Do you think Bono and Annie Lennox could do a duet?? If anywhere, it could be here in Yangon.
We arrive yesterday, and of course, using my best idiot skills, I chose the slowest customs line by a mile, and eventually get my bag from the carousel which was still going round and round and round the conveyor belt.
But we check into the Motherland Inn, about 15 of us, and eventually get settled in. Then a bunch of us from all corners of the globe decide to go out for dinner about 8pm. It's pitch black, and we try to find a restaurant. Luckily a guy from Indonesia has an iphone with GPS-like capability, so despite no street lights anywhere, and pretty much no street signs, we eventually find a great little place near the center, and eat our hearts out (little did we know, most of the streets in the heart sort of have signs).
The beer is strong at 8%, and the food is good, very good, and very cheap. If you are ever going to get ripped off with food or taxis, this is the place.
Wake up in the morning today, not really knowing what would happen, but luckily bump into the same guys with the iphone, and we wonder around for awhile. The train station is at the heart of the city, but at 11am, the ticket booths literally have no one there. It's a ghost town, kinda funny actually. I eventually leave them to explore the city. Wow ... what a mix of familiar and not familiar. Some street alleys in between major tall buildings are a marvel to stare down. There's a large golden stupa right beside the gov't buildings and banks, and looks impressive from a pedestrian overpass. I luckily wonder into the tourist information building (which was quite bare, but helpful, sort of, and I bump into an Italian guy I was with the night before and his local friend. I stick with them for pretty much the entire rest of the day, wandering around the incredible markets, especially amazing were the shops where the workers are sewing things in the middle of walking customers. Same with jewelery makers, blow-torch tradesman, and a bunch of other tradesman. We have lunch, a rest for the exhausting heat, and then we show the local guy how to use the web, set up an email account, and we pay him back for his translation work that way. The Italian guy had to leave after we were using the internet at 6pm and "POW", the perfect, hot, blue sky has been replaced with another torrential downpour. Sound familiar??
The local guy and I brave a public bus (suited for people four foot and under if you don't have a seat) which was a blast if you like hanging out with the locals, and head to the big attraction in the city; the Shwedagon Paya Temple/Pagoda which is something to behold. We get to go in for free with my eventual tour, but I want to go on my own anyway ($5 US for tourists, free for locals) and marvelling at the golden wonder is worth it, even if my camera battery had run out of power!! Stupid me ... my fault, but not really.
Luckily by the time we get halfway through our visit, the rain sort of stops, and I almost slip on the slippery walking area about 7-8 times. Finally, we are still drenched, but decide to take a taxi back to the hotel to feel human. I thank him for the day (I understood maybe 70% of what he says, but still invaluable) ... I hope his studies on Psychology come in handy around here. He says the field is new in the country, about only 15 years ... considering the screwed up gov't they've had, I'm not surprised.
Dinner and the taxi ride .... I'm not going there. I'll just say the walk home was free, after figuring out a few things in the dark, and dodging the endless supply of large stray dogs wandering around the city.
So, tomorrow ... I was thinking of doing a bunch of things ... but it's complicated. I'll try to stay close to the city for two more days. A boat here, a bus there ... nothing too fancy. I'm kinda disappointed in myself, not being overly brave or bold, but the logistics just aren't here right now. Maybe after the tour ... maybe.
I just hope my eventual hotel for July 14th clues into who I am. I visited the hotel first thing in the morning. According to the nice lady at the desk, G Adventures doesn't exist, and neither do I. Oh baby this is going to be a blast ...
We arrive yesterday, and of course, using my best idiot skills, I chose the slowest customs line by a mile, and eventually get my bag from the carousel which was still going round and round and round the conveyor belt.
But we check into the Motherland Inn, about 15 of us, and eventually get settled in. Then a bunch of us from all corners of the globe decide to go out for dinner about 8pm. It's pitch black, and we try to find a restaurant. Luckily a guy from Indonesia has an iphone with GPS-like capability, so despite no street lights anywhere, and pretty much no street signs, we eventually find a great little place near the center, and eat our hearts out (little did we know, most of the streets in the heart sort of have signs).
The beer is strong at 8%, and the food is good, very good, and very cheap. If you are ever going to get ripped off with food or taxis, this is the place.
Wake up in the morning today, not really knowing what would happen, but luckily bump into the same guys with the iphone, and we wonder around for awhile. The train station is at the heart of the city, but at 11am, the ticket booths literally have no one there. It's a ghost town, kinda funny actually. I eventually leave them to explore the city. Wow ... what a mix of familiar and not familiar. Some street alleys in between major tall buildings are a marvel to stare down. There's a large golden stupa right beside the gov't buildings and banks, and looks impressive from a pedestrian overpass. I luckily wonder into the tourist information building (which was quite bare, but helpful, sort of, and I bump into an Italian guy I was with the night before and his local friend. I stick with them for pretty much the entire rest of the day, wandering around the incredible markets, especially amazing were the shops where the workers are sewing things in the middle of walking customers. Same with jewelery makers, blow-torch tradesman, and a bunch of other tradesman. We have lunch, a rest for the exhausting heat, and then we show the local guy how to use the web, set up an email account, and we pay him back for his translation work that way. The Italian guy had to leave after we were using the internet at 6pm and "POW", the perfect, hot, blue sky has been replaced with another torrential downpour. Sound familiar??
The local guy and I brave a public bus (suited for people four foot and under if you don't have a seat) which was a blast if you like hanging out with the locals, and head to the big attraction in the city; the Shwedagon Paya Temple/Pagoda which is something to behold. We get to go in for free with my eventual tour, but I want to go on my own anyway ($5 US for tourists, free for locals) and marvelling at the golden wonder is worth it, even if my camera battery had run out of power!! Stupid me ... my fault, but not really.
Luckily by the time we get halfway through our visit, the rain sort of stops, and I almost slip on the slippery walking area about 7-8 times. Finally, we are still drenched, but decide to take a taxi back to the hotel to feel human. I thank him for the day (I understood maybe 70% of what he says, but still invaluable) ... I hope his studies on Psychology come in handy around here. He says the field is new in the country, about only 15 years ... considering the screwed up gov't they've had, I'm not surprised.
Dinner and the taxi ride .... I'm not going there. I'll just say the walk home was free, after figuring out a few things in the dark, and dodging the endless supply of large stray dogs wandering around the city.
So, tomorrow ... I was thinking of doing a bunch of things ... but it's complicated. I'll try to stay close to the city for two more days. A boat here, a bus there ... nothing too fancy. I'm kinda disappointed in myself, not being overly brave or bold, but the logistics just aren't here right now. Maybe after the tour ... maybe.
I just hope my eventual hotel for July 14th clues into who I am. I visited the hotel first thing in the morning. According to the nice lady at the desk, G Adventures doesn't exist, and neither do I. Oh baby this is going to be a blast ...
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