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Published: December 18th 2006
2006-12-13 10-37-01
Inside the "circle train". This train starts from the main station, circles around Yangon and comes back to the same station in 3 hours. For US$1.On Dec 12, 2006, we took a short flight from Bangkok to Yangon, Myanmar.
The guesthouse in Yangon (that we pre-booked while we were in Thailand) sent someone and a car to meet us at the airport, so it was pretty nice.
Yangon is just a little bit cooler than Bangkok, but definitely not as developed as in Bangkok.
We visited the "Scott Market" to exchange some money.
We just found out the blackmarket exchange rate is US$1 to 1240 kyat, whereas our guidebooks all told us it was US$1 to 950 kyat, so it is a nice surprise. We also found out the official rate (if we go to the bank), the exchange rate is US$1 to 5.86 kyat, about 200 times less.
The Burmese do not use arabic numerals have their own way of writing numbers and sometimes restaurant menus have no prices (numbers).
We learned transportation (e.g. long distance buses) need to be booked at least one day in advance, so we will require a bit more planning in our travels.
The Yangon government put the long distance bus station about 20 KM from town, even further than the airport. They must
2006-12-13 11-03-13
Burning garbage just beside the railway. Common scene everywhere in Myanmar. discourage their citizens in going from one place to another.
We found the Burmese a little louder than the Thai's. However, if the business transaction is not successful (e.g. we did not get bus tickets from one vendor), they do not feel too upset.
Most Burmese men wore Longyi's (sarong) and Gary bought one and tried to dress like a Burmese man.
Dec 13, 2006
While in Yangon, we took the "circular train", which goes around Yangon. Many locals take the train to transport their produce from the outskirts of the city to the center.
Foreigners can ride the train for US$1, and we needed passports to register for a ticket.
While on the train, as we started in the center, the train was not very crowded. As the train
moved to the outskirts, more locals board the train, along with their produce and merchandise. The coach soon becomes a market, with people sitting in the middle aisle.
At every station, someone will bring some items onto the train to sell, e.g. pens, herbal supplements, snacks, water, fruits, etc. It is very interesting. Instead of going to the market,
the market comes to us.
2006-12-13 11-08-50
As the train goes on, all kinds of vendors appear. Most carry/balance their merchandise on the head as they walk through the train. Dec 14, 2006
We visited the Swedagon Pagoga, which is the biggest attraction of Yangon. It is a pagoda
made with one ton of gold and many, many gems.
Sometimes we wonder why the Burmese put so much money into the pagodas and not spend
it on their own people.
In the evening, we took a taxi to the long distance bus where we will board our overnight bus to Mandalay.
Of all the countries we visited in Asia (Laos, China, Vietnam,Thailand, Cambodia), this is the most chaotic bus station we have ever seen. The taxi driver had to ask a few times as we get
into the bus station area on where is the bus stop of our bus company.
Every bus company, has a stop for every route. There are probably about 200 buses parked in that bus station. We found our bus, and the bus drivers were busy loading cargo onto the bus, and ignored our wishes to put our backpacks into cargo. Anyway, after a bit of confusion, and only 20 minutes late, our bus started.
The bus drivers turned on the TV with the Karaoke music that is so
2006-12-13 11-23-02
Phyllis with some local kids. loud, but no one complained. This is a 16 hour trip and the bus stopped four times along the way to let us
have a bite to eat and go the bathroom.
We finally arrived in Mandalay at around 8 am.
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