Day 228 – People

Today, I got the chance to meet Daniel and go with him to one of the slums in Yangon to see the work he is doing there.

But before I continue let me first say thanks to Daniel, for his help and support of the people you see in this post (and more), and the friends at My Place, who made this possible by introducing me to Daniel.

Every city has areas where poor people live who don’t always have the means or  the support from the government to improve their situation and have to make the best out of their situation. We call these areas slums and we have all bee driving or walking past at one point or another.

So has Daniel but unlike most of us he decided one day to step off the bus and go to see if he can do anything to help the people living under poor conditions in one of the slums in Yangon.

He managed to set up a school for the kids and teaches them English and other skills that might come in handy for them once they grow up to find jobs or try and improve their situation. This alone is quite impressive but he manages to do all this without any government support and only by using his own money and with help from his family.

He is now working together with the people at the My Place charity but a lot of the work is still done on his own money and in his free time on weekends.

After learning that I am in Yangon, Daniel invited me to come and see the work he does and also meet the children he is teaching but also the other people living in the slums and showed me the conditions they live in.

Now, I could go on and say how poor these people are and under what horrible conditions they live in, that they are very unfortunate and that we should feel sorry for them.
This certainly is true but the people I met are great people, they are friendly, happy and make the best out of their situation, they help each other, they share their houses with other families (so 3-4 families live in a small house), they are proud people who despite everything smile and don’t complain.

Sure, they live in poor conditions and don’t have a lot of money but they are not poor because they have so much more than a lot of people I have seen every day on my way to work in London.
They have neighbors they care about, they help each other, they deal with everything as best as possible without constantly complaining, they do their best to improve their situation and don’t wait for someone else to do something.
These are the people I have seen and met there, great and proud people, they all smiled and were welcoming.

Do they need help to improve their situation? Sure, they do need help and especially Daniel needs help so he can work with the children and provide them with an education.

So if you’re in Yangon, do get in touch with me or the people at My Place and see if you can help Daniel and support his help with the kids.

Just as a note, none of the photos were directed by me, the people chose where and how to pose and just asked me to take a photo of them. This is a longer series with a lot of photos but I felt it was necessary to portray it better.

You can find even more photos from the day on my Flickr set here.

Day 227 – Yangon and the Shwedagon Pagoda

Another day in Yangon and I decided to do some sightseeing today. After refusing to pay for the entrance to Kandawgyi Park, I managed to sneak in by going to the restaurants on the north side and from there to the park.

It was mostly to hang out in the shade for a bit until it got a bit cooler to head top the Shwedagon Pagoda.

Before entering the pagoda, I walked around the gardens next to it for a bit and then headed to see the famous pagoda myself.

Maybe it was me being a bit overloaded with temples and pagodas but I was not blown away by it. Sure, it’s a nice pagoda and quite impressive but it’s nothing to unusual if you’ve been around Myanmar and Thailand before.

It is a great place for hanging out and people watching though, you even get free wifi so this certainly is very cool.

After taking lots of photos of the pagoda and people there, I set out to walk back to my hotel and grab some dinner on the way.

Tomorrow morning, I am invited by a friend to go and see his work supporting and teaching the poor kids in Yangon.

Day 226 – Back in Yangon

After a slightly uncomfortable night, trying to sleep on a chair, I arrived back in Yangon.

I didn’t have anything planned or the day so decided to just take it easy, chill a bit and check out the market.

While it was fun, it didn’t provide the photo opportunities I was looking for so I decided to walk around the city instead.

Yangon is a very nice city and has character so it’s nice to walk around and take photos or just take in the atmosphere.

Tomorrow will be another day in Yangon but this time I will try and go do some more sightseeing and visit the Shwedagon Pagoda.

Day 216 – Yangon to Mandalay

Despite having a great time in Yangon yesterday, I figured it made sense to take the night train to Mandalay today. I will have more time in Yangon at the end of my Myanmar trip so figured it is good to see the north of the country first after having a great introduction in Yangon.

Since the train didn’t leave till late in the day, it gave me enough time to walk around Yangon and take more photos and enjoy the city life.

I think the best way to explore a city is to just wander and see what you see. Sure, you might not see all the sights but a city is rarely it’s sights and always the people living and working there.

So without a clear aim, I just walked around and took photos of people and the city. Well, I actually had an aim and this was to find a nice coffee place with free wifi but this does not exist, unless you are prepared to pay western prices at the few tourist coffee places.

Once it was time to head to the train station, I made sure I got there a bit earlier to have time for some photos on the platform and the station before the train departed.

