Blogs from Yangon Region, Burma, Asia - page 30

Burmese Ways Yangon Well after a doing little research weighing up the pros and cons we decided to go and booked a flight to Myanmar (Burma). With the British Embassy advising tourists not to go coupled with the strict military regime it’s easy to see why Myanmar receives less than 1% of the tourists that visit Asia. On arrival we checked into our hotel and explored the streets, there wasn’t the familiar buzz of mopeds or mile long traffic jams which plague most of Asia’s big cities. It’s quite the opposite, few people have cars and only government officials are allowed to drive motor bikes. Instead of dodging traffic we had to dodge the spit and smell of betel nut spat out by everyone, the reddish colour staining the old cobbled streets. Similar to the fashion ... read more

Everyone I'd met who’d been to Yangon had been completely rained out - with the railway and roads under water one girl found the only she could leave was by plane! Noooo I thought, they’re exaggerating, it can't be that bad.... oh was I wrong! And yes, yes I know it was the rainy season but of the 3 days I had in Yangon it rained on every one - and it wasn’t the short sharp downpour followed by blue sky and sunshine variety either! Fortunately I got to miss out on the wading knee deep in water down the road experience that others had! The locals tried to explain that if it rained during the day it would be fine in the evening and if it was fine during the day then come late afternoon ... read more

* Aug 16th - Boarded the plane (SQ1) from Hong Kong at 0800 for Yangon, with 1140 arrival at Singapore Changi Airport for transit (Silkair, MI518, departure 1410). Arrived in Yangon at around 1530. NB: Yangon is 1.5 hours behind Singapore and Hong Kong. * Aug17th - Took a visit of my friend’s school in Sanchaung (a suburb of Yangon), Total Kids School, where the motto is "School is the best party in town"! ... read more

Shwedagon Paya (pagoda) is the main landmark anywhere in Myanmar and so it should be considering it is covered with sixty tons of gold, which at today's prices is something over a billion dollars. Not bad for one of the poorest countries in the world. I arrived at the Shwedagon Paya. I was pleasantly surprised to do so given the number of tricky left hand turns and resulting near misses; taxis and private cars, unlike buses and trucks, don’t drive with a spotter leaning out the left hand door watching for gaps in the traffic. Tempted as I was to walk (you can see this 98m gold thing from most parts of the city) it was simply too hot to make the gamble in a taxi unappealing. The stupa (paya in Baman, big rock thing in ... read more

We arrived at Yangon Internation Airport. It was a parking lot. I stepped off the plan and noticed two other airplanes, both with propellers and parked very comfortably. The rest of the airport was barren except for the bus to take us 500 meters to the terminal. The terminal looked an airplane hanger from the outside; and it was an airplane hanger. So we proceeded to the makeshift immigration booths and picked up our luggage (needless to say from the sole baggage claim) to head through customs. A couple of things happening in the airport: 1. money exchange. $1 for 650 kyats. They don't bother to tell you that you get 1300 kyats for a $1 from anywhere in the city once you step out of the airport. 2. Taxi stand. Prepaid taxi for $5 to ... read more