Oh, good morning, having a great day I hope, I am still in Yangon at the moment after a great night’s rest, oops, I’ll get run over by the, family on the bike.
And this morning, woke up for another beautiful sunny day, in Yangon, Myanmar and let’s see, what am I doing today? oh yes today, I’ve got, a few more hours in Yangon, because tonight I’m catching the night bus, so I’m gonna take advantage of the daytime sunshine, and go down to the Sule Pagoda, which is the, one of the oldest pagodas in Yangon, and hopefully from there, I can walk to Chinatown, which should be to the west of it. So hopefully it’s just a short walk, but I’ll be catching a taxi from here to, the Sule Pagoda, show you around there, go to Chinatown, go get some tea, then I have to get back to my hotel, which is somewhere up this street here, it’s up there, for six p.m.
Yangon Myanmar Tourist Sites Sule Pagoda Reclining Buddha Chinatown Night bus to Bagan Burma Photo Gallery
Then I’m catching a taxi to the bus station, where they say they allow two hours, for my eight p.m. night bus, to Bagan, which takes ten hours, now yesterday, I already prepared and bought some snacks, so I’ve got snacks for the bus journey, and covering clothes, so hopefully it’ll be a nice luxury bus, we hope, we shall see, but for the rest of today, let’s continue exploring Yangon.
Okay, check I look in all the right directions I think, I think that’s the right way, look, oops, this is the way, in I think. Dress appropriately. Thank you.
Hey sweetheart, hey, got his tea stop here, but it’s two stools he’s looking comfy for the day, there we go, I’m just moving the camera so I can get you in the camera better hey, hey, good boy. See, he’s in his tea house, he will sit there, welcome you to a cup of tea hey. Melon, and freshly cooked sweetcorn.
Now, getting around Yangon. Yangon, isn’t a big city, but does have a bit of a traffic problem as you can see, it doesn’t have lots of motorbikes on the road which is really unusual for an Asian city, but, it does have lots of cars on certain roads, I mean there’s not many roads around Yangon, and the key ones, like this one that goes into the city center and around the pagoda and towards the old town and Chinatown, tend to get quite congested, so yeah, you do tend to, if you jump in taxis tend, spend quite a bit of time, sitting waiting in taxis, now taxis in Yangon don’t have metres, here we’re in a taxi now, so you see there’s no metre or anything, so, you basically, hail down, hail the taxi down on the street and negotiate the price, it helps to know where you’re going, roughly the distance, as usual my tip is to go and speak to your hotel or where you’re staying, the people are always super friendly here, and tell them where you’re going, how you’re gonna get there, and ask how much taxi should be from going from one place to another. Write it down a bit of paper, then when go to the taxi, ask the price, generally, Myanmar is not flooded out with tourists, most of the taxis are usually occupied by, other people from Myanmar, the locals.
So, you’re very unlucky if you get ripped off by a taxi, but it still helps to know what the price should be as always. Confuse the camera, and now we are going to see, I’m not sure if it’s the largest or second largest, reclining Buddha in the world, and this is in Yangon, and it is, right here, now I’ve got long trousers on, no shorts, no strapless tops, no miniskirts, no shoes, I’ve have lost my shoes and my socks, and in we go. Go, this was originally built in, it was damaged and then restored, in, when a roof was also put over it to protect it from the elements.
And quite an amazing structure, it’s free to come in, there is guides who will try and guide you around if you wish to have from the monastery, some monks, if you wish to have a bit of information about it, there is also donation boxes so you can make a donation, for the upkeep, and there’s quite a lot actually here to see apart from the reclining Buddha. It is still a place of worship, so be respectful, but, open all the time. The feet are quite fascinating, I’ll take you to see the feet, the soles of the feet have a hundred and eight, what are they, inscriptions? about the Buddha on the bottom of them.
Here, let me show you the feet and then you get an idea. Now I’ve just got time, to grab a meal, before I go to the bus. Okay, so this is a potato and chicken salad, with some stuff in it.
Welcome to the Yangon, bus station like all bus stations, a big busy place, it’s located quite a bit out of town, so do leave yourself plenty time to get here, it just took me, best part of eighty minutes, to get from the, downtown area of Yangon to the bus station, purely because of the traffic and that was in a private taxi. Once you’re here, taxi should drop you off where you bought your ticket from, all different bus companies, and there is also, little eateries, tea houses, places to eat, so you can, grab something to eat once you get here. There you go, obviously gonna look after your bags, and I’m not sure about the quality of the food, covered in all the, coach fumes, there is various, I mean, there’s so many bus companies shuttling around Myanmar, because long distance is pretty much the only way of traveling, there is flights between major centres, but they’re quite expensive and for everywhere else there’s not really a good train journey, train line, so buses are the way.
