Sunday 3 December 2017
Photos
Myanmar Vibe Hotel 4th Dec.
Today is our last day of the holiday. We have the morning to potter around and then need to head out to the airport early afternoon. We spent yesterday strolling around the central area picking up a few last minute purchases and watching the action. As it was Sunday the traffic was a bit quieter but the markets in the side streets were still busy with street cafes and fresh vegetables and fruit.
We saw the congregation leaving the Baptist Church which is near the centre of the city, close by the Buddhist pagoda which is next door to the main Mosque. Our guides had pointed out that Burma usually operates on the basis of religious tolerance. The problems with the Rohinga seem to arise from increasing illegal settlement. I will comment more on that at another time but we have actually been far away from those events and probably know no more than anyone else in the west.
We will go down to breakfast shortly which was an interesting mix of Asian and Western yesterday. We had a bowl of lightly curried noodle soup with pieces of the local version of sweetcorn pancake broken up in it. These pancakes are wafer thin and cooked on a hot plate with the corn sprinkled over the top so they are crispy when cooked. This was followed by an small omelette with a croissant stuffed with lettuce, tomato, ham polony and cheese on the side. Not exactly to our taste but certainly sufficient. The soup was quite delicious it was the wertern attempt that didn't quite come off.
Over and out , we will be home in Perth early hours of tomorrow morning.
We saw the congregation leaving the Baptist Church which is near the centre of the city, close by the Buddhist pagoda which is next door to the main Mosque. Our guides had pointed out that Burma usually operates on the basis of religious tolerance. The problems with the Rohinga seem to arise from increasing illegal settlement. I will comment more on that at another time but we have actually been far away from those events and probably know no more than anyone else in the west.
We will go down to breakfast shortly which was an interesting mix of Asian and Western yesterday. We had a bowl of lightly curried noodle soup with pieces of the local version of sweetcorn pancake broken up in it. These pancakes are wafer thin and cooked on a hot plate with the corn sprinkled over the top so they are crispy when cooked. This was followed by an small omelette with a croissant stuffed with lettuce, tomato, ham polony and cheese on the side. Not exactly to our taste but certainly sufficient. The soup was quite delicious it was the wertern attempt that didn't quite come off.
Over and out , we will be home in Perth early hours of tomorrow morning.
Saturday 2 December 2017
Photos
Myanmar 2nd Day: Hotel Vibe
Yesterday all the farewells were said to the friends whose company we enjoyed and Bob and I settled down to wait until the last transfers to airport and up market hotel were made. Because Bob and I had made independent arrangements we were asked to wait until 9-15 when they would call a taxi and help us with our luggage. As it developed the "Big Boss" (owner of the boat) was casting an eye over Travel Marvel's operation and he told the staff to use one of the two cars he had in the car park. So we were transferred to our hotel in the latest model Suzuki sedan but not the BMW. We had the inhouse manager of the staff accompany us as interpretor because the driver did not speak English. Thus we arrived at our 2 star hotel on the edge of China Town in style. Our hotel is new and the room has all the requisite comforts though in minamilist format. The bathroom is about western standard toilet size so we tuck our knees in under the hand basin to sit. The shower, like our hotel in Manadalay in a hand held version without surrounds and the water drains straight across the floor to the drain. It works surprisingly well if you remember to put the lid down on the toilet seat so it is not wet when you next want to use it.
We were able to access our room straight away when we arrived so we sorted ourselves out then went for a walk. The Circuit Train had been recommended by our guides and all the travel sites so we walked through town to the colonial era train station. This is still very busy as it is the cheapest though slowest way to travel. The Circuit is through numerous small towns on the fringes of Yangon and several have major markets, though every town has it's own market. The distance is only 35 kms but it takes 3 hours because the old narrow gauge track has not been well maintained and it only averages 14 kms/ hour. We did enjoy some aspects of the trip but it was a very uncomfortable 3 hours. The seats were molded plastic that ran along the walls so we had numb backsides after 1 hour never mind 3. We were lucky to establish ourselves close to a doorway so got the breeze when the train was moving. The outside scene was limited by the number of passengers standing in the aisles and was only really interesting at the extremity of the circuit where the countryside was rural and the crowd had thinned. What was fascinating was observing the activities of our fellow passengers. Vacated seats were occupied with eal like alacrity. I only obtained a seat because I had refused an offer from a woman for her to stand in my place. She then stood before we reached her station so that there was no immediate competition for the space. Most people had been to the market and came on carrying bags of fresh veges but some were obviously loaded beyond personal consumption and were going to retail their purchases at their own village. The tiniest young woman was struggling to lift a large sack into the train and when I reached down to help her I nearly fell out myself. I had to regrip and heave and it turned out to be a load of melons which must have weighed as much as she did. I received a nod of approval from the old men across the aisle but they hadn't stirred themselves. The doorway was then occupied by an obviously inebriated but cheerful man who became helper for the women and we saw him being passed a ticket as his reward.
