Mingalaba!
Or မင်္ဂလာပါ for those who like to decipher the Burmese alphabet.
It was time for another visa-run and this time I chose Yangon, the old colonial capital of Myanmar. When I went it was the end of June, which is in the middle of Myanmar's (and South East Asia's for that matter) rain season. I was afraid we would arrive in an apocalyptic combination of waterfalls from the sky and temperatures above 40 degrees. The Dark Skies above Hanoi were beautiful to see but didn't give us much hope.
Here you see the plain of North Vietnam, with the Sông Hồng (Red River) as a lifeline. You can see the mountains of Tam Đảo in the distance. You might remember Tam Đảo from the beautiful sunset above the clouds and the weird German fairytale houses (who's construction is now finished btw. It's Vietnamese selfie sessions are all over Facebook now).
Down in the middle you can see Tây Hồ (West Lake, it is west from the old city centre), the famous big lake in Hanoi where all the expat Tây live. Get it? Tây Hồ = West Lake -> Tây = Westerner.
Anyway back to Myanmar. We were afraid of bad weather. Which was indeed the case when we landed. Rain in a way you'd just stay home. But I don't call myself một người đàn ông may mắn for nothing, so my luck was on our side. The next morning and the rest of our weekend was full of moderate 29-31 degrees and blue skies with some cooling clouds. Perfect weather to explore this place they call "The Garden City of the East". And a garden it is. Hanoi has plenty of trees and plants, but looking from our balcony Yangon looked like one big green park.
When I woke up I looked on Google Maps. This green mass on the left had to be a park right? But nope. The city is just overgrown with huge trees everywhere. Needless to say. I loved the city already.
In the back on the left you can catch a glimpse of the big golden temple Shwedagon, more about it later.
But before we continue, I already have one curious capture for you right here. This immense crumbling building straight out of the eighties is not just any white and green palace. When I checked Google Maps for parks my eyes suddenly read "Drug Elimination Museum".
Looks like it is having a little drug problem itself though.
Apparently this whole building is dedicated to anti drug propaganda. I read some reviews that said you had to watch out where you walked since the floors were full of holes you could peer through. This in combination with talks about the exhibitions being far too small to fill up the big building is why I only have a picture from the outside. Plus expensive also. But yeah. It needs to feed its habit I suppose.
Holes in its structure. Little substance to back it up. Expensive. Hmmm sounds like a good metaphor about drug elimination. Maybe we learn from this museum after all.
Bad Benches
Yangon is a city of cars and pedestrians. So no scooter folk to be found here. The government has banned motorbikes and scooters years ago and this gives the city a completely different atmosphere compared to Vietnam or Thailand. The people are more calm in their movements, speech and musical choices. No chaos on the streets, no chaos in the mind? I might be connecting dot's that do not exist, but it definitely was something I noticed.
After a full day of walking around we went to one of the actual parks to rest for a moment and again Google Maps surprised me.
"Beautiful View Bench". You have my attention. A city full of pedestrians. Should be good with benches right?
The view was there. Two big golden ducks who shoulder an ancient temple on the other side of the lake. What could go wrong?
Tại sao? Why? Why would you do this? Asian benches never ceases to amaze me.
Keep Calm, Pray On
Luckily Yangon is littered with temples so you won't have to rely on benches for beautiful views. Shwedagon is like a golden Eiffel Tower, always popping up.
Whether you are walking around in a park...
... or checking out the skyline at night.
When we went up to the hill on which it is built the clouds turned dark for a moment and some quick rain fell. In Vietnam people immediately get out their áo mưa. In Yangon people walk so they use umbrella's instead.
Rain didn't stop this lady for a second. Stayed right there praying. An oddly satisfying thing to see.
Burmenglish
Even though Myanmar is an old colonial capital, most of the people we met did not speak English. All most all of the advertisements, menu's, etc. are in Burmese. An alphabet I didn't even try to understand for this weekend trip. I mean. အကူအညီ!
When we went to a shopping mall to check out what Yangon had to offer we came upon this shop.
You do wonder who came up with this name and with what intension. Like I said, Yangon does not have the wild Thai vibes at all. The next one was also an interdasting name choice.
Throwback to the scary shirts
Hey. I might be a virgin, but that doesn't say anything about my personality!
Dutch takeover?
One last one for my Dutch friends. In every convenience store I would come across these:
What shall I take today? A Dutchie? Hmmm. Maybe a Dutch Mill. Nahhh I'll go for the Dutch Lady Chocolate Milk today!
So there you have it. A place full of temples, an anti-drug palace, some (virgin?) escorts and Dutchies. Yangon was fun for the weekend. Probably will go more into the countryside next time to see what's to see outside of this city garden. Next time more curious captures from good old Hà Nội again!