Myanmar Trip: Golden Rangoon

Stayed up the whole night at KLIA2, we took the first AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur. We landed at Yangon International Airport after being in the air around two and a half hours. As our eVisa was granted with approval letter (you have to print it out), we headed towards the immigration counter and there was literally no queue as we were the first ones in line. There were a lot of guys wearing longyi (we didn't know what it was called then) waiting at the arrival hall and they turned out to be taxi drivers. We walked passed them as we planned to have our USD changed to kyat first. There were a number of money changers at the airport and their rate was rather competitive after checking the rate online (that time was 1 USD for 1532 kyat). The counter  lady was rather meticulous with the USD notes as two of our USD notes were rejected. One of them was just because there was presence of minor black dot at the edge. We went to the bus stop that just located right outside of the airport. It was only around 9 am but the immense heat was immediately felt as we left the building.

We saw Omni Red bus was coming and we went on it without second thought. The fare was 500 kyat flat regardless of distance. This bus ultimately became one of our major ways to commute as we we weren't familiar with the local bus network. Most of the bus numbers and locations at the stops were written in Burmese. The shuttle bus run by Omni Focus Company was sufficient for us as it covered the places in our itinerary. However, we overlooked that from the airport the bus has two different routes which would still eventually come to a loop. We should have picked the bus with Kabar Aye Pagoda Road route (we got onto the one with Pyay Road instead) for our first stop which cost us additional 40 minutes before arriving at Myanmar Plaza. Thankfully the bus was air conditioned and the extended journey time was still as pleasant as we get to have a quick glimpse of Yangon city. Coming off from the bus and with our backpack on, we tailgated the locals crossing the busy road to get to Inya Lake.

Man-made lake. You may see Suu Kyi's house in the distance.

Inya Lake is the largest lake in Yangon and it was built during British occupancy. For a place that is famous for local couples, I find the lake was rather underwhelming and there wasn't much to shout about. We proceeded to walk towards the iron gate which supposedly guard the house in which Aung San Suu Kyi was put under house arrest. We took photo in front of the gate even without knowing who was the guy on the portrait (we soon found out that it General Aung San, Suu Kyi's father). We detoured to Myanmar Plaza and had our lunch at the food court. The mall was decent with a number of unfamiliar outlets around. Just like the one in Bangkok, we need to go through security check before entering the mall. I saw Coffee Bean but where is my Starbucks? Also, one of our intentions was the Hard Rock Cafe but unfortunately, it has closed down in which we overlooked from the site.

Our first meal in Myanmar. 5000 kyat.

We commuted to our hotel using the same bus though it didn't stop directly there. We came off at Shwedagon Pagoda stop and it was about ten minutes walk to Merchant Art Hotel. Little did we know that the street was busy with local markets. We were warmly welcomed and our room was ready to check in upon our arrival. Paying 32 USD for one night stay, we went ahead to refresh ourselves and sort our bag and a million of kyat notes. It was windowless room but the facilities were good. The hotel came with a nice roof terrance with a good view of Shwedagon Pagoda. Certain sections seemed to be under renovation during the time of our stay.

Passing by this street before reaching our hotel

Roof terrace of Merchant Art Hotel

The weather was cloudy as we walked out from the hotel. The wind was getting stronger and we were using umbrella to prevent the sands getting into our eyes. We made it in time to Myanmar Culture Valley before it started to drizzle. The place was not well maintained with little shops were open for business. We had our potato break while waiting for the sky to clear out before entering the much anticipated Shwedagon Pagoda through West Gate, which was right opposite of where we were.  Entrance fee was 10000 kyat and no footwear/shorts/sleeveless top were allowed. There wasn't much crowd and we can admire the beauty of the golden stupa slowly and steadily. We witnessed how the locals pray; we observed a group of ladies were sweeping around the pagoda; we were in awe of the shining pagoda as the sun started to set.

The magnificent golden stupa

This tree makes a good company to the shining pagoda

The sweeping ladies, with their leader, I assume

As sun started to set, the pagoda started to light up

The fires were lit up before it was getting dark

Young monks having their prayers

After strolling for at least two hours, we went off for our very first dinner in Myanmar at Jana Mon Ethnic Cuisine, few walks away from our stay. We ordered the most reviewed squid salad, reminded me of "umai" back in my hometown; home made soup which happened to be not my cup of tea; country style chicken that was savoury enough to eat with our coconut rice. Myanmar tea was free.  We have been travelling the whole day since the early morning and we decided called it a day early.

Myanmar Style Dinner

Recharged after a night sleep, we got onto Omni Bus towards the city. We finally made ourselves in the heart of Yangon. I was told that the buildings were not allowed to be higher than the tip of Shwedagon pagoda, which explained the non-existence of skyscrapers within vicinity. We had our breakfast at 999 Shan Noodle Shop which was recommended by my friend's brother. It reminded me a lot of chinese style noodle and the tofu was much tastier than it looked.

