Myanmar

Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)

5.05 -5.07

This commentary may seem different than the rest, I had a lot of Preconcieved notions prior to my arrival in Yangon. One was that the capital was going to be like a police state, armed guards with AK-47's on every corner, people being stopped constantly, roadblocks and checks at every other corner. The capital may have comprised of some of those items, but none of them all together.


Arrival through immigration and customs was very lackluster, infact the queue for Foreigner arrivals was so packed, it consisted of....me. thats right, Me, no one else, i was the only foreigner arriving, infact there were several planes that landed at the same approximate time, and I was the only one in the line for foreigners at passport control. Right off the bat, my first preconceived notion was that i would be hassled in passport control, many questions, "where are you staying, where will you be visiting, how long will you be staying, what is the purpose of your visit, etc etc." of which i received none, handed the gal my passport and doucments, she stamped it, although i did have to direct her to the correct visa. I have two visa's for Myanmar in my passport as i was intending on visiting here last year with Joe.

one outside of Immigration i was expecting to be swallowed in a sea of touts, not the case, very organized to be honest, with an offical looking man approaching (name badge for the gov't and the whole nine yards) in a dress shirt and Yanghyi (sp), directing me to the taxi queue, advising me how much it would be to get a taxi to the hotel, a whole whopping 6USD. Very painless and quite efficient really. One in the taxi there was a gentlman along with the driver who spoke english, this was more for the sales pitch to get me to hire him tomorrow for the day for touring etc. Have I mentioned Yet that the tempeture was 42C when i landed (110+F WAY TO FRACKIN HOT).
After checking into the hotel, i decided to eat in the hotel resturaunt, not my usual MO, but for reals, it was HOT outside and i didn't really want to endure the heat, i mean, it was so hot i couldn't even breathe, gasping for breath in between mopping the two gallons of water off my forehead from being outside for 2 minutes. I had a couple Tigers and some chicken with cashews and ginger, very tasty and the tiger (a singapore beer) complimented it quite well.

So my intent for the night was to get my bearings, work over the map to figure out where i was going tomorrow, as well as the best to way to get there i.e. walking or Taxi. After a couple beers, Dinner, and another beer in the room it was time for bed and an early rise for breakfast and touring.

Last thing before bed to to figure out the money situation, when i arrived i had to have the hotel break down a 100 dollar bill so that i could have enough small bills to pay the cab. Now i needed to know if i needed Kyat, the Myanmar currency, apparently this stuff is old, ratty, several different sizes for the same denomination notes, as well as un official on what the actual real exchange rate is. I exchanged at the hotel at 920 to 1, although i think the real rate was more 1000 to 1. where as XE.com said it ws 6.15 (which i think i wrote down wrong), and the other official is =/-400 to 1. Regardless of which i now have Kyat in my pocket, a lot actuually, with taxi's costing 1.5k to 3k a ride, tomorrow might be a bit expensive for taxi's, we'll see if we can do it for less than 50US like the cabbie and translator were trying to get me for.

Have i mentioned yet how hot it is here in Yangon...fry eggs on the street hot....quicker than in a frying pan.

Breakfast was a simple chinese style buffet, i think the hotel catered to chinese on holiday, thats all there seemed to be there, with many Burmese coming and going, doing business with chinese investors i can only assume.

I knew today was going to be a challenge, between the pollution that had me coughing on the ride from the airport, to the intense heat...have i mentioned its hot here?....40C+ (x2 + 30 to get F). I decided for the morning i'd hit ShweDagon Pagoda, then maybe the national Museum (for some much needed AC), then possibly the circular train, that might be cool and refreshing...

Started with Schwedagon Pagoda and the Martyr's Masoleum, tood a taxi to the pagoda costing 1.5k, not a bad start. I brought my day bag along with me with water and my list of things i wanted to do, I aslo brought it cause i knew that i would have to take my shoes off to go through the pagoda, and didn't want to leave them at a particular entrance and forget which one, so it was just as easy to toss them in my bag and carry thema round with me.

This complex was huge, and the giant pagoda was fracking excess in and of itself. I'm not much on the pagoda's, having seen them in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, i think they are excessive, and in many cases a waste. I take the Cathedral aproach in Europe here, once you've seen one you've seen them all. Now my opinions are my own, and not knowing much about budhism other than what i've learned in school, I just find it hard to fathom that people will plate a 100 meter pagoda in gold, when there is widespread poverty and opression. Just me.

