A good place to start in Myanmar - Yangon

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We started this trip from Brussels flying with Emirates and have a couple of days stopover in Dubai. Our flight landed in Yangon at 11:40 am, entering Myanmar we need a visa, but we have this in advance. Applying online is a fast process and cost 50$ (paid with credit card). When we arrived in Yangon passport control goes very fast, is like in 10 minutes we were out there.



After pick up the luggage l search for ATM machine but this located outside the arrival terminal. I've done some research before coming to Myanmar about banks - KBZ bank charge 5000 kyat for cash withdrawals while CB bank charge 6500 kyat. Thus, I certainly know which bank to avoid. I withdraw cash from KBZ ATM machine, the limit amount is 300.000 kyat equivalent to 200 euro. Visa or Maestro is acceptable in the machine if you used Maestro in Myanmar you must inform the bank to activate your maestro card outside Europe otherwise it won't work.



When exiting the terminal building I see a taxi counter to our left side, so I asked how much to the city center? a girl said it'll cost 8.000 kyat - exactly the same price as I read in the information. We order a taxi at the counter, a girl took us outside to a driver we pay at the driver she said. I had the hotel voucher in my hand, I show him the address in Yangon. He said the trip can take approximately 2 hours because of heavy traffic. It is indeed a horrible road from Yangon international airport city center especially in daytime. I check my watch the time we leave at the airport, it was raining and worst than I thought. Once we reach the highway, traffic, traffic it looked like we're stuck.



As we haven't sleep the night before because of the night flight in Dubai I feel very tired seating at the back on the taxi. The moment we stand still on the traffic I fall asleep and woke up when we arrived in Yangon. When checked my watch again the trip took us three hours from the airport to the center I see our driver's face looks tired too. The taxi price agreement is 8,000 kyat, but when I think about it is really not expensive and the time he spent on the road and lost three hours, I gave him 15.0000 kyat. He didn't expected to had a good hearted passenger.



When we arrived he call the hotel bellboy and these guys taking care of our luggage. Check in at the hotel goes very quickly, they all are very friendly and helpful. We book a hotel near train station as we're going to do the circle train the following day. Anyway, we were so tired but we don't want to sleep early to avoid a jetlag (home time difference). We want to go to Bogyoke market - I just want to stroll around. First thing I'd like to do when visiting a country. It was late in the afternoon when we get there. Bogyoke Aung San Market, is an interesting place to see some local products, there are a lot of interesting stuff for sale. I was thinking of buying a longyi - a traditional dress in Myanmar, I heard the market is a good place to buy a longyi. So when we got there I walk from one shop to another, plenty of choices around and I found one I liked it cost only 4000 kyat.



After I got my longyi dress we continue walked around and we saw the food stalls - food stalls? is something I'd like to do for once to mingle with the locals, so we went inside and look around what they have and it really looked good, so we grab a table (plastic table) and order food. We have our first meal in Myanmar at the market, a unique experience. From the market we walk through a bridge connected to a beautiful mall of Yangon called Junction City - a huge contrast to the market. Amazing place I feel like walking in one of malls in Europe. Inside is mostly designer stores, but don't looked at the price as it isn't cheap for shopping. As I'm feeling very tired we took a taxi back to the hotel.




Exploring Yangon on the next day



Our plan for the day is going to take the Circle Train - a very interesting thing to do in Yangon. Thus, after breakfast in the hotel we walk to train station which is not far from where we stay. The best time to take the circle train is in the morning. The circle train is very popular if you asked someone where to buy a ticket they pointed you to the counter, no reservation is needed. We bought our train ticket on the day we travel. The train goes around Yangon in circle and you can hop - off - hop on anytime. But once you get off and hop - on again you need to buy a new ticket. If you want to stay in the train - the whole circle ride takes about three hours or so. There are amounts things to do in Yangon such as: Shwedagon pagoda, one of the most beautiful temple complex in Yangon but there is an entrance fee of 10.000 kyat (8$) and really worth the money.



After visiting Shwedagon Pagoda, we continue our walk to Kandawgyi Park- a nice public park of Yangon. Visited the park on Sunday, Burmese people even monks are enjoying themselves in the park. Is very hot in Yangon walking in the heat takes my energy I got too tired from walking in the heat. Thus, we took a break and sat down for a while in a cafe and order some cold drinks. Later in the evening we will have a bus to Ngwe Saung Beach. So after having a few drinks in a cafe we continue strolling around, we have a city map, so looking at the map I see a smaller shopping mall called United Living Mall I normally wasn't interested in shopping mall, but this looked like a very small building, so we took a cab and asked the driver to take us to United Living Mall, by the time we get there is almost 3:00 pm.



This is a three storey building, after walking around on the first floor we took the escalator to the second floor walk around, this mall is not comparable to the other one near Bogyoke. Inside United Living Mall is mostly local brands I'm just curious to see around, then we took the escalator down to the basement where the food court is located. A very small food court but we managed to find a decent food. This is likely a shopping mall for Burmese people I like this kind of place where I see more and get close to locals. I dislike a place where tourist are going, I'm more comfortable mingle with the local people. This is the way of learning the countries culture.

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