Streets of Yangon with Sule Pagoda right ahead

My very first Shan Noodle experience. This particular bowl seemed to be a one time thing for me.

With filled tummy we went on to explore the city. We noticed that there were a lot of colonial buildings around; some were preserved and used as offices while some others were abandoned. We even went into Strand Hotel (escaping the heat for a while), one of the earliest high class hotel which was built in 1901. We walked along Strand Road and managed to catch a glimpse of Botahtaung Pagoda from the other side of the road before making our way to St Mary Cathedral. The interior was colourfully decorated with paintings on the windows and featured the carvings of the Stations of the Cross.

Glimpse of local lives on the street

Mosque in the middle of the city

City council

Buildings nearby the city council and Maha Bandula Park

High Court Building

One of the historical buildings I felt abandoned

Feeling vintage with these old windows

Interior of Strand Hotel. Can consider to splurge here someday

Botahtaung Pagoda

St Mary Catheral. These kinds of cathedrals never fail to amaze me.

My friend took a photo of me while I was praying

We picked up our train ticket from Pegu Travels (we needed to walk six floors up as the elevator was on downtime) before heading back to hotel via Grab to pack for our next travel. The tickets were booked online and would only be released four days before travelling day. Alternatively, you can opt for the tickets to be sent to your hotel, in which we thought we should have done that. The hotel allowed for late check out till 2pm before we had our lunch at the same place for our dinner.

Wild mangosteen with pork (we expected purple serving) and roselle leaves prawns.

My mango juice was served with bamboo straw. Wanted to keep the straw for myself but I was told it cost 1000 kyat. 

We arrived at the railway station an hour before the scheduled departure time. The station looked a little run down. There was no LCD display to show which platform our train was going to be. We clarified with the counter and started walking into the station, with no one checking our tickets upon entry and the locals were seemed to be staring at us. As we got closer to the platform, we were approached by few kids asking for tickets. Politely excusing ourselves, we went ahead to find our coach. The same kids were still adamant in asking for our tickets as we got onto our coach. As I have nowhere to go, I reluctantly passed our tickets to them and it turned out that they wanted to sell food/beverages. I guess they are assigned to different coach and the one of the girls happened to be ours. She were rather persistent as we kept declining any order from her. She muttered "crazy" before finally leaving the train. Me and my friend, looked at each other, feeling amused at the situation. While all these were happening, there were other kids in proper uniform taking order for our upcoming dinner and for next day's breakfast. The train departed almost on time as the horn sound was heard and it started to move at 4.01 pm. The expected duration to be 17 hours was then becoming 20 hours journey began.

Yangon Railway Station. The interior didn't look as fancy.

Waiting for our train.

At first, the thought of long hours felt dreadful and I was wondering how would we kill our time though we already knew what we signed up for. We were kind of taken aback by the condition of the train the moment we boarded. We were pre-warned by the travel agent (my friend has expected it due to his train experience in Sri Lanka) that the coach wasn't going to be air-conditioned and only equipped with tiny ceiling fan. The coach which was supposedly to be shared by four persons,  however, it only has two beds and four pair of couches that can be used as pullout beds. This was completely different from the photos we saw from the booking website. We shared the coach with a pair of Barcelona couple, or so we thought. Despite this, ours seem-to-be-lack-of-comfort was compensated by the eyes-pleasing season-changing view from our windows. As the train slowly made its way and multiple stops along the journey, we observed the green sceneries to almost barren ground, from one place to another. Piles of rubbish can be seen at some of the remote locations. Both of us wondered how did those get there if there was no one living nearby. We waved at the locals as we passed by some of the villages and markets. The evening breeze managed to alleviate the tropical heat. At some points, the coach was moving from side to side and loud metal noises could be heard from the track. After our dinner on the train, the view was too dark and we decided to go to bed, or should I say couch and it was only 8pm. We pulled down the metal window and attempted to go to sleep (or lived through the night). The train would still make its usual stops and I could hear some people would knock on our coach. The stops were often brief before moving to next station. Awaken by the early sunrise, the morning heat started to be felt as the sun was already high up in the sky when it was only 9 am. Three hours passed on and finally, we reached our destination.

The train on its way. It was a common sight to see the locals walking along the railway or crossing it. It was not properly fenced. Need to watch out for trees when you look out.

One of the stops

Our dinner. It was surprisingly yum. Or may be we were just hungry. Came with generous portion too.

Green paddy field with the locals. This view reminded me of Gunung Jerai in Kedah, Malaysia

From the green watery scenery to desert, barren ground. It was actually sandy.

Morning, Myanmar!

I believed this was Mt Popa. Mean our next destination was getting close.

Our couches which were also our pull-out beds. Me and my friend were confined here for twenty hours, not the common long journey train ride experience I would say.

As the locals outside the train started to shout "Bagan! Bagan!", we knew that the current stop was ours. Sorting our bagpack and we were pumped for our next pitstop.

Complementary stories/experience on this part of our journey can be read at my friend's post here.

Our journey:
Mingalaba: Yangon - Bagan - Mandalay