I flew into Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, well after sundown so it was a pretty dark drive into the city but I already really liked what I saw. The city was alive w locals outside in parks along the lake & jammed into casual street food restaurants eating, drinking, socializing & watching football. They just seemed to be chilling & enjoying their time. It seemed silly how noteworthy it was but then I remembered how most locals I’ve come across work nonstop & eat at home to save money so it was refreshing to see a ton of people out enjoying themselves. Very positive first impression & made me excited to explore the city of 7-8 million people. I didn’t realize it was quite so big. Now that I’ve seen the traffic, I believe it. In central Yangon, only police & government security are allowed motorbikes but that certainly doesn’t mean people walk & public transportation is non-existent. Everyone has cars & traffic is gridlocked at all hours of the day. The city could use some motorbikes to free up that gridlock.
As cabs are plentiful & bc it was nearly 100 Fahrenheit & it’s a massive city w massive tourists sites spread out, I just taxied from site to site. It had been awhile since I’ve played super tourist (maybe 3 weeks since KL) & far longer since I’d been watting/temple-ing/pagoda-ing but I was going to be back at it in Myanmar. Touring included visiting the biggest pagoda in the world which was just stunning & enormous w a lot of ground to cover outside. Out of respect for Buddha, shoes must come off prior to entering so walking barefoot around the complex in 100 degree heat on scorching hot marble kept me moving pretty quickly. Of course I picked the hottest month to visit. Perfect.
The market was lovely & unlike other cities, it seems to be frequented largely by locals as there just aren’t that many foreign tourists. I stumbled upon a couple seemingly serious bidding wars amongst crowds of 20+ women for what looked to be school uniforms. Lots of jewelry including locally mined jade & other gemstones as well as normal market fare including clothing & silk shops. One thing that stood out was the locals’ dress. Both men & women wear longyis, traditional Myanmar dress whereby a large piece of silk fabric is wrapped around their waist & worn as a long ankle-length skirt. Women’s styles seem to be nicely tailored w a zipper to take out the bulk while men wrap theirs a couple times & tie it off w a cool knot in the front. Young kids wear shorts but starting about 10 & up, they were longyis – men usually with a short sleeve collared shirt tucked into them. I gotta say, I think it looks pretty sharp & if I wasn’t traveling by backpack, I’d make room for that gorgeous piece of fabric and I’d certainly opt for the men’s version.
Prior to traveling to Myanmar, I was worried about access to cash. SE Asia in general is a cash-only marketplace weo flights of course & pre-booked hotels; although, you get a much better deal if you pay cash at hotels which is exactly what I did for 2 weeks in Koh Tao, & periodically since, after I had booked 3 initial nights. I’ve heard & read that Myanmar takes it to another level but actually getting access to cash is supposedly issue no 1. My Lonely Planet travel book, published less than 2 years ago, indicates the only way to get cash is to change crisp USD. I was real short on USD & certainly didn’t have any crisp bills. The other option they list was one single hotel in all of Yangon (& the country) that will give you an advance against your credit card for a measly 12% fee. No thanks. I’d met a couple travelers in the last month who have visited & picked their brains about highlights as well as this supposed cash issue. They both said there was an ATM at the Yangon airport but that was it for the country so get whatever cash you need there. Worries alleviated, I applied for a Visa & then booked my flights. The travelers exaggerated a bit bc upon arrival in Yangon, in addition to the ATM at the airport, where I maxed out my bank’s daily limit which seems to annoyingly fluctuate country-by-country, I also noted a couple other ATMs at banks while touring the city. But I was taking no chances as I maxed out my withdrawals on day two as well. You’d think Myanmar is super cheap bc the tourism floodgates haven’t yet opened, but I’ve found its actually the most expensive SE Asia mainland country (so excluding Malaysia & Bali, Indonesia) in which I’ve traveled so far & apparently that’s due to the current lack of competition which should solve itself in the next few years. So I took out a bunch of cash. The bummer? Imagine going to an ATM, pulling out $500 & the machine shoots out 75% of it in $4 bills & the remainder in $8 bills. I’m now carrying around a wallet that would rival Costanza. Good thing I don’t have to sit on it bc I don’t need any more back problems. But even beyond that, money is a funny thing here. When shopping at the market, they quote prices as $1 USD & treat 1,000 kyats the same even though I can exchange 1,000 kyats for $0.80 so you come out ahead if paying in local currency.
While I was worried about access to cash, I was somehow less worried about the ruling military dictatorship that’s been in power for over 50 years, refugee crises as recent as 2011 & per the State dept’s warnings, ongoing ethnic strife in the Southern coastal regions preventing me from traveling to what looks like the longest most amazing coastline bordering on the Bay of Bengal & the Andaman Sea (for my next trip). The good guys (actually a kick ass woman & former 20-yr political prisoner) dominated the general election in November & just officially took over in April, ending the rule of the military junta & word on the street is the military chief is cooperating with the ongoing transition. Good thing is I noticed no visible military presence that I was fully expecting as the military is still very powerful. But the city seems to be a vibrant, thriving place w local businesses doing well & people by far the nicest I’ve met on the trip.
Bottom line… I had a great time visiting Yangon & am thrilled w the feel of Myanmar but I’ve heard the good stuff is up north so I’m excited to keep moving.