Yangon
surprised us.
Sure, we were
a bit apprehensive about setting foot in a military ruled country because of
all the common negative perception about their government and just minutes out
of their extremely clean and modern airport while at a back seat of a cab
idling at a traffic light, we were side by side a van with a huge POLICE sign
imprinted on its side in bold stark white letters. Only the hands of the
prisoners grasping the bars can be seen.
But other
than that sighting, we’ve never seen any form of military presence and the
Burmese people seems to be generally at peace, happy and very friendly. We
never once questioned our safety nor did we feel threatened in any way and at
any time. We felt VERY
SAFE even
while strolling at night in a country that is embroiled in political turmoil
for the longest time.
The city center for its proximity to the popular sights is where we stayed. Accommodations in Yangon, well Myanmar in general, is still limited and rates are a little bit higher compared to other neighboring Southeast Asian countries because of the recent influx of tourism and lack of infrastructures.
We always do some form of research before our every travel but somehow it escaped our notice that the city center is also known as the Little India.
Like many Southeast Asian countries, it is crowded with a mishmash of settlers, but judging from what the district is called, there’s a profusion of Indians concentrated in the area. Lucky for us that means glorious authentic Indian food!
Little India is lined with narrow streets that hosts dilapidated colonial mix-use (residential and commercial) buildings and makeshift stores that sell anything and everything from the ubiquitous cheap China made plastics to street food to betel nut sellers with stained red teeth.
We saw some parts of Yangon that is grimy, crowded, polluted but somehow, we saw it as character.
In its crumbling walls, we glimpsed the history of its grandness. In its crowdedness, we saw the art.
And
grateful that Myanmar is now open to us Filipinos, visa free since January of
2014.
NOTES:
Yangon
International Airport – IATA code: RGN located at Mingaladon about 15
kilometers from north of downtown Yangon.
There is a taxi booth at the airport with fixed price. We paid 10,000 kyat from the airport to the city center.
There is a taxi booth at the airport with fixed price. We paid 10,000 kyat from the airport to the city center.
Philippine
time is an hour and half (1hr and 30mins) advance.
Currency:
Kyat (pronounced as chats).
Note
that they only accept clean and crisp dollar bills with no crease and from year
2006 or
newer.
Rates
at the airport are surprisingly good.
You
can also use US dollars for paying hotel bills, entrance fees to tourist
attractions and long
distance bus tickets.
Electrical
outlets - 2 round pins or 3 flat pins
The
only mode of transportation we used to get around is cabs because buses and trucks
with their Burmese script routes intimidated us. These are old surplus vehicles
that are either left or right hand drive and may or may not have
air-conditioning. There is no meter so negotiate before getting in. $1 or 1,000
kyat is the minimum.
Dress modestly with shoulders and knees covered when visiting the temples. Footwear, even socks are not permitted in places of worship. If you turn up at a temple inappropriately dressed, you can rent or borrow a longyi (a sort of sarong) for a few kyats as deposit.
Looking at your photos made me missed our short stint at Yangon and to write about it as well.
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