1929 Kyat - £ 1
Time difference +6.5 Hours
Average Beer - £ 1.00
Day 1 – (2nd Jan – bit behind with the blog!)
Heading off at 9.00 we caught the Skytrain to Bangkok airport
we boarded our flight to Yangon, I can highly recommend Bangkok Airlines as
during a 1 hour flight we got a three course meal and glass of fairly decent
red wine – screw you BA!!
We arrived in Yangon (Formerly Rangoon) around 2pm and
quickly sourced some local currency which is quite interesting, the most you
can take out is K 300,000 (£155) and usually comes out about an inch thick of K5000
notes, which means folding your wallet is quite difficult.
About an hour’s cab ride past some interesting pagoda’s and
the like and we arrived at our hostel where we had our own private room which was
clean and functional, but shared toilets/showers which were cleaned by staff as
soon as they had been used so they were pretty decent.
The Myanmarians??? Are really smartly dressed with the majority
of men sporting long thick sarongs with shirts and the women super colour coordinated
in either long skirt/sarong and matching tops. We were both surprised about how
modern the town was, lots of technology, smart cars and all very clean. They
have a great grasp of English too (at least in Yangon), better than they spoke
in Bangkok.
Next Shell had arranged to meet up with our friend Karen
Abbot who was on an Explore trip in Myanmar and just happened to be in town at
the same time as us (how cool!) , so we jumped in a cab and headed to her
hotel. After checking with reception it
appeared that she had not checked in, so after a while I managed to contact her
on the phone only to find out she was coming in the next day, apparently
between her and Shell they had a problem working out the difference between the
2nd & 3rd!!
So we headed off to find a restaurant for a bite to eat,
some not that interesting noodle dish, very dull, hopefully we ordered badly
and all the food isn’t going to be like this! Was also spoilt a little by a giant hairy rat
running past just as we finished our meal.
We decided to head back to our hotel area as it was livelier
and go for a wander and after a short time we came across the main travellers
street, full of restaurants and bars (19th Street - a Myanmar equivalent
of Kho San Road), so we spent the rest of the evening there
checking out the new local brew, strangely enough called Myanmar beer! We spoke to some fellow travellers who
advised us not to go with any of the guided tours if we had time on our hands,
as most was doable by foot.
Getting back to our room we pretty soon deduced that it wasn’t
going to be a quiet night (being next to the main road & junction) so ear
plugs would be required for the first time.
Also we were not looking forward to those middle of the night pee’s (you
need them at our age – or is that just the beer?) not having our usual en-suite!!
Day 2
Waking up fairly early due to previously mention traffic
situation we went for breakfast which was a pretty much self-service job with
toast, coffee and a noodle type dish (don’t ask what as I can’t do that type of
food first thing in the morning). Due to
this being a hostel there were far more traveller types here and after a brief
chat with a German guy we got a useful tip about getting a river boat from
Mandalay to Bagan.
As we had rearranged to meet Karen today (should be OK
because I organised it!!) we decided to
take it easy and do some research on our next destination, where we thought it
would be nice to do a beach after all of the city’s we had recently seen. However after a few hours we were getting
nowhere as it seemed that anywhere in our price range was booked when we wanted
to go, so after a lot of cursing and gnashing of teeth (Me not Shell) we
decided to book another night in Yangon and change the beach location to bring
the prices down.
I forgot to mention that as we booked for one night and then
rebooked for another two nights so we were moved to a smaller room a lot
further away from the facilities – I hope I don’t get ill again!!
After all the computer stuff we felt we deserved a beer or
two so we headed back to 19th street for just long enough for Shell
to squeeze in another foot massage (recommended by an American guy the day
before) and at £ 2.50 for an hour it was rude not too. I again declined to be prodded by some
stranger and opted for another beer whilst Shell got her treatment.
We then met up with Karen and as she was on a two week
holiday we had arranged to meet at The Strand Hotel for cocktails (apparently this
was the poshest colonial hotel in Myanmar).
It was great to catch up with her and find out about all her travels in
Myanmar getting useful information on the places we were going to go, she also
introduced us to one of the local drinks – a Rum Sour which was pretty dam good
after a couple of months of fizzy lager, but also very small so they went down
a bit quickly.. Karen taking pity on us
poor traveller types treated us to these, which was appreciated. Thanks Karen J
Unfortunately Karen was a bit under the weather with a bit
of Burma Belly so she came with us to 19th street for a beer before heading
back to her hotel, but we agreed to meet her the next day for lunch. Unsurprisingly if you have been following our
blog Shell and I stayed on for a few more Myanmar’s before heading off for bed
(I’m going to regret those beers in the middle of the night!)
Day 3
As we were meeting Karen for lunch we only had the morning to
kill so we headed off to one of the nearby temples (Sule Paya) along the market
side road with all its noise, colour, hustle & bustle. When we arrived at the temple they must have
known we were coming as the main peak was covered in scaffolding (happens
everywhere we go!), so it did not look as impressive as it could have done and
as we know we are going to be on quite a temple fest we decided not to pay to
go in.