The most entertaining activity was watching the retailers who joined the train. Cold water, icypoles, a takeaway menu carried on a large tray on the sellers head. Bother, I missed that photo. Then there were laundry baskets of mandarines, bananas, grapes and some other small citrus. These were all advertised at top volume and there seemed to be some debate at times as to proprietry rights.
When we arived back we visited an up market supermarket to buy supplies and then taxied home. The 2 kms trip cost the equivalent of $2 Aussie. Last night we ate at a nearby restaurant and the total bill was less than the price of a pizza in Perth.
We were able to access our room straight away when we arrived so we sorted ourselves out then went for a walk. The Circuit Train had been recommended by our guides and all the travel sites so we walked through town to the colonial era train station. This is still very busy as it is the cheapest though slowest way to travel. The Circuit is through numerous small towns on the fringes of Yangon and several have major markets, though every town has it's own market. The distance is only 35 kms but it takes 3 hours because the old narrow gauge track has not been well maintained and it only averages 14 kms/ hour. We did enjoy some aspects of the trip but it was a very uncomfortable 3 hours. The seats were molded plastic that ran along the walls so we had numb backsides after 1 hour never mind 3. We were lucky to establish ourselves close to a doorway so got the breeze when the train was moving. The outside scene was limited by the number of passengers standing in the aisles and was only really interesting at the extremity of the circuit where the countryside was rural and the crowd had thinned. What was fascinating was observing the activities of our fellow passengers. Vacated seats were occupied with eal like alacrity. I only obtained a seat because I had refused an offer from a woman for her to stand in my place. She then stood before we reached her station so that there was no immediate competition for the space. Most people had been to the market and came on carrying bags of fresh veges but some were obviously loaded beyond personal consumption and were going to retail their purchases at their own village. The tiniest young woman was struggling to lift a large sack into the train and when I reached down to help her I nearly fell out myself. I had to regrip and heave and it turned out to be a load of melons which must have weighed as much as she did. I received a nod of approval from the old men across the aisle but they hadn't stirred themselves. The doorway was then occupied by an obviously inebriated but cheerful man who became helper for the women and we saw him being passed a ticket as his reward.
The most entertaining activity was watching the retailers who joined the train. Cold water, icypoles, a takeaway menu carried on a large tray on the sellers head. Bother, I missed that photo. Then there were laundry baskets of mandarines, bananas, grapes and some other small citrus. These were all advertised at top volume and there seemed to be some debate at times as to proprietry rights.
When we arived back we visited an up market supermarket to buy supplies and then taxied home. The 2 kms trip cost the equivalent of $2 Aussie. Last night we ate at a nearby restaurant and the total bill was less than the price of a pizza in Perth.
Friday 1 December 2017
Photos
Princess Panhwar; Last Day
This morning is really the last day but we leave the boat straight after breakfast so yesterday was our last full day. We went on a walking tour of the city centre and were immediately aware of how much more prosperous and well preserved Yangon is than Mandalay. This is a much more cosmopolitan city due to it's long term role as the primary port of entry to the country. Also thanks to the British levy building in the colonial period the adjacent delta of the Irrawaddy (Ayarwaddy) is the main commercial rice producing area. There is a lot more adoption of Western dress but the longi is still prevalent as it is definately the most comfortable garment in the warm humid conditions.
