Awesome Myanmar (Part 2): Destination Yangon!

 
Our AirAsia flight to Yangon was on time. The flight was filled with many Myanma overseas workers who were returning home, there were just about 15 of us who were tourists. I realised Myanmar was just like the Philippines in terms of overseas workers because when I reached the airport, they had special counters and lanes for returning overseas foreign workers, just like in NAIA. These counters and lanes virtually did not exist in Changgi, KLIA and Dubai (the other airports I have been to so far).

AirAsia markets its destinations by putting catchy posters of them on their overhead bins and tray tables. The aircraft I boarded offered a last minute of humour to me on my way to Yangon because it carried the poster to Cebu, Philippines! It gave me a piece of home on my way to a very foreign country!

AirAsia ad for its destination - Cebu, a little piece of home on my tray-table on my flight to Yangon.

Arrival at Yangon International Airport

Arriving 9-min earlier than scheduled, entry-formalities was very swift because PH passport holders are exempt from getting a visa. The immigration officer asked me only one question, "how many days will you be staying?" I lazily answered, "6 days only ma'am." After that, oh what joy there is hearing the stamping by an immigration officer on my passport! I was given 14-days, but heck, I'd be in Myanmar for only 6.

Because I did not have check-in luggage, and of course I had nothing to declare at customs, so exit was easy for me. At the ground level of Yangon Airport there are several money changers, I immediately exchanged my USDs to Myanma Kyats (pronounced "chats"). 

Tip: Believe it when travel blogs say exchange your money at Yangon Airport. The rate at the airport is as good as those in downtown, the difference is only about 0.4%, but the airport is safer and there is virtually no chance you'll be ripped off by sleight of hand. 

I was happy because at the time I arrived in Yangon the exchange rate was 994 kyats against the dollar. This was a better rate than the 960 kyats against the dollar (prevailing rate around August) I used to make my budget, this immediately translated to a 3.5% buffer for incidental expenses. 

10, 000 Myanmar Kyats.

Hearing an English Mass in Myanmar

After I got my Kyats, I immediately got-off the airport and looked for a taxicab. It wasn't too difficult. I got a taxicab to St. Augustine Church in Inya Road. The driver could speak English so it wasn't really difficult, I just handed him the card containing the address of the Church and he quoted me 7000 MMK for the trip. I wasn't in the mood to bargain, I just acquiesced. My first destination was St. Augustine because I arrived in Myanmar on a Sunday. Of the few Catholic churches in Yangon, only St. Augustine offered an English Mass at 10-am. Fortunately, it was also way uptown and nearer my hotel. I arrived very early, there was still a Korean Mass going on, I just stayed in one of the back pews and prayed and gave thanks that I arrived safely in my destination.

Interior of the Church of St. Augustine, Inya Rd., Kamayut Township, Yangon.

As the church slowly filled up for the English Mass, I noticed many Filipinos coming in. I began to hear chatters in Tagalog and oh well, after being out on foreign travel for a few times, I think I already have developed the radar to spot Filipinos whenever they're near.

After Mass, I immediately looked for a taxicab to bring me to my hotel. It was only then that I experienced how difficult it was because even if I had my hotel's address, it was written in English! The drivers I spoke with could not read English. I brought out my iPad where I stored a map to my hotel from the church, but the driver could not read the map as well because it was in English. Finally one driver let me in, even though he only understood half of the address. Luckily the address card I brought contained the telephone number of the hotel, so my driver made a phone call to the hotel to ask for direction. After less than 20-min I arrived at my hotel safely.

The hotel was in an upper-middle class neighbourhood located on the same block as the Embassy of Singapore. It was quiet and it had a good view of the Shwedagon Pagoda. There were only a few guests, so I was able to check-in earlier than scheduled.

My hotel room on my first night in Yangon.

A view of the Shwedagon from my hotel.

I rested for a while and checked the TV stations on the "cable" TV. Apparently, there weren't any International channels available. So I just imbibed the culture and watched a comedic-looking Myanma sitcom.

The National Museum

After an hour of resting, I once again went out and rode a taxicab to the National Museum. Not learning from my earlier experience, I stepped of the hotel without asking them to write my destination in Myanma script on a piece of paper. So I had to hail 3 taxis before I got a helpful lady on the street to talk to the driver and explain where I was going. Gladly I was able to get to the Museum. The Museum is situated near the office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it's at the end of an "Embassy Row" which are on their own, nice attractions, some notable ones are the Embassies of Thailand and Pakistan.

The National Museum of Myanmar was a good starting point for me because it was there that I got to learn the proud history of this nation. The museum offers a bird's eye view of the land, the heritage and the culture called Myanmar, this foreign land I was in. The artefacts on display were absolutely amazing. It was just unfortunate that cameras are not allowed inside the museum.

The facade of the National Museum of Myanmar.

Statues of Notable Myanma Kings

A cannon replica on display in the People's Park.

Peoples Park and the Shwedagon Pagoda

After viewing the final exhibit room in the museum and having had my comprehensive introduction into Myanma history and culture, I left for the Shwedagon Pagoda. On my way to the museum earlier I actually passed by the Shwedagon and People's Park already. However, I purposely just passed over them because the museum was open only until 4:30pm, besides I followed the advice I got from TripAdvisor that one of the most spectacular view of the Shwedagon is seen at sunset. Because I had so much time before the Yangon sunset of around 5:50pm that day, I just walked my way though "Embassy Row" and back to the People's Park, it was quite a walk of about 20-min.

