Myanmar (Burma)

I arrived to Bangkok around 7am after the interesting train journey. I left my bag with my friend, had a shower and went for breakfast. Back in October a local had told me that one of the best Pad Thais in town was actually at Mulligan's Irish Bar on Khao San Road, which helpfully serve food 24/7. The bar was empty apart from an Irish guy who was drinking Guinness before 8am and clearly wanted someone to talk to, so he joined my table and started a conversation. He was a nice enough guy but he started telling about how the Iraq war wasn't about oil but was instead about finding "ancient knowledge" from some old tablets and the body of a "king-god" who ruled for 25,000 years, so that we can get his DNA.

I wasted time mostly hiding from the heat of Bangkok in coffee shops with A/C before making my way to the airport in the late afternoon. I had a couple of scares with my Myanmar visa but luckily they let me in the country. I asked two Americans (Liv and Nick from New Jersey) if they wanted to share a taxi with me in to the centre of Yangon. As we drove from the airport, I was amazed at how different the city was from how I had imagined. Big corporations, kids with trendy clothing and haircuts, lots of new mobile phones - it seemed like a big wealthy Asian city.

Once I'd checked in to my guesthouse at about 10pm, I walked back along the road to a lively street food vendor with roughly 40 local people sat on the small plastic chairs. As I arrived there were multiple shouts of "English!" before the only English-speaker appeared and talked me through some of the dishes on offer. It was very similar to the Malaysian dish of Nasi Kandar, which is rice with various curries in a buffet. I selected three different curries and it cost less than £2. Considering what I'd heard about the local food, I was really impressed.

The cheeky little kid in the photo was serving people food and kept saying hello every time he walked passed me. I commented on his Chelsea football shirt and then for the next 15 minutes our conversation consisted of us both saying "Chelsea" to each other repeatedly but with very different pronunciation (I'm pretty sure he was trying to correct mine). The meal and the people put a big grin on my face. It's always a little daunting getting to a new country on your own but I already felt comfortable.