Ochen Priyatna

 

The reaction most people had when I said I was heading to Yangon - Wow, I didn't know your company had operations there... Yes they do have operations there but nope I'm not there for commercial reasons hahaha I reckon this must be a pretty unpopular place for vacation since it didn't occur to many minds that I was heading there to take a break from the hustlin' and bustlin'


As a first-timer to Yangon, I think I'm in a good position to vet how travel-friendly this city is. Although jj and I were travelling with our backpacks (freshly purchased from Decathlon), I firmly believe after this trip that we belong to a unique category of travellers called Glampers.

Glampers: Tourists who want the glam experiences at the price levels of campers/backpackers

So, only when you identify yourself in this category then you'd find this review useful and relevant. With that said, the glampers' first impressions of Yangon: So many pagodas?!


We travelled to Yangon with the impression that it'd be as accessible and interesting as Bangkok but the honest fact is that Yangon has more pagodas than anything other tourist attractions. Forget about the malls or markets or street-walking, when visiting Yangon, pagodas are a must.


As these pagodas are religious monuments, it is mandatory to cover yourself up (no shoulders and knees, no low-cuts or bare-backs). JJ was wearing berms and got "hand-picked" by the ticketing peeps to rent a longyi. As a result of that, the locals discovered that we were tourists and dealt us the 8000kyat (~SGD8) ticket. Otherwise, I presume our AZN looking faces & hair would have got us through the ticketing gates easily.


Talking about longyi, if you realised you've packed inadequately to match the conservative dressing culture in Myanmar, or like me, you just want a piece of Yangon to bring home, you may proceed to procure a piece of longyi from the Bogyoke Aung San Market located in Central Yangon. The market is located opposite a new fancy mall and within walking distance from Sale Shangri-La. Although the market is definitely catered for tourists more than it is for locals, it is still an interesting place to visit to take a peek into what Myanmar is known for. Rows of shops selling Jade, art pieces and clothing could be found. The Longyi I managed to find cost me 6000 kyat (~6SGD) and was made of a relatively cheap material, constantly fraying. Nonetheless, it was value-for-money as the other more beautiful longyi cost upwards of 20000 kyat. This 6000 kyat longyi served me well and even attracted locals to take pictures with me haha what a deal!






Besides the pagodas being a place for the locals to rest and chill, the vast space and constant human traffic makes these pagodas a hot favourite for animals as well. I henceforth categorise them as Pagoda Pets and from the pictures above, I think I'm more or less a Pagoda Pets Whisperer.


Another star offering when clampers go travelling are definitely food (and food shots). Flatlay images of scrumptious feast like the above are to-die-for. Yangon has pretty unique culinary offerings - we spotted Chinese, Western, Thai and Indian cuisine all around the city. Initially, we had doubt that Myanmar even had any local cuisine available. A little bit of research on TripAdvisor brought us to Lucky 7 Tea House and we ate a good spread of local cuisine (as seen in pic above!)


I'd like to bring your attention to the unofficial national dish of Myanmar - Mohinga. The special blend of spice in this mee sua like dish is a hidden gem. Together with the Mohinga, we also had chickpea rice with porkbelly loaded with oil, spring rolls (because Samosas were temporarily oos), chicken wings which are presented like balls and the infamous Myanmar milk tea which tasted a lot like teh Tarik. JJ ambitiously ordered the Kar dai version and I think he had a sugar rush thereafter.




Another attraction in Yangon would be the Circular railway that surrounds Yangon. TripAdvisor reviews suggested that the entire ride of the railways would take 3 hours and we technically had the time to do so but we were afraid the weather would turn bad in between. Hence, we chose a shorter route about 6-7 stations away from the Yangon central railway station and took the train towards Yangon railway station.

Part 3 of my Europe trip involved travelling to the Berlin which was a landmark city in modern history having been through both world wars and Cold War. The picture above depicts whatever was remaining of the Berlin Wall separating East and West Germany. History aside, another association that comes to mind when Germany is mentioned would be their biergartens, amazing beer and beer food. Without further ado, let's dive straight into the next 3 words depicting my Europe trip (7 months back)!

