Somewhere between Vox & Hunter S. Thompson
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Culture
I flew into the airport of a city called Bergamo. From there, despite having the passport stamps to prove that I had been to hell and back, I breezed through customs. I changed my money and took a bus into Milan called Terra Vision. The bus took about 1 hour to reach Milan’s Stazione Centrale (Central Station) and cost 5.00 EUR (5.32 USD).
This is the local's guide to Istanbul, as well as a narrative of my experiences there. And it's been moved! This article has become a city guide in it's own rite, so when you click on this article, you'll be prompted to visit this guide in its new location.
(It's better this way, I promise)
Welcome to Rajasthan! Land of those awesome, stereotypical, curly mustaches that Indians have. I have been looking forward to coming to this province of India for a while now. So let’s get started. My first stop in Rajasthan was a city called Pushkar. The jumping off point for this little gem is a city called Ajmer.
It was another 20 or 30 minutes through the canyon before we finally saw Turtuk off in the distance. As we approached, the canyon grew wider ahead of us, and we saw a small collection of trees. It wasn't long before we were in the middle of those trees, and I was taken completely by surprise by what we found. Tucked away in such a remote part of the Himalayas, Turtuk was like a lot like Shangri-La. Despite its harsh, rugged surroundings, this village was a little slice of heaven.
If anybody remembers my “travel plans” post about India, one of the big things that I wanted to do was to get to a place called the Spiti Valley in India’s Northern Himalayas. The Spiti Valley would have been cool, but it was just an idea; in reality I just wanted to see the Himalayas, in some way, shape, or form.
Life happened, and I ended up in Leh.
Waking up in Dhaka I hear the ringing of bells on rickshaws, people yelling, and dogs barking. I am staying on the 9th floor of an office building that rises high over the slums on Dhaka’s southwestern outskirts. I look out the window, and I can see a rainstorm blowing in from the south. The Muslim call to prayer eerily wafts over the half-finished buildings all around me from the local mosques.
It was time to leave the Shan State, but before I did, I wanted to get off the beaten path a little bit. For 40 USD, a few new friends and I hired a truck to take us deeper into the Shan State than ever before to a temple complex called Kakku.
Bagan is a pretty picturesque place, but for me, these 9th century Buddhist ruins, cool as there were, were only part of the story. The people of Bagan were also awesome to interact with, which is sort of a rarity for a traveler. If we’re being honest here, most local people who talk to you when you’re traveling are trying to sell you something. It’s pretty rare to travel in the developing world and have somebody talk to you with no ulterior motive. You have to get pretty far off the beaten path for that. That is what makes Burma so great.
Bagan is an enormous temple complex, not unlike Angkor in Cambodia, about 430 miles north of Rangoon (Yangon). Unlike Angkor however, Bagan is still relatively unknown to tourists. Imagine going to Angkor 50 years ago, before backpacking became a thing. That is Bagan. Unlike Angkor Wat, there are no guards or signs. Literally the only rule is to take your shoes off before entering a temple. That is the Buddhist custom.
When I got to the ticketing counter for Tiger Air, I told the woman at the counter that I was traveling to Yangon. She looked skeptical. “You’re traveling to Yangon? Really?” she said, squinting.
“Uhh… yes?” I replied groggily.
I was required to go through security twice before I got on my flight (the second time at the gate) and when I finally did, the plane was only about 1/3rd full. It was not a smooth flight, so while I’m white-knuckling my seat, let me fill you in on Burma really quick.
![Peter Goes Deeper Into The Shan State: Kakku [Burma]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5876d8d6e3df28c4d83ae377/1485795155430-URKDTDVQBMGEJKH69EHS/kakku+temple+shan+state+burma+myanmar+18.jpg)
