Good Vibes, Good Friends, and Great Music at Wanderland 2013

It's magical, that moment when you're watching your favorite band perform and they start to play your favorite song. In a split second, right after that first note, everyone in the crowd seems to be thinking the same thing, which is in fact nothing, because you all just want to get lost in the music.

Add to that a lot of great friends and good vibes on a summery Saturday night in Manila and you have the first ever Wanderland Music Fest. Because really, when was the last time you laid out a mat on a field of grass?

Where to Stay in Bagan, Myanmar: Bagan Thande Hotel

Bagan Thande Hotel - book now at special rates via Agoda.com
Archaeological Zone, Old Bagan,
Bagan, Myanmar 05232
http://www.baganthandehotel.net/


In a nutshell:
Excellent location, relaxing & spacious surrounds, a bit of a splurge for a backpacker's budget, but worth it!

Rating: 4 / 5

How to Overcome Post Travel Stress Disorder

In my travels I’ve realized that the first day back at work from a holiday is the worst. I’ve never been happy to be back from a trip. There’s relief, in finding my flat intact, or in confirming that yes, I did NOT leave the air conditioner on before I left (do you ever get that feeling before a trip? My paranoid self always does!). There’s relief in realizing that I still have my job. It feels especially nice and I’m always grateful to see friends and family and give them trinkets and souvenirs, and to hear them say they’ve missed me (and then I realize how terribly I’ve missed them too!). But to be immediately happy after that cab ride home from the airport has never happened to me. I go through a lot of separation anxiety after a trip, and it’s usually directly proportional to how epic the trip was. It would take a couple of days or even weeks to get me comfortably back into “the real world”.

Overcoming post travel stress disorder is still a work in progress for me, but here are some tricks I’ve found to be of help.

The Beautiful Burmese: Portraits from Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon, Myanmar

I spent more time taking photos of the Burmese locals in Shwedagon Pagoda than of its massive, ornate structures. I hate to admit it, but at some point in our temple exploration of Myanmar, all temples, pagodas and stupas began to look the same, and I prefer temple ruins and ones that are unpainted and made of exposed bricks to brightly colored new ones anyway. As I made a post about the beautiful locals of Bagan, here are some portraits from our visit to Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.

Life in Flip Flops: Brief Encounters on Our Last Day in Yangon, Myanmar

Our stay in Yangon had been largely transitory, a necessary stopover to Bagan, and our final departure point out of Myanmar when the trip was over. Upon landing at the airport from Kuala Lumpur, we stayed in the capital for less than twelve hours before we took an overnight bus for Bagan. After three days in Bagan, we went back to Yangon for one final day before our flight back to Kuala Lumpur early the next morning.