inle Lake). She said that they are teaching the kids English, but any teaching resources will be most welcomed. I think the local print shop in Taunggyi will be getting good business from me.

I should emphasise that 'orphanage' doesn't always mean 'orphans'. Many of the kids do have parents, but the latter are destitute, and it's better for the offspring to stay at a monastery school or Christian orphanage, where they are safe, have clothes, food and other kids etc.

My hotel also told me that nowadays the police ban foreigners from hiring motorbikes in Nyaung Shwe. That's annoying, because I don't want to be reliant on taxis to get around locally. I can rent a bicycle, and the furthest-away orphanage is about 8 miles from Nyauang Shwe - so that will be a nice ride. (I'll have to move hotels to Taunggyi when visiting the orphanages in that town).

5 hours ago, simon43 said:

Getting to the Inle Lake region is a bit of a journey. That's not due to the problems in the Middle East. Rather, it's because the flight from Bangkok to Yangon departs (for some unknown reason) at 2am on Sunday morning, arriving in Yangon about 1 hour later. My flight into Bangkok from Siem Reap arrives the previous afternoon, so I have a lot of time to kill AND I also need to teach 2 online lessons. Rather than fire up Zoom at a noisy airport, and risk having not enough 'juice' for my laptop, I'll stay for the afternoon at a cheap(ish) airport hostel that I know near Swampy.

Once I arrive at Yangon, I have about 6 hours to kill before my flight to HeHo airport, which is about 1 hour from the small town of Nyaung Shwe, at the head of Inle Lake. As previously mentioned, I have neither the time nor the interest in taking the long coach journey from Yangon to Nyaung Shwe!

My hotel in Nyuang Shwe is cheap, less than $10 USD/night. They also informed me that there is mains electricity for about 3 hours per day, (a fact that I remember being similar when I was in Nyaung Shwe about 14 months ago). The hotel internet and mobile internet is fine, so long as I buy SIM data cards for 3 different mobile networks when I arrive (Atom network is krap, so I won't buy that SIM), then use 3 different mobile phones at the same time AND the hotel wi-fi also to obtain a reliable internet connection, connecting all devices to my laptop using Speedify software. I've done this before in Myanmar and that works OK.

To ensure that I can do my online lessons during these 'black-outs', I need to bring my trusty 12v/220v inverter and car battery charger with me (2 useful travel items when visiting Myanmar!). I'll buy a car battery when I arrive in town. I already have a strong LED light that clips to my laptop, and a solar-powered torch for getting about in the dark :)

Car batteries are heavy, so I'm off to the local Sakura (secondhand item) shop today in Siem Reap to buy a cheap but strong bag to carry the battery, since I might travel up to Mandalay as well. The battery has to be 'abandoned' before I return home - can't take it on a plane.

A Christian nun in Taunggyi emailed me yesterday about a new orphanage that's just opened with about 80 children, caught up in the civil war, (many people were evacuated from the town of Loikaw, south of Inle Lake). She said that they are teaching the kids English, but any teaching resources will be most welcomed. I think the local print shop in Taunggyi will be getting good business from me.

I should emphasise that 'orphanage' doesn't always mean 'orphans'. Many of the kids do have parents, but the latter are destitute, and it's better for the offspring to stay at a monastery school or Christian orphanage, where they are safe, have clothes, food and other kids etc.

My hotel also told me that nowadays the police ban foreigners from hiring motorbikes in Nyaung Shwe. That's annoying, because I don't want to be reliant on taxis to get around locally. I can rent a bicycle, and the furthest-away orphanage is about 8 miles from Nyauang Shwe - so that will be a nice ride. (I'll have to move hotels to Taunggyi when visiting the orphanages in that town).

Hi Simon,

Well I never, the Japanese Sakura Shop. After hunting around Siem Reap for almost 2 hours with my tuk-tuk driver, this was THE only place where I was able to purchase a large, strong and metal framed magnifying glass to read small print! Excellent value - all Japanese products, no Chinese!

Wishing you the best of luck. Cheers.

