-As of earlier this year (2024) it appears the current status of Myanmar has become dangerous and the advice is not to travel. Please check up to date travel advice before considering travel.-
Day 1 We flew into Yangon from Bangkok in the evening so it was dark as we drove through the streets but we did get to see the Shwedagon Pagoda lit up in all it’s glory, it was pretty incredible and we were excited about getting a closer look over the next couple of days. We had pre booked a hotel as we knew it would be late when we landed, we were staying at Good Time Hotel which we had booked through Booking.com. The accommodation in Yangon was surprisingly expensive and this was one of the most reasonable places to stay! The room was pretty bad, the bathroom was not so great, it was definitely an introduction to some of the accommodation we would be experiencing during our 6 months in Asia!! Day 2 It can be a bit of a culture shock arriving here if you aren’t expecting it, we decided to explore the area around the hotel, on the road behind the hotel there was a small very local market. Women with small cloths laid out on the floor and a few items of fruit or veg for sale as well as a few partially plucked chickens on small tables. Then surrounding all these people selling their goods were piles and piles of litter, it was like walking through a landfill but with a market it in. We were slightly shocked by the level of poverty here. We headed off to see what else the city had in store and we found a lovely little park (Mahbandoola Gardens) which is a great place to get away from the hubbub of the city, head for Sule Paya and you should spot the tall Independence Monument which sits in the middle of the park. It was inside Sule Paya (a golden temple that sits in the middle of what can only be described as a roundabout) that we were first introduced to the obsession they have with neon lights in their temples. The pictures of Buddha they have on the walls all seem to be surrounded by a mixture of flashing neon lights, you might think you had walked into a party instead of a temple but it seemed to be the same all over Myanmar.
Don't forget to look both ways...Open train tracks you walk across to get to parts of the city We needed to change up some of our US Dollars into Kyat which is the local currency here. They are very specific about the Dollars they will exchange so check out my tips below to make sure you are aware beforehand. Unusually the best place to change up money here is on the black market, we headed to Bogyoke Aung San market to change money, it’s all a bit chaotic but you will get the best exchange rate this way. Bring a bag with you when you are doing this as with the exchange rate it doesn’t take long to be given piles of notes that you have to now carry around with you. We also purchased a local sim card to put in an old phone we had bought with us so we can make local calls and use internet data should we need to in emergencies. The market was huge and you could get quite lost, there were a lot of stalls all selling the same things so we did a quick walk around and were done.
We enjoyed some fresh orange juice in the market, you can also see the thanaka on the ladies cheeks We headed for the food hall and I warn you now...just be prepared for one of the craziest experiences you’ve ever had. As soon as we were spotted it all kicked off, all the ladies from the stalls grabbed their menus and flew in our direction, shouting ‘come to my stall’ at us and flapping their menus, my husband was dragged away by a group of them and I was being pulled by two of them in different directions, it was insane. I felt pretty stressed about it all but not threatened in anyway, we literally had to tell them to calm down and shush them with a finger to our mouths as it was so loud and overwhelming. We picked a menu and ordered some lunch quite flustered from what had just happened. We walked around some more and found some great street food, pancakes, roti, samosas and even fresh watermelon were all delicious. There were also some great art gallery places, informal ones where local artists had pieces for sale and there were some lovely paintings. We ended up heading to Shwedagon Pagoda (entrance $5USD) quite late in the day when the sun was going down but it wasn’t a problem and it was actually really beautiful and atmospheric at night. The stupa (which is 2,500 years old) was lit up and all the gold was glistening, although when we were there in November the stupa was having it’s annual clean so it was covered in a layer of bamboo but we could still see it. There is so much to see around the whole complex with 82 other buildings to look at and lots of shrines etc, I really enjoyed our visit here.
The magnificent Shwedagon Pagoda lit up at night time We normally stay longer in cities but felt that we had seen most of the key sites and the hotels were quite expensive to stay in so when we arrived back at the hotel we booked a bus ticket for the next day to take us to the beach town of Ngwe Suang. Food places tend to close quite early in Myanmar and by now it was quite late, as we walked the empty streets in search of food. We found a street food vendor cooking noodles so through lots of miming, smiling and nodding we thought we’d got there. We sat at one of the miniature table and chairs on the street with the other locals when we were presented with 2 plastic bags with noodles in and almost shooed away, apparently we weren’t welcome to stay so we headed back to our room with our sad little bags of noodles. Things you will notice about Myanmar... - Lots of women and girls have a yellow / whitish paint on their faces. This is called Thanaka and is made from ground up bark, it is used for a number of reasons including cosmetic, to help with conditions such as acne and to protect the skin against sunburn. - Traditionally everyone wears a long ‘skirt’ this is called a Longyi, women wear it tied to the side and men wear it tied at the front. If you happen to catch a group of men playing a game of football at any point you will notice how they creatively tuck it up to form a pair of shorts. - You will notice lots of (mainly) men have horrific red stained teeth and you will also witness them spitting a horrible red substance on the floor which also means the pavements are covered in bright red blobs on the pavement. The whole thing is not very pleasant but it is a part of the culture here. The thing they are all chewing is called a Betel Quid, it is basically a betel leaf which is usually filled with a mixture of areca nuts, tobacco and lime (we are talking slaked lime not the tasty green citrus type!) they either chew or keep the betel quid in their mouth and it produces a buzz making them fairly addictive. When you visit a market or walk around a town look out for the perfect spirals of green leaves all laid out, they are the betel leaves just waiting to be filled. - Be prepared to be hit with ‘tourist prices’ not everywhere but a lot of the time, some places have a local and a tourist menu where the main difference is the price, be prepared to haggle in markets and in taxis etc as they will try their best to get as much out of you as possible. - In a lot of local bars you will hear the men making a kissing type noise, they generally make the noise twice which is just their way of getting the waiters attention...don’t be shy give it a go! Basic language (written phonetically) Hello – Min-ga-la-ba Thank you – chei-zu-tin-bar-te or lots of people shorten it to chei-zu-bay Money ATM’s were almost nonexistent when I was here but I think they are popping up in a few places now but don’t rely on being able to draw money out, come prepared. The easiest currency to exchange is US Dollars, but they are very fussy so make sure you get dollars which are as new as possible, in totally perfect crisp condition, there can be no folds, stains or tears. Try not to exchange money at the airport or banks as the exchange rates are quite low, look out for money changer booths or head to Bogyoke Aung San Market, don’t be afraid to get a few ‘quotes’ either before you commit. There are a few tourist sites and other places where you can pay with dollars to try and save some Kyat. Check official sites on this to make sure you have the most up to date info before you travel.
YANGON TOP TIPS - Book a hotel before you arrive - Bring dollars (as per above) and change up when you arrive
- Purchase a good travelling backpack I swear by my Berghaus 65 litre Rucksack like this one here - Make sure you pack a decent camera, I always favour a compact one from Sony similar to this one
