Yangon city

Traders Hotel is part of the Shangri La group, a very posh business hotel ($75 a night for a very smart room). Alas, my room did not have view of the famous Shwedagon Paya pagoda. I was there for 3 nights and it was nice to have a comfortable ‘Western’ atmosphere after the culture shock of Yangon’s streets. This is the Third World .. chaotic traffic, people everywhere, very exotic.

Biggest problem (here and throughout the country) is the poor state of the streets and pavements (sidewalks). There are broken paving slabs and all sorts of hazards .. it is hard to sightsee when you are watching the ground all the time. Like Iran (at least when I was there in the 1970s) , Burma has ditches near the road which run with open sewage, are foul smelling and unhygienic. The ditch is covered by concrete slabs but these are often either missing or broken, so there is a very real risk of stepping into this mess. In Mandalay there are open areas in the sidewalk of approximately 6 feet by 4 feet wide with a 10 to 12 foot drop into sewage and who knows what),. Even though there were shops operating right next to these hazards, there were no warnings or barricades. It is bad enough during the day .. and possibly lethal at night, when I took to walking in the street. (but see below of lack of light).

Beware of men wearing trousers.

Wednesday 15 November

I walked down to the Strand Hotel (at least a mile), and my first impression is that this city is like Egypt .. packed slums spilling out into the streets, broken down vehicles, very poor people, lots of begging. One lady was selling a beautiful selection of roasted beetles but I was not peckish. Insects seem to figure big in the local diet. Much more to my taste was a half pint of Tiger beer (Singapore company) for 50 US cents. This was in a bar/restaurant called the ABC Country Pub .. alas, getting there at night proved too much of a struggle, so I did not get back there.

Many people approached me wanting to change money. When changed at banks, the rate is 925 Kyat to 1 US Dollar ; blackmarketeers offered over 1200 Kyat. I changed $100 with the travel agent who organized my hotel in Mandalay and got 1220 Kyat per dollar. Credit cards are rarely used here and the US Dollar is the main currency both in terms of prices and settlement for transport, hotels and government fees (totally local places are priced in Kyats but are quick to do a currency conversion).

It was a public holiday and I was just getting my bearings, but kids were everywhere wanting me to buy postcards. At one point I was trailed for 10 minutes by 3 small kids (I looked a bit like the Pied Piper). I was firm in my ‘No!’ and later felt a real Scrooge;

10 cards for a dollar is not extortion!

Oh dear! This first outing quickly showed me that any idea of painting the town was not going to be easy .. I felt safe from crime, but as described, the pavements are filled with hazards and lack of street lights (except at major intersections) put the idea of night-time exploring out of the question. I popped around the corner from the Traders to a bar described in the Lonely Planet as a nice watering hole (Diamond White Bar at the Central Hotel ; actually it is not in the hotel but entered through the side street and is very, very basic spot).. Well, the ‘hole’ part of it was right. Only one other foreigner there .. a real rough looking character (but perhaps he was thinking that about me).

A real dump, but I settled in and had two beers. A Burmese fellow next to me struck up conversation, telling me that he was a travel agent who dealt in ״all types of things, ….. official and unofficial’’. He gave me his card, while repeating the ‘official and unofficial’ mantra, but I did not take him up. He said I could contact him at his office around 11am or otherwise in the bar from 5pm. When I told him that I thought the bar was really his office he laughed (actually roared) .. an almost plausible rogue.

Dinner at the APK Thai Kitchen .. OK but nothing special.

Writing up notes in the hotel later, I was interrupted by the ‘turn down service’. What sort of place am I in? That is the type of thing I hate about posh hotels .. the idea that I am incapable of moving a bedcover seems odd.

Beware of men wearing trousers. The vast majority of Burmese men wore the longhi (a sort of sarong). It seemed that most of the men wearing trousers who approached me were con artists of one sort or another.

