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.