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Published: November 14th 2014
October 30th, 2014
After being dragged away kicking and screaming from Ngapali Beach we finally made our way to Yangon, last stop on the adventure...sad to see it come to an end, and with spending the extra day at the beach it only left the balance of this day and most of the next before we flew back home...
After sorting out our hotel and waiting out a torrential rain storm we decided to get our bearings and wander around the neighbourhood, slowly making our way to the Bogyoke Aung San Market (formerly known as the Scott Market). The covered market is huge; full of textile, gold, jade vendors along with spots to eat, pretty cool...if you're looking for last minute souvenirs (and especially jewelry) this is the spot, although to be honest with the exception of the jewelry it was all the same handicrafts seen along the way in Myanmar...still interesting that while I did see the odd stall with a Myanmar t-shirt, they still haven't gone full tourist yet when it comes to souvenirs, kinda refreshing...
Tried to hail a taxi to check out the Shwedagon Pagoda after our wander through the market, but by this
Gold Buddhas...
...at Shwedagon Paya, beautiful...time it was rush hour and the driver refused...decided then to leave that until morning and instead stopped for a bite before wandering over to the Sule Paya, conveniently located across from the hotel...
Pretty interesting that this 2000 year old temple is sitting on one of the primary traffic circles in Yangon, but there it was in all its gold splendor...beautiful paya, we slowly wandered around and then headed back to the hotel to chill...
After catching an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations at home where the host visited Myanmar, we decided to head down to the infamous 19th Street where they filmed some of it, and where the action seems to be when the rest of the town shuts down at 10pm...great fun, first stop was a patio just off Mahbandoola Rd., where we chatted with some locals over a couple of Myanmars...it was fun watching the hordes of locals, sprinkled with the odd tourist, weaving around street vendors selling all sorts of "delicacies" (fried bugs anyone? Our waiter at one stop tried goading me into trying one, chickened out though...haha...).
Made our way deeper into the fray and stopped at another patio, think
it was the one Bourdain was at...great mixture of locals, TESL teachers and a few tourists, fun perch on the side of the road to catch all the action...our waiter was hilarious, and Myanmar beer at the time was having a contest where you could instantly win by checking under the cap...we couldn't lose that night! (Although now it makes me wonder how many times we may have won in the past and didn't know...gah...). We won prizes of 200 and 400 kyat (about 20 and 40 cents respectively) so gave those to the waiter...managed to win a couple of beers as well, sweet! Great fun, recommend going down there if in Yangon...
Next morning was our final day, flight out at 10pm so we had some time to finish up the sightseeing...first stop was the mandatory Shwedagon Paya, one of Buddhism's most sacred sights...it is huge, and with apparently 27 metric tons of gold leaf, and an orb containing a 76 carat diamond (!) amongst other jewels, it is quite the sight to see...unfortunately for us it was under some renovation so about the bottom third was missing its gold, but still stunning nonetheless...
Hired a guide
A quick prayer...
...and three cups of water on the Buddha at my planetary post (go Friday!)...as you can see by my shirt it was a little warm...haha...(KC) when we got there, and I found it very useful...she took us around the complex, explaining various sites and giving us more information on Buddhism itself, well worth it...stopped at my planetary post to offer a prayer and pour water on the Buddha there, a ritual observed by many...the planetary posts are divided into days of the week (with Wednesday being split in two) and the idea is to offer prayers at the day of the week you were born on, so for me Friday...very cool...
Spent an hour or two wandering around before packing it in and heading back to our neighbourhood...stopped in at the Sky Bistro for a pint and to check out the vistas from this 20th floor spot, felt a little out of place as two sweaty backpackers in a fairly well-to-do restaurant (it was lunch time and many local businessmen were there) but what the hell, not likely to run into them again!
Back to Scott Market for some last minute poking around, a bite to eat and then it was back to the hotel to clean up for our long journey home...great trip though, saw some amazing things and met a lot
of great folks...
(Some photos copyright of Karen C., denoted by (KC)...used with kind permission)
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taracloud
Tara Cloud
Hydrating El Jefe!
Are you sure someone wasn't pouring holy water on you for three weeks? Amazing all that gold on Buddhas and pagodas--wonder if there are/were gold mines in the country--if not, yikes, their balance of trade. Sorry to see your voyage end--it's been great traveling to Myanmar/Burma with you and the Lovely K. Plan another trip, please.