I entered People's Park through a very small gate and I didn't see any signage that says as a foreigner I had to pay an attraction fee. I simply went in and blended with the locals. The park contained an old Fokker plane (I didn't know why it was on display there), a playground for children and lots of shade from trees. It was the perfect spot to rest after the walk from the museum. After surveying the more important parts of the park I chanced upon a small restaurant within; because it was high-tea time, there were a lot of locals taking their afternoon beverage. I was quite pleased to know I was the only foreigner in that restaurant. It was then that I remembered I haven't taken anything since my arrival in Yangon, not even a drink of water! So I sat down and asked for the menu. Lo and behold, the menu was written all in Myanma script except for the beverages! (So this place was rarely visited by tourists after all because their menu didn't even try to accommodate foreigners who couldn't read a single word written in Myanma) Even more, the menu didn't also contain pictures! Here, again the friendliness of the people made things a lot easier, I was brought to the counter which had a good view of the kitchen. I saw the noodles and other prepped food stuff and the lady in the counter in her broken English politely asked which one I wanted. So explained to her I just want fried rice with some vegetables on it. Whew, I returned to my place and waited anxiously on what concoction she'd give me with that instruction I gave her. Fair enough, I got what I ordered, I just motioned to the waiter that I'd want a tin of Coca-Cola too and a bottle of water (most of the people on the other tables had these so I pointed at these items on their table hoping the waiter will understand what I said and pointed at at the same time). I was very satisfied with my first meal in Myanmar, it was a plateful and for only 2,000 MMK, mind you it was way more, in terms of quantity and better, in terms of quality, than the average Chowking Yangchow Fried Rice. I got free soup and side dish as well! A few minutes later, two French couples I recognised back from the museum came in and ordered up a bottle of Myanmar beer each. Too bad I'm allergic to brewer's yeast and I didn't want to take the risk of getting an allergy attack in Myanmar, so I simply passed trying the Myanmar Beer.

Menu of the Restaurant inside People's Park, all written in Myanma.

My first meal in Myanmar, stir-fried rice.

After getting refreshed, I paid my bill and then started walking again, this time already heading towards the Shwedagon Pagoda. I noticed that the couple I saw earlier were questioned by the guards of the park, it was only then that I realised they were made to pay for the park fee. Ah, it was one of the times I felt so proud of my brown skin, I easily passed as a local, so the guards never bothered asking me to pay the park fee!

From the People's Park the Shwedagon Pagoda shone brightly. I walked another 5-min towards the West gate, it was around 4:20pm, a full hour and a half before sunset. The Shwedagaon, like most of the Buddhist pagodas throughout Myanmar, have entrances on the four main directions of the North, South, East and West. In the case of the Shwedagon, these entrances are filled with vendors in market-like fashion with people selling flowers and incense for the devout and souvenir items for the tourists. Because the Shwedagon is seated on a hill, getting inside involves climbing up the stairs that are strewn with these little shops. From what I observed, service-elevators were available in the North, South and East Entrances. The West gate stands unique in that, there are virtually no vendors and no service-elevators. Instead it has about 3-flights of escalators. Entering through the West gate was way better than entering the other three gates because using the escalators provided a good view of the Shwedagon complex (compare this to the box-like closed service-elevators) and there were no vendors to mind.

View of the Shwedagon from the People's Park.

Getting nearer the Shwedagon.

In Myanmar, whenever anyone enters a pagoda, one must remove his/her footwear, including the socks. In Shwedagon this is most true. There are lockers provided at the foot of the entrances to the pagoda, but I followed the tip of bringing a bag to put one's shoes and carry them throughout the pagoda. This tip is particularly good if one decides to enter through one gate and exit through another one.

The West Gate of the Shwedagon with one of its two Burmese Lion Guard.

Tip: When going inside pagodas in Myanmar bring a handbag that could hold your shoes or whatever footwear you're wearing and carry them with you inside the temple.

At the top of the escalator are the booths where tickets to the pagoda are bought. Going inside the Shwedagon is free for the locals but a foreigner has to pay 8,000 MMK, this fee is good for 1-visit only and includes a map of the entire Shwedagon complex. I was very lucky because when I entered the Swedagon a group of about 30 women were chanting Buddhist prayers. The chant made the entire experience more mystical.

The Shwedagon Pagoda is considered to be Myanmar's holiest site. It houses two of the Buddha's hair which were given to two brother-merchants who met Gotama Buddha in his wanderings after he attained enlightenment. These two brothers returned to the land of Okkalapa (the ancient name of Yangon) and housed these relics within a pagoda, thus the Shwedagon!

There are other sites to see on the pagoda grounds because Buddhist countries like Korea, and China etc. would send gifts to the Pagoda, these gifts come in forms like a statue of the Buddha in jade, or prayer bells and so on. There are also many mini-pagodas and in general the atmosphere in the pagoda is that of one big social hall. I spent about two-hours wandering round and round the pagoda waiting for the sunset to come. Finally it did and I got a very wonderful view. The last rays of the sun provided glow to the golden pagoda and it shone brightly! The view was absolutely stunning!    

View of the Main Pagoda upon entry through the West gate.

Pagoda grounds with people circumambulating.

Little Buddhist nuns having a little bit of fun on the pagoda grounds.

The main pagoda at sunset.

Two local visitors mesmerized by the gleaming of the main pagoda after sunset.

I stayed for about 30-min more to wait for the crowd to get smaller and to take photos of the smaller pagodas at nightfall.

Other pagodas can be found throughout the pagoda complex.

Having had my fill of the photos, I left the Shwedagon through the East gate passing through the shops about to close and monks going back to their monastery within the pagoda complex. When I returned back to my hotel, I was hungry after almost 3 hours of going around the Shwedagon. It was a good thing my hotel had an in-house restaurant, so I ordered up a simple dinner of fried noodles, which they happily obliged to serve me.

Before I retired for the night, I recollected on how wonderful the entire day was, my first full day in Myanmar was over!