Yangon (Rangoon): a first encounter with Burma

I am finally filling in something I have forgotten for 5 years now, our mini excursion to Burma. Small clarification, the country is officially called Myanmar since 1989 but the term is still rarely used by most people, who limit themselves to "Burma" especially since some countries have simply not recognized the name change as legitimate, including Thailand precisely...and France!

I could say a lot about the presentation of this country, whose name Burma is taken from its main ethnic group, the Bama. I will just add that it gained its independence from the United Kingdom in 1948, but I will leave the rest to Wikipedia.

The circumstances of the stay were far too short!!

Barely having arrived in Thailand for 3 months, I was heading back to the airport.

This trip was a bit last minute, as I was getting married a few days later... Travel is our shared passion, so we said why not take advantage of the current promotions (as we always do) to take a little trip to the area.

Originally we were supposed to go for at least 4 or 5 days, unfortunately it was in 2008, and by that year politics had already deteriorated (since the ouster of Prime Minister Thaksin in 2006).

The fact remains that the demonstrators at the time had this "superb" idea of ​​blocking and occupying the airport... If we could have changed the dates of our plane tickets given the events, it would have been ok, but not possible and so the number of possible days was reduced to two poor days...

And for the record, just before leaving, Jitima had just been sick, and as I was leaving, it was my turn to start feeling bad… So, I spent one of the worst nights of my life there… So Burma, I remember it very well and only ask one thing, go back!! 

• which we will actually do a few years later, see my report of our back to Yangon

Two days express in Yangon

So we were just leaving discover Yangon, formerly called Rangoon or Rangoon for English speakers (name also changed in 1989), which was the capital until 2006 when the government decided to move (because the stars were "favorable", yes yes that is the "official" reason, astrology).

So they created a capital from scratch; Naypyidaw, in the middle of nowhere. In just 3 years, it became the 3rd largest city in the country (behind Yangon and Mandalay) in terms of population, already more than 900 inhabitants in 000, which is also a big one of the fastest growing cities in the world.

Still with this aim of "listening to the stars" they changed the national anthem as well as the flag (which surprised more than one person because it looks like a flag in the colours of Africa rather than Asia, this new flag notably resembling that of Ghana)

After a few minutes in a taxi (all rotten) we arrived at our hotel, put down our bags and started our visit straight away because there was no time to lose. Here is the street of our hotel, Lower Pazundaung Road.

Although there were people on the streets the town had the air of a ghost town due to its rather dilapidated state.

Yangon was founded over a thousand years ago under the name of Dagon, around the famous Shwedagon Pagoda. Today, it is a chaotic city, due to the lack of maintenance, vegetation grows everywhere. This is where most of the remains of buildings from the colonial era are located.

I would add that the burmese generally speak English quite well and are above all very welcoming.

I can't help but think that there has been a huge leap in the opening of the country (one of the most closed in the world with North Korea, until not so long ago).

At the time in 2008, it was still the junta in power (although they are more or less still in control), with very few tourists, and really cheap prices.

Men still wear the traditional sarong.

The buses are antiques, they look like they're from the 50s.

For a little over a year now, reforms described as "spectacular" have taken place, while the junta has "officially" handed over power to a President of the Republic (although he is himself a former general...)

Since, Prices, especially for hotels, have tripled, for example the hotel where we slept, the Mother Land Inn 2 was $12 a night compared to $30 currently…

At the time, besides not being too much of a photo-phage (or rather a photovore, even if I was starting to get itchy to press the shutter), I was afraid that people would take me for a journalist/spy and so, I didn't dare take too many photos... Yeah, because at that time, it was still frowned upon...

Day 1: Stroll between temples and lively streets

In a temple located south of our hotel, near the river (Botahtaung Pagoda).

Under renovation…

The monks here wear darker, burgundy robes, unlike the saffron orange of their neighbors in Thailand.

Small aside: the official currency is called the Kyat (which is pronounced almost like tchiat), the exchange rate at the time was 1€ = 1100 MMK (around 28 MMK for 1 baht) know that the dollar is widely accepted (maybe even more appreciated than the Kyat…) on the other hand, they must be new notes or in very good condition, notes that are too creased, used you can forget about and believe me it is quite frustrating… while for everyday kyats, we have seen some real rags all patched up…

Hard day.

In terms of electrical cables, they manage to do worse than in Thailand...

One of the few buildings in the city.

Planning our move, we had taken some clothes with us in order to make donations to people, knowing the level of poverty here. This made this mother happy for example (however the kid doesn't seem to appreciate it at the time).

