@Paulo: Thanks, I absolutely agree with you- safety first; ask questions later! 😉

@Jackie: Thank you so much for your comment. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for it. <3

@Ryan: I’d love to take that boat from Mandalay the next time and the Balloons! Sounds like you had an awesome trip. 5-6000 is real good, but I felt so badly for the horse at the end of my ride. He can have my 7,000. lol. And I agree what you said about travelinlass’ apology- I don’t consider it an apology, but a personality disorder. That whole tirade just didn’t make sense.

@Travelnlass ‘You’re not writing a novel here’ ? What does that mean? She’s not allowed to write an entertaining & honest blog about her own experience?
Traveling alone at 3am is sketchy in any country. How can you judge someone about being afraid in that situation? Especially when they are open & honest about regretting that fear.
It’s always the self-righteous know it alls that end up as the ‘I never thought it would happen to me victims’.
Glad you’ve been safely travelling alone where ever & whenever you choose. Its incredible how trusting & invincible you are.
It’s even more incredible you’re an avid traveler yet speak as through you’ve never experienced the world.

I hope you got to enjoy Balloons over Bagan while there. It was one of the travel highlights of my life. I really enjoyed Bagan.

Also, travelnlass needs to lighten up. Even that “apology” was rather passive aggressive. Maybe she should re-read the rules everyone learned in Kindergarden.

@travelinlass: No problem. Everyone travels differently. Me, I have to balance my naivete with street-smart jadedness, because each country is a foreign territory with a different set of survival rules and I have experienced/seen others getting scammed. My fear wasn’t completely unwarranted. As a soloist, I always try to put my safety first; because I’m the only one who will have to suffer its consequences alone. So I try never to judge peoples’ travel fears; they’re only trying to ensure their personal safety and I won’t be there to get them out of bad deal.

As a personal rule, I avoid staying out past midnight and wouldn’t recommend it to others,especially if the women of that country try not to be out at that hour. So 3 am is definitely a time my guard is going to be on extra high, especially considering how dark and desolate it was. Some soloists might say I was stupid to take a bus that got me in at that hour. But I gambled on being able to get through it because I wanted to fit everything into my schedule. I’m glad it worked out.

@Amber: I think it’s natural that we all struggle with those moments. Travel isn’t always clear cut, cultural differences exist and the more you travel, the more you try to become saavy about scams.. and they’re often around transportation. ha ha. I believe it’s like you said– in a way it keeps us “on guard enough to keep us safe” and sometimes it can get out of hand. lol.