Burning Man is a temporary city that pops up annually for a week in the Nevada Black Rock desert. 80,000 people come together to participate in this unique culture and celebrate self-expression through physical art, fashion, mutant vehicles, bicycles and more. 

Getting Tickets

I was lucky to get tickets on the first attempt through the Main Sale. You have to pre-register, get a unique code and then be one of the first at noon in Feb to snag a maximum of two tickets for about $500 each. After waiting two hours, mindlessly monitoring the status and navigating through cookies and website bugs… I got through and ordered our tickets. 

Survival Prep

There is a lot of planning and prep in order to survive the harsh conditions of Burning Man —beating the heat, minimizing dust and ensuring things won’t blow away from strong winds. Also, for food, shelter, and water, you must bring everything in and out. There are no vendors to save you if you forget to bring something. The only thing you can buy with money is ice and coffee/tea. The rest is all based on gifting.

For our shelter, we decided to build a tiny house made from plywood and insulation sheets. Chi prebuilt it at home and assembled it on the desert playa. This was dust-proof but not heat-proof. We would need a better swamp cooler and airflow next time. Regardless, it was impressive for “burning man virgins”. Chi was the MVP.

Food was easy due to our camping experience. We loaded up on canned goods, instant noodles, and freeze-dried meals. We had a couple of fancier rice meals such as deconstructed musubi fried rice and ‘tasty bites’ curry rice.

In order to bring our gear, we drove 12-hours down from Seattle to Bend, OR to Lakeview, CA then to Black Rock, NV over two days. We had to carefully “tetris” our minivan rental to fit everything —our unassembled shelter, two bikes, food, water, and all our gear.

Our Bikes

Aside from our shelter, we also invested time in making our bikes unique. I used PVC foam to steampunk my bike while Chi styled his after Madmax. It took me a solid 3 months to finish and I learned how to wire up LEDs for the night. I was pleased with the outcome but of course, after the first day, it was covered in playa dust.

Day 1 – Tuesday, August 27, 2019

We intentionally planned an early morning arrival on Tuesday to avoid traffic and beat the heat while we set up camp. We checked in with Hushville, the village we pre-registered to camp with. It’s a quiet area to sleep at night, centrally-located and everyone operates autonomously. It was a perfect day for set up. The wind was calm and it wasn’t dusty.

Our house was built in 2 hours. We had a quick MRE lunch, did an ice run and hibernated inside our house to test our homemade AC. It didn’t work well but I just laid there melting and feeling the effects of heat exhaustion. I was drinking a lot of water nonstop and questioned how I was going to survive this uncomfortable heat for the next 7 days… And even wondered if I made a mistake coming here.

Finally, the sun was setting and the night time came alive. We biked out to the playa and looked for the Man. The sunset was remarkable and I was blown away by the massive scale and activity of playa. 

We found the Man and continued to venture towards the Temple. We explored as much as we could until we were too exhausted and ready for bed. That night, I woke up three times to pee… My whole body was reserving it all day until that evening when it cooled down. I proudly used a pee funnel and wide-mouth Gatorade bottles.

Day 2 – Wednesday, August 28, 2019

At 8:30am, we biked to find my high school friend, Michelle and her husband Pat at their camp, Houpla. Their camp gifts breakfast tacos and this morning they were serving. After breakfast, we attempted to sightsee the playa despite the heat. 

We saw a couple of art pieces because it was a cloudy morning. As soon as the sun is blocked, it was such a relief from the heat. I couldn’t take it much longer though. I need to hide under a shade and maybe lie down.

We went back to camp for lunch and Chi took his first shower. I then took a nap because I didn’t rest well the previous night… 

Soon after resting, our neighbors warned us about the sandstorm that is headed our way. It’ll be our first sandstorm and I’ve heard stories about it. I was a little nervous but we decided to take advantage of the cooler temperatures and explore. As soon as the storm hit, we found cover at the Temple of Unitea —a lounge space with self-served ice tea.

We met up with Michelle and Pat again and headed to Star Star Roadhouse for their circus show. It was a raunchy funny show with impressive acrobats and circus arts. It was long but so good.

We then rode around looking for cool art including a ceiling made from fire and the famous Boeing 747 art plane. We even biked to the ‘trash fence’ which is the furthest boundary of the playa to see the scale of this city. 

Day 3 – Thursday, August 29, 2019

Finally, I was getting hang of the heat and figuring how to best beat it. We discovered Northwest Mist, a misting tent that cooled us down. We also lounged at Floatsis, a lounge camp gifting matcha almond milk tea. I found I couldn’t do much from 11am to 5pm. It was too hot and it was best to just move slowly and chill under shade. It was a conflict with my internal desire to explore. 

Upon sundown, we went up the Pineapple Motel tower and saw a wonderful sunset. Burners always howl as soon as the sun goes beyond the mountains. It was a fun tradition and you bet, I howl’ed as the temperatures instantly dropped at least 10 degrees.

