I love travelling and visiting new parts of the world has been a highlight of being in Asia - there are so many amazing places on our doorstep in Singapore. However, the more serious I get with my training, the more that it becomes impractical to take a week or two off the plan. Plus, keeping a regular training schedule keeps my mental health in good condition too and when I’m not teaching I want to make the most of the extra time I have. Therefore, when we travel, I am always looking for ways to stay on track. Seeing as I’ve done the hard work I thought I’d take the time to share the gyms, restaurant and tips I’ve found so if you ever find yourself in Mynamar it might be useful to you.

Yangon

Our first stop was Yangon, the capital city of Myanmar. On the drive from the airport we spotted an F45 so I had good feelings. I had done some research and knew there were a few decent gyms in the area. If I had a super power it would be to find a gym in the smallest of towns and cities, it really is amazing where you can spot them! When we arrived at our hotel we were surprised to see that the gym photos I’d seen on booking.com was actually an official gym that hotel guests could use for free - winner. The gym has everything you’d need for a decent work out and is far better than any hotel gym I have seen before. I would actually highly recommend the hotel (Hotel G Yangon) so it would be the perfect location if you’re looking to combine your holiday with some fitness.

Gym Name: Real Fitness Express @ Hotel G Yangon.
https://www.facebook.com/realfitness.myanmar/

But, I had also found a gym I wanted to check out, so the next morning we headed to Raw By Infinity. They describe themselves as ‘Myanmar’s first and only fully equipped functional fitness facility.’ I can’t vouch for the rest of Myanmar but they certainly are a fully equipped functional fitness space, essentially a Crossfit box without the Crossfit stamp. Infinity is actually its own 24 hour ‘bro’ gym with all the cardio and strength equipment you’d need for a good workout. Then, attached to it, sitting right on the lake is an awesome space with everything you’d need for a kick ass functional workout. The staff were really friendly, there’s water fountains and clean changing rooms. They also let us put our own music on and throw our weights around so they get a 5/5 from me! They’re a bit out of the way from the city but Grab is super cheap and it only cost us a few dollars to get there. They have a lot of Open box time and various classes and they list their schedule on their IG and FB so you can check it out in advance. I messaged them on IG and they were really responsive so if you’ve got any questions ahead of your trip then their handle is below.

Name: Raw By Infinity
Location: 132A Inya Road Myanmar Rowing & Canoeing Federation Yangon 11041
Website: http://raw-infinity.com/
IG: raw_ygn

Once you’ve got a workout in the other half of the battle is nutrition. I love to try out all the local food but I tend to try and skip breakfast, get my main micro-nutrients in at lunch and then have more freedom for dinner. Right next to Hotel G is a cute little cafe called Nourish. It is a plant based cafe with a yoga studio attached and as well as serving a wide menu of delicious food, they also sell books, apparel and other sustainable items. We went two days and everything we ate was delicious, the portions were generous and the service was excellent.

Name: Nourish Cafe
Location: Alan Pya Pagoda Road Number 36 (A&B). Mingalar Township, Yangon, Myanmar.
Website: https://www.yangonyogahouse.com/nourish
IG: Nourishcafeyangon

Bagan

Our next stop was Bagan. We didn’t have much time here and spent our workout time running but there was a gym in the town called ‘9 One Gym Club.’ I couldn’t find a website or Facebook for them but we did drive past and it is a working gym. If you google “9 one gym club bagan” there are a few pictures of the gym. It claims to be $3 a day so it’s worth a go! If you make it, leave us a comment and let us know what it was like!

