Yangon, Myanmar: Capital City Chaos

Another night bus adventure later, we arrived in Myanmar's (unofficial) capital city of Yangon at 6AM to a drizzly downpour.  I think I've grown to develop a love of long bus rides.  That being said, I'm just at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Southeast Asia bus riding, so that may be a little premature to declare.

Colonial buildings in downtown Yangon

What It's All About:
Yangon is the former capital of Myanmar, and its largest city at over 5 million people. The military government officially moved the capital in 2006 (I don't even know where to), but Yangon is still the unofficial capital to most.

I don't know what I was expecting, but I do have to say it was a lot.....grimier than I imagined.  It used to be a British colony until Burma gained its independence in 1948 ,so there is a lot of old world British Colonial style buildings, many of which have fallen into disrepair and provide this interesting contrast to the bustling, crazy city Yangon is today. Yangon is also a lot less developed than other Southeast Asian cities, so there's not really any kind of skyline - it's just a huge cobbled-together city.



Cliffnotes of the Day:

• Spent the morning with Jo, Will, and Clare at a shopping center near the hotel - again, strangest place ever. 
• Nine of us went for a brief afternoon walking tour with our group guide through the city to see all the old colonial buildings.

The former telegraph office in downtown Yangon

More colonial-style buildings. This is the hospital, I think?

It's been a day and I've already forgotten what building this is. But I like how it's sea-green

I also love the crumbliness of these old British-style buildings

A selfie with the independence memorial, erected after Yangon declared its independence

THIS STREET. This street is my favorite; given how the buildings are so gorgeous and old-school, but now are just apartment complexes with crazy street wires and people everywhere. Perfect blend of old and new

I think I have a thing for any buildings this color, actually

Taken through a window; this is a sad glimpse into some parts of the city

• Late evening, the nine of us headed off to see the most famous/sacred/important/baller pagoda in all of Myanmar, the Shwedagon Pagoda.  This pagoda is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in the country. It is believed to have 8 hairs of the Buddha, as well as three relics from the three previous Buddhas. The pagoda itself is 326 feet tall and is believed to be over 2,600 years old (whoa). It is incredibly impressive to see it in person - the sheer size of it, and the fact that it's totally blinged out with gold (and the top has tons of diamonds and rubies and emeralds and other fancy gems). The entire area is basically a complex - there are countless amounts of Buddha statues, pagodas, temples, etc. that people can come worship at.

Shwedagon Pagoda. So much bling

And I am tiny next to it

Unbeknownst to us, there are four separate entrances (and the place is huge!) and our three taxis all dropped us off at separate entrances. So we discovered each other in the complex group by group. Also, the guys in our group had shorts that showed their knees, so they had to wear longyis (a traditional skirt the men all wear here in Burma)

In Burma, it's important for Buddhists to know what day of the week you were born on (something to do with planetary posts). I didn't know until I looked it up that day, but apparently I was born on a Monday. So a tradition is to go find your day (there are corners for all the days with a Buddha underneath), and bathe the Buddha there (you bathe them with a cup an odd number of times such as 3 or 5, or your age +1).  As I didn't want to monopolize the entire Buddha corner by bathing it my age, I chose 3.  Also, Monday's animal is a tiger. I am a tiger. Rawr.

A monk meditating

A cool part of going to Shwedagon late in the day is that you can see it in daylight, as well as at night - they light the entire thing up and it becomes even more bling-tastic.

We finally found our entire group and took a group shot

Gold. So much gold.

Resting. It was raining and the mats they set out were spiky and felt like walking on nails (you have to go barefoot in all temples and pagodas). And walking on the slick rock was basically a death wish

• We took off the next morning on a flight from Yangon to Bangkok.  Though we only had one full day in Yangon, it felt like more than enough to see it all (really, the highlight is the Shwedagon).

At the Yangon airport, sporting some fly shirts we found at the shopping center the day before.  I like the "terrible need to give" part. Best phrase ever.

