Yangon - the "no motorbike" city
Reading the Lonely Planet guidebook it makes you ready to believe that Burma is like visiting back in time. We would agree and disagree. Throughout the country there are no signs of Western businesses and yes, electrical power can be spotty (hence the picture of the generator on your hotel's website). But, the streets are filled with the modern conveniences of cellphones and "Angry Birds" tshirts. Given the current "opening" of Burma in the past two years it will be interesting to see how slow/quick any development occurs here. Re: the "no motorbike" city...throughout SE Asia motorbikes are everywhere as one of the cheapest and quickest forms of transport. This proves difficult for cars to get anywhere and as a pedestrian to manage the street crossings. But, in Yangon the government banned motorbikes. Yep, just like that. So you can walk free of thinking you will get run over by a bike, just a bus.
With a full day and half in Yangon we hit up what we could during the cooler times of the day (anytime that isn't 11am -3pm). We wandered the streets, sought out any opportunity for cold water, visited markets, and spent sunset at the one and only Shwedagon Pagoda. There are two pics (4 and 5) that are examples of quite traditional elements to Burma still today. One is "thanaka" and the other is "betelnut". Thanaka luckily not bad for your health but betenut an addictive carcinogen.
(*Also, we got to meet up with Yu Wai, who Kate met this past summer at the Women's Campaign School at Yale. Yu goes to school in NYC but her family is from Burma so our paths got to cross over lunch in Yangon to learn about her perspectives as a yearly visitor.)
