I am in Mwalamyine (Moulmein) right now. When I arrived here by boat some two days ago I was already feeling it. The cruise down the river impressed me no question, but the euphoria appeared very tuned down. The day after it hit me like a brick. Travel fatigue. This must sound strange to all people who are not traveling. It certainly does for me.

Myanmar has been a blast. The amount of impressions per minute was so high and dense that I don’t feel able to ingest much more. From scenery, to population, friendliness to food and the hurdles and challenges of traveling in this still quite unpopular place. All these made me feel happy and at the same time I had a hard time to force me to go out and do another day of exploration in the 40°C heat of the day.

I tried to cope with the feeling by doing stupid things like doing my laundry. eating, sleeping a lot and watching television which I haven’t done in 3 months.

The next day I felt the urge to do something in the afternoon. So i ventured out to see some of the monasteries, temples and pagodas on top of the hill in Mwalamyine. It turned out to be a good idea as I found some real delightful artwork and had a great time in buildings left alone except for the moment when an occasional visitor comes by.

When I think about the period that lies in front of me now. I can’t really imagine how I could continue my current way of life for the next 10 months. I am really looking forward to be at Bangkok (again!) next week and do some work and westernize my self a little bit by choosing from the offer of European food and have a place that is in itself a real adventure but I am already accustomed to.

Thoughts come and go these days. One of them which sprung to my mind today was that it would be possible to spent the summer months in Europe where the climate is not too harsh and the views are on par or sometimes even better then the ones I did see here. Like the Italian travel of Goethe or something.

I will have to think about this for the next days. But the idea of crossing Vietnam on a motorbike seems somewhat strange now. Why? I don’t know. But soon I will.