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I didn't think I would come back to SE Asia so soon after my last trip to Cambodia and Vietnam in the spring time, but I saw sense.
I only had a few hours sleep the night before, not through being excited, but because iTunes was doing my head in and it was syncing correctly with my iPod so I stayed up trying to sort it out. I had a moment of a a scattiness when I arrived at the airport and decided that I should get off at terminal 3 as I recall that was the correct terminal but when I was walking around the terminal I had déjà vu and realised it was the same terminal that I had taken to a recent trip to Amsterdam...the walk to terminal 2 was quite a trek.
The flights were ok and for the first time ever I sat next to someone that initially seemed ok to sit next too...but I didn't say a word to her. I heard her say that she worked in formula 1 but that could mean anything.
Yangon airport was strangely quiet and extremely small for an international airport. It has to be one of the smallest airports I've been too, but on a plus side they did have free wifi which is a bonus as I haven't picked up any mobile network yet and don't expect too whilst I'm out here. I'm thinking that the luxury of wifi will fade away also. The airport was a good place to change money although a taxi driver that had spotted me decided to hang around until finally said ok I would get in his taxi.
I completely forgot that the trip I booked was a step up from the last trip away to Cambodia and Vietnam so that meant the hotel was a 3 star and I had the luxury of my own bed and room. The only scary thing about the hotel is the lift is on the outside of the building and has a glass front which reduces visibility and the structure itself doesn't look particular safe either. I'm on the 9th floor.
I went for a walk around Yangon itself and visited a pagoda called Sule Paya. It was relatively small in comparison to the one I will be visiting tomorrow. A monk gave me a guided tour, I didn't ask for it, but he seemed a nice guy so a have him some money for his knowledge of the place. Returned back to the hotel to find out that I did have a room mate, which I thought would be the case, and then had to be transferred to a room with 2 single beds.
I met the group later that evening and we're a mixed bag...Australians, Americans, British and some Germans. The group seems good so hopefully it will be a good trip. After introductions and meeting the tour guide, Linda (her western name), we went out some dinner and Dagon beers.
The next morning we went for a walk around the city, but it was different to the walk I had done the day before. We stopped off at a food market which are always quite interesting places to see until you realise that your most probably eating the same food In the resteraunts. We had lunch at a traditional resteraunt and I had some chicken curry which was nice but the dish was swimming in oil which was something I had read about before I came out here but was surprised how much oil there was. Following lunch I decided to do one of the main tourist attractions around Yangon which was to take the circular train ride around the city centre, if that can be classed as a tourist attraction. It cost $1 and took 3 hours from start to finish. The journey took us through some of the more scummier parts of Yangon, but it also ventured into the countryside which was nice and definitely more scenic. On the train we were hassled by this guy who couldn't talk and was obviously addicted to beetlenut as his was teeth were in a poor state and were red in colour and every train stop he was looking to strike a deal with one of the locals selling produce on the train track. Jet lag hit me a bit on the train and for the first part i was struggling to stay awake.
After the train journey we visited prob the main attraction in Yangon, shwedagon pagoda. For a pagoda it was probably the largest I have seen and the tallest stupa was over a 100m in height. We ventured round it till after sunset where they light up the pagoda with lights, I managed to get some good shots of the pagoda with my camera.
For dinner that night we were taken to even more traditional resteraunt than the one visited for lunch...frog and goat brain were some of the offerings, I chose mutton curry, it looked dreadful but tasted quite nice. The curry was dripping in oil, I've noticed that the vegetables aren't bathed in cooking fat so I may go vegetarian for the remainder of the trip.
It's early start tomorrow as we fly out at 4:30am to go to Bagan. I'm looking forward to Bagan as hopefully the money i sent to Singapore has confirmed a place on the balloon flight. It should be interesting hopefully it will be safe and also something that I can put down on my list of stuff I have done.
I' ve also found out that Xmas eve and day will be spent on a boat going up the ayewaddy river to Mandalay, that should be a new experience for Xmas, no doubt will be covered in 100% deet and rather pissed.
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