Articles by Doug Nienhuis
I am a Canadian, and I am currently traveling through Asia with a touring bicycle. These are stories and pictures from my trip.
SILENT SPEED – Renting An E-Bike in Bagan
In the “old days”, you made your way around the temples and pagodas of Bagan by bicycle, by horse-drawn cart, or by private car. Nowadays, however, a new option has appeared with a vengeance: e-bikes. E-bike rental operations are everywhere in Bagan, and chances are that your hotel can rent you an e-bike or there will be an e-bike rental company right across the road.
I’d …
VIDEO: The Wonders of Shwezigon Pagoda, & the Streets of Nyaung U (Bagan, Myanmar)
There are well over 2,000 pagodas, temples, and other religious structures in the Bagan area of Myanmar. One of the most famous is the Shwezigon Pagoda, located just a couple hundred meters away from my guest house in the small town of Nyaung U.
This was my first day in Bagan, and instead of renting an E-Bike (I do that the next day), I set off …
VIDEO: Yangon to Bagan by Train – 20 Hours of Rattle and Roll
About 430 miles (690 kilometers) separate Yangon from Bagan, and I decided to cover that distance by train. I’ll always go somewhere by train (as opposed to a bus) if that is an option. I like to be able to get up out of my seat and walk around and have regular access to a bathroom. And I like the views you get from train …
VIDEO: The Secret Relic Room at Botataung Pagoda – Yangon, Myanmar
With some illnesses and a failing computer, I have been off the Internet for a while and just enjoying life in Yangon. On this day, however, I decided to take my camera with me as I went to visit one of the most famous pagodas in the city.
The Botataung Pagoda is unique in that the main structure is not sealed. It is open and has …
VIDEO: Coffee, Donuts, and a Local Newspaper
The intense heat and the blackouts continued in Yangon. My guest house didn’t have a working generator, so when the power went out, so did the A/C and the fan. And so I went in search of a coffee shop with air conditioning. Along the way, I picked up a local newspaper to see what is going on in the country of Myanmar in general.
VIDEO: Streetside Repairs in Yangon
One of my favorite aspects to living and traveling in Asia is that it is often far easier (and cheaper) to accomplish daily tasks. In Taiwan, for example, getting a new muffler on your scooter can take thirty minutes. You simply drive up to the shop, they remove the old muffler and put on the new one right away, and they generally don’t charge for …
VIDEO: Lunch in Yangon, and a Hostel Tour
This video was shot before I got sick in Yangon. I just never had the chance to upload it at the time because the Internet cut out mid-upload constantly (with all the power blackouts), and I gave up. I wasn’t going to upload it at all, but I figured I might as well. In fact, it was after this meal that I got really sick. …
VIDEO: Slow Ride in Myanmar! On the Circular Train in Yangon
I’d heard about the circular train in Yangon from a number of people, and it seemed like something that was right up my alley – a chance to just sit back on a 3-hour train ride to nowhere and watch the world pass by. That it was in Yangon, Myanmar, made it even better.
Much of the information I had about the train seemed to be …