Thursday 15 November

Based on a tip in the Lonely Planet Guide, I took the Circle Train which makes a circular tour from the Central Railway Station out through the suburbs and back. This is the train for poor people and seating is on wooden benches on each wall of the carriage. No doors on the train and it rarely reached any substantial speed so people were jumping on and off throughout the journey. I never did figure out the ticketing system ; many seemed to travel free of charge and only those with goods or large parcels were paying.

The locals were curious and appeared fascinated by me ( I read that other foreigners are often herded into the train guard’s area, but I was right in with the people and their produce). People were transporting foodstuff and material to and from markets. Two young men got on with huge bags (6 foot high and 2 feet in diameter .. they were filled with plastic bottles, presumably for recycling). The train was packed and I thought for sure the guard would say No Way, but everyone moved even closer, parcels were shifted and finally they got the bags on. People seem very easy going.

There were vendors moving through the train all the journey ; a popular one was the betel nut vendor .. a really disgusting habit. Betel nuts are a mild narcotic and while I think the world would probably benefit by everyone getting a little high, this is not the way to do it. The vendor smears some lime paste on a green leaf, adds betel nuts and folds this into a neat little package which the user holds in his (or her) mouth like chewing tobacco. The problem is that this seems to create huge amounts of saliva .. bright red in colour .

Clearly these were very poor people but they did not seem grim or downtrodden. While they did not have the ‘ready smile’ of the Thais, they seemed nice enough and (for the most part) people were considerate of each other. I was exhausted on my return .. the seats were hard and I was leaning down all the while to try to see out of the low windows, so the posh hotel and its hot shower were welcome.

Dinner at another Thai place – Pattaya , just down the street from APK Thai Kitchen (I am not hooked on Thai food but these were accessible). It becomes clear that by 8:30 pm places are closing down and by 9 pm, definitely closed. People are hurrying home and the streets are dark when the shop lights are turned out. I had to laugh .. never happy me … I complain about Spain where nothing happens until 11 pm .. and dinner before 8 pm means you will dine alone. Here in Yangon, I had a lot of time to watch BBC World Service and read my book.

Friday November 17

What a breakfast! Omelets made to order, a choice of American, Korean, Japanese breakfast (as it is buffet style, you can have all of the above). The only disappointment (and I put this in writing to the hotel) was that the fruit appeared to have been hacked rather than cut. So odd, since nicely carved fruit is standard fare on the streets in Thailand, and in this posh hotel the fruit appeared butchered and not of the best quality (not ripe enough).

A long walk through the zoo (what a depressing experience!). The ground are beautiful, well landscaped with mature trees, but the poor animals. Old fashioned small cages, lots of hard surfaces: concrete, ceramic tile .. little greenery in the animal areas.

I was so surprised to see (from a distance) people so close to the elephants. When I got up to the platform, I found that the elephants were chained by foreleg and hindleg and therefore presented no threat to people. I am not an animal welfare person as such, but this type of cruelty is really outrageous. I plan to pursue this with international zoological organizations ; surely they will know of it, but something should be done to help these animals, even if it means closing the zoo.

I continued my long walk, down to the river for a beer at the famous Strand Hotel .. very restrained and elegant, but a bit too posh for my taste. The Post Office is nearby and that is madness .. a huge Victorian building ; two floors of frenetic activity ; I finally found the counter for stamps for postcards .. 30 Kyat …. which is less than 5 US Cents .. it will be interesting to see if the cards ever arrive.

Checked email at the hotel .. odd, because I could access Google and Gmail but access to Hotmail and Yahoo is restricted. It makes me wonder what accommodation(s) Google have made. By the end of my trip, I decided that the bright young computer kids are running rings around the government on this one. At one place, the young man logged on to a game Website and then by going through some link, got to Yahoo. I assume that youngsters know (or are learning) how to beat the system.

On my way back to the hotel I went through the cinema district where many of the posters for films are hand painted (like Thailand in the old days .. now they are either printed or electronic in Thailand) ; it was great to see this even if I was not tempted to see any of the films.