Myanmar at last! Yangon

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First impressions of Myanmar...the people are SO! Nice. The nicest people I've come across so far, or at least on a par with the mountain people in Nepal. Such a change from India to see strangers smiling...and they actually laugh when you make a joke (not that my jokes are bad, but that Indians barely smile).

Given that Myanmar only opened it's borders to foreigners five years ago I expected the development level to be similar to India or worse. How wrong I was, it's clean, they have garbage disposal, there's a “fashion”. The thing that's impressed me so far is the plug sockets! You could literally put any plug into them.



We were off the plane and through the airport in less than an hour. I think these are the only immigration officers in the world who actually smile!.

We got a taxi for 10,000 Kyat (£5.80), it took us around an hour to reach the hotel we'd booked from the airport. From what we've heard and looking in the guide book accommodation is expensive here so we booked online at hostel world.

Sleep in hotel, A/C dorms...it was all right except the bloke who snored!



The first day we arrived in the late afternoon so we slept, ate some local food in a restaurant run by kids, and had a couple of beers. I'm not joking, the waiters, the cooks...everyone! While a woman sat at the counter sorting the bills and cashing the money.

There was one kid, who wasn't even the oldest, bossing the other kids around. Very strange.

The highlight of the day being the discovery that beer is cheap in Myanmar! Finally we can have a beer without spending 20% of the daily budget! GOODBYE INDIA!



The second day we went for a walk to a pagoda, to get there and decide it was too expensive to get in. We walked around for five hours! I'm not much of a city person...not away from home anyway, but Yangon definitely has something about it. There's street food on every corner that looks so good! (unfortunately my stomach was in a state of upheaval so couldn't try much).

With our stomachs not being in the best of ways we decided to head to a proper restaurant to eat...750 Kyat for a draught “Myanmar beer” (Yes. 43p).

Something else I hadn't thought about when the food appeared...chopsticks. Fortunately followed by a knife and fork, but when in Rome. I've never been able to use chopsticks, and when I get the hang of it I don't use them for so long I've forgot by the next time. Much to the amusement of everyone in the restaurant I struggled with them for a few minutes before the bloke on the next table and the waiter took pity on me and wondered over to show me.

Just as I got the hang of it my stomach started churning and I had to stop eating, nightmare! At least I'm not ill every day like Dave though so I can't complain too much, poor lad.



On the third and last day in Yangon we headed to the main attraction Shwedagon Pagoda which is the most important Buddhist temple in Myanmar. 8000 Kyats entry (£4.65). You're not allowed into the temple complex without covering your knees and shoulders...so my vest and shorts needed covering. We both needed to buy lungi's (a cloth you wrap around your waist, kind of like a skirt) and because I was wearing a vest I had to rent what can only be described as a monk jacket. I don't know what a monk jacket is, or if it even exists, but that's what it looked like.



Temples can go one of two ways, they're either really interesting or instantly boring. This was the former...and probably one of the best temples I've ever visited. Saying that all the temples In India look the same, just varying in size, so I've not seen that many.

A huge 326ft golden tower on a hill and surrounded by various different smaller temples.

Each temple has a Buddha statue inside, usually in the lotus position, and they all have slightly different faces.

Apparently some strands of Buddha's hair is enshrined in the main pagoda...I always thought Buddha was bald...for the same reason monks are. Which is to show that they don't need to be physically attractive, they're denouncing their physical self.

So unless the hairs from somewhere else, or the real reason he was bald is because his hairs in the pagoda, I don't know.





That evening we'd booked a bus to the ancient city of Bagan in the north, we were going with some friends (finally there's other people to talk to!) and 10 hours on a bus can't be that bad...can it? Find out in the next episode.

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