We went to a fire show this evening from Myth Makers camp and it was the best show I’ve ever seen. Celtic music, ritual costumes, and impressive fire art were phenomenal! 

We found the famous Thunderdome, from the death guild camp. This was a space where two people who know each other can fight using a foam sword while being suspended from the dome. Yes, it was very entertaining. We ventured to see more art until our bikes got stuck together because of the cheap lock I got was too cheap and didn’t open with our keys anymore. Luckily, Chi had snips to cut it and we weren’t too far from our camp. 

Day 4 – Friday, August 30, 2019

The days started to become a blur but I was getting more accustomed to the heat. Every day we would run errands which usually encompassed getting ice to cool our drinks. We would try to fit a small mission in there like find some hot dogs or a new shady lounge.

Today, I wanted to be further out on the Playa as the sunset. The sky was purple and pink. We explored more ‘deep playa’ art pieces and witness our first art burn on the ‘Temple of Brad Pitt’. A small spark started which then grew to demolish an entire temple.

We headed out for the camp called Midnight Poutine. Yes, they were a Canadian camp from Montreal and they gifted poutine. Legit Poutine… with freshly cut hand-cut potatoes, squeaky cheese, and warm gravy. While we waited for 30 minutes, it definitely hit the spot.

Day 5 – Saturday, August 31, 2019

We headed to Vietnamese Iced Coffee camp for Viet coffee and Thai iced tea. It’s a few blocks away and we naturally got distracted with a lavender hand wash, watermelon slushie, mist cooling machine, and a gigantic slide. That was the way to explore… have a destination, take a new route and make stops along the way. Unfortunately, when we finally got to the iced coffee camp, they ran out of Thai Iced Tea.

We ventured all the way to find Michelle and Pat because we had a misconnection last night with handwritten notes. Luckily we found then at Star Star Roadhouse and made plans to meet up that night. We venture through the hot playa and see more art we haven’t had the chance to see yet.

The Man was set to burn. We arrived an hour early to get good seats. Magically like how others told us “The playa provides”, two people offered us Thai Iced Tea. It was so refreshing.

I didn’t know what to expect but it was a spectacle. First, the Man’s hands raises up as if he was ready to be burned. Next, there is a fire performance like a ritual. It was the same camp we saw previously but with band music… so not as good as when we first saw them. Then a striking display of fireworks goes off… until unexpectedly the Man explodes in flames. This was such a surprise. Everyone was cheering and the whole atmosphere celebratory. In fact, burners would wish others “Happy New Year!” It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen.

The man continues to burns and even resurrected for a bit. Once he becomes ash, people are welcome to get close. There was also a tradition to strip naked and dance around the fire.

After that, we ventured around some more and even went up to the sky lounge. We continued to the party spirit and danced the night away at Mayan Warrior and Slut Garden camp.

Day 6 – Sunday, Sept 1, 2019

People were starting to pack up and leave. The calendar had fewer events but our faithful Temple of UniTea was still standing. Chi was even recruited to help lower a huge tower down. With less camps, we ventured out to the Playa to see more art. We lucked out and got some great iconic shots.

This night was the temple burn. It was the complete opposite vibe of the Man burn. It’s a somber occasion where people commemorate, mourn and reflect. People would often write messages and leave memoirs of past loved ones on the temple.

The ritual would start with someone holding a flame and lighting a side of the temple. The fire would grow until the entire building was encompassed in flames. Everyone was silent, you could hear people crying and the flames crackling. What was a surprise to me was how it burned and collapsed in the middle. I never knew there was such an art to burning. It was also painfully hot. We had to cover our faces at one point. This was, without a doubt, the biggest fire I’ve ever seen.

Eventually, the fire patrol would allow us to get close to the ashes but there was a huge crowd to get close. Chi and I continued exploring the night and still seeing art we haven’t previously seen.

Day 7 – Monday, Sept 2, 2019

We decided to wake up and catch the sunrise. It was chilly and peaceful but the sunsets are nicer. People were packing and leaving. It was getting more deserted as the hours passed. We didn’t do much but get ice. It was a little boring… but I guess it was better than the 5-hour wait to get out with everyone else.

We ventured out to the Trash fence one last time to see any lingering art, the temple ashes and watch the sunset before starting to pack once the heat was gone. We left early Sunday morning.

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I have a love/hate relationship with Burning Man. You feel miserable with the heat and dust but also so inspired by everything else. I can only describe it as one of the most culturally unique experiences I’ve ever been through, despite being in the United States. The people talked strangely, behave oddly, dressed weird and carried different beliefs compared to what we are used to. But it was normal to do that. It was fascinating and felt out of this world. 

I would do it again with some doubt but I don’t know when. It’s tough to get tickets, a lot of prep work and a big commitment. Regardless, it is without a doubt, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.