Keeping Cool in Yangon

Last night we arrived in Yangon from KL. Seeing our hotel room at Grand United Hotel for the first time, it was disappointingly dingy and uninviting and certainly not grand.  Returning to the  room this afternoon, exhausted after a day of steamy sightseeing, it was delightful!  We leapt into the cool air-conditioned room from the humid hallway and the world seemed wonderful again. 

Rooftops of Yangon city centre from the top of our hotel

Yangon city centre is hot and humid and noisy, but the city has some rewarding sights.  At its heart, the golden Sule Pagoda creates a roundabout, and cars and buses chug around it.  We take off our shoes and go inside and walk around.  The gilded stupa and other shrines are lovely and there’s a sense of peace about the place. Crossing the roundabout traffic, the Mahabandoola Gardens are green and grassy with water fountains and an impressive obelisk.  In spite of the heat we still appreciate the grand buildings that are remnants of the British colonial era here.  Some have been restored and maintained and are quite lovely, but others run down and disused.  A lot of downtown Yangon hasn’t seen a paintbrush in decades and the overall impression is one of poverty and grime.  The pavements are crammed with stalls and sellers and shoppers of many ethnic origins and life looks hard.

Sule pagoda in downtown Yangon

After a revival in our cool room we venture out to Chinatown at night and enjoy cheap gin and lime drinks (only 1000 Kyat/US 70c) sitting outside at a simple restaurant in 19th Street.  It’s steamy but after a couple of drinks we perk up and feel more lively.  We decide against street food dinner and head to a simple sushi restaurant we discovered last night, Oishii Sushi. What a find – deliciously fresh sushi appears at our table in minutes with plastic glasses of iced tea. The menu doesn’t offer other drinks, but we notice a neighbouring table gets bottles covered in black plastic bags and the amber liquid being poured out looks remarkably like beer. We ask for beer and we too get a bottle covered in plastic.  Life becomes even better when the waitress prizes off the bottle top, examines it and grins widely and brings us a 500 Kyat note (35c)! 

Our lucky winnings at Oishii Sushi