Often when I meet other travelers, they take buses or fly because it’s cheaper and faster most of the time. In my opinion there is no better way to meet locals and see people than by taking a train. It’s the best and most comfortable way to travel. In Asia you can also open the windows in the trains, something I miss a lot in Europe and something that makes train travel so much nicer.

Sure, in Myanmar it’s very expensive, very bumpy and very slow but I would have never met and been invited by some locals for a drink in a plane or bus and there is no restaurant car where you can chill, hang out and meet even more people.

Unfortunately I also met the wrong kind of travelers on this journey, a couple sharing my compartment but not wanting to interact with the locals and being unfriendly to them (and me, too) and generally just locking themselves in. If you don’t want to mingle and interact with the locals then just fly is my recommendation.

Tomorrow morning, I will arrive in Mandalay where I will be staying a day or two before heading to Bagan.

Day 215 – A Day in Yangon

After hearing only good things about Myanmar and having a very good first impression when I arrived yesterday, I was looking forward to see and experience more of Yangon.

The first thing you notice is how busy the city is with a lot of traffic, it’s loud and there are people everywhere. After spending that much time travelling around Asia, a lot of the bigger cities can feel similar but Yangon feels quite different.
One thing that was definitely different was that there were no motorbikes and very few bicycles on the streets, this seemed odd as motorbikes seem to be part of every city in Asia. This of course meant there were way too many cars and buses on the streets so the traffic was almost as bad as in Bangkok.

While I’ve never been to India, I think Myanmar kind of has a similar feel in some ways but it’s quite distinct in other ways.
The people are very friendly as I noticed at the airport and during my brief walk in the evening but despite all the hustle and bustle, people are always smiling or saying hi and are happy to help you out with directions if you need.

The city itself seems like a mishmash of different architecture styles (and states of decay), of different religions with pagodas, mosques and churches but it also feels quite modern with electronics, computer and mobile phone shops everywhere. You can feel that a lot has changed here in a short period of time thanks to the country opening up more.

At first I planned to visit some of the pagodas but the entry charge of $3 per pagoda, $2 to enter a park and so on meant I gave most of them a miss. It seems the government is keen on making as much money on tourists as possible but this is just way too much money to spend to see yet another pagoda. Like me, you’re probably better off to get your temple and pagoda fix in Thailand for fee before coning here and only going to see one or two of the most important pagodas.

I did manage to sneak in to the Kandawgyi Park for free and it was quite nice, especially just before sunset. Although I was happy I didn’t have to pay as $2 seemed too much for this.

While I had planned to visit the Shwedagon Pagoda in the evening, I decided to leave this for my return to Yangon and instead take some more photos of the night life in the city.

The evening has people eating at small street food stalls, hanging out and watching movies at beer stations, socializing in one of the many restaurants and kids playing in the streets under neon lights.

It was a very interesting day in Yangon and I can already say that Myanmar will be one of the most memorable places on my trip and one I will want to come back to, despite only arriving yesterday.

Day 214 – Bangkok to Yangon

The morning came and while waking up, I made my decision to go with option 2 and simply fly to Yangon.
It was not easy since I wanted to avoid flying as much as possible but taking the overland route would have simply cost too much and lost me 2-3 days in transport.

Getting to the airport in Bangkok by train is the best way if you have some time as it will not only cost you 5 Baht instead of over 200 Baht in a taxi but is also more pleasant and you won’t be stuck in traffic.

Stepping into the airport felt strange after suck a long time only taking ground transport, there were checking desks, security checks, enclosed spaces and overpriced shops selling food and souvenirs.

My flight ended up being delayed but at least they had free wifi at the airport so I could catch up on some emails while waiting. I have to thank the two girls who came out of nowhere while I was waiting at the gate, asked if I fly to Yangon, gave me a bundle of Kyat said that Myanmar is great and disappeared again.

Landing at Yangon airport and getting through immigration was a smooth and very quick process. After leaving the baggage claim area, I met the usual taxi touts but here they were different, friendly, not too pushy and while a bit more expensive, still pretty much in line with the standard fare.

Another surprise was just how many ATMs were available and how easy it was to just get some more cash out. Reading online or guide books always makes it seem like there is no way to get money out in Myanmar and you should carry all money you might need with you (advice I didn’t follow and just hoped for the best).

The evening was spent having some drinks with a fellow traveler and enjoy the very friendly atmosphere and locals in Yangon. People here reminded me a lot of my first time in Scotland, always helpful and asking if you need anything if you look lost without wanting money or anything in return.
In other words, the first impression was great, despite the ridiculous hotel prices.