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Published: January 22nd 2008
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We've started to write these blogs about two weeks after they actually happened because of the horrible internet access around the country. Now that we're in Yangon and have a few minutes to spare, we thought we would catch everyone up on our trip so far...and maybe, just maybe be able to upload a picture or two.
We arrived at Yangon International airport at about 9am local time...which was an hour after we were supposed to arrive because our plane was delayed in Bangkok. Yangon international was nothing like you'd expect, it was basically brand spanking new and had a huge and still mainly empty arrivals hall and customs area. Our hotel (Motherland 2) arranges free airport pickup and also pick up random tourists who don't know where they are going to stay yet.
The taxi ride to the hotel was about half an hour and on the way we passed at least 15 armed soldiers, saw a few army jeeps and managed to have a 6 car convoy with two awesome looking Mercedes in the middle overtake us. This was our first impression of Burma and the military's presence here, however it turns out that first impressions are
often wrong. We have seen very little sign of the military since - In fact if you didn't know anything about the country you could easily never know that it was run by a military government.
After arriving at the hotel, we dumped our packs in our room and headed out with our friends from Melbourne, Mark and Fish, to explore the city. We did the about half of the 'lonely planet walking tour' which took us past some of the colonial style buildings left by the British like the old High Court and Sule Pagoda. A lot of the colonial buildings are either not in use and fenced off or now have other uses - but the thing that they all have in common is their state of disrepair which is quite sad considering how impressive they would still have been had they been maintained. Sule Pagoda wasn't particularly impressive, however it is in the middle of a very busy roundabout intersection, which certainly beats the native shrubs at home. We also managed to see the strand hotel - its basically the equivalent of the Raffles hotel in singapore and was and still is one of the most
expensive hotels in the country
We caught a taxi to Kandawgyi Lake, which is near the Shewadagon Pagoda. The lake is surrounded by beautiful gardens and lots of young Burmese couples kissing behind parasols. We walked along the boardwalk until we found a nice looking restaurant with a great view over the lake towards Shewadagon Pagoda. After lunch we headed to the main attraction - Shewadagon Pagoda.
Shewadagon Pagoda is the main religious site in what is a very religious country. Its a massive complex of stupas, pagodas and shrines. The centre stupa is 98meters tall and covered in gold, silver, 5000+ diamonds and 2000ish other precious stones. On the very top is a 78carat single diamond...wow. The place has a wonderful feel about it. Its very much still a functioning pagoda, with the majority of people there to worship rather than sightsee.
That night the four of us went to a 'traditional' Burmese buffet in a massive barge/boat on the Kandawgyi Lake. The food was pretty nice, but nothing that spectacular. While we were eating there was a traditional show of Burmese dancing, music and puppetry. Scott thought it was awful, while Bianca really enjoyed
the dancing.
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Claire
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Flights in Myanmar
Hi, I loved reading all about your awesome trip. I am planning a trip to Burma in April, you mention that you flew everywhere, what airline did you fly with? Did you book your flights before arriving in Burma? Do they do such a thing as an airpass? I only have 2 weeks, and want to visit Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan and Inle Lake much like yourselves. Cheers Claire