Myanmar!

First day in Yangon
The hour long flight to Yangon, capitol of Myanmar, was smooth and easy. Going through customs and immigration wasn't as strict as I thought it would be. It was just like anywhere else. Since Thailand just another longer stopover on my trip,I consider my trip to have begun officially now that I'm in Myanmar (pronounced me-an-mar). I shared a taxi with a German for the 18km ride into the center of town. I went to the Golden Smiles Inn. I took a simple room with shared bath for $5. I was starving and stopped to eat at a busy street food place just outside the hotel. I had rice, potatoes and prawns and a Star( Myanmar's cheap version of Coke) cola for 900 kyat. $1US/Can will get about 1000 kyat (pronounced chat). It was a really funny scene that I wasn't used to be seems to be the norm all over Myanmar, the tables and chairs are all like for little kids. The seat of the chair was only up to my shin!



Second day
I got up at 8am and had breakfast on the balcony. The Golden Smiles Inn is located on the second floor of some huge building. The cool and fairly unique thing about Myanmar hotels is that they often include breakfast in the price of the room. Sometimes, it's basic but can be substantial. Golden Smiles included bananas, toast, omelette and coffee. My first order of business was to check the cinemas to see what was playing. Unfortunately at the one 'Hollywoodish' place, they were showing Michael Jackson's movie, no thanks. As I stood out front of the cinema a Burmese man approached me and we started talking. His name was Willam Tate, 53, and an English teacher. He didn't want any money, he just wanted to talk with me and hear my accent and pronunciation. That was fine with me and he would direct me anywhere I needed to go. I needed to change $, so we went and did that at a reputable place. Banks are a waste of time here. There are no ATM's and practically no place changes Traveller's cheques, so cash is king in Myanmar. I changed $100 and got a huge stack of bills. Myanmar's largest bill is 1000kyat, so I got a stack of 97,000 kyats! I told William I collect $ and the money changer gave me a few old bills of small donominations in really good shape for free. We continued my quest for collectable $ and went to a gold shop owned by one of his students'parents. They gave me a few more bills.
I had read in the guidebook to check out Sakura tower. A twenty floor building in the center of town with good views of the city. On the top floor is a posh restaurant, the Sky Bistro. It was empty then and they let me in to take some aerial photos.
We then went to check the rest of the cinema's in town and at the last one, an American movie 'Sudden Impact' was playing. I've never heard of it but decided to come back and watch it at the last showing, 4.30pm. Next was to get cleaned up and get my yearly haircut. We went to a small place down a side street with a bunch of young girls there. One of them cut my hair and did a good job, for $1. I parted ways with William next but we agreed to meet the following day. He wanted me to talk to his class. I thought this would be fun.
After that I went for lunch and then to relax in my room until it was time to leave for the movie. The cinema was Ok, the sound was good but the picture was only showing on half the size of the screen. Turns out the movie ending up being 'The Long Kiss Goodnight' with Samuel L. Jackson from the 1990's, which I had already seen! No big deal though, I stayed to watch it anyway. Hell, I already paid my 60 cents to watch it!
I went for some Ok Indian fast food after that I went back to the Sky Bistro for some beer and night photos of the city. For the month of November there was a promo on Tiger beer, one glass for 1000kyat. I sat down for a few beers and pulled out my tripod for some long exposure shots of the traffic below. It was a very nice place but not very busy. A meal there cost 6000kyat. After a few beers and lots of photos, I walked back to Golden Smiles.



Day Three
After breakfast I walked 45 minutes to Shwedagon Paya, a huge and famous Buddhist pagoda in Myanmar. Yangon is not like Thailand at all. It's much more rundown with street markets selling everything, everywhere. Traffic was only busy in some places and for a capital city, I didn't hate it. They sold lighters the size of an ice cream bar! The city is fairly crime free, as is the whole country. If a local steals from a foreigner, they can get 5 years hard labour in prison. The military government, run by a few greedy generals, have 'spies' all over and someone would never get away with trying to sell something stolen from a foreigner. The sidewalk, like many roads, is a crumbling mess that requires constant attention or else fall in the sewer below. The Pagoda is one huge pagoda surrounded by many more smaller pagodas. The main stupa (spire) is covered in gold and the top plated with diamonds, rubies and sappires. It is a very important place for Burmese people. After hanging out there for a few hours and getting my picture taken with some monks (at their request), I walked back into the center of town. I ate lunch and then went to the cinema at 4 to meet William, who was already there. We walked to his class, about 10 minutes away and up 3 floors in an old building. Not all his students were there, but there was about 15 of them, roughly divided equally between male and female and between the ages of 17 and 25. The Burmese people are extremely hospitable and before I did anything, they brought me some mohinga, a fish/noodle soup and a coffee. The soup wasn't bad at all. William said all Burmese people like it. The coffee was 3 in 1, that's coffee mix, sugar and creamer all together. It's a rich and sweet blend that I quite like. I've bought these before at an Asian store back home and they are perfect for camping. There are huge billboards advertising them all over the country. At local restaurants, it's normal for a pot of weak Chinese tea to go complimentary with your meal.
After my meal and meeting a few students, I went to the head of the class. I wrote my name and where I was from on the chalkboard. I was the first foreigner that they've had in the class. I told them a bit about where I was from and then it was more like a question and answer period. I helped them pronounce a few words that were written on the chalkboard too. They asked me questions in English about my hobbies, favourite place in Myanmar, what I though of the Burmese people, etc. It was a lot of fun and very low key.
When that was over, William and his teaching partner, Jeffrey wanted to take me out for dinner but first I needed to shower. I had been out walking around all day since 9am and it was now 6.30pm. The weather here is almost perfect. It's the 'winter' season and a bit cooler. Days were sunny and about 30C with only %50 humidity, which made it not as hot. Nights dipped to a comfortable 25C. I showered at Golden Smile and then met William and Jeffrey. We took a taxi into the suburbs to go to a really local place. They bought me dinner and a few beers and wanted nothing from me. They were both very friendly and genuine and invited me back anytime I wanted. It was probably the most time I've spent with locals in a long time that weren't a girlfriend or a guide.