Myanmar - Yangon

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David here...
As Suzanne has mentioned, we left KL feeling a little sad. KL is one of our favourite cities - easy to get around and to find things you want. But it is mainly due to the abundance of options you have in terms of food and drink, there really is everything you could want. It helped that our hotel was nice and in a good location for us, it did feel the sort of city you could relocate to very easily.

I was feeling apprehensive as we were moving on to the first unknown quantity of the trip in Myanmar, or Burma if you like. We'd done Thailand and Malaysia before so knew what to expect. We knew Bali was going to be easy as it is a big tourist destination. But Myanmar? Under military rule until recent years and not really a big tourist destination yet, this could be the toughest place we visit on this trip. But it is one of those evocative places that we've always wanted to go to, so off we went.

For only the 2nd time in 15 years of being together we didn't sit together on a flight. We had been allocated window seats each in rows 20 and 21 when checking in online and then didn't expect to be given our boarding passes at document control so forgot to ask if we could change our seats. The flight itself was only 3 hours so we took our allocated seats, I was next to 2 Chinese men who asked me about Brexit. It turned out that there was a spare seat next to Suzanne but by the time we realised it would’ve been to much hassle to fight my way through so I stayed where I was, it was only the row in front after all. The flight itself was uneventful as they normally are though we did have a scare as we boarded the plane when the Air Asia staff checked our visa’s as they told us they had expired. They hadn't, but there was a misunderstanding as they thought it ran out in November even though it clearly stated December on them. For a moment we did think we wouldn't be allowed to fly but it was fine when we got over to them that the visa still had a month left on it.

We got through immigration slowly but with no issues and as it was getting late we decided to get a taxi to downtown Yangon instead of local bus so used the airport pre-pay taxi service, which came to $9. It was a 45 minute journey to our hotel and it was like being back in Bali. It actually came as a bit of a shock after the relatively normal Malaysian driving. Our taxi driver enjoyed speed, weaving between lanes and cutting people up...and he was not alone. As we went, the driver pointed out sights to see during our stay but they were usually in the distance behind us as we looked but we appreciated the effort.

The hotel we had booked was one of the more highly rated places in Yangon however we knew to hold back our expectations as we had read numerous times that accommodation in Myanmar is poor on quality and high on cost. We were paying $40 a night at the Lotus Bed & Breakfast so hoped for the best. Check-in was friendly and we got useful information on the surrounding area. Then we were shown to our room...well, we had been pampering ourselves previously on this trip with rooms costing a touch more to give us added air-con or space but this time, despite the high cost we had a room that took us back to our first trip five years ago. In Thailand you can get a room of the same standard for under $10 yet this was 3 times more. We had expected a much lower standard but it still came as a bit of a shock. The room itself turned out to be not that bad. Clean, with air-con and comfortable beds. The shower even had hot water which was a surprise. It is just that we had very little space to move around, we share the room with many mosquitoes and it is not somewhere you would want to spend any time relaxing... and all this for such a high cost. It was also at this point that Suzanne noticed that one of her padlocks had gone from her backpack. Perhaps cut off by security? We don’t know. Nothing was missing but it was annoying. By now it was getting on for 21.00 so we decided to hit the town to see what we could find.

We walked along the main road back to Sule Pagoda, which sits in the middle of a traffic island and we didn't find much at all. Lots of street food sellers, all of which didn't look that appetising to us, thankfully we were not that hungry. So far, so standard Asia. By this point we were feeling a little disheartened with it all. All we wanted was to find somewhere to sit, relax and have a drink. Suzanne had done 5 minutes research in our room and had spotted a post online by someone who mentioned they liked some bars on 19th street, which we were not too far from, so we made our way over, and thank goodness for that 5 minutes research. 19th street is in the heart of Chinatown and is ‘party central' for tourists and locals alike. It is also known as BBQ street as you can find pretty much every type of barbecued meat known to mankind. We walked down the road, found a little quiet place and ordered 2 Myanmar bottles of beer and slowly unwound. We ended up staying until closing time (about midnight for the place where we were) and having 3 beers each. The bottles are big as well at 640ml and cost around £1.24 on average. There is also a surprising range of beer to choose from. The most common is Myanmar Pils, which is pretty good, so much better than Bintang, but there are other brands and styles out there as well, including a strong and tasty Stout called Black Shield.
After our beers (and also tasty Wantons we ended up ordering) we walked back to our room, stopping off to look at some puppies that 2 men were looking after. They were so cute playing in some sand, but we resisted petting them. Once back at the hotel we noticed a seating area and a fridge with beer in, so we decided to have one more beer before bed.

