With my brief trip coming to an end, I woke up, had breakfast on the roof of Hotel Yadanarbon, and caught my private shuttle to the airport. The airport was a considerable distance outside the city, about twice as far away as U Bein Bridge. I arrived at the airport with plenty of time, before check-in had opened, and waited in the downstairs cafe while a group played audio from an iPad at full volume, seemingly indifferent to those around them. Once check-in opened, people cut into the queue from both sides. I eventually boarded my flight and took off for Bangkok.

My alarms went off at 5:45, with my bags already packed from the night before. Today would begin my journey back to Mandalay and mark the close of my time in Myanmar. I had desperately wanted to see Bagan after everybody told me how beautiful it was, but travelling there felt too risky during the New Year festivities. On a longer trip, I would have taken the gamble, but not with such a tight schedule.

First thing in the morning, I went downstairs and asked whether the staff had been able to organise bus tickets out of Bagan, either during the day or at night. I knew JJ Max was full but held out hope for the two other bus providers. The hotel staff managed to contact both, but they were fully booked for the next week, day and night. I started to worry about how I would get to Yangon. The staff then checked the buses from Monywa to Yangon: full. The buses from Mandalay to Yangon were also full. I had already encountered bad luck when organising airfare, as the company cancelled my ticket at the last minute due to “technical issues.” All the airlines’ websites reported that only limited …

The touts in Mandalay were more persistent than those in Yangon, approaching every passenger on the bus. One driver asked where I was going. When I said the bus station for Monywa, he offered to take me for 5,000 kyat. I countered with 2,000 because it was only about two kilometres away. He lowered his price to 4,000, then offered two motorbikes for 1,000 each. I declined and started walking.

I woke up and went downstairs for a simple breakfast of eggs, toast, and coffee. Another traveller from Australia was there, so we chatted for a little while before I packed my things and walked to the bus stop. The bus arrived quickly. I jumped on and was soon on my way. Although I had some instructions for using the bus, I needed to transfer. Following my map, I got off and crossed the street to wait for the next bus to Inya Lake. It never came, and a local mimed that I was at the wrong stop. After walking around for a while in search of the bus, I eventually gave up and flagged down a taxi. It looked fine from the outside but was barely functioning. Twenty minutes and $3 later, I was at the lake, although at …

I arrived at Yangon International Airport quite early in the morning. My first impression was that the airport seemed new, with smartly presented staff throughout. I passed through customs without any problems. My first stop was the currency exchange; the airport rate was apparently reasonable, and I would need cash quickly. I handed over $200 in freshly minted US currency. Do you know how hard it is to find fresh US dollars in Sydney? The staff began preparing my money. The people before me had bags and bags of cash, and I thought they must have exchanged $10,000 or more. My luggage soon arrived, and I left the exchange with a stack of 200 bills. I counted them, passed through customs, and was greeted with …

I am stretched out on a flat bed, reclined farther than I have ever been on a plane, just a few hours into my flight to Kuala Lumpur. This holiday came together out of the blue two months ago. Let’s go back a few months. I was at work when an airfare alert appeared on my phone: an AirAsia sale from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur. I had vowed never to fly AirAsia again after having my water confiscated less than five metres from the gate, even though I had purchased it inside the airport, after going through security. Worse, I had spent the rest of my Malaysian currency on the water, so I did not have enough money to buy another bottle on the flight. Regardless, I read the alert and started to consider a quick …