Mingalabar from Yangon

A stressful early morning flight from Saigon sees us arrive in a brand new airport at Yangon (pronounced Yangoon) to be met by Mr Sew and his highly polished car.  Although it is no significant distance from the airport to our hotel the traffic is orderly but busy and the journey takes about an hour. 

Downtown traffic crawls along

Even the buses struggle to make headway

We’re upgraded on arrival at our hotel and have a brilliant view of the Shwedagon Pagoda, the main attraction which glitters in the distance.

Shwedagon Paya at night from our balcony

Bags stowed, we head out for downtown Yangon to get our bearings.  It’s a long dusty walk and it’s apparent that there are no bars and eateries around the hotel.  We venture further into the downtown area and it dawns on us that this is very similar to parts of India – indeed most of the food sold is Southern Indian, the market stalls and sellers are Indian in looks and the buses are mental.  We quickly feel at home.

We could be in India

I feel like chicken tonight!

The streets are narrow and packed with stalls

The chicken lady counts her takings 

Dried chillis

No idea what this lady is selling

The onion lady

The corn dolly 

Plenty of fish...

The people are friendly and nowhere near as pushy when we browse the stalls.  Crossing the road is a challenge but the City is laid out on a grid system so it is easy to navigate and we head for the Sule Paya – a 2,000 year old golden temple in the middle of a traffic gyratory system.

The Sule Paya traffic island

Afterwards we dine at the Nilar Biryani where we avoid the a la carte restaurant which is empty, choosing instead to enjoy the set meal with the locals.  A delicious chicken biryani for two is about £2 and tastes fantastic.  We finish off the day with beer at the Bar Boon – we can always find a watering hole!

An early start has us visiting the Shwedagon Pagoda – visible from just about anywhere in Yangon, the main zedi is 325 feet high and is adorned with 27 tons of gold and thousands of diamonds including a 74 carat diamond at the top.  The glare from the golden stupas is astounding.

Giant Chinthes (half lion / half dragon) guard the entrance

The planetary posts represent the days of the week

The Stupa is 325 foot tall and gleams in the sunlight

Covered in pure gold and topped with diamonds

A Golden Umbrella

Gunner Ted Armstrong mimes J Arthur Rank

Yangon has a fascinating and rich selection of buildings and monuments.  Sadly, many are neglected and are crumbling away.

Former goods yard is now a shanty town 

Old Court buildings are still in use

The Botataung Paya is located down by the river is less visited and much more down to earth.  The pond is interesting and the guide book suggests that if you are patient you might see a monstrous turtle’s head sticking out of the water – all we see are terrapins and catfish.  We also note that the local are into recycling in a big way.  At the front, devotees buy ornate baskets of fruit and flowers to offer up to the gods.  At the back, the offerings are recycled to the front for resale!

Botataungh Paya

Seeking enlightenment - the cat meditates

Turtles heads bob in the pool

We also get to try our hand at ‘lucky wish’.  For K1,000 (about 60p) we buy a plate full of tightly folded k20 notes.  We then have to throw the notes at a set of revolving pots – each note that makes it into a pot gets a wish – but as we can’t decipher the language and so we have no idea what wishes we won!

Lucy tries her luck!

And a word about the buses – (from our hotel guide) – “yes, they are not the cleanest or the most convenient buses in the world.  Every other vehicle fears buses because they are aggressive.  Most are very old and you see true teamwork in a bus, with the driver, the fare collector or screamer, the bus stop official and the long suffering passenger” – so just like India.

The buses take no prisoners

Relieved passengers alight

We round off our trip with a quick stop at Sarkey’s Bar in the Strand Hotel, Yangon’s poshest watering hole.

The Strand Hotel - Yangon institution

Dagon Beer - A Green institution

Next stop Bagan!