Next morning, after a surprisingly comfortable nights sleep we headed for breakfast feeling a little hung over. Not ill as such, just off kilter, and not ready for fried noodles or the local breakfast I had gone for, Mohingar, which consisted of fish, noodles and a sour soup. To be fair, while the Mohingar was not something I need to have again, the noodles were pretty good, just not at that point. Thank goodness for coffee. After showering and getting ourselves sorted we went out for a few hours of wandering, just taking in the city during the day. It is a standard Asian city, all potholes and street hawkers and has some amazing architecture dotted around. There are also no motorbikes or scooters on the roads as they have been banned from Yangon, which seems a little weird. We also have seen a number of rats on the street, one of them the night before slowly crossed our path without a care in the world. So far, at the time of writing, the rat count is on 5.

As we were still feeling a little delicate, we decided to grab some pizza at the Hot Stone Pizza resturant, which was pretty good and then walked down to the river to take a look, very industrial and busy. We walked to St Mary’s cathedral which was very nice and we managed to find a new combination padlock for Suzanne. We ended up back at the hotel earlier than expected so just relaxed for a while, got freshened up before heading out for the evening again. Our first stop was The Strand hotel that was opened in 1901 before falling into disrepair during the military regime and then restored in the 1990's to its former glory. It was built by the same brothers who built the Raffles hotel in Singapore and at $300 a night is a little out of our price range, but we were determined to get a look inside. We ended up in the bar drinking a draft Dagon beer feeling quite sophisticated. The hotel really is beautiful inside, all gleaming marble and dark wood fixtures. After this we made our way to the Independence Monument, City Hall and the old restored Rowe & Company department store, that went out of business during the old regime. All of these places are in walking distance of each other.

Sightseeing over and with darkness falling we headed over to the Ingyin Indian food restaurant for dinner. We both opted for Mutton curry, mine with Poori and Suzanne's with a chapati, with rice. This also came with a potato soup and three types of daal, all of which are continually topped up until you've had enough to eat. So what starts as a small meal actually turns into a tasty feast which we heartily recommend, all for under $5. After this it was back to 19th street where we first stopped at one of the Kosan bars and had 2 beers each before being asked if we could share the small outside table with a French couple who didn't want to eat inside. There was barely enough room for 2 people let alone 4 so we moved on to another place down the road and had more beer before heading back to the hotel, stopping to look at the puppies again, this time failing to resist petting them.

For breakfast on our second morning we avoided the local stuff and had an American breakfast, basically chicken sausage, omelette and a potato cake. It wasn't great but was better than the previous day. After sorting ourselves out we set out with the plan to visit the Shwedagon Pagoda and the Kndawgyi Lake, about 2 hours walk as a round trip. The day was already very hot, one thermometer we saw showed 40 deg. which felt about right. We made sure that we stayed hydrated and tried to walk in shade where possible. It was a very interesting walk to the pagoda, passing lots of old colonial buildings, some restored, some falling into disrepair. It would be such a shame if some of these buildings fell to the ground. There is a society that is pushing for more to be done to restore these buildings as for some of them, it really is now or never.

The pagoda is difficult to miss as it is on a hill, gold and huge. It cost $8 each to get in and you have to take your shoes and socks off. We luckily had plastic bags we could put them in but there is somewhere you can store them for a nominal fee. We stayed in the pagoda complex for about an hour and it really is an amazing place. So much colour and vibrancy and amazing architecture all around you. The pictures should hopefully show this so I won't waffle on much more about it but was well worth the walk to see it. It is also worth mentioning that the marble tiles were quite hot in the sun and it hurt your feet if you stood in one place too long.

