Traveling to Southeast Asia: Yangon, former capital of Myanmar

Loikaw, the wrong decision

It was already evening when we arrived at Loikaw. The taxi driver dropped us off at a guesthouse which was both written in our guide book and known by our human guide. It wasn't a fancy guesthouse (the wall looked a little moldy and it didn't smell that good) and the price was not very cheap, but we were too tired to keep searching and just went with it.

The narrow streets of Yangon, great for streetfood, bad for cars
1/400 Sek. f/5,6 52 mm ISO 200

We started to notice that the sun had burned us pretty bad on our way down the lake so we both weren't much in a mood of exploring. However we didn't have dinner yet so we had to get out again.
Loikaw proved to be a very small town, with absolutelly no tourists in it. Which basically was the reason why we went there, to be off the beaten path and experience some authentic Myanmar scenes. The villages around Loikaw were among those which hadn't seen more than a handfull tourists every year. However, as we learned not long after arriving in the town, you are not allowed to rent a car without a guide. Hell, you are not even allowed to leave the city without a guide! Being very thight on funds we couldn't afford to rent a car and pay a guide for the whole time. It would eat up about double of our daily budget each day!

Dissapointed we checked the guide book and asked at our guesthouse, but there was no way to go alone. After some quite fun meals where we ordered stuff just by pointing and gesturing we left Loikaw again to get to my last destination in Myanmar: Yangon.

Many buildings in the city had crumbling plaster from their walls and plants growing from the cracks
1/500 Sek. f/5,6 90 mm ISO 200

A few newer ones could also be seen
1/500 Sek. f/5,6 15 mm ISO 200

We checked what options we had: Bus or train. After the amazing train ride just about a week before that and our horrible bus ride a few days before that, our choice was clear.
At least we thought so.. Trying to buy some tickets we found out that the train would take 2 DAYS to Yangon. And only if it didn't rain! If it rained nobody knows if you even get there.

Reluctantly we opted for the bus. To make it short and painless:
It was yet another horrible ride, the busdriver had the ac cranked up to northpole setting. Seriously I was expecting to see my own breath. The windows where all fogged from the extreme temperature difference between inside the bus and outside.

Yangon

After yet another sleepless night in the bus we arrived at the big city by sunrise. We drove through the outskirts of Yangon for two or three hours and stopped at a busstation way outside of the city centre. When we got off the bus we immediatelly got sieged by taxidrivers who all wanted to take us to our hostel (which we didn't have as usual).
This time I looked up the normal prices on my Lonely Planet App to avoid getting ripped off. At first they asked for 10 times as much as usual, so we just started laughing and acted like walking away. We got them down to about two times of what was reasonable, but he wouldn't go down any further down.

A man cutting fish on the streets
1/400 Sek. f/5,6 150 mm ISO 200

When there is fish, cats are not far. I loved how this one stuck out it's tounge
1/160 Sek. f/5,6 150 mm ISO 200

The second hostel we checked had some beds for us, but we were told to check in at 1pm (it was about 9am at that time). Completelly wasted from the bus ride and overwhelmed from the noisy city after the calmness of the countryside we stumbled our way to a bakery and got some breakfast. Fortunatelly we could convince the staff to let us check in early at about 11am. Then we slept. I can't tell you how great it was sleeping in a well tempered room and a bed with a real mattress.

After the lack of tourists around us in the days before it was refreshing to once again talk to people who also travelled and spoke decent english. My sister even met some friends she knew from home! Totally by accident.

Prior to arriving in Yangon we had already made a list about what temples and sights we would like to see. It didn't take us long to kick that plan all together. The temples of Bagan had set the bar so high, we weren't very impressed by the ones in the city. Instead we explored the bustling small streets, which were stuffed with streetfood stalls and people. The food was amazing!

A typical scene in Yangon
1/2000 Sek. f/5,6 25 mm ISO 800

The tracks of the circle line, which runs around the city in 3 hours and costs about 200 Kyat (1450 Kyat were 1€)
1/500 Sek. f/5,6 36 mm ISO 200

The roofs of the big market
1/1600 Sek. f/5,6 90 mm ISO 800

When we checked out the big market we were happy we hadn't brought all our money, for we would have spent it all. So many great things to see, feel and smell! At the beginnign of our visit we mostly explored alone, but it didn't take us long to make some new friends at the hostel. Together we got a massage, went to the big park, shopped at yet another market, and got food (constantly).

Inside the main hall of the busy market
1/13 Sek. f/5,6 34 mm ISO 200

Always busy: The food court. We literally got run over by people offering menus when we entered, we had to go in on the back to get a chance to have a look without our ears bleeding
3/10 Sek. f/5,6 14 mm ISO 200

The tailor section of the market, you could buy suits and prom dresses everywhere!
1/13 Sek. f/5,6 49 mm ISO 800

Despite of my first bad impression of the city I was starting to like it! Unfortunatelly just a few days after we arrived my flight was going to Bangkok once again. My sister was still staying, so it was time to say good bye. At 4 o'clock in the morning my taxi was leaving for the airport. This was the last time I would see my sister for the next 4 months.

In the next chapter I take a night train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and meet up with some friends!
Until next week!

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All shots in this post were made with my Olympus OMD EM-10 Mark II with a 14-150mm lense in manual mode.

If you want to learn more about my travel through southeast Asia you can read the previous posts here:

• 1. Bangkok
• 2. Myanmar, Mandalay & Malaria?
• 3. The best trainride of my life
• 4. Hiking through rebel area (1/2)
• 5. Hiking through rebel area (2/2)
• 6. Bagan, plain of a thousand temples
• 7. Crossing Inle Lake

There is a new chapter coming each Thursday

If you want to know more about me check this out:

• Introduction to steemit

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Steemit Worldmap Data:
!steemitworldmap 16.776931 lat 96.148224 long Part 8 of my photoblog series about my travels d3scr

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