3 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

Hi Simon,

Well I never, the Japanese Sakura Shop. After hunting around Siem Reap for almost 2 hours with my tuk-tuk driver, this was THE only place where I was able to purchase a large, strong and metal framed magnifying glass to read small print! Excellent value - all Japanese products, no Chinese!

Wishing you the best of luck. Cheers.

I found a sturdy bag in Sakura for my 'emergency power' kit! Now the problem is that flights from Yangon to Heho are booked up for a few days. So I'll stay in Yangon for 3 days, visit the monastery school over the river in Dala Township (where I taught in 2012 - I have some old photos of my young students who will now be in their 20's). I might drop into one of my old school employers, but I don't expect any job offers! (Yangon is too polluted anyway....). There is also a good educational book shop that sells bilingual story books that I used to donate - so that's worth a visit.

I would take coach travel, but this isn't possible since I teach online every evening and all the coach websites have either no seat availability, or foreigners have been banned from travelling on that route..... Such are the challenges of travel in Myanmar :)

Update - (deleted). MAI manually issued the flight ticket with many apologies for their fcuked-up website...

Just 36 hours after applying online, I received my tourist e-visa by email. (At least this demonstrates that I'm still allowed into Myanmar!)

I've started my journey back to Myanmar, at Suvanabhumi Airport right now.

I decided to document my journey (and the background to why I'm making this journey) in a series of short YouTube videos, which I've also posted on my Facebook channels.

http://www.youtube.com/@simonfrancisluttrell5818

Since I know many people don't use FB, here is a link to my YT channel and the videos which are currently numbered 1 to 7, although I'll try to add further videos each day of my trip.

If anyone really wants to understand why I do this work in Myanmar, I suggest you watch the latest video #7, which is from 'the heart', with more than a few tears :)

I'll be in Yangon tomorrow, so out with the camera....

So I finally made it back to Yangon :) A sign of the times is that the plane was about 95% Burmese citizens - only 4 people (including myaself queued at the 'foreigners' immigration desk at Yangon Airport, and the other 3 were Chinese....

For me, it's a memory lane experience, seeing where I used to live in Latha/Lamadaw 13 years ago. To be honest, nothing much seems to have chnaged, with one very visible exception - the new Dala Bridge.

One of the problems living in Myanmar is the internet. Apart from blocking social media websites and making VPN use illegal, everyday usage can be frustrating.

I knew this from living here before :) So today I went to the phone shop and bought SIM card data packs for 2 different mobile networks. (This is not unusual for me in any country - I have the same arrangement in Cambodia, 'joining' the data connection from those 2 mobile networks with my hotel wi-fi using Speedify software).

But I forgot that nowadays the military thinks Speedy is being used purely as a VPN system to access social media, (whereas I use it for speeding up internet connections, and don't need a VPN service. So Speedify runs like a snail on my Zoom lessons....

Tracking down the problem identified that if I switch off Speedify, then my hotel wi-fi connection using Zoom jumps up from 2 MB'sec to 18 MB/sec or more, and Zoom is not a service blocked by the military - phew! But whatsApp and Facebook are blocked, so I have to use an 'obscure' (ie the military haven't cottoned on to the IP address!) VPN service for that connection :)

Monday morning, and I had a Zoom interview with a school in Mandalay. The hotel internet is not very reliable, so after the interview I head off to buy Sim #3 from MPT mobile network. I walked 20 minutes from my hotel in Latha to Junction Centre, located the MPT shop with some difficulty, and bought a Sim card and data pack for 25,000 kyat, about $6 USD.

I walked back to my hotel to teach some more lessons, taking a photo of the busy road near Bogyote Augn San Market.

In the journey from my hotel to the upmarket Junction City centre and back again, I did not see a single 'western' person.....

A sunny Tuesday, and after a good breakfast at my hotel, I took a long walk from Latha up to Shwe Dagon Pagoda, but not to visit vthe pagoda (I've visited many times previously), but to visit the newly-opened Myanmar space Museum, located in the old planetarium building in the People's Park. 1,000 kyat entrance fee for locals, 5,000 kyat for foreigners, but unfortunately the museum operates on a guided tour basis only, no freely walking around, and it appeared closed.