We then walked to the lake area and wandered around there for a while, soaking up the relaxed atmosphere before the walk back to the hotel, where we shared 3 bottles of beer before heading out for dinner. We decided to avoid going to 19th street for the 3rd night running and stayed in the local area. We had read good reviews of a Mexican restaurant nearby called Gringos Chilangos and as we are suckers for Mexican food that is where we went. The ambiance was lovely and it felt like a little slice of Mexico, but with a much higher price on the menu. The owner and chef is Mexican and the food tasted genuinely Mexican. I had steak fajitas and Suzanne had 2 types of enchiladas. We also had some nachos to start. The nachos came out quickly and were very good but then Suzanne’s quesadillas came out before we had finished the nachos. My main took a little longer to come but it all felt haphazard. The mains were alright, a little stingy on portion size and Suzanne tasted strongly of vinegar, which was odd. The bill came to $20 and that was without alcohol. It was O.K. but we would not go back.

After the meal we wanted a drink so headed for the promisingly named Hyper Beer Pub. What we found was basically what felt like a youth club with no beer on draft, a small fridge in the corner and the staff bringing in bottled beer from a shop. We had 1 beer before moving on as it felt weird, not unfriendly or intimidating, just strange. We did have other options however we had bought a little bottle of Grand Royal Signature whiskey to try as it turned out the Burmese people not only brew bloody good beers, they love their whiskey. So we finished the night off...and the whiskey, in our room, playing cards, listening to music.

The next day was our final day in Yangon. We were moving onto Kalaw by night bus that evening so we took our time getting ready in the morning after breakfast and then headed out to Bo Gyoke market, leaving our packs at the hotel until 1500 when we would be getting a taxi to the bus station, giving ourselves over 2 hours to get there at the recommendation of the hotel staff. It was a hot 30 minute walk to the market, having to pass the Sule Pagoda for what felt like the millionth time, and it was good to wander the market, looking at the many stalls. You could probably find everything you could ever need in there except for what we were looking for, women’s trousers. Most trousers we saw were the flappy, colourful type that typical backpackers wear but Suzanne is not keen on. We did see many, many fabric and jewellery stalls and lots of tourist souvenir stalls. We spent about half an hour in the market before making the 30 minute walk back to the hotel area, picking up a bottle of the whiskey again, having it handed to me by a security guard in the supermarket was weird, but he was pleased that we wanted Burmese whiskey. A 350ml bottle of really tasty whiskey that costs £1.40 really is a bargain.

By now it was lunch time and as the no. 1 rated place in Yangon was just around the corner, that is where we headed. The Green Gallery is a little Thai place that is often booked up in the evenings but was empty at lunch. We opted for green and Penang pork curries and both were absolutely delicious, the best food we'd had in a while. We still had an hour before our taxi to the bus station so we popped to The Fat Ox, an English style pub nearby for a couple of beers. It was more like a typical sports bar than an English pub but it was air conditioned and the beer was ice cold. We downed the first couple quickly and ordered 2 more. We then noticed that they did a buy 5 get 1 free offer, so had to take them up on the offer. We made it back to the hotel for 14:50 and found our taxi driver waiting for us.

The hotel recommended we leave at 15:00 to do the 45 minute journey to the bus station to get there for 17:30 due to the horrendous traffic. Typically we hit no traffic and got to the bus station and our operator, JJ or Joyous Journey, with 2 hours to spare before departure. We paid for our tickets, attached our packs to a metal bench and explored the bus station. It really was like a village with buses everywhere but between all the operators lots of shops, bars and restaurants. The traffic was also manic with scooters, taxis, private cars and of course buses and coaches all flying around. We decided to do something quite traveller-y next, and after checking our packs were fine, we popped to the stall next to our operator and ended up with more beers and us playing cards, much to the enjoyment of the locals. We had a big bottle of Myanmar beer and then 3 draft beers, all for under £4, a bargain. This helped to pass the time very quickly and before we knew it, it was time to jump on our bus to the highlands of Kalaw.

Despite a shaky start when we first arrived in Yangon, we really grew into the place and will have some fond memories when back at home of our time here. There is some great things to see and some wonderful things to eat. 19th street got us settled and it really lifted us when we needed it. 3 days was about enough time for us as we were ready to move on by the end but it was an excellent start to our Myanmar adventure.

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