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(We've got a little behind with our web diary, complete
laziness on our behalf, but also because we didn't take our
laptop to Burma, hope to have it up to date in a week or
so.)
Thu 4th January, 2007
Arrived Yangon airport, seemed very quiet, guess they don't
have too many flights in a day. No problems with
immigration, we had our visa stamp already in the passport along
with the other two forms we'd been given at the embassy in
Seoul, duly entered as a FIT, Foreign Independent Tourist.
We been led to expect that our luggage would be scanned and
scrutinised closely on arrival, looking for such items as
laptops and other indications that one might be a reporter or
foreign agent of some sort, but there was no sign of any
scanners, and when we saw a sign about mobile phones being
confiscated until you left the country and volunteered the fact
we had one each, we were just waved on. Perhaps I could
have bought my laptop, after all! No, it would be good for
me to go without it for a couple of weeks, and I'd managed to
reduce my luggage to one small backpack, as had Rita, without
haveing to carry all the supporting cables and devices. We
were going to have two weeks of travelling really light.
Negotiations for a taxi didn't go our way, the guide book
said it would be $3 but they were united in asking for $6, and
couldn't get anyone to reduce it. Things change, prices go
up, and the guidebook price is, of course, a guide!
The taxi driver was very pleasant, maybe because he also wanted
to become our personal driver and guide for the duration of our
stay in Myanmar. Thanks, but we're only poor travellers
and we couldn't possible afford to travel around by taxi even a
small part of our time, let alone all of the time. He did
have a very nice itinerary printed out, but we didn't even ask
the price.
It being Independence day in Myanmar meant that the streets
were a lot quieter than they usually would be on a Thursday
morning, with some side streets closed off to traffic for street
games. The taxi dropped us at the Three Seasons hotel,
which the driver had told us on the way was full according to
his friend, but we never believe taxi drivers when they say
that. This time he was roght, though, and he was outside
when we left to find somewhere else, as if to say "Told you
so". After 20 minutes of walking and tring two more
hotel, we found a nice room at the Eastern Hotel, on the fifth
floor but it had a lift! A little steep (the price, not
the lift) at $20 a night but we only planned on being here for a
couple of nights, and breakfast was included.
Checked in and unpacked our meagre bags, which took all of 20
seconds, then off to explore the city. That's the great
thing about arriving early in a city, you've still got the whole
day ahead of you!
Most of the shops were closed and shuttered, so it was
difficult to imagine what it might look like on a normal day,
but the sun was shing and the temperature was climbing upto 30C,
and the locals were smiling and friendly. We decided to
walk up to what is probably the number one sight to be seen in
Yangon, the Shwedagon Paya, a huge Buddhist temple sitting on a
hill to the North of the city centre. We came across the
railway ticket booking office on the way, so booked tickets on
the Mandalay train for Saturday, a whopping $30 each, but we had
decided we needed to do at least one long train journey in
Myanmar.
After half an hours further walking, we arrived at the
Shwedagon, a very impressive temple indeed. There are four
entrances, one on each cardinal compass point, with a long
stairway at each rising a plateau, on which sits the Shwedagon
Paya itself, with many smaller temple, stupas, statues and walls
around it. At the entrance we had to remove our shoes and socks,
and make a donation to the temple for the privilege of doing
so. Then we got copped for $5 foreign visitor fee half way
up the stairs, but they did throw in a free camera permit, so
that was worth it, wasn't it?
The Shwedagon is a sort of bell shaped stupa, 54 metres tall
and covered from top to bottom in gold. Originally dating
from around 2500 years ago, the current version was built in
1768, and reputedly has a few hairs from the head of Buddha some
in the base of it. In the dazzling sunlight it was an amazing
sight, (the stupa, not the hairs), especially surrounded by the
many smaller places of worship of the temple. My descriptions
could never really do it justice, so I'll leave it up to the
pictures, when we get around to putting them on this page
Rita was having a problem with a dodgy knee, so she sat in the
shade doing some sketches while I took a walk around the temple,
which took me a good hour.
Back down the bottom, we got a taxi back into the town
centre, looking for a meal for lunchtime. Realistic
options seemed to be thin on the ground, we tried a few Indians
recommended in our guide, were they were extremely rough and
dirty looking. Found one that looked a tad cleaner than
the rest, the Golden City Chetty, and risked a masala dosa which
is at least a vegetarian dish. Tasted ok but the jury's
out on how clean it was. Should know in the morning.
