Touring through Yangon

Tomorrow morning, my mother is flying back to Canada. Her two weeks here allowed me to be a tourist and so we thought we'd write about and show all the cool things we've visited since we got here.



I'm pretty impatient, so as soon as we landed in Yangon, we taxied downtown and dropped off our things at our (great!) guest house. We started by wandering around downtown, which is really an incredible experience. The sheer number of people, smells, modes of transportation, foods, sounds, and animals that manage to share the road is incredible. And sitting magnificently in the middle of the main downtown traffic circle is Sule Paya (a large Buddhist temple). We made our way to the main market (Bogyoke Aung San market), a large building housing everything from jewellery, tailors, and fried crickets.

The street markets

Outside Bogyoke market

The flower market

Yangon can be incredibly humid so tourists should plan to take many showers and understand that there's only so long you can stand being outside walking around. But we kept going - walking up to the North of the city to a beautiful park surrounding Kandawjyi Lake with a very interesting (?majestic) boat built in the middle to attract tourists. That night, my boss treated us to dinner at the top of the tallest building in Yangon, with a beautiful view of the city and most famous temple. We were both extremely jet-lagged so we fell asleep at 8 ... and woke up at 4 am.

Kandawjyi Lake park

Kandawjyi Lake park

I started work the next day, so my mom had to play tourist alone. She decided to walk around for 5 years as she tried to find the National Museum - a huge building with many relics from the time of the monarchy like a huge gold-plated throne from the last king of Burma. That night, we tried Burmese food for the first time. The food is fine, but probably not something I'll crave back home. The Indian food and tea is good though!

Eating Indian food

Shwedagon Paya

Thursday night, we did two really interesting and traditional Burmese things. I had had a Burmese lesson at lunch that day, so I brought my mom to a traditional Burmese tea-house and ordered tea in Burmese! We then walked to the Shwedagon Paya, the most famous Buddhist temple in Myanmar that "glitters bright gold in the heat of the day" (Lonely Planet haha). It was a really exquisite square and we walked around the set of temples for a few hours, and took many pictures.

Shwedagon Paya

As if my body was trying to catch me up on sleep - from all the traveling... and first year of law school ... - i got really sick the next day. My mom tried to find the blandest food, but I pretty much slept all day. Luckily, she didn't get too sick, and by the weekend, I was feeling a lot better! That first weekend, we walked along the river that wanders around the city, passing old British buildings. We then went to see an expat v. Myanmar national team baseball game!

Old colonial buildings

On Sunday, we decided we'd ride the 3-hr commuter train that circles from downtown Yangon around the suburbs and surrounding farmland.  The train ride exposed us to the daily life of the majority of the population. Sellers would hop on and off the train selling everything from eggs and fruit to something called "betel" (this leaf many of the men chew that turns their teeth green). At one point, farmers even brought dozens of bails of vegetables!

All the railroad tracks in Yangon

Business that has developed on the side of the railroad

Agriculture off the side of the railroad

Rice fields surrounding Yangon

That evening, we visited People's Park, which should really be renamed "the Love Park" (says my mom). Its a beautiful park, but its filled with very funny heart-shaped sculptures and flower arrangements, and hundreds of couples hiding behind their umbrellas. There's even a playground that we obviously had to visit. On our way back from the park, we detoured through China town which was somehow even busier - my mom would like to add: "what a treat for our eyes ... and noses".

Since then, I've been busy with work and training sessions, so my mom had been exploring the city and  souvenir shopping haha. I think she missed me by 5pm. I'll miss her tomorrow!

I've loved exploring Yangon so far! Looking forward to getting out of the city when I can on the weekends as well - have a trip to Bagan and across the river planned.

Miss you,
Sima (and Carole)