Fun Facts of the Day:

• In Theravada Buddhism, there are eight days of the week you can be born on that coordinate with your "planetary posts".  This is because Wednesday is broken into the morning and evening. (Why is Wednesday special? I have no idea).  And each day is associated with an animal.  This has to do with your offerings and where you make them in certain temples.  I assume it also has something that is kind of zodiac-related, but what do I know.  
• Another buddhism fun fact - even numbers bad, odd numbers good. I'm sure it's more in-depth than that, but a good overall assumption in general.  That means when you chime gong bells in temples, or bathe Buddhas, or whatever, you always do it an odd number of times.

Bye, Myanmar!  The two weeks spent in the country just flew by, but I loved everything we did and felt like I got a good snapshot into the country's highlights.  I loved how relatively more untouristy the country is compared to the rest of SE Asia, how gorgeous it is (GREEN. SO MUCH GREEN.), and how untouched it still feels.  It was so amazing. Love you, Myanmar.

Mingun, Myanmar: Cow taxis!!!!

The Myanmar adventure is almost over!  So sad, but very excited to be on the road to the rest of SE Asia.  

Cliffnotes of the Day:

• Took an hour+ boat ride across the Irrawaddy River to the tiny town of Mingun.  Our group guide Matt had told us that Mingun was a lovely city and was like stepping back in time. To be honest, I couldn't remember anything he said there was to do there, except that the city still has COW-PULLED TAXIS. WHAT.  On a mission to find cow taxis, stat.
• The boat ride itself was so nice, across impromptu planks onto wooden two-level contraptions. But we each got a bamboo lounger and it was the best.

Getting onto the boat - notice the human handrails 

I'm not boat expert, but does that boat look slightly overcrowded? They were all the cutest though; all the ladies were waving and smiling

• First stop after arriving in Mingun was the world's largest pile of bricks (GLAM). It was actually supposed to be a temple called Mingun Pahtodawgyi; initially started by a king in 1790. However, he never finished it because an astrologer told him once he finished it, he would die. 

World's largest pile of bricks. It's HUGE. It's all damaged and has these equally huge cracks running down its sides due to an earthquake in the 1800s.

And you can climb to the top

At the top with Stephen, Clare, and Will; bricks everywhere

Looking out on Mingun

Pano of Mingun and the Irrawaddy River

And then we found the cow taxis!!!! 

• Next on our self-guided tour of Mingun was the world's 2nd largest uncracked bell.  I tell you, this city is a hotspot.  Move over, NYC.

This bell was originally created to go inside the world's largest pile of bricks-temple. But obviously, since that's unfinished, now the bell just lives nearby for people to come see

And you can ring it with big sticks

• Last stop was the Hsinphyumae Pagoda, or what we dubbed the white pagoda.

The white pagoda - so cool-looking; kind of reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean or something

We are here. Boys are thrilled.

The white temple deets

• After our half-day adventure, we sailed back to Mandalay.

Bamboo loungers

• That evening, we started our overnight bus adventure to Yangon, the capital city of Myanmar. It was the nicest bus ever - they served food, had increds A/C (so increds that I thought we were in Antarctica and ended up wearing every single coat in my bag), and each of us got a personal TV that was playing Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (so appropriate!).  In true fashion, I managed to pass out the entire night and miss every stop and the meal.  And woke up in Yangon! Next up, the big city!

Hooray night bus!

Mandalay, Myanmar: BBQ & Dollar Liquor

Another half-day bus ride later, we arrived in Mandalay. Contrary to popular belief (ok, or just me), it is not the Mandalay of Mandalay Bay fame in Las Vegas.  But after a ton of small rural cities, Mandalay was like being back in the big city.

What It's All About:

Mandalay is Myanmar's second largest city after its capital Yangon, and the last royal capital. It's the main city in the upper half of the country, and it borders the Irrawaddy River.   All you need to take away is that it's a big city in the northern part of Myanmar. The end.

Cliffnotes of the Day:

• Spent a leisurely afternoon roaming the streets and ended up at a big shopping mall called Diamond Plaza, which was filled with the most random assortment of stores ever.  The only word I have for Burmese fashion is erratic. Very erratic. 

Took a "taxi" home from the mall, which was just a truck with a cover over the bed. 