I realised that I haven't talked about the traffic yet. Back in the 1990's the Military Regime decided to change from right hand drive to left hand drive. Just another abandoning of the colonial past but possibly also because Chinese influence was the main one when the western world was applying sanctions. However though the rules were changed finances did not allow for the vehicles to be changed. Thus in Mandalay almost all the cars and all thus buses were still right hand drive but driving on the right side of the road. Potentially dangerous but it was surprising how soon we stopped flinching because accidents are rare. Yesterday we were noticing a lot of buses here are new and left hand drive and it was pointed out by our guide that this meant that they could be operated by one person. All our tourist coaches had two men on board and the support person had a more important legislated role than we had realised. They were officially a non contact driver who was responsible for watching traffic and giving the instruction about when it was safe to pull out into traffic and when to overtake. The traffic here in the city is typically full on and there are a lot more LHD cars because the Govt has introduced a policy of taking vehicles off people if they are 20 years old and giving them a voucher to buy a newly imported one. Unfortunately for many people the gap between the voucher value and the on road costs of a replacement do not match so they are forced to sell their voucher to a car importer and rely on public transport. Also unless you a very rich the "new" cars are second hand Japanese models which have already done 100,000 kms. There is a flourishing business in spare parts and reconditioning for some.
Our second stop was the Pagoda of the second largest reclining Budda in Myanmar. It is 70 metres long and was the longest until recently when another city built a bigger one. It was completely destroyed by Allied bombs in WW 2 as the Japanese utilising it as a barracks and headquarters. This obviated the same protection as Bagan. It took two yeas to rebuild in the 70's when funds became available because of the supply of bricks required. From there we went back downtown to the tourist trap markets common to most cities. We were warned before getting off the bus that it was not a reliable place to buy Burmese rubies as they are often fakes and offered a free extra tour in the afternoon to a reliable retailer. A couple who we have become friendly with decided to test out the suppliers in the market and received two quotes for identical versions of a ring they fancied that varied by $2000. They went to the recommended retailer in the afternoon to make their purchase. A couple who also went there and who hail from a Cape York cattle station laughingly told us that her ring cost 4 cows.
So today we move to our downtown hotel to make the most of our last two days.
I realised that I haven't talked about the traffic yet. Back in the 1990's the Military Regime decided to change from right hand drive to left hand drive. Just another abandoning of the colonial past but possibly also because Chinese influence was the main one when the western world was applying sanctions. However though the rules were changed finances did not allow for the vehicles to be changed. Thus in Mandalay almost all the cars and all thus buses were still right hand drive but driving on the right side of the road. Potentially dangerous but it was surprising how soon we stopped flinching because accidents are rare. Yesterday we were noticing a lot of buses here are new and left hand drive and it was pointed out by our guide that this meant that they could be operated by one person. All our tourist coaches had two men on board and the support person had a more important legislated role than we had realised. They were officially a non contact driver who was responsible for watching traffic and giving the instruction about when it was safe to pull out into traffic and when to overtake. The traffic here in the city is typically full on and there are a lot more LHD cars because the Govt has introduced a policy of taking vehicles off people if they are 20 years old and giving them a voucher to buy a newly imported one. Unfortunately for many people the gap between the voucher value and the on road costs of a replacement do not match so they are forced to sell their voucher to a car importer and rely on public transport. Also unless you a very rich the "new" cars are second hand Japanese models which have already done 100,000 kms. There is a flourishing business in spare parts and reconditioning for some.
Our second stop was the Pagoda of the second largest reclining Budda in Myanmar. It is 70 metres long and was the longest until recently when another city built a bigger one. It was completely destroyed by Allied bombs in WW 2 as the Japanese utilising it as a barracks and headquarters. This obviated the same protection as Bagan. It took two yeas to rebuild in the 70's when funds became available because of the supply of bricks required. From there we went back downtown to the tourist trap markets common to most cities. We were warned before getting off the bus that it was not a reliable place to buy Burmese rubies as they are often fakes and offered a free extra tour in the afternoon to a reliable retailer. A couple who we have become friendly with decided to test out the suppliers in the market and received two quotes for identical versions of a ring they fancied that varied by $2000. They went to the recommended retailer in the afternoon to make their purchase. A couple who also went there and who hail from a Cape York cattle station laughingly told us that her ring cost 4 cows.
So today we move to our downtown hotel to make the most of our last two days.
Photos Yangon Day 14
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