I After a long and cramped flight, which frustratingly flew straight over Myanmar to transfer in Bangkok, we arrived at Yangon airport after a short hop back westward. I love it when you step off the plane to the heat and smells of a new country; this time a dry 30 degrees and smelling of spiced tea.
Myanmar is the first country I have visited that required an advanced tourist visa; and I was disappointed that it only earned you a stamp on the passport, and not a full page delight.
My worry about this trip was travelling so close to having hip surgery, and the flight did not disappoint, I can't really do sitting still easily so it wasn't that much fun. Luckily we were picked up at the airport and whisked to our hotel through the bustling streets of night time Yangon.
It's a busy city, with the trees the British planted to line the roads removed to allow more lanes for traffic and lots of ongoing work to improve the drainage, water supply, electrical supply etc. Through a mix of concrete housing and a few new high rise blocks we snuck a peak of the pagoda lit up beautifully on the other side of the city as we were on the flyover. Heading down streets with food stalls, shops and the usual lovely city goings on. Some streets were quiet, and we were asked to not walk on them past midnight. There doesn't seem to be a crime problem possibly due to the number of police and army about, you don't see them if you aren't looking for them as they are very much in the background.
Having woken up early the following morning we headed out for a day of sightseeing, Matt starting as he meant to go on by going straight for the curry, stir fry and crab sticks on the breakfast buffet!
We were out into the colonial part of town, with European style older buildings; some well looked after and some not. A bit of an empire feel with a governors office, post office, port office; I sense the British brought a lot of paperwork.
The port was huge and container ships sat alongside traditional fishing boats.
Crossing the road by the river gave us first hand experience with Myanmar driving; pretty chaotic with no pedestrian crossings, you just have to dodge the cars (no mopeds or motorcycles allowed in the city thankfully). People beep at you to get out of their way, they don't slow to let you go.
I hate to say it but the Top Gear guys were right; right hands drive cars on a road network where you drive on the right is not a great idea. People can't see to overtake and they get off busses into traffic. Some busses have stickers on the back asking people to adhere to the lanes; they don't and the traffic jams are horrendous. Since the tax on cars (even second hand) was dropped from 300% to something closer to 20% 4-5 years ago the number of cars in the city has tripled.
I also spotted an advert for the Yangon marathon!
Near the central square we visited our first pagoda of the day; this one with an elaborate bamboo scaffolding and straw mat cover as they re guilded it.
On display here was a 40 tonne bell complete with inscriptions that was being moved (stolen to make ammunitions) by the British. They dropped it in the river and failed in their attempts to retrieve it. The locals had to write to Queen Victoria to ask for permission to try to lift it themselves and managed it using a combination of correctly timing the tides and filling the bell with bamboo.
We then visited a frankly enormous reclining Buddha statue at Chaukhtatgyi Paya.
The size of it can't quite be portrayed in the photos, and on the plinth there were story panels about Buddhism.
I particularly liked the feet; decorated with all kinds of auspicious symbols.
After a stop for hot, sweet, spiced tea in a tea shop we headed for a gentle walk around Kandawgyi lake; wonderful spot for a stroll and with a enormous concrete replica boat restaurant owner by one of the richest men in Myanmar.
The magnificent pagoda we had seen across the city the previous night; Shwedagon Paya, was our next stop.
It is huge, covered with what must be tonnes of gold and it looks magnificent. It's surrounded by 64 smaller stupa
Has thousands of donated jewels and gifts inside
Around it are 8 corners, one for each day of the week (Wednesday is spilt into morning and afternoon) and you can pray, cleanse the Buddha with water and ask for care for your or your family at the corner that related to the day of the week you were born on, I went to Sunday corner.
As you walk around it (three is the key number, so try to lap it three times) there are lots of individually donated buildings each with statues, images, carvings, relics or bells in them.
As we did all this walking we learnt how flimsy our feet are; being too used to shoes. All religious sites require you to go barefoot and with the dark tiles in the sun all day they really burn, despite much sweeping the grit gets stuck in your feet and you when you finish you leave a trail of grubby footprints behind.
There are also lots of monks around and I made a bit of a faux pas by asking our guide why some were wearing light pink robes as opposed to dark red; turns out they are nuns... I blame the shaved heads.
We spent quite a bit of time here as it really was a wonderfully peaceful place to sit and watch the world go by. Even ringing the prayer bell to say thank you for good deeds.
We ended the day with our first proper try at Myanmar food; a mix of Indian and Thai influences as you might expect. Great beef curry in a rich spicy sauce, aubergine and onion salad, stir fry vegetables and rice. Fruit for pudding, pineapples almost as good as South America! I also discovered that the hip really doesn't like squat toilets...!
Still being a bit jet lagged we were back at the hotel quite early, so had a quick drink before turning in for the night; tonic with quinine in it - not had that since I had a weird fever in the Amazon rainforest...
Also had a read of a copy of the local, government published, English language newspaper. Four articles on Europe; the UKs EU exit campaign, immigration & refugees and junior doctors strike, one other article on Germany. Quite a few pieces on America, China and Australia. The local news was to be expected from a government paper; very proud of hydroelectric projects, rail projects and gas deposit finds, the economy is going to start booming!
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