7. Transportation
As time was a constraint during this trip, we flew between the countries mostly and intermittently we took the train, buses or trams to get around the city. Since we visited Europe during the Xmas New Year period, London's public transport was down for Christmas and we found ourselves cycling around London using the Londonbikes that were available for loan and multiple locations.


The bikes are free for the first 15 mins and 1 pound for the next 30 minutes. Naturally, being the AZN we are, we found a way to hack the system to pay the least - ride for 15min to the nearest bike kiosk, switch bikes, and continue hahahaha. Meaning from our place near UOL to the Big Ben, we had to alight and switch bike at a station in between. So glad that Obike came back to Singapore so we may experience bike sharing as well but the weather makes it a pain to ride around boo







8. Outdoor markets - great place to grab gluwhein







9. Dining in

In the previous posts where we mention Michelin starred restaurants and showcased all the pasta we ate throughout the trip, there may be a misconception that we are extremely affluent and able to afford anything under the sun. Truth is, I'm just starting out in my first job and jj is still schooling = broke af actually. Hence, to hedge against our pricier experiences in restaurants, we dined in substantially or bought in meals from the local market/supermart and dined in our airbnbs/hotels.

Couldn't find a picture but almost all our breakfasts were settled in minimarts or convenience stores in various locations. In London, we dropped by Saintsbury and Waitrose for breakfast sandwiches or teatime snacks. Amsterdam had this local mart - Albert Heijn - where we bought our snacks and juices (to pump up our vitamins & hey it's cheap). Germany & Munich was dominated by Aldi (cheapcheapcheap) and mostly local open marts whereas Paris was Carrefour.

This 5-part post is taking a loooong time and I'm glad I'm finally making some headway on it phew 2nd place we visited was Amsterdam and here goes the post that had nothing to do with the intro picture but everything to do with the title
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4. Michelin (star restaurants) - in Paris and Amsterdam
The associations that come with the word Michelin includes unreachable and expensive. That being said, since I was at the part of the world that first started the elusive Michelin Star, I couldn't help but check out one or two of these creations. Thankfully, I managed to find a 1-star Michelin star restaurant near Montmartre (kudos to Tripadvisor!) that was 1 star in it's pricing!



There were two set courses available and we took one each. The meal started with an amazing Beetroot soup in this oriental-looking witch pot. The beetroot came together beautifully with the cheese, onion, croutons, assorted herbs to create a perfect concoction of blood-red soup. Yumz.
Next up, I had a starter with a sous-vide egg and Brussels sprouts with some smoked salmon while jj's were those 4 oysters done in 4 ways.
For our mains, I had the pan-fried salmon while he had the stewed beef. Both mains were so-so but the mashed potatoes stole the show with the wonderful blend of herbs within.
Dessert was mango pudding for me and a sort of custard for him. Those crispy bits were on both dishes (toasted lentils? oats?) and they added a different texture to the otherwise one-dimensional dish (Y)

5. Tripadvisor (life saviour in providing very sensible food choices as well as tourist attractions recommendations)

Since we had limited tummy space and time spent in Europe, we had to optimise its utility (and maximise our satisfaction) by ensuring we're always having a decently good meal. With that at the back of our minds, Tripadvisor was a great tool to help us hunt around for the best food in each town/city. The peer reviewing function as well as the budget indication helped us plan around our meals to ensure we are getting the best foods at the price point we desire.
Excellent meals followed thereafter!














6. Museums (Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin, almost every city we plowed the museums with the exception of London)


This is probably the most touristy word of 'em all. Most cities had a pass that meant us going for museum-hopping and I've probably seen more art/painting in this trip than my entire life combined. It was intriguing and overwhelming at times but I'm almost certain after the trip that I do not have the concentration and focus to fully appreciate or interpret an art piece. I wouldn't recommend going to the major art museums if you do not have a liking for arts as admission is pretty pricey and they tend to be very crowded.

Instead, you may choose to visit the smaller scale boutique museums instead with more hands-on interactive exhibitions - e.g. Diamant museum or Heineken experience in AMS