My interest in the space museum is because I am/was a space scientist for many years, and still do educational space projects, especially in collaboration with the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos). Recently, 2 young students at a school in Yangon became the first Myanmar students to have their space-theme drawings transmitted back to Earth by a Russian cubesat, all arranged through my contacts with Roscosmos. They received personal certificates for this project.

However, the Myanmar Space Museum is part of the recently-formed Myanmar Space Agency, which is backed by the military government, AND collaborates with Roscosmos. So I have to be careful with my educational space projects not to have them associated with the military government.

My efforts in radio and space comms saw me recently arrested and deported from the country of Laos, (despite not breaking any law...). In a possible attempt to get arrested in Myanmar(!), I have brought with me my weather satellite receiving antenna and equipment, and will use this on the hills above Inle Lake perhaps next week to receive weather maps from a Russian satellite. Watch this space (while I watch outer space)!

I took a walk past Happy World, a pleasant park and boating lake, which has a rusting kids' funfair as well. 13 years ago, I took my grade 2 class to Happy World, and it was falling to bits then (the funfair, not the class!).

I walked back towards Sule Pagoda, stopping off at my old school (Alba) to informally see the new headmaster, who then offered me a job on the spot! (Sometimes being in-person works better than sending an email, or was it sheer desperation at the lack of 'whitey' teachers....)

The job was rather interesting: teach ESL part-time only at the weekend to government school students who attend weekend classes to improve their English. So minimum hours teaching, no teaching on weekdays, accommodation provided by the school, and the most important thing - a business visa, which would mean that not only can I legally stay in Myanmar all the time (ie no 28 day tourist visa), but I can easily pop up to Mandalay, Inle Lake etc during the weekdays, since my evening online teaching is possible from any location with internet.

I guess most teachers are searching for full-time employment, but I'm looking for part-time, minimal hours, just to get my business visa.

Well, let's see if this comes to fruition.

I walked back to my hotel, stopping to take a photo of colourful fruit and flowers.

What strikes me about Yangon is how little it seems to have changed, even back to the times of George Orwell no doubt.

• The same street sellers and smells of spices

• The pedalos slowly moving their buxom female passengers

• The shouts of street sellers

• The red betalnut stains

and with my day's long walk from Lattha to Schwe Dagon Pagoda and back again, stopping for a cold drink at Junction City, again - not a single 'western' tourist was seen......

Thanks. I really enjoy reading your posts!

Today is my last day in Yangon before I fly up to Heho Airport, gateway airport to Shan State. As previously mentioned, I opted to fly, rather than taking the coach for a couple of reasons: I'm getting old and can't hack a 12-hour coach journey. Also, the coach companies often require an FRC form, which is only issued to those on business or social visas.

I plan to stay in Taunggyi and Inle Lake region for a couple of weeks, since there are a number of orphanages and monastery schools that I've supported (in a small way) for many years, with school books etc.

I went for a walk in Yangon this morning, and took a photo in Lamadaw/Lattha of where I used to live when I first came to Yangon as a teacher. To be frank, the infrastructure of Yangon hasn't changed much, except for the new Dala bridge and Yangon hospital building.

But (IMHO), Yangon HAS changed. Not the city, not the buildings but the people.

I noticed that no-one wanted to be in my videos. They turned away or stepped out of shot. I quickly realised that it's no longer ok to video people, and that's why you'll find no videos that feature local citizens in my short videos on my Facebook channel.

It's sad, but the events over the past few years have changed people in Myanmar...

.. and as usual, in my morning walk from 10th Street down to Sule Pagoda and back, not a single 'Western' person to be seen....

20 hours ago, simon43 said:

not a single 'western' tourist was seen......

I have been to Myanmar many times and would love to go back. The step back in time fascinates me. Things that stop me from going again are the very bad news ref the ongoing war situation plus the negative travel advise from my embassy.

