My friends and colleagues have seen me getting all excited about my first backpacking experience trip in Yangon and have been worried for me, travelling to this protected country with minimal mode of contact. I think it's a challenge especially for me this clean freak.
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| Waiting for my room to get ready at Mother Land Inn 2, Lower Pazudung Road |
The first thing I did when I touched down at the Yangon International Airport was to change some of the US dollar notes that I've got into their currency, Kyatt (pronounced as chyatt). Like what the forums said, they are very strict with the condition of the notes. Wrinkled, old and torn notes are definitely not acceptable. I had a hard time screening through the crisp notes that I have on hand with the locals. After going through the screenings, we proceed to Mother Land Inn 2, a guesthouse that we researched before hand, hoping that there will be room available for us.
God bless us, we managed to get a room and chatted with the friendly service staff and some other Caucasian backpackers. It's really interesting to hear their backpacking journey and to be frank, their stories are really encouraging.
Explored around the inn and located a super store down the corner of the road. A convenient spot indeed despite of the messy and bumpy road. There are no street lights in most streets in Yangon, so it's best to return to the guesthouse before it gets dark.
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| The backyard of the Houses. Rubbish every where, Stray Dogs every where... |
I have always been dependent on my friends or local tour guides whenever I travel free and easy, but this is the very first time I did my homework, studies the map and sort of guided the journey! Feel so proud of myself. So our first destination in Yangon is the Bogyoke Market, a place similar to our Chinatown. If you are looking for cheap Longyis, woodcrafts or jades, this is a place for your.
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| Bogyoke Market |
We went on to the Kan Daw Gyi Lake, a quiet and beautiful place perfect for dating. There's this fine dining restaurant beside the lake and to our surprised, we see dim sums! Though the food doesn't taste authentic, it is not so bad for a not well-developed country. After the tasty lunch, we wanted to be daring and walk down to Bogyoke Aung San Museum. We knew we've failed our challenge when we realized we've been walking round the lake instead of out the lake! With road signs that we totally can't understand, taxi is really the safer option travelling in Yangon. You can try taking the bus if you don't mind the squeezing crowd and locals with bunch of vegetables and cages of chickens in the vehicle, and not to forget, the likelihood that you might get stuck in the middle of your journey for hours with the passengers.
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| Seaweed Fish Roll, Signature Fine Dining at Kan Daw Gyi Lake |
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| Friendly, pleasant kids at the shops along Shwe Dagon Pagoda |
Shwe Dagon Pagoda is really an ancient, with over 2000 years of history. The Pagoda is made of real gold plates and gold offerings from the locals and tourists and kept in the Pagoda. Only the scheduled monks can enter the Pagoda and fix the pagoda when some of the gold plates fell off from the Pagoda. There are 6 gems on the pagoda too, shining so brightly that we can even see it from afar.
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| Late Evening view of the Shwe Dagon Pagoda |
To have a better view of how the locals live in Yangon, we took the Circular Train for a long 3 hours. That was when I felt disturbed at the scenes. The standard of living is really low there, with the villagers living just beside the field and rubbish flying everywhere. Their home are made of straws and you can see some showering in the public, beside the street market with the stray animals. The locals spit anywhere and the sight of them walking bare-footed on the dirty road is really disturbing.
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| On board the Circular Train for USD1. Foreigners are given tickets for the ride in the Upper Class Cabin. A much more spacious seats for a better view. Standing on the train is prohibited in the Upper Class Cabin. |
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| This Daddy travelled from station to station and picked his girl up through the window. The girl kept waving at us with this blur look of hers when she board the train. Her eyes were shining so brightly that it's a waste not to take a picture of her. |
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| The market along the railway tracks |
The experience there is really great, made me appreciate the beautiful country that I am living in, the people there are simple too, a good reflection in my life. But....Another time to Myanmar? I doubt so in the short run....
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| Mother Land Inn 2 baked me this lovely Birthday Cake, a great surprised in the morning. All the service crew sang the Birthday song and kept wishing me Happy Birthday when they see me in the house. Real heart warming. |
