Yangon 19 to 21 September - posted from Rebak, Langkawi

On 19 September we flew from Langkawi to KL to Yangon at the start of a 2-week tour of Myanmar (Burma).

This post, and others that will follow, about our trip has had to be delayed until after our return to Malaysia as access to the Blogspot site to upload appears to be blocked in Myanmar.  Also blocked was access to our Gmail account using Outlook (but possible by logging in direct) and access to news from the UK Telegraph online site- but the BBC was OK.  The blocked sites just show a red banner “Access is Denied”. 

One of the first things we noticed at Yangon airport was that most people including officials smiled a lot.  This was especially true of the immigration officials - very rare!

Met at the airport by our guide and driven to the Yusana Garden Hotel, public rooms very musty, very dated but the staff very friendly and helpful.

Payphone kiosk - Yangon

Collected, when refreshed the next morning, we went on a short walking tour of the city centre. The two first things that we noticed was that the country has not been taken over by outside clothing influences, the longyi (sarong) is worn by all with either shirt or blouse and that ground tree bark was worn on the face of the women to protect anainst the sun.
There is a noticable amount of old colonial architecture, some restored but much of it very drab and in a poor state of repair like the roads. 
Most of the city excaped major structural damage from cyclone Nagis in 2008.

Street sellers abound, including telephone stands consisting of a kiosk or just a table with several telephones connected to a nearby building where, for a fee, you make your call.  Mobile telephones are very expensive, apparently about USD 2000 for the phone and USD 500 for the SIM card.

From the centre we went to the Botatung Pagoda, built to contain some strands of the Buddha’s hair.  All the internal walls and the stupa are covered in gold leaf.  In fact the amount of gold leaf used in Myanmar’s pagodas and temples is incredible. The Myanmar peoples prize gold. Gold paint, gold leaf and gold jewellery. 

Manual unloading of rice from the delta

At the riverside we noticed that the longtail boats used as cross-river ferries differ from the Thai version by having fixed engines and a rudder, as well as oars for close quarters manoeuvring.  There were several small ships used for transport in the delta.  Cargo, mostly rice, is offloaded on the backs of workers each carrying a stick that is placed in the counting pile on delivery to the truck.  Some of these boats also take passengers on the overnight trip.  Each passenger is allocated a marked-out area of deck – no seats.  Food is provided from a cooking area at the stern – rather like a street stall 

Street  market scene - trade gives way to traffic

A street market in a narrow road was visited.  Some of the sellers place their goods in the centre of the road, with cars and trucks passing over them.  The main, Scott’s, covered  market was more organised with some 2,000 stalls, with some excellent cane weaving, wood carving and lacquerwork on offer.  We decided to postpone any purchases until after visits to Bagan, where lacquerwork is a speciality and to Mandalay which is a centre for wood carving.

Shwe Dagon

A highlight was an evening visit to the Shwe Dagon –the most sacred of all Buddhist sites and visible from all parts of Yangon.  The gilded central stupa is spectacular and topped with jewellery donated by the faithful including a 76 carat diamond, all left high and open to the elements. Around this mighty stupa are a facinating assortment of smaller stupa, temples, shrines and pavillions. We sat for some time absorbing the atmosphere and active reverence of the people. The rain cleared in time for us to view the sunset light refracted through the diamond, all colours of the rainbow seen by moving a few inches.

The highlights of the national museum include the gilded Lion Throne from the Mandalay Palace, which survived WWII because the British had removed it to India from where it was returned on independence. It seemed  lacking until we realised that a throne in Asia is not a special chair but a raised seating platform.  The royal regalia on view, however, does not really live up to its Lonely Planet billing as being more spectacular than the British crown jewels or, indeed, the treasures recovered in Ayutthaya (Thailand). We suspect there must be a lot more that is not on general view.

Our onward trip to Bagan was somewhat longer than expected as a problem with the aircraft led to us boarding and disembarking twice before departing some four hours late on a different aircraft, leading to a late arrival in Bagan.