In the afternoon we were meeting up again for more sightseeing. The main attraction on the list surely was Shwedagon Pagaoda. However before getting there, we had a stop at Chauk Htat Kyi Pagoda to see a very big Buddha – with a length of 66m one of the longest reclining Buddha images in Myanmar.

From the pagoda we made it over to Kandawgyi Lake to take in the sunset mood over the lake with the Shwedagon Pagaoda in the background.

The tour now had officially started. This morning Sai – our tour leader – was showing us around the city center, passing through some areas, I had already explored during the previous two days. This time though, additional information was available, Sai provided us with a summary of the city’s and the country’s history – all the way from pre-colonial times to the current political setup.

The tour ended in a local restaurant in the Muslim part of town for a late lunch. From here we made our own way back to the hotel – I ended up having a stop at and little wonder around Bogyoke Aung San Market.

I have had Myanmar (or Burma) on my bucket list for quiet a while now. With the country having opened up gradually over the last couple of years, I was seeing this year finally as a good time for me to visit. So – as in previous years – I left gray and cold Europe in late November and made my way over to South East Asia.

I made it into Yangon (formerly known as Rangoon) in the afternoon coming in via Singapore. As usual I directly ventured out to explore the area around the hotel.

I made my way through the little alleys all the way to Maha Bandula Park to catch a first glimpse of Sule Pagoda (of course followed by a visit inside). I also made it to Botahtaung Pagoda and (just to change the religion) St Mary’s Cathedral.

Note: some of the blog entries on Myanmar will use the local script to remove ambiguity around naming of places. If those do not come through for you, you may want to install Myanmar character support. You can give it a try with this one: မင်္ဂလာပါ (mɪ̀ɴɡəlàbà = hello).