If you needed to make a phone call, here is a public "booth", in fact until recently the price of SIM cards was deliberately very high (around 2000 dollars!), apparently this is starting to change since then.

We arrive at the Sule pagoda which is in the middle of a roundabout, 2000 years old (the temple, not the roundabout eh), it served as a central point during the restructuring of the city by the English, it is the equivalent today of our zero point at Notre Dame de Paris (reference for kilometer distances).

A very talkative monk poses, unfortunately it spoils the whole thing a bit when he asks for money afterwards...

Also under renovation. Note the security is “top”…

Maybe since then several buildings have been renovated, if you have been there recently, tell me your experience, I am interested! Knowing for those who do not know that this building in question is the town hall... a little lick of paint is therefore not too much.

In the background we can see another building typical of the colonial era.

It’s hard to believe that it was 2008!

The local “MBK”, one of the only “big” stores in Yangon.

A quick visit to our room at the Mother Land Inn II, to wash up before going out to Karaweik, a well-known restaurant in Yangon.

Dinner at Karaweik Hall: A Cultural Evening in Yangon

As I mentioned earlier, I was feeling pretty bad that day, but so far so good. That evening, we had planned to go to the chic restaurant in Yangon, located on the Karaweik Hall, which is basically a 1972-story palace built in 2 (construction that took 2 years).

It is a barge whose design by Burmese architect U Ngwe Hlaing is inspired by a royal barge (the Pyigyimon).

This one contains in addition to the buffet restaurant, a conference room and 2 reception rooms. The restaurant is located on the shore of Kandawgyi Lake, not far north of our hotel (a little more than 2km anyway)

Overview of the barge.

So dinner is an all-you-can-eat buffet with a little show thrown in. This is the place where you'll see the most foreigners at the same time.

There wasn't much light and I don't like flash, but as a result, most of the photos are ruined...

With the local beer, as always, from what I remember it was pretty good.

An elephant invites himself to the party and “asks” for donations.

On the program: puppet show and traditional dance.

After a short digestive stroll, we will return home wisely, before I spend a horrible night like I haven't had for a long time, I assure you, nothing to do with the hotel or even the food in the restaurants of the day, but rather the junk that Jitima had given me.

I spent the night with a high fever and a good part of it vomiting, the kind of night where you really feel like you're going to die... The next day, it's not that I seemed almost as if nothing had happened, but I was in any case much better, enough in any case to go and visit the pagoda.

The quay leading to the barge, given the "permanent" appearance the barge never really sailed.

The elephant costume after the show rests on its trestle.

On the banks there are other restaurants, it's an area that looks nice for a walk during the day too.

At the bottom of the lake we can see the Shwedagon pagoda which stands out from the trees since it is located on a small hill, a pagoda which we will visit the next day.

Day 2: a city a little out of time

What characterizes Yangon is a bit of what makes Asia so typical. A city teeming with people, alive. The streets are like a kind of traveling department store where you can find and buy everything.

Electric cables hang down in abundance, but what is most striking here is the dilapidated appearance of the buildings. But not only that, of the few cars that circulate, we see taxis, which we will take, and the least we can say is that they have kilometers on the meter.

Small street restaurant, it's not the same hygiene conditions as in Thailand so we'll abstain...

A little bundle of joy who appreciates his new piece of clothing just given to him!

We notice the famous powder that women and children especially put on their cheeks generally, it is thanaka (taken from several types of trees), it is a bit like their Nivea cream, the function is cosmetic, it also protects against sunburn and is apparently refreshing, the whole thing makes the skin soft, in short, what more could you ask for!

The floor of the taxi was bare, even with holes...

The city has a bit of a ghostly feel to it when it comes to housing, no wonder people hang out outside rather than inside as it gives the impression that everything could collapse at any moment. Vegetation even covers some of the facades, so much so that it's hard to imagine people living there, and yet, you can clearly see the inhabitants through the open windows. You meet a few people there, and you still give away a few clothes.

The covered market building.

Electric cables hanging everywhere.

It is not uncommon here to be approached just to chat, even if at first, we were wary after the monk's trick. And our next encounter was with a charming old lady very happy to speak in English (there were really very few tourists at that time). She proudly showed us her little notebook filled with little notes from the travelers she had met so far, all while vaping a kind of cigarette/cigar in her own style. Seeing words in French, I decided to leave our mark there too.

I wonder if she's still there, have you come across her?