Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar
The people have been incredible. Although used to foreigners now since the country opened it’s doors a few years ago you still massively stand out in a sea of locals and they are beautifully friendly locals that greet you with a smile, happy to see you in their country.
Our hostel was good and clean yet basic compared to others you find in Asia. A little balcony at the front allowed us to look out to the small wooden school on the opposite side of the road where a gaggle of excited children waved franticly at us with big beaming grins on their faces in-between their singing which they seem to do a lot of at the schools here.
After a stunning sunset we set off on the lengthy walk to the China Town area and soon found the Yangon equivalent of Bangkok’s famous Khao San road, un-surprisingly named Ko San road! It was a small stretch of one street teeming with places to eat and small basic bars. It reminds me a lot of the small streets in Hanoi old town in Vietnam.
The next day was our first and only full day in Yangon so we needed to make the most of it. An early breakfast on the balcony waving at the children and watching the line of monks below waiting for their food contributions from the locals and we were off out.
First stop was the Sule Pagoda in the town centre. We took a quick look the night before on our way to China town when it was lit up, gleaming like some golden beacon in the middle of a roundabout. It’s not a bad Pagoda to go and see but there was much better to come later on so we didn’t hang around too long before heading off to the train station to catch the local circular line train around the outskirts of town. It’s quite an experience taking a tootle round the circular line here.
As we hit the limits of the town the landscape changed to give way to some lush green fields with people plying their trade with Oxen and fishing and farming.
We headed straight from the station to the Shwedagon Pagoda in a Taxi driven by another great and friendly character. As we turned the last corner we headed up the final hill with the Pagoda standing at the top dominating the skyline. It stands at 99m high and it really is a sight to see. Built in the 6th century it is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in all of Myanmar and once you are at the site it is easy to see why. The site is vast and the large gilded golden stupa towers above the city below.
I have seen it in pictures before and also seen a lot of temples over the past few years but this one is on another level. It is believed to contain relics of the 4 previous Buddhas of the current Kalpa. The staff of Kakusandha, the water filter of Konagamana, a piece of the robe of Kassapa, and eight strands of hair from the head of Gautama. It is covered in real gold plating that has been donated by the people of Myanmar over the years to help maintain it (that is a lot of gold!) and the top is encrusted with diamonds and jewels. There are four huge entrances to it, North, South, East and West which you climb up many stairs to access before spilling out into the huge area at the top dominated by the main stupa. It really is unmissable and we arrived before sunset and stayed well after it turned dark hours later. Although very busy with mainly locals and a good handful of tourists it is an exceptionally calming place and we found ourselves just sitting looking at times quite happy to take the sight and atmosphere. Again the locals were immensely friendly giving you big smiles and nods of approval that you were there, it’s a very welcoming place We probably could have stayed longer but eventually drew ourselves away and back into a taxi to take us down town to grab some well earned food at a pretty decent Chinese place not far from the hostel.
The following morning we slept in a little and had our back packs sorted by 12 pm to check out before heading along to the Lucky 7 tea house for more great food and to decide how we would move on from Yangon to Bagan. We had two options either the overnight train or overnight bus. The bus being the faster of the two options. Eventually we settled for the train as we figured it was both cheaper and would offer a more interesting experience than the bus. A quick taxi ride later and we arrived with an hour to spare before the train departed. We were greeted again by a very colourful character that worked for the railways who went out of his way to describe the pro’s and con’s between the train and bus options. We had expected to get a sleeper berth on the train but found out that with it being quiet season there was no sleeper attached on this one and the best we could get was an upright padded second class seat. We settled for that for the princely sum of £4 each and headed off to our platform to wait.
I’ll cover the train ride in my next entry and apologies if some of the above doesn’t make sense or has bad grammar as I don’t have the energy to proof read this entry. We’ve constantly been busy and on the move since we got here and the tiredness is starting to show, it feels great to be in a new country for a change and back to adventuring and the great unknown…..until next time folks.
