Yangon and its ramshackle charms.

Myanmer is a country still unknown to many in the western world, the first few days we spent in the formly known city Rangoon but today it is called Yangon. From the moment we landed we were utterly amazed by the chaos whilst driving to our accomoadation. This being our first experience in Asia and it was definately a culture shock.

We were hit immediately by the wet humidity, so cruising through the city in a aircon taxi was pure bliss. We decided to stay three nights in a cute guest house called Little Bamboo Place. It is situated 7km outside of the main centre, but the taxis are so cheap. We paid 3500-4000 Kyat which is around 2,70US$.

General day to day street markets in Yangon

After nearly 15 hours of traveling through different time zones, a good sleep was needed.

We caught a taxi in the evening to the centre and it was so busy, our eyes were constantly focusing on all the cars, people and little stores and sheds. The buildings were such a mix of newly builds to dirty shacks. People were walking on the road as a pathway is a rare sight to see. Constant horns beeping not caring about the road system.

We decided to stop in the main street where many markets were laid out and the smell of the street food was incredible. This is the best place for a good selection of Street food and resturants from Western to Asian style food.

Exploring Yangon, over three days you will not be bored, we visited the beautiful Shwedagon Pagoda also known as the Golden Dagon Pagoda, gleaming in gold and decorated with diamonds, its one of the Buddhisms most sacred sites, being a tourist you pay a entrance fee of 8,000 kyat per person, but easy is worth it and situated in the heart of the city.

The Bogyoke market is a great place to find many local crafts from the Burmese culture, half a day could easy be spent wandering around the cobble streets whilst finding some good bargains.

Eating local burmese food in the markets.

During our stay we often got chatting with other travelers, even spent a day exploring the city with another couple and enjoyed a resturant to ourselves whilst with a french/english family.

The Reclining Buddha Kyauk htat Gyi

The past few days spent in Yangon, we found the people so friendly and welcoming, greeting us and often wanting to make conversation and wanted to take their photo with us. Never once did we fell unsafe in this city.