This is my bus, I’m going with JJ Express, traveled with them, in Myanmar, because they have these luxury buses, they’re two and one, they’re only three across and it’s a night bus, I want plenty room. So they’re nice, big luxury buses as you can see, I will show you inside later, when I get on board. Bus twelve, that’s mine, there we go, have a look at that.
Not a bad bus hey, and I hope the seats are as comfy as it looks on the outside, I will just manage not to get run over by another bus coming in. I’m going to have a look at what’s cooking here, there’s a oh, I bought my fruit earlier, there is apples for sale here, here we’ve got sweet corn, sweet potatoes, cashew nuts, all available for you, to take on the bus, mingalaba. Yes so, Yangon bus station, am I ready for a long night journey on a bus? probably night not, but there we go, I’ll see how much sleep I get.
Here, thank you very much. Okay so, I arrived at the bus station in plenty time, then went into the, counter over there where they checked me and you need your passport or an ID, your bag as you checked in they give you this metal tag here, which one goes on your bag, that goes in the hold on the zip and one they give to you, to claim, they also give you a sticker, which you stick on yourself, for your seat, and their tag is also, you see number, so, and then you wait for the bus, there’s free tea and coffee, and there’s also toilets here. And there’s no aircon but there’s big fans to try and keep you cool, and then these little seats, sit at, and wait for your bus.
Hey, and it is, boarding time, mingalaba, mingalaba. Okay, so now will have a look at what the bus is like, look at that, now that’s a nice looking bus, so two seats on one side, one on the other, fully reclining, aircon, I think there, is there a toilet on here? I’m not sure, there might be a toilet on the bus I’m not sure, anyway, look at that for a nice looking bus. Beautiful, I’m first on, but I can’t pick my seat, you have to stay in your assigned seat, so I’ll do that in a second, I thought I’d give you a quick look at the bus, while I’m here, I think we’ve got little TV screens, I’ve no idea what’s going to be on TV on the flight, fight? looks like a flight, on the bus but let you know obviously, when we get going.
Oh and look, ah, and here’s the blankets as well, oh look at this, so these are the seats you get, a nice soft blanket, put on all the seats, so even if it gets a bit cold in the night, you can wrap up and get your blanket, I feel the aircon is on already. This gentleman is sorting out all of us, making everything look good, got everything ready for the guests, excellent. Lovely, thank you very much.
Okay, so I’m gonna get my coffee, bag where I’ve left it somewhere, and not quite time for boarding yet, thank you very much. and oh I’m coming off, all the other people coming on, oh sorry. Here we go, so I got my bag with me this time, and climbing on board, to find my seat, thank you.
And, here we go again. A bit more crowded this time, a few more people, I don’t knock anybody over, I’m in F. C, D, hi, hi.
E. F. This is me, Okay, I’ll put my bags, and I’ll get back to you in a while.
Okay so, I’ve got my blanket, and now I’ve got according to this, a muffin. So let’s break into it, Okay, let’s try and break into it, okay, I’m in, and in indeed is a, little bread and a muffin, and how safe your bus is. And also you get a free water, free bag, and the lights have gone off so, it, good night everybody.
And we made it to Bagan, quite early, it’s : a.m. we stopped a couple times on the way, not really awake yet, hopefully somebody from my guesthouse will be here to meet me, I’ll get back to you and tell you about it when I’m more awake.
Let’s get off the bus. Find a hotel. Okay, we’re back, I’m awake, and I’m getting off the bus, and I’m looking for, oh look, here we go, here’s some good news, already I can see.
Good morning, morning, hey someone to meet me, that’s what I like, get my luggage now, find my luggage tag, got my tag still, tags, find my bag, Thank you very much. Bagan in the early hours, it’s cold. Thank you very much.
Morning, morning. Good morning, morning, how are you morning? Morning, thank you. Thank you.
Oh hot tea, and candies, thank you. Arrived in my room, let’s close the door hold on. There we go, it’s five thirty, I’ll be quiet, but here’s my room in Bagan, very nice, I’ve got, water, kettle, TV, uh a TV, fan, aircon, I’ve even got, a minibar.
I believe there’s stuff in it, oh look at that, mini bar with some drinks in it, I wonder where’s the bathroom? oh here’s the bathroom. Wow, the bathroom, with a bath, and a shower. Shower, I’ll show you the shower, that’s the shower, that’s nice.
So here’s my room, for the next couple of nights, as I explore Bagan, hello camera, camera come and see me, there we go, so here we go, I did manage to get some sleep on the bus, in fits and starts, we stopped every three hours to get stretched, legs and toilet break. I’m now here at five thirty in the morning, it’s cold, better turn the aircon off, maybe the aircon is heating it up, anyway time to get some, rest in the bed, before breakfast and then out to explore, the historic place of Bagan. I’m excited, sort of like, dawn can’t be that far away, but I’m so tired, and I don’t really know where to go, so I’m gonna sleep now, take you to the temples later.