However, when I read about the relatively easy way of you moving around has set me thinking.

Please keep your reports coming. Thanks !

2 hours ago, Halfaboy said:

I have been to Myanmar many times and would love to go back. The step back in time fascinates me. Things that stop me from going again are the very bad news ref the ongoing war situation plus the negative travel advise from my embassy.

However, when I read about the relatively easy way of you moving around has set me thinking.

Please keep your reports coming. Thanks !

The 'Do not travel' warnings from many 'western' countries is really because they don't want criticism if one of their citizens is killed or injured or arrested etc in Myanmar.

I've been teaching off and on in Myanmar since 2012, with my most recent job in Mandalay ending just before the earthquake in 2025. In all those years, I have never felt in any danger, wherever I've traveled in Myanmar. This is simply because the police and military will not let foreigners travel to any region they deem to be dangerous. Therefore the possibility of a foreigner getting injured or killed is absolutely minimal.

Unlike Laos, (where the local police arrested me twice and deported me from the country 3 months ago, due to my 100% legal ham radio activities), I have never felt at any risk of arrest by the Burmese authorities. I refrain of course from making any comment about politics or religion, and never discuss these topics with any person in Myanmar.

I have been followed many times by the police, (especially in Naypyitaw), but was assured that it was for my own safety lol.

Since my reason for being in Myanmar is purely for educational purposes, I feel that I have nothing to hide.

Anyway, I'll fly up to Shan State tomorrow. I'm told that foreigners can no longer rent motorbikes, which would be annoying since one of the orphanages that I support is about 10km from my hotel. So perhaps a bicycle can be rented. We'll see :)

Also, as an afterthought, your medical insurance would probably be invalid if you are taken ill or have an accident etc, since you're traveling in a region 'outlawed' by your country's travel advice. For this reason, I ride my motorbike VERY carefully when in Myanmar! I have been taken ill when in Myanmar (a flare-up of my lung illness Bronchiectasis that I've had for yonks), but I was able to get back to Bangkok for treatment under my own steam.

A busy day today, as I flew from Yangon up to Heho airport, the nearest airport to Inle Lake.

As expected Yangon domestic terminal had no 'Westerners' and the ATR72 prop plane to Heho was full. The flight was only about 1 hour, but if you travel by coach, then with the many police checks, the trip takes perhaps 10-12 hours. Not for old me!!

I took a taxi from the airport to my prebooked lodgings in Nyaung Shwe, the nearest town to Inle Lake. I always only book the first night at hotels, in case there is something not ok with the hotel. That was the case here, where the fastest internet from their wi-fi was not even 2 MB/sec. Additionally, although the hotel was in the town, none of my 3 mobile network SIMs produced anything more than a whisper of a signal!

So I wandered over to Sweet Inn, right by the bridge over the canal that runs down to the lake, and therefore close to all amenities. I had stayed at Sweet Inn some years ago and remembered the friendly owner and the fast internet.

I was not disappointed. 19 MB/sec wi-fi internet and a cracking signal from Atom mobile network as a back-up! The owner appeared, remembered me and provided his best room at $7 a night :) He mentioned that since the military coup, he had only had 2 western customers (in 5 years). As a result of lack of income, his hotel needed a touch of paint (that's an under-statement!). But it was the same as the other hotels in town. Yes, they had Burmese from Taunggyi who come to visit, but that's it.

I was able to teach my online lessons without any problems, and the electricity in the town was cut at about 8pm (the hotel has no generator). However, I always come well-prepared with a car battery charger and 12v/220v inverter. The hotel owner has an old car battery that he will bring tomorrow, so I'll hopefully not have to buy one.

Enjoying a cold Yoma beer... here's a view across from the hotel to the nearby temple.