After the pagoda and lots of pictures, like the psychedelic buddha with the flashing lights, and the disco buddha's with there glass flecks surounding them like a disco ball it was off to the martyr's masoleum. Have i mention that the visit to the pagoda was at 8AM and it was creeping on 40C? Its HOT here. I exited the pagoda to the South, expecting to come right in contact with the MM, no the case, there were not direct signs or indication anywhere that it was right outside the south gate. Thanks Wikitravel for the bad info....so not seeing it I decided to walk around the Pagoda to see if maybe I had just been told the wrong exit by my tourguide, in the off chance that i could see it there. The MM was nowhere to be found, so i cought a taxi over to the national museum for 2k, its now around 945 and I'm in desperate need of AC, i'm starting to cough from the exhause fumes on teh street and the combination of the heat blaring down on me...btw i think my bald spot is bright red, i just don't have the gumption to check.

the national museum was interesting, it cost 5 US to get in, and the bonus was that you couldn't take a bag, or camera into the museum, i'm pretty sure i could have, but didn't feel like get tossed out, although the flash would have come in handy as the electricity was not working when the museum opened at 10. This was going to be a common theme throughout my stay here in Yangon, rolling blackouts, or just no electricity in certain areas. I was making the observation that the private sector was prepared while the public was not, generator were well abundant, with the hotel i was staying at having 2. I decided to tough it through all four floors of the museum, not for punishment, but because as i was finishing up the first floor the power came back on and the ac was starting to blow. While the museum was interesting it was in no way shape or form like any of the museums back in the states, with the history exhibits from before the 19th century, and based on the former kings and queens, there was minimal to no history from the 20th century, by design, i imagine, but none all the same.

I managed to stop in front of every AC unit on my way through the museum, and feeling cooled off, i headed out, in an attempt to find the hotel, which later i realized i had straight out passed by, like a 2 minute walk away, i'm not really sure how i could miss an 11 story building either. So for the next 2 hours i decided to walk around Yangon and see how the street fare went. I ended up walking through either the Arab/Indian district. The sidewalks were filled with people selling goods, everything from durian fruit to school uniforms and textbooks. Two hours was about all i could handle, the heat was absolutely overwhelming, especially in the peak of the day. So once the water was gone, it was back to the hotel to cool off. I was exhausted, coughing from walking around the streets, and of course my own personal vice, smoking.

After a break, it was back out into the city, I'm not sure i've mentioned this yet, but its really hot here, hitting 44/45C. This time out, its later in the day around 4PM, hoping the heat has subsided a little, and it hasn't, i headed off to the hotel/tourist district. First stop was the center hotel for a massage. One thing Yangon is known for is there abundance of places to get a massage, and I'm talking about a traditional massage perverts. My massage was performed by this 80Pd girl if she was lucky sopping wet who was as strong as an ox, pratically bending me so that my ankles were above my ears (i exaggerate, but she was strong). after the massage and feeling quite relaxed I headed out to walk around the downtown area, now i was confronted with being in the tourist district point blank when a little boy carrying a baby started following me asking for money for food...i take a very hard approach to street kids, they get nothing from me, 99.9% of the time its there parents who have sent them out to to be beggars, i politely told the kid to go home and smack his mother for putting him on the street when he should be home studying, but that wasn't the troubling sight, the baby this boy was carrying was limp, either drugged silent, or dead, i couldn't quite see which, either way i wanted nothing to do with either of them and walked faster to put as much distance between us, hoping the kid would stop following at the next street knowing he would be out of his territory.

Walking a bit more I decided it was time to get back to the hotel, my laundry would be done and i desperately needed a clean set of clothes, not to mention another shower, having soaked the clothes on my back twice over today, they were starting to get a bit of a funk to them.

This being my last night in Yangon, i decided what the hell, i have showered more today than i do in a week, I've got clean clothes on my back, and a bunch of Kyat to use, I'm gonna go for a bar hop. A Disco was recommended by the hotel called the Pionneer Disco, i had also heard of this place from a couple expat websites, knowing it was foreigner friendly, which is always helpful, i gave it whirl, arriving around 2130, the heat of the day still lingering, but not quite in your face, cause if i haven't mentioned it before, i will mention, its seriously hot here. The music was good, mostly techo to the current US top 40, lady gaga and the like. I stayed for a good 3 hours before heading back, having about 5 pints of tiger at 2k a peice, not a bad deal for the foreigner price i thought, and still cheaper than Singapore.

On the way home, i did come in contact with my first police checkpoint. the taxi driver having to show his papers, open the trunk, and bribe the police (i'm almost certain of it) for whatever reason. They didn't bother me at all, just shined a flashlight into the car. not gonna lie my heart did jump a little, not knowing exactly what was going to happen. All work out and i made it back to the hotel safely with no other incidence.

Tomorrow singapore, Saturday the Flips, Sunday in the states by 2PM...the trip is drawing to a close, I have officially seen the whole of SE Asia.