Yangon (Rangoon)

Crazy place. Overwhelming on the senses. Yet full of travelling gems.
Mesmerising markets, food stalls everywhere and traffic you just cannot imagine. The east end of downtown is spoilt for colonial buildings including The Strand hotel (where I tried croissant flavoured ice cream) and City Hall. Some buildings are very run down but there is a trust set up to try and have them listed. Shwedagon Paya is the main event when visiting Yangon; it is quite spectacular. It is a 325ft tall zedi (stupa) with 27 metric tons of gold leaf. The main terrace is a forest of pavillions, temples and more stupas with monks and tourists mingling. I arrived around 5pm and walked round watching the colours and the hues of the temples morph as the sun went down.
Size is obviously important in the ex-capital. At Chaukhtatgyi Paya, the reclining buddha stretches out for 65m, his crown encrusted with diamonds.
I found Yangon tiring and at times irritating. It is hellishly hot and the sea of car and truck exhausts justs adds to the heat. Crossing the road is a major event and the footpaths are either covered in stalls or nonexistent. However, if you can cool off with a foot reflexology session (as I did) all of this can be forgotten... Almost.Read more