Yangon Layover

Bidding farewell to Kalaw, we stepped into the minivan taxi Alex had specifically arranged to take us the hour drive to Heho, whence we would fly to Yangon. The road to traverse is only about 20 miles, but the hour time estimate is accurate. It sounded like that old minivan was going to fall to pieces on that rough road. He got us there on time, though, and we flew to Yangon.

In Yangon we had about 6 hours before our flight to Bangkok, so we went to leave our packs at the left luggage department. That department consisted of a 5 foot long desk backed up nearly to the window wall of the main terminal. Between the desk and the window a couple of employees sat waiting for any business. They charged us $1 per pack, we said we’d be back in about 4 hours, and they placed our packs under the desk – no claim check. At some points the desk wasn’t even manned, but the packs were undisturbed. Regarding this and security as well, I think the descriptive term for habits at the airports in Myanmar is “airport casual.”

Outside, we arranged for a taxi driver to take us into the center of Yangon for a few hours, to the main market area, and to a couple of Buddhist pagodas, and return to the airport, for $25. Yangon is a large city, but retains the third world feel. In the center the streets were full and we parked a block away from a little footbridge up, over, and down again – walking over it we arrived in the market. We explored the part that took up a complete city block under one roof. Innumerable little shops selling antiques, clothing, jade, sandalwood carvings, trinkets, paintings, jewelry, food (both hot and in grocery form), tourist junk, and a dozen other things. Going through the hot food section was intense. Tables line the main path through, and farther to the left and right are the cooking stations. Immediately upon starting through the main path, I realized gauntlet was a better word for it. Two at a time from opposite sides of the path men and women were insistently entreating us, pointing to their tables, their menus, and their food prep areas. As our steps took us farther, more from tables farther along began barking at us, while the former ones continued. We were planning to eat at the same café across from the airport as previously, so we could simultaneously use their wireless, and managed to escape this part of the market unscathed.

Our taxi driver then took us to a Buddhist pagoda, particularly, the “reclining Buddha.” Under an open air roof lay a giant Buddha, over 200 feet long (notice actual people at bottom right of photo for scale). The robes are overlaid with gold leaf. Still, it looked comically foolish, and unworthy of the reverence being given to it by the worshippers present. But then, any man-made thing is.

Next was the Shwedagon Pagoda. Incredible complex, which I will allow the photos to describe. People there were separately touring, chanting in unison, lying around, taking photos, and pouring ceremonial water for purposes unknown to me. In the words of Forrest Gump, “and that’s all I have to say about that.”









Then it was back to the airport. I retrieved my laptop from the the Left Luggage Department and we went across the street to the café where we had eaten and wifi’d on the way into Myanmar. We ordered, and requested the key for wireless. Finally a woman came out and said I would have to pay 15,000 Kyat ($15) for a wireless card for all-day access. We said that wasn’t necessary when we had been there a few days before; we had been able to pay $1 for one hour. Her English was minimal, so we couldn’t tell if she was denying that was a possibility, or just ignoring what they had previously allowed us, or if she didn’t really understand what we were saying. The back and forth went on longer than was comfortable, but finally she went away and came back with the code and we had our dollar per hour service again.

A couple of hours later, we retrieved our luggage and boarded our flight back to Bangkok.