Our flight to Yangon

Today we are flying from Myeik to Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar and the former capital. In many maps and on Maps, the city is still called Rangoon. We will be taken to the airport by a motorcycle taxi, which I would never have identified as an airport on my own. A small concrete building. There is a wooden counter, no computers, our passport data is handwritten. The flight ticket also has to be handwritten. However, there are luggage checks as usual. The only difference is that the luggage is not transported on a conveyor belt, but pushed through the scanner and then carried out of the building and placed on a cart. Each piece of luggage... Well, that's how jobs are created :D

This is something that stands out in Myanmar. There is plenty of staff everywhere. Whether it's in a hotel, restaurant, supermarket or at the airport. Most of them are bored in the corner or playing with their phones, but the main thing is they have a job.

In the waiting area, the best row of seats is reserved for monks in front of the air conditioning. They are also generally allowed to sit in the front of the airplane.

We almost expect to fly in a tiny, shabby and patched-up plane, but the airplane is quite reassuring. After nearly 1.5 hours, we arrive in Yangon. The airport is already much more modern and larger.

I have already organized a place to stay for us via Couchsurfing. So we take the bus to our host for tonight. Teamwork was required on the bus again to get off at the right place. The bus driver couldn't speak English and didn't understand my map. A nice woman on the bus translated and eventually waved frantically and told us to get off the bus. The people here are so incredibly helpful and friendly :)

Shivam, our Indian host, picks us up at the bus stop. He even ordered Indian food for us :) Perfect, because he must know what's good. And it's incredibly delicious!

Max and I are going out for a drink later. Our host is flying to India tomorrow, so he is out. As nice as he is, unfortunately our room is shabby. I know, complaining at a high level, after all, everything is for free. But red stains on the mattress and rolling into the middle right away because it's so worn out? And all the mosquitoes... Luckily we brought sleeping bags and a mosquito net!

He wanted to take a selfie with us