A good night's sleep had by all! Bronwen and I up at around 8 and go for a short walk around the Kan Saw Gyi lake opposite the hotel. Water a most unpleasant dark green and the pathway in fairly desperate need of repair - planks missing from bridges and the like - you get the drift - but a delightful park and a nice walk regardless.
Return to the hotel, wake Rosie and then down to breakfast. Not quite the normal hotel breakfast - Myanmar not only attracts many international visitors, but being bordered on the east by Thailand, Laos and China and on the west by India and Bangladesh creates a need to cater for a fairly multicultural clientele. This meant we had local Myanmar options, Chinese yum cha options, Indian vegetarian options, European options as well as the usual fresh cooked eggs and omelettes. All very delicious!
Yangon (also known as Rangoon) has an English translation that literally means 'end of strife' and is the former capital of Myanmar. It is a city of some 6 million people and is big and flat and sprawling. A brief bit of relaxation and 'planning the day' after breakfast and then we head off to Bogyoke (also known as Scott) markets. These are typical Asian markets housed in a huge 'warehouse' style building - row after row of tiny businesses stacked on top of each other trying to make some money. Mostly apparel, fabrics, etc., but with the odd gem / jade / souvenir shop for the tourist. Rose buys some harem pants and Bronwen a scarf, but otherwise we leave with our money in our pockets.
A little more wandering around and we find the Sule Pagoda. This pagoda is in the middle of a roundabout in the centre of the city (as you do) and it seems distances from Yangon are measured from this spot. The pagoda is a little underwhelming, but vaguely interesting. We thought we had read that there is a 'golden maze' that you need to walk through to see inside the pagoda, but either there is no such thing or tourists can't go there or whatever, cause we couldn't find it and language difficulties meant asking was just too hard.
We return to the hotel for a break and decide to go for 1 more wander around the park opposite the hotel and discover a whole range of plant nurseries, royal garden, aquarium and spot the zoo opposite. But what really stood out was Karaweik palace. A bit of research tells us this is not a palace but an extremely touristy restaurant and show venue. A quick stop at the local bottle'o on the way back to the hotel to pick up a 6 pack of local beer (4800 kyat - about $5) and we're set.
After an afternoon by the pool and a bit of a 'nanna nap', we wander off to Kandawgyi Park where Karaweik palace is located. Strangely, there are 50 or more restaurants scattered along the waterfront looking out on to this beast of a tourist trap - but this suits us just fine. We choose a restaurant that seems popular and sit down for another delicious meal - confirming the well known theory that the street food is equal if not better than the main stream hotel / restaurant / tourist traps and way, way less expensive. Dinner tonight was less than $20. Dinner and show in Karaweik would have been US$35 each!!
Back to the hotel, watch a movie briefly and off to the land of nod.
No comments:
Post a Comment