Impressive New World - Yangon, Myanmar

After long and intense deliberations, we finally decided to continue our journey and not to take a short-term return flight. Our next destination was Myanmar, even though our thoughts were and still are at home, of course.

Myanmar, the land of the golden pagodas...

So much ahead, with Myanmar we dived into a completely different world that exceeded all the ideas we had about the country and its people, by far and only in a positive way. For those who are considering traveling to the country in the future, we would advise: "Definitely do it and better book now right away!" ;-) So you can look forward to the next reports ;-)

We had already applied for the visa for Myanmar easily online in advance and received it within 2 days for a fee of $50 per person. The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Yangon with Air Asia was also very cheap at €87 for 2 people including luggage. After a long approach to Yangon right through a thunderstorm, we arrived safely in Yangon in the middle of the rainy season. The first positive surprises were right at the immigration with only 2 foreign tourists standing in line in front of us. Right after immigration, we were able to stock up on cash. Here you often read that you should bring a larger sum of US dollars for the trip to Myanmar because there are no or very few ATMs, but this is a completely outdated information. There are now ATMs on every corner and it is absolutely no problem to get cash, even though there is a withdrawal fee.

Yangon, formerly Rangoon, is the only city in Myanmar where you can organize a taxi via Grab, which we gladly used for our transport from the airport to our hotel. When we arrived at the hotel, we were thrilled to see Annika and Paul again, our very good friends whom we met at Ayers Rock and had already met again in Bali. This time our paths should not separate so quickly, as we wanted to travel Myanmar together in the next few weeks =))

In the evening, the first highlight was waiting for us, as we could celebrate Annika's birthday together.

For the first day in Myanmar, we had chosen to visit the Shwedagon Pagoda, one of the main attractions that represents the most important sacred building and religious center of Buddhist Myanmar. The golden pagoda is considered the landmark of the whole country and is one of the most famous stupas in the world. We were also very impressed by the pagoda, which is covered with more than 40 tons of gold leaf, and in our opinion, a visit is an absolute must. We had never seen so much gold in one place before. At the same time, we were able to secure eternal luck by pouring water over the Buddha in the corner of the day of our own birth :-)

After that, we had to organize our bus transportation to Naypyidaw, the capital of the country, which we wanted to visit after Yangon. This was also a small challenge and a small highlight in the less touristy Yangon. We then took advantage of the break in the rain for a small lunch before ending the day at a rooftop bar (Vista Bar) with a great view of the illuminated Shwedagon Pagoda at night and a birthday cake back at the hotel. Rarely have we been able to observe such large contrasts in the world, such as between the golden pagodas and city life in Yangon.

The following day, we had originally planned to visit the Golden Rock of Kyaiktiyo, one of the holiest places for Buddhists in Myanmar. However, due to the lack of transportation options and the bad weather forecast, we decided not to go. Instead, we had a great alternative program in Yangon, including a visit to the Sule Pagoda, which actually forms the center of a huge roundabout, the Bogyoke Aung San Market, and a ride on the Circular Train, which is actually only used by locals.

In the train and the subsequent little hike through countless stalls, we were constantly amazed, as we could gather countless new impressions and really immerse ourselves in a new world. For example, right after getting off the train, we observed how the betel nut bites are produced, which are constantly chewed by half of the population in Myanmar, it seems. The chopped nuts are rolled up with tobacco in leaves brushed with slaked lime and then chewed. The betel nut is also the reason why the majority of the population has pretty disgusting red teeth in comparison to European standards, as the drug attacks both the gums and the teeth and also leads to the disgusting red spit stains everywhere on the street =D. By the way, currently about 450 million people worldwide are addicted to the cancer-causing betel nut...

After our last night at the highly recommended Koo Hotel, we took a Grab taxi to the bus terminal early in the morning, where we also had to orient ourselves and let all the impressions sink in before the transfer by VIP bus to Naypyidaw, which is about 360 km away, began.