Yangon

Yangon is the former capital in southern Myanmar. You can see and feel the change that the country is going through. Tourists have only been allowed into the country over that past few years so its harder to travel around that most of SE Asia but this is what also makes Myanmar so special. It still feels untouched.

The highlight of Yangon was meeting Mr. Toe during a walk one afternoon. He was about 60 and came up and chatted with us for a while – his English surprisingly good. He told us that his father was Chinese and taught him English so now he teaches the kids. After chatting for about 10 min, he decided to join us and gave us a personal tour of downtown Yangon. He shared the history of each of the buildings, walked us down to the riverfront, and then jumped in a cab to take us to Chinatown to some beers and street food. He helped us plan out route for the rest of our trip in Myanmar and raved about the fire balloon festival in Taunggi. He spent about 8 hours with us before mysteriously disappearing without saying goodbye.

The Shwedagon Pagoda is one of the most impressive Buddhist temples I’ve visited. It’s almost 100 meters tall and guided in gold. The pagoda glows at sunrise making it the ideal time to visit. I loved listening to all of the monks chants at dawn.

Other actives included taking the circle train around the city and eating copious amounts of street food. I just couldn’t get enough tea leaf salad. Best meal I had in Myanmar was at Minn Lan near Inya Lake. The soft-shell crab curry is to die for! We also went to this color festival which was similar to a color run but without the running (I’m still finding flecks of blue and pink paint in my backpack). It was interesting to see how much the Burmese culture is changing from the teenagers to the adults. All the kids dress like Brooklyn hipsters while the adults still wear traditional longyi.