My main aim in Bagan was to run the Bagan Temple Run. Every year towards the end of November there is a marathon, half marathon and 10km race through the temples of Bagan (It will be held on 28th November 2020 this year). One of the things I love to do is find old race routes, download the GPX file on to my Garmin and head off on an adventure (normally with poor Sean in tow). Sometimes this ends in disaster (we had a particularly disastrous attempt when we tried the 21 km route for the Thailand North Face race. Turns out they must have cut a path through the jungle that had then rapidly grown back. After getting lost numerous times, getting bitten, scratched, sunburnt and starting to wonder why we’d got married in the first place, we picked our way back the 10km we’d come and ate a ton of pad thai instead). BUT, most of the time it’s a lot of fun and the route in Bagan was so easy to follow! Of the 21km I’d say around 18km were on trails that wound you around all the beautiful temples in Bagan. We started with the sunrise and the cool temperatures were glorious. With the hot air balloons in the sky as we were running I’d highly recommend the run to anyone. I ran with Sean but everyone was very friendly and it’s all very open so I’d have felt quite safe running on my own. It’s entirely flat and I think it would actually be a very good race to set a decent time on. If you want any more information about how to download the GPX files or other ways to find different runs leave us a comment below. The one thing I will say is that if you load your watch as a ‘navigate’ it doesn’t auto track your kms, you would have to set these to lap. I say this because I finished with a few blisteringly fast kms that I was really proud of, only to lose them to the ether, and does it even count if it’s not on your Strava?

The Route: https://www.strava.com/activities/2948125228
The Official Race: https://bagan-temple-marathon.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIk93DgMHk5gIV0SMrCh0J_QsgEAAYASAAEgLuDfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Kalaw

Kalaw is a small hill town surrounded by the mountains in the Shan state. Our main reason for being here was the trekking but we still had plans to train. I couldn’t find a gym here but we stayed at Kalaw Heritage Hotel and while it didn’t have a gym, it did have a tennis court and bikes for hire. We’re not the tennis type but it did make for an excellent space to do a HIIT workout.

There is also a place on the map called “View Point @ Thein Taung.” It is to the North just above the Kalaw Myoma Market and it’s a nice viewpoint where you can look out over the whole town. There’s also a long stair case of 284 steps from bottom to top which makes for an excellent workout! I did 12 x rounds of the stairs and a casual run there and back and it was great! This time I did run alone and again felt very safe running around Kalaw, everyone was very friendly.

Trekking
The main reason people come to Kalaw is to hike and the town is littered with different hiking companies. On Xmas day we started a two day hike from Kalaw to Inle Lake with a company called Pole Star Trekking. You hike around 15km each day through constantly changing landscapes. The views were amazing and it was really cool to see the local villagers, piles of dried chillies and many buffalo as we hiked across the Shan State. You spend the night in a local home stay which was basic but clean and had all nice warm blankets, it’s pretty cold here in the evenings in December. I got food poisoning on the first day so it made the second day of hiking….challenging. But, Sean was fine and I would still highly recommend the company. They even took us to our hotel in Inle Lake the next day.

Unfortunately the food poisoning hit me hard so I didn’t actually leave the hotel during our time in Inle Lake. But if you need a gym I had one on my list called Fitness Master which was in the town of Nyaung Shwe. You can check out the photos on their FB below.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Gym-Physical-Fitness-Center/Fitness-Master-569124493438286/

Mandalay

Mandalay was our final stop and finally recovered from my food poisoning I was so ready to get back in the gym. There were a number of gyms on my list and ones that look like they’re worth checking out are Spartan Fitness (https://www.facebook.com/spartanfitnessmdy/) and Harmony Fitness (https://www.facebook.com/HARMONYHealthandFitnessGYM/) However, our hotel was right next door to Iron Fitness, so I went to check it out.

On Google reviews it looks like it’s only really a swimming pool but upon arrival I realised the place was huge. Spread over 3 floors, there was lots on offer. They charged me $6 for a day which would have meant I could use the pool too so it would be a good option if your hotel didn’t have one. The first floor is mainly strength machines and weights, a decent selection. The second floor was cardio (a few treadmills, some spin bikes and an elliptical) and some ab focused machines. Then the 3rd floor seemed to be a dance studio but had some hanging rings, a sled drag and some functional equipment (boxes, sandbags, kettlebells and a few other bits). I got a great workout done and would highly recommend it as a space. They also had changing rooms, lockers and water fountains.

All in all there was enough in Myanmar to keep on track with more choice obviously in the bigger cities. It takes me a while to find places before each holiday so I hope this is helpful to someone who’s planning a trip and still looking to train. If you’ve got any questions, or you’ve been yourself and there’s somewhere I have missed, leave me a comment below! Jessie :)