I do need to print out more of my A3 vocabulary posters, but the sole printer in town only stocks standard 60 gram A3 paper, no card. I predicted this. So I need to buy white paper glue, some strong scissors and corrugated packing cardboard to strengthen the posters if printed on 60 gram paper. That's a job for Friday :)

Friday, and I hoped to rent a motorbike to visit 2 orphanages on the edge of Nyaung Shwe. However, not only have the authorities forbidden foreigners to rent motorbikes, there was also no chance of a motorbike taxi or car taxi, because of the fuel shortage. So I had no choice to walk the 3 km to the orphanages :) I had visited these 2 orphanages several times over the past 8 years or so.

I visited a small christian orphanage on the edge of town that last time was packed with refugees fleeing the fighting in Loikaw. This time, the refugees had moved on and only the 10 orphans were in residence. This orphanage used to receive many donations from foreign tourists (because of its proximity to the twon). The kids used to joke with me that they could open a shop selling toothpaste and toothbrushes! Since now there were only a small number of children staying at the orphanage, their basic needs were well looked after and my educational resource donations welcomed. I need to return perhaps in May after the mayhem of the water festival to donate some more specific items.

Sasana Yaung Orphanage looks after 70 Buddhist boys. Their day-to-day needs are provided by local donations of food and the boys' welfare (clothes, medicine etc) are provided by a great little British charity called Children Do Matter. I took some photos to report back to this charity. My educational donations (flashcards, vocabulary posters etc, mobile app installation etc) were well received! I'll return in May because the teacher explained that the boys were learning all about Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, but had no resources to explain/illustrate these. So that's another topic that I need to create posters for :)

I hope to rent a bicycle to cycle the 10 Km to an ethnic (Pa-Oo) orphanage in Minethout, half-way down the lake. Or even rent a boat since there's a jetty at Minethout. That's a trip for maybe tomorrow or Sunday :)

How to teach online with the very intermittent mains power (off at the moment).

I come prepared with a car battery charger, 12v/220v inverter, mobile internet packages on 3 Myanmar networks and a car battery lent to me by the hotel owner :)

23 hours ago, simon43 said:

Friday, and I hoped to rent a motorbike to visit 2 orphanages on the edge of Nyaung Shwe. However, not only have the authorities forbidden foreigners to rent motorbikes, there was also no chance of a motorbike taxi or car taxi, because of the fuel shortage. So I had no choice to walk the 3 km to the orphanages :) I had visited these 2 orphanages several times over the past 8 years or so.

I visited a small christian orphanage on the edge of town that last time was packed with refugees fleeing the fighting in Loikaw. This time, the refugees had moved on and only the 10 orphans were in residence. This orphanage used to receive many donations from foreign tourists (because of its proximity to the twon). The kids used to joke with me that they could open a shop selling toothpaste and toothbrushes! Since now there were only a small number of children staying at the orphanage, their basic needs were well looked after and my educational resource donations welcomed. I need to return perhaps in May after the mayhem of the water festival to donate some more specific items.

Sasana Yaung Orphanage looks after 70 Buddhist boys. Their day-to-day needs are provided by local donations of food and the boys' welfare (clothes, medicine etc) are provided by a great little British charity called Children Do Matter. I took some photos to report back to this charity. My educational donations (flashcards, vocabulary posters etc, mobile app installation etc) were well received! I'll return in May because the teacher explained that the boys were learning all about Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, but had no resources to explain/illustrate these. So that's another topic that I need to create posters for :)

I hope to rent a bicycle to cycle the 10 Km to an ethnic (Pa-Oo) orphanage in Minethout, half-way down the lake. Or even rent a boat since there's a jetty at Minethout. That's a trip for maybe tomorrow or Sunday :)

23 hours ago, simon43 said:

Friday, and I hoped to rent a motorbike to visit 2 orphanages on the edge of Nyaung Shwe. However, not only have the authorities forbidden foreigners to rent motorbikes, there was also no chance of a motorbike taxi or car taxi, because of the fuel shortage. So I had no choice to walk the 3 km to the orphanages :) I had visited these 2 orphanages several times over the past 8 years or so.

