6 September – Yangon (Myanmar/Burma)

It was a very early start this morning to catch the 0715 hours Air Asia flight from Bangkok to Yangon (Rangoon as was). Food had to be pre-booked or purchased on the flight. The flight was just over an hour and I was met by the guide, Min, and he said that the tour started straight away. There was no such thing as taking bags to the hotel and resting but to just get on with it and see what I came to see. The first thing that was noticeable was the old cars and buses on the road, some in a sorry state. Apparently no new vehicles have been allowed into the country from the 80’s to a year or so ago so what was here has been kept going somehow. There were few scooters to be seen as well, something to do with the government not wanting them in Yangon (they are in other parts of the country) and not giving licences for them. I was told that there were a few around but only used in local areas but that if they were seen by the police then they would be confiscated. It was also mentioned that as a lot of people lived in flats in Yangon then there would be no room to park scooters while in other parts of the country people lived in houses so had room to park a scooter. If people drove to Yangon on a scooter from another part of the country then the scooter had to be left on the outskirts of Yangon. Driving in the city was measured and slow, quite different from Bangkok.

There are two systems of buying fuel here, one at the government stations and the other a kind of black market. The black market petrol is sold at the side of the road from 5 gallon yellow (only yellow for some reason) containers and this is imported from Dubai. It is slightly more expensive that the government petrol but plenty of people seem to buy some. The government price is 3700 kyats/gallon ($4.35/gallon, approximately £3/gallon) and the other is 4200 kyats/gallon ($5/gallon, approximately £3.33/gallon) with the exchange rate being US$1 = 850 kyats. Petrol and natural gas are to be found in Myanmar.

The exchange rate is fixed by the bank here but a better rate is available from official money changers who usually having an office in the tourist hotels. The money changers will take banknotes in almost any condition but the banks will only take new notes with no creases or marks of any kind on them. Prices quoted in most places are in American dollars and again this makes the country more expensive as there is nothing lower than one dollar. If the local currency is used then prices seem to be more reasonable. Apparently the tourist prices for hotels and services have doubled in the past two years since it has been easier to enter Myanmar. In the past the majority of tourists have been French, Spanish and German but now the British are trickling back, though very few Americans are coming here as yet.  Distances are indicated in miles, measurements in both imperial and metric units with the metric system being taught in schools.

Yangon (Rangoon as was) was the capital of Myanmar in colonial times. The military government has moved the capital to Naypyidaw about 150 miles from Yangon and four hours drive on the road from Yangon to Mandalay.

There were a lot of old colonial houses to be seen as well though some were not in a good state of repair. Most are now being used as public buildings such as courts, town hall and post office.

 The High Court

Children's Court House

City Hall

The first visit was to the Shwedagon Pagoda, the first view of which blew my mind away as it was so different to anything I have seen before.

Then to Karaweik Hall and the Relining Buddha which is 216 feet (72 metes) long. When the drums are sounded in the temple the local dogs all howl! When I heard this I thought it was the monks singing!

The entrance to the barge

Welcoming Dancers

                                     Dancers     

                   

The harp player

A dancing elephant

The dining room

Food everywhere

At the end of the evening

At the end of the evening I retired, tired, to the Summit Park View Hotel.