Instead we had a walk round the local park and a bit of a
sit and people watch for a bit before heading back to meet up with our friend. Passing through a few back streets we came across
some local teenagers in the street playing a game pretty similar to the greasy
pole back home, theirs was the stripped trunk of a palm tree, suspended from a
rope covered in cooking oil, with a money prize sitting on top. We watched this for some time until we realised
that nobody was going to get rich anytime soon.
Apparently this was all a part of their independence day (from us?? I’ll
have to check) celebrations.
We then thought that as it was still early we would walk to
Karen’s hotel braving the many large road crossings that in the end you just
have to walk across and hope for the best.
When we got there Karen seemed a lot better and we went out and had a
spot of lunch with her at a local restaurant she had recommended.
After lunch we had a quick beer nearby then when back to
Karen’s hotel when Shell then acquired all her left over odds and ends that she
had finished with as she was heading home.
Shampoo, Conditioner, Soap, Suntan Cream, After-sun and even a copy of
Myanmar Lonely Planet Guide (from one of her travelling companions) – we are
such charity cases now - thanks Karen,
and it was really great catching up with you, looking forward to seeing both
you and Emma soon!.
Anyway we waved Karen off in her minibus to the airport and
headed back to the hotel. On the way
back we stopped to watch some of the local street football which is just set up
in the middle of a road (the main one our hotel was on in this case), a pitch
is marked out with small goals either end and even a referee with quite a large
crowd watching and the traffic just having to negotiate its way around it. Proper hardcore, bare feet on tarmac! And I thought Hackney Marshes was Tough!
I’m a bit sketchy on what we did later that day because I’m
a bit behind with this but I’m pretty sure it involved 19th Street,
some beers, chatting to an English & Dutch girl that were travelling
together and then bed.
Day 4
Having taken it fairly easy for the last week we figured we
would try and do a bit of sightseeing today, well after breakfast of course.
I must admit the hostel had been great to stay in and the
staff were very helpful and had managed to book our onward travel for the next
morning (a coach to Ngwe Saung and a taxi pick up for 5.30am!!)
We then headed off to Scott market which was two stories of
Paintings, Lacquer work, Jade Jewellery and numerous other tourist tatt but
unfortunately Shell was not feeling that clever so after a short while we
decided to move on and get a drink in the shade.
I’ll drop an interesting factoid in here, apparently under
British rule the Burmese felt they were treated like buffalo’s , but when they
teamed up with the Japanese in the 2nd
world war they then felt like the Japanese treated them like dogs, therefore they
then switched to the British side during the war as they preferred to be treated
like Buffalo’s than Dogs - Makes you
proud to be British doesn’t it!!!!
A couple more in 19th street and back to the
hotel before the main event. We had
saved the biggest tourist attraction until the last day – The Shwedagon Paya.
For Myanmar Buddhists,
Shwedagon Paya is the most sacred of all Buddhist sites in the country,
one which all Burmese hope to visit at least once in their lifetime (Yes, I can
go all Michael Palin when I want to!!). The legend also has it that 8 of Buddha’s
hair are contained within the Stupa, although it does not specify which
variety!
After checking about a taxi with the hotel they informed us
that it was just a straight 30 minute walk from there.
So we set off on foot and eventually we started to get glimpses
of the golden temple behind and above the trees, we then got to the enormous
entrance with two large lions guarding either side. Purchasing our tickets (£4 Each) and
depositing our shoes we then headed inside.
Interestingly (or Not), as you go up the first few flights
to the temple complex they have conveniently got escalators for the job (Why
did they not have these in Nepal when we were hiking!!).
But I digress, when you get to the top and see the temples
themselves they are absolutely stunning, gold domes and stupa’s
everywhere. Also as we were arriving for
sunset there were Buddhist Monks chanting and saying their prayers. Also people lighting candles all around the
different temples and pouring water over some of the various Buddha statues.
We must have spent a good hour or so wandering around the
complex Which is quite something for us as we get pretty bored quickly at
temples, but the place was so incredible
it might make you turn Buddhist (but cant see myself with a bald head) and it
looks even better once the sun had disappeared and it was lit up. We also now have far too many photo’s of a
bloody big golden temple – a bit of trimming is required.
On the way back we were going to get a Taxi but they were
asking tourist prices so we headed back on foot but eventually flagged down a
more reasonable taxi to take us back to 19th street. We grabbed
something to eat and a couple of Myanmar Beers and ended up chatting to
some guys from Africa, one of whom managed a team in the National Myanmar
Football League whilst also acting as an
agent for the other guy who was going for a trial for a Malasian
team. But as we had a very early start
again the next morning, we wished them all the best of luck and headed back to
the hostel for an early night.
So far we are loving Myanmar!!!
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