18 October 2009 Myanmar - May Fair Inn
We arrived at yangon airport at 9.30 feeling less than fresh from our 2 night stop over in Bangkok with our friends from Melaka! The taxi from the airport to our hotel took around 30 minutes, l managed to miss all the sights coming in to the city as l was fast asleep the whole way. When l woke it was a feeling of complete confusion!
Our hotel is run by a funny little woman called May, at first she seemed very helpful but we later realsied she was a bit odd. It's clean (ish), cheap and feels quite safe.
The DHB's have made it to myanmar - Woo Hoo!!
After a much needed sleep we ventured out for our first look around the city - it's truly amazing and feels like a different world to Cambodia or Thailand! The men are all wearing skirts (longyis) which we can't help but look at. Myanmar is said to be one of the few places in S.E Asia where the majority of people don't wear western clothes. Hmm...kind of wish l had packed a little differently now.
There are so many unusual buildings, a real mix of what looks like Indian, Chinese and Colonial. The people definitely have a more indian look to them and are very friendly.Everywhere we go the locals eyes are following us, as soon as you smile their faces light up with huge smiles. I think they are very curious about us.
I was a bit worried l wouldn't feel safe but so far so good. Naturally we get charged way more for certain things like taxis but we have come to accept that and always try to bargain hard for everything.
We had a walk around some of the city with it's wide roads shadded by big trees which was a welcome relief, it feels hotter here than Cambodia. DHB G is as always taking lots of pictures so every time l turn round to see where he is - it's always about 5 minutes behind me. We were just about to reach a police station so thought l better remind G that no photos are allowed of any Military/Police/Government, 'Yeah yeah Kates, l remember' was his answer, so we walk on and G tells me the police are staring at us - l just ignored them and walked on until we heard a shout from one of the officers asking G to see his camera. Unknown to me G had taken a picture of the police car with some of them in the back - not a good move! We were told quite aggresively to delete the photo and under no circumstances do this again! It was a little intimidating to say the least!
At night we headed out to try and find a place called Singapore Kitchen, we ended up in 3 different taxis trying to find it but had no luck, we then went to a restaurant called Monsoon which looked like a ex pat place and was quite expensive. By our standards it was cheap but the DHB's had only taken out $20 and we needed beer money from that too! It was slightly embarassing having to explain we didn't have enough kyat (chat) so we would have to leave. Eventually, starving, tired and cranky we found an Indian that was still serving, unfortuantely the only thing they had left was chicken rice which we had already eaten for lunch. Not an altogether successful meal but our tummys were full and we jumped in a taxi back to the hotel.
By 9.30 the DHB's were tucked up in bed shattered! The late nights in Phnom Penh and Bangkok had definitely caught up with us. A great first day in Yangon and we are looking forward to exploring more tomorrow!
Love DHB K & G xxxx