YANGON – Aug. 12 13
Arrival
My bus leaves Kyaikto at 22.30, and arrives at 2.00 at a deserted Aung Mingalar station in Yangon, all companies offices are shut. I don’t want to go downtown at this time, because I have not booked anything, and cheap guesthouses generally do not have a 24h open reception. Sent away all the taxi drivers, I start looking for a place to sit down and wait for sunrise. There are no common waiting rooms, every bus company, close to the ticket counter, has a few stools where people sit before leaving, but not at this time. I see a light on at the M Express Scania super-luxury company, I ask if I can stay there a few hours. The employee is confused, I explain my situation, he understands my distress and accepts. I lie on 3 plastic chairs, and sleep up to 7.00. I leave a tip to my guardian angel. A taxi takes me to the Sule Paya (7000 MMK)
Sleep
The Sule Paya seems to be the navel of city centre, there are cheap guesthouses in the area, I start to search them, while dawn ting with pink the milky sky and the city slowly wakes up. Perhaps due to the little rest, I am not very brilliant, and wander at random, losing orientation. I am at southwest of the pagoda, whereas the best hotels, although more expensive, are located a few hundred meters to the northeast. I come across the Okinawa Guesthouse, 15 USD a clean very small room, no bathroom, mattress directly on the floor. The common areas are still very well-maintained, however.
The Mahabandoola Guesthouse, just aside is awful from outside, and inside is even worse. Fortunately singles (8 USD) are fully booked, otherwise I could have been tempted …
I reach then the Garden Guesthouse, just in front of Mahabandoola, very dirty. I choose a filthy single 13000 MMK, the worst of the trip. I’m afraid to lie down on the bed, even if protected by my sleeping sheet. The blankets, which have the breadth of large towels, are spotted with yellowish stains, and smell of various human fluids
Next to my room there is a closet where a bin full of old bread has been left. It does not stink, but I’m afraid it attracts mice and cockroaches. I look angrily at an attendant met in the hall, and after a few hours the waste disappear. In fact, posthumous reviews on tripadvisor tell of dead rats on the stairs
The mentioned stairs are the hotel hightlight. Some kittens killed a geko, which will remain there, with its severed head, throughout my stay, and no one will do the effort to sweep it away. Same goes for a puddle of human piss in a corner of a landing.
Only positive note: the kittens, the windows in the room, not so obvious, the relative silence, and the view from the restaurant
Only reasons to stay: the price and the location
Eat
Great variety, and prices for all budgets, especially mine 🙂 A lot of cafes on Mahabandoola Road (intersection more or less with the 37th) where they sell tasty samosas and other snacks. On Anawratha Road some Indian restaurants mentioned on the Lonely Planet, for example Nylar Biriani, 4900 MMK, very clean and popular, but quite expensive.
I recommend Golden Bell, a tea house near Aung San Market, between Center Hotel and KFC, 1000 MMK a noodles soup.
Golden Land Chetty Restaurant, great Indian food, just in front of my gueshouse, across the roundabout, 2200 MMK vegetable curry and sweets.
All around the Mahabandoola Gardens, in the evening, small banquets of street food, and fruit sellers
Impressions
It’s fact that Yangon is recognized as an unattractive city. My judgment even on the only thing worthy of note, the Shwedagon Paya, is not so enthusiastic, maybe due to the fact that I am at the end of the trip, and I have already seen hundreds of pagodas and temples. Perhaps the rainy weather is an unfavorable factor during my visit to the shrine. No sunrise, no sunset, like in Bagan. I rather enjoyed the “colonial” walk proposed by Lonely Planet, an immersion in the city chaos among old multicolored buildings, streets overflowing with people, banquet of books, the riverfront market, the busy Strand Road, and, finally, a strong sun which burns my skin.
Excursions
Shwedagon Paya
3000 MMK taxi, 8000 MMK entrance fee. I can’t say I was not struck, but maybe I was expecting a different emotion, something deeper. The atmosphere imbued with religious fervor, undoubtedly, did not make me forget the thin drizzle. It was great, however, sitting among the devotees in prayer, and enjoy the moment.
CITY CENTER
They say it is dirty, but I don’t think so. My standards are, however, very flexible, and my reference point is India.
The Mahabandoola Gardens, lined with trees, are an oasis of peace, while I recall the fierce repression which took place here in recent years. The tall blue glass buildings on the east side represent modernity to which the country yearns, the City Hall, the High Court, the Immanuel Baptist Church, on the other hand, are the witnesses of the colonial past.
SULE PAYA
Almost snubbed and quickly visited (I’m ashamed to admit it). It was the last one of the holiday, when perhaps my enthusiasm was already on the wane. Surely I speak as ignorant and ungrateful, as well as unable to appreciate.
AUNG SAN MARKET
Honestly, I did not understand the utility in maintaining dozens of goldsmith banquets, all the same, all selling the same thingss, and where, moreover, no one dares to spend more than just a few dollars to buy cheap jade beach bracelets. I should be mad, if I could think to do roaring trades, and invest in big expenses.
Believe me, do your shopping elsewhere (see the “shopping” section)
Useful to kill time in case of rain, and to taste the delicious flan cooked by some ladies (central area on the first floor)
Departure
Taxi 7000 MMK to International Airport. Air Asia flight to Bangkok leaves at 8.30 (68 Eu)