Yangon city, Myanmar - July 8-10, 2014 - Yangon is an interesting city. In the short time I spent there, I was opened to the mystery of the wealth of unknown information that one gets in their first time in a country remotely different from there own. In Asia, at least the city has an unusual atmosphere because motorbikes are illegalised in the city centre. What we saw in Yangon was, unsurprisingly, the epitome of rapid economic development and exposure to globalisation. The city has the aura of the old and the bizarre, the picturesque poverty-stricken Asia that so many charmingly idealise, and modern technology can be seen puncturing layers through decades of isolation. I get the feeling this is one of the most singular cities in the world.
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| A woman sew longyis (traditional Burmese pants, similar to a long skirt or sarong, worn by almost all Burmese men) late into the night. |
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| Myanmar Humanitarian League. |
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| The Shwedagon pagoda, apparently a 3000-year-old site, looms in the background. |
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| Monks pray inside Shwedagon. |
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| (The praying man is wearing an example of the longyi mentioned earlier.) |
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| Burmese street food: Egg fritters mixed with chickpeas. Rating: 8/10 |
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| Burmese street food: The Bandgladeshi offerings - okra, tea leaf soup, mutton curry, spiced fish, spiced mango condiment, chili paste mixed with river prawns. Rating: 7.5/10 - would be higher if the okra was covered in the stickest most salivatory, alien substance i've ever seen. |
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| Burmese pavements are nice. |
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| China town sprawls for miles. The markets open right up onto main streets, going fully halfway across, and sometimes severely congesting traffic. The are beautiful interesting places to explore. |
See the rest of the our Cambodia/Thailand/Burma/Laos trip:
Episode 1: Pailin, Cambodia
Episode 2: Bangkok, Thailand
Episode 3: Mae Sot, Thailand
Episode 5: Bagan, Myanmar
Episode 6: Mandalay, Myanmar
Episode 7: Vientiane and Vang Vieng, Laos
Coda: Sihanoukville, Cambodia
