Amusing ourselves in Yangon

Our first experience of Myanmar was very positive, with it taking less than 25 minutes from us walking off the plane to collecting our bags.

We’d sat next to an American guy called Brian on the plane and so after getting some money out and buying a SIM card (both of which were also simple to do), the three of us got in a taxi to Downton Yangon. The odd thing was that although they drive on the right, many of the cars also have the steering wheel on the right, a hangover from colonial times.

Our first job when we arrived at our hostel was to sort out our onward travel to Nay Pyi Taw. Unfortunately this wasn’t quite as straightforward as we’d hoped and we ended up booking an extra night in Yangon to give us enough time to see everything there.

The next morning, we headed out into the heat to visit Sule Pagoda. The first thing we noticed was how quiet it was compared to Vietnam, as scooters are banned from Yangon, so there’s a lot less beeping. This was a very welcome relief! However shortly afterwards we came across a street procession with people singing into microphones, which definitely increased the noise levels! Apparently this was to celebrate Holi and there were people at the front of the procession handing out sweets and pink paint.

After reading some reviews of the Sule Pagoda, which claimed tourists were ripped off at every turn, we were understandably cautious about going, but we did not have this experience at all. Instead we had a peaceful wander around the complex, admiring all the shrines and watching people send messages up into the pagoda on a wooden boat.

In fact, the only time people approached us was to ask if they could take selfies with us! This appears to be a common occurrence in Myanmar, with many people smiling and waving at us as we go past. As a country that only recently opened up to tourists, for many it’s clearly still a novelty to see Westerners.

After the pagoda, we crossed the road to the Independence monument, which is made up of one central pillar and five others to represent the other minority cultures living in Myanmar and how they can all live together. There was also a photo exhibition on display, but it was too hot to stay out in the open for long.

To cool off, we headed to the Rangoon Tea House for elevenses. We had a pork bao and chocolate filled samosas which were both absolutely delicious! The air con was also very welcome.

Feeling suitably refreshed, we wandered down to the river to what we hoped would be a nice park by the water, but turned out to be a dockyard full of shipping containers! We did see some old colonial buildings though, so it was worth the walk.

We then walked to another pagoda, which was about 20 minutes away, but by the time we got there, we were so hot (it was 36 degrees), that we decided not to go in, but to head back to the Rangoon Tea House for lunch instead!

The afternoon was mainly spent doing chores, like washing. However every day at 4pm, our hostel served a different local speciality. Today it was tea leaf salad, which despite not liking tea, I found surprisingly good!

Our final visit of the day was to the Shwedagon Pagoda. This is much bigger than Sule and the complex as a whole contains hundreds of stupas. We were there at sunset, which was lovely as you got to see the pagodas change colour as the sun set. Unfortunately the main pagoda was covered in scaffolding, but that didn’t spoil the view.

We then crossed the road to the People’s Park, where we wandered to the water fountain, which wasn’t hard to find thanks to the loud music blaring out! It was pretty similar to the one we’d seen in Phnom Penh, but was still good to watch.

For dinner, we went to a sushi restaurant called Gekko that had been recommended to us and it did not disappoint! It was one of the best meals we’ve had on our travels, culminating in a delicious creme brulee that you covered with passionfruit coulis. It’s definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area!

The next morning we walked north towards the zoo, not to see the animals, but to visit an abandoned amusement park. On the way, we walked through the Bogyoke Aung San Market, which had lots of stalls and shops, mostly selling fabric and jewellery.

The amusement park is adjacent to the zoo so we paid the entrance fee and went in. Seeing as we were there, we did look at some of the animals, although many were in cages much too small for their size. There is a large fence with barbed wire on the top stopping people entering the amusement park (although we’ve since read that there is apparently a gap in the fence from the road if you fancy it), but we got some good photos through the fence.

We considered getting the circular train a few stops to experience the Burmese railway system, however it didn’t leave for an hour so after a quick lunch at a bakery, we went back to the hostel to get changed for our second amusement park of the day, this time a water park called Water Boom. It’s apparently Myanmar’s first water park and was oddly quiet for a hot Sunday afternoon. This may have something to do with the rather expensive entrance fee of £10 each, which doesn’t even include access to all the rides! We had a fun couple of hours riding the slides, floating along the lazy river and enjoying the wave pool, although the floor was exceptionally hot in places, making it hard to get from one area to the other.

That evening we wandered down 19th Street to get some bbq stick food appetisers, before heading to a tap room called Burbrit (a concatenation of Burma and Britain) for dinner. Here we enjoyed a large tasting beer platter as well as a game of fusbal and some darts. As is the way with people who aren’t good at darts, we both got stuck on 2 for a long time until James finally hit a double 1 to win.

We went to bed early as we had to be up at 5am to get the bus to Nay Pyi Taw.

Overall, Yangon surprised us. It seemed surprisingly developed, with some fancy cars and some delicious restaurants. The people were really friendly and it was easy to get around. We enjoyed our time here.