I visited a small christian orphanage on the edge of town that last time was packed with refugees fleeing the fighting in Loikaw. This time, the refugees had moved on and only the 10 orphans were in residence. This orphanage used to receive many donations from foreign tourists (because of its proximity to the twon). The kids used to joke with me that they could open a shop selling toothpaste and toothbrushes! Since now there were only a small number of children staying at the orphanage, their basic needs were well looked after and my educational resource donations welcomed. I need to return perhaps in May after the mayhem of the water festival to donate some more specific items.

23 hours ago, simon43 said:

Many thanks for the updates Simon, most interesting , and I am very happy to know the kids do get such charitable help. If only I could assist with donations.

Wishing you continued good health on your Burmese travels.

Sasana Yaung Orphanage looks after 70 Buddhist boys. Their day-to-day needs are provided by local donations of food and the boys' welfare (clothes, medicine etc) are provided by a great little British charity called Children Do Matter. I took some photos to report back to this charity. My educational donations (flashcards, vocabulary posters etc, mobile app installation etc) were well received! I'll return in May because the teacher explained that the boys were learning all about Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, but had no resources to explain/illustrate these. So that's another topic that I need to create posters for :)

I hope to rent a bicycle to cycle the 10 Km to an ethnic (Pa-Oo) orphanage in Minethout, half-way down the lake. Or even rent a boat since there's a jetty at Minethout. That's a trip for maybe tomorrow or Sunday :)

^^ Thanks VERY much! I appreciate your comments.

The electricity came back on late yesterday evening - so I took the opportunity to try to push some energy into this old battery. At 6.30am precisely, the mains electricity went off again. I had 2 60-minute lessons to teach that morning. The first was fine, using the stored energy in the battery, but it failed at the end of the lesson and so the final lesson was taught just running on my laptop battery - but I bailed at 50 minutes before the laptop shut down!

Now that the shops are open today, I went out and bought a new 12 volt car battery for 240,000 MMK, which is either $120 or $60, depending if it's a bank rate or money changer rate. I wanted to pull some money out of my Bangkok Bank account, but the few ATM machines in the town were all switched off and out of service. Luckily, by waving a $100 bill in the air, several local Burmese came running and I was able to get some local currency at 3,900 kyat = $1, which is ok.

I bought the battery, installed it in my hotel room. Hurrah! The mains electricity came on and so I started to charge it and went out, intending to rent a bicycle to go to an orphanage a few km out of town. No bikes to hire, motorbike hire is banned for foreigners, no local taxis etc because of the fuel shortages. So I started to walk, but it really was too hot for old me and I surrendered to an iced latte instead at a local cafe.

The best I managed was a photo of the local paddy fields....

I returned to my hotel and am posting this with the mains electricity off again!! I only have 1 more lesson to teach today, but 4 tomorrow. Truly, it is a real challenge to teach online. When the mains electricity is off, so is the hotel wi-fi router, so I have to rely on mobile data. I need to quickly find out how to top up my data package (I can't use my UK cards to do this - the UK has sanctioned Myanmar. My Bangkok Bank ATM card sends an OTP to my Thai mobile number - well, that is really useful NOT!!)

The events in the Middle East are seriously affecting the availability of jet fuel in Myanmar, and most (all?) domestic flights are cancelled until further notice. MAI assure me that my flight from Heho to Yangon on 4th April is OK, but I guess that is just 1 big lie! I don't want to miss my flight back to Bangkok on 5th April, so I really need to make alternative travel plans, since I don't want to get to Heho airport on April 4th and be greeted with "Mingalaba, sorry but we lied...".

I still need to visit orphanages in Taunggyi and Kalaw, and I will take a local taxi to reach those destinations. So my cunning plan is to take a taxi from Kalaw to Naypyitaw, about 5 hours away. In NPT, there is a 1,000 kids orphanage (Sama Mountain Orphanage) to visit, which I have supported with books etc for years. So I can stop for a day or 2 in NPT, perhaps visit my old school, and then take the DEMU train or taxi back to Yangon.

I've got plenty of time to do this - the extra cost is annoying, but I guess Trump isn't going to send me any refunds......