•  For dinner, we went to a BBQ place - see Meal of the Day below.

At dinner, there was the sassiest little girl selling Jasmine flowers (with a tiny boy assistant). She was so persistent that Stephen finally bought a strand of them to make her go away. After he purchased it, she insisted on draping it across everyone's head at the table and taking a photo with them. It was the cutest. She was the sassiest. 

Here is my photo with the adorable sassy girl

•  The next evening, we headed to the U Bein Bridge - it's apparently the longest teak bridge in the entire world (1.2km).  (How many bridges in the world do we think are made of teak....?)  It was very cool, albeit kind of wobbly and questionable in safety. 

No handrails and wobbly beams = adventure!

We hired a wooden boat to take us around the lake for sunset #ROMANCE

Boat selfie with our captain Will

Will = not impressed. Also, the "boat ride" apparently entailed him rowing for like 10 strokes, and then letting us float aimlessly around the river for the rest of the time

And then we took glamour shots at the front of the boat

Such romance

Not only is it the longest teak bridge in the world, but also the oldest? Circa 1850

U Bein bridge at sunset

• Went to see the Moustache Brothers. The Moustache Brothers are a very well-known comedic group consisting of two brothers and a cousin. They started long ago doing satire focused on the corruption of Myanmar and its government, which was kind of not-OK given Myanmar's tyrannical military government that wasn't a huge fan of allowing its citizens free speech (especially for those criticizing them). After a performance in the 90s, two of them were arrested by the government and sent to hard-labor camps for almost seven years in horrible conditions. When they were released (after some campaigning on their behalf), the government forbade them from putting on their show anymore. The only thing they are allowed to do now is perform for tourists, as the government is scared of doing anything to them if they're in front of tourists' eyes. One of the brothers actually passed away a couple years ago from lead poisoning he got from the work camp water systems when he was jailed, so the second brother continues the act today.  The show itself is hard to describe - it's part slapstick comedy, part history lesson/government complaining, part traditional dancing, etc.  Kind of like a variety show. It's held in the garage of the Moustache Brothers' house and involves their entire family; people go today more so to support the cause, rather than expect to be wildly entertained.

Moustache Brothers Lu Maw and Lu Zaw (Par Par Lay is the one who's passed away). They encourage photo-taking to spread the word - you can see from the signs the kinds of things they talk about

Some of the traditional Burmese dancing. The girl in the middle was SO CUTE.

Meal of the Day:

The first night in Mandalay, we were all exhausted and just decided to go to a casual beer place across the street for dinner. It turned out to be a BBQ joint, which is a thing here (beer/BBQ places) - these places typically have coolers full of raw meats, veggies, etc. on skewers and you pick out what you want, and they cook it for you.  It's so delicious and so, so cheap. 

Huuuuge coolers full of everything you could ever want. Mystery meats, ears of corn, and sausages all included.

The finished product: plate of BBQ deliciousness. Not pictured is the enormous plate of corn I had bc I LOVE CORN

Moment of the Day:

We spent our first afternoon in Mandalay at this rando shopping mall called Diamond Plaza. The mall was this totally rando assortment of the strangest stores ever - however, the basement was a gigantic grocery store-type deal (if grocery stores sold bootleg CD's, clothing, cell phones, and shoes, that is). 

There was a section of the store that sold liquor - Stephen and I happened to breeze through, and then did a double-take at the prices. I'm not even kidding, the large bottles of alcohol were about $1. And I mean fancy glass bottles (I always check if bottles are glass or plastic; that is my line in life), large sizes, everything. The wine was twice the price of any of the liquor. Even the whisky was locked behind a sliding glass door that had to be locked by the attendant - AND IT WAS $1.

$1 gin, $1 rum, and $1 whiskey.  Maybe the whisky was $1.50.  But WHAT kind of ridic country is this and how is everyone not an alcoholic?!  

Stephen and I thought maybe the prices were mislabeled, or they were maybe missing some zeroes, so we asked the attendant - but nope, all real prices. It was insane. INSANE. 

And it was not a bottle full of colored water; it actually wasn't bad. Amazed.