I'll keep you posted.
The main drag back toward our hotel is the site of the night
market, they dont close the street to traffic, just loads of
stalls set up along the edge of the wide street, making it
difficult to walk along at anything but a snail pace. Had
to take shelter from the foot traffic (that's our excuse anyway)
in a nice bar we found just off the main street, Premier
Restaurant, friendly staff and a glass of draft beer for only
400 kyat. Bargain. Nearer our hotel we found a
supermarket and stocked up the usual essentials, beer, crisps,
beer, biscuits, beer and some water. Need to keep
hydrated, you know, its essential in these climates.
Back to Itinerary
Fri 5th January, 2007
Free breakfast! Or rather, it's included in the rather
expensive room rate. Nice though, egg, bacon (bit small
and fatty) with toast, butter and jam, and coffee.
Needing some exercise, we walked to the Sakura Tower, from where
there is a great free elevated view of the city from the top
floor restaurant. Fantastic view of the Shwedagon Paya, as
well as other temples and south to the river. The
restaurant looked good too, but it was a tad too soon after
breakfast so we declined a meal at this stage. Further
east on Bogyoke Aung Sang Road is the Bogyoke Aung Sang market,
a the main tourist shopping market in the city. Bogyoke is
the father of modern Myanmar, having negotiated the independence
of Burma from the British and having won the interim election
before independence, he was assassinated by some of the
opposition, the leader of which was hung by the British for his
part in the damnable crime. He is also the father of Aung
Sang Suu Kyi, the winner of the last democratic elections in
Burma in 1989, although the then leadership decided not to
recognise the result, and put The Lady, as she is known, under
house arrest, where she has pretty much spent most of the time
since.
The market it quite touristy, a lot of handicrafts, jewelry
and clothes, and a healthy Black market money exchange. We both
changed some of our US dollars we'd bought with us, got a
fairly good rate of 1250 Kyat to 1 US$, and was handed a large
bundle of notes, which of course we had to stand there and
count. Didn't feel unsafe there, and frequently saw other
people doing the same. Now at least we had enough Kyat to
last us some time. The problem with paying for everything
in US$ is that everything gets rounded up, so where something
might only be 500 kyat, they say $!, so the local currency is
definitely best for the smaller items. We also checked out a few
items we might like to take back with us, but there was no point
buying anything now as we'd have to carry it around with us for
two weeks, and we're coming back to Yangon to get our flight
back to Bangkok.
Returned to the Sakura tower restaurant for lunch, food was
good and reasonably priced, but the beer was a bit steep at over
$2 a bottle. At least we had a great view of Shwedagon
Paya. Later in the afternoon we walked down to the
waterfront, where there were numerous boat jetties on the Yangon
river. Rita got in to trouble a couple of times for trying
to take pictures of sensitive buildings, but they just waved at
her to stop and did nothing more. Obviously not too
sensitive then. Other than that, we didn't really notice
much in the way of security, police or military. I suppose
because of the presence if large numbers if tourists in Yangon,
they're bound to keep a low profile.
Returned to the Premium Restaurant for tea and couple of
draft beers. Not too bad a flavour, but boy am I in need of some
real ale. Can someone please send be a couple of
bottles? I'll pay you back.
Back to Itinerary
Sat 6th January, 2007
Up at 4:40am, showered, packed and downstairs for a taxi we'd
booked for 5:15. I
Train from Yangon to Mandalay
Back to Itinerary
Sun 7th January, 2007
Mandalay and about, until 9th Jan
Back to Itinerary
Wed 10th January, 2007
Rita's birthday. Boat down the Ayarwaddy to Bagan
Back to Itinerary
Thu 11th January, 2007
Bagan temples, until Sat 13th
Back to Itinerary
Sun 14th January, 2007
Bus to Magwe. 6 hours, Stayed overnight.
Bus to Pyay, 9 hours, stayed 2 nights
Bus to Yangon, 7 hours.
Back to Itinerary
Thu 18th January, 2007
Yangon shopping, last day
Back to Itinerary
Fri 19th January, 2007
8:15am flight to Bangkok
Back to Itinerary
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