Hola Yangon, Myanmar

 Day 1 - 24th December 2015

Time check, 5am. I have finally landed in the Yangon International Airport. With an aching back, tired body and sore arms. I left London Heathrow Airport on.....22nd December 2015. So basically, it took me 2 days to get to Myanmar. Well to be fair, I spent 13hr 50min in Doha Airport. My brain is so messed up at the moment on time zones and let's not mention my body clock. It was my first time taking Qatar Airways and it was a really really pleasant flight. Great food, great service and excellent choices of inflight entertainment movies (really it's because they have all 8 Harry Potter movies. yes I'm biased like that). They have a lot of Disney animations too!

Anyway, back to Yangon. So I was the 3rd in line at the immigration queue. Yay great! So that means that I can get out faster....right? Lol nope. Because my baggage decided that they would take ages to come out and give me a minor heart attack by making me think they got lost during transit.

Dear luggage....I have died everyday waiting for you, darling don't be afraid I have loved you

 So to entertain myself while waiting for my luggage and battling nature calls, I made use of the free wifi and called my aunt and mum who were waiting outside, and my brother who was in Singapore getting ready to board his flight. FINALLY. While talking to my brother, my luggage finally came out. Collected it and hightailed out of that place. Ahaha.

Whoo. That weather. I was melting. I really really do not like heat at all. Missing UK already. That nice cold weather, while I just bundle myself up under the duvet with movies playing on my laptop. That's the life. And I digress. So we drove over to my youngest's aunt place, dropped my luggage off, and went to greet my grandmother at hers. They live in different houses but it's literally a 20sec walk. ._. Good to have privacy while staying close to family right? Haha.

Time check, around 8am. I still have an hour's rest before having to head out for all the wedding prep. Right, 1st stop. Over to the seamstress' with my aunt while my mum went to pick up my dad and brother.

Selfie with le 2nd aunt in the car

 Whoo! Amazing work by the seamstress because even though I wasn't there for the measurements and all, the outfit fit perfectlyyyyyy. Pictures in the next post. Haha. But really though, she is soooo good. She was in charge of the outfits for my aunts and all the bridesmaids and wedding entourage. I don't even know what my position is called in English ._.

2 of the scarves that she was making.

Dusting gold powder onto hand drawn patterns on the corset

After I was done with the fitting, it was off to the next stop. We had an appointment at the jeweler's to pick out my cousin's wedding accessories. No pics from this stop =\ But dayumm, do Burmese people not know the meaning of ostentatious?! Cousin and I were opting for something slightly simpler since her outfit was already elaborate enough with lots of designs and blings. But no, aunt chose the biggest assed necklace, and jeweler was recommending that piece too. My eyessssssss.

3rd stop for the day. Hair Salon! Just for a quick wash and blow dry really. The service there was so so goooooood. Like really, the hair salons in SG can't match up to their services. I mean, I paid 5500kyts (est S$6) for a wash and blow dry. Got a massage, deep conditioning and styling together with it.

I've not had such a nice pampering session since I left for UK.

Time to get that hair dried and styled

Voila! Nice perfect curls after!

Cousin's soon-to-be husband came to pick her up from the hair salon to head to the hotel while aunt and I headed to the nail salon next. :D

Getting a manipedi woohoooooo

I think we spent about an hour and a half at the salon. From cleansing to scrubs to manicures and pedicures.

The completed work!

Okay! Now we are all prepped and beautified for the next day! My parents came to pick us up to head over to the hotel and join the rest. By then, I was running on non-existent adrenaline/fuel, I was going to crash any second. In my defense, I did spend 2 days traveling and only had 3-4hrs of sleep everyday the previous week.

Possibly the last selfie I took before I passed out on the couch ._.

So, we headed over to Novotel, location of the long awaited wedding. The adults and happy couple were going through the decor and placements with the hotel staff, while I went over to the couch meant for the bride and groom, sat down, took a few selfies. And promptly passed out on the couch 10min later.

Fast forward, I was woken up by my mum who said that we were done and heading back home now. Just trudged after her bleary eyed and all. On the way home, we were treated to darkness the whole journey. Woohoo! Another blackout! FML. I wonder how many districts are affected this time. And then, we found out, IT'S NATIONWIDE! YAY! WHOLE OF MYANMAR UNITE! IN DARKNESS!

My dad and I were going to sleep at my aunt's house. So...made our way around in darkness and searched for the heavy duty flashlights. WE HAD A CANDLE BURNING IN THE BATHROOM. Welcome to the '50s. Using a mini torchlight, I fumbled around trying to pack my bag for the next day. Did I mention that a group of us have to be out of the house by 4am to head to the hotel for makeup and hair? Yeaps. And people wonder why I'm so tired. It's not like I need to sleep or anything right.

Btw, the blackout lasted until late at night. So blackout = no electricity = no aircon. #firstworldproblems
Once again, in my defense, I have eczema and it is easily triggered or irritated by heat, so I like to stay in cool places as much as possible. December in Myanmar is not that bad because it's pretty cool at night and early mornings. My dad likes the cold so....this is what we ended up doing. My aunt's house is a 3 story house with a huge outdoor veranda on each floor. My dad and I moved the mattress and mosquito net(which is totally necessary before I become the new buffet spread for all the mozzies there) out, and we slept outdoors while staring at the stars. Nice bonding session eh. Only...I fell asleep within a few min.

Goodnight for today, and I'll see you with the post on the Big Day. Toodles!