This gallery contains 15 photos.
Today was my last full day in Myanmar, the group by now had separated – most had already left Yangon for their trips home or to the next destination. There were only two of us left – and given that … Continue reading
Another Yangon Airlines flight did bring us back safely to Yangon (we were indeed safe with them). Here we had a free afternoon before the usual fare-well dinner.
I spent the afternoon walking around some central areas, I had not been to earlier on. I made my way all the way to Kheng Hock Keong Temple and then got (purposely) lost in the maze of little streets in that area.
This gallery contains 19 photos.
From the lake we continued to the foot of Singuttara Hill and the building with the elevator, that eventually got us up to Shwedagon Pagoda. The pagoda is the biggest in town and a dominating part of the Yangon skyline; … Continue reading
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.
This gallery contains 19 photos.
With the tour only starting this evening, I had a full day of further exploration in Yangon. I already had booked an excursion for the day, essentially doing the full loop on the Yangon Circular Railway with a number of … Continue reading
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).
