The Yangoon Story

My father posing with fellow Burmese Tamils

Traditional Dance at the Myanmar Buffet

Myanmar - An asian country less visited or probably not even in the list of many tourist. This may be because many still feels it is not safe yet to travel to Myanmar or Yangoon in particular due to the recent military and internal issues in the country. If you google and check, there may not be many interesting article about Myanmar. But even then, I planned a tour with my family last August.

Monks preparing lunch

Well it was a wet landing in the Yangoon International Airport. Before leaving I checked with few tour operators there via email, good thing is they respond fast and with good information. I decided to take the Green Palace Tour Service (grpalace@myanmar.com.mm) as they quoted a good price plus it sounded more convincing. As expected they were in the airport, a driver and a guide, the van was reasonable for Myanmar standard. The tour was arrangement was good even though I must say that there are very few places to visit in Yangoon and surroundings. We visited Yangoon's best and I would say only attraction, Golden Pagoda. Its magnificent. Then to other pagodas in Yangoon, Bago, the main market and some river sides. A 3 days, 2 night trip is good enough for Yangoon and Bago. If you are planning to go beyond that, then you may want to consider a 4-5 days slow trip.

For tour agencies you may use USD. Actually USD is more appreciated than any other currency. Malaysian Ringgit is close to not recognized and if you found any who would change, the value would be pathetic. Hotel was reasonable. We stayed in Asia Plaza Hotel. But I have found that Panorama Hotel is better, in terms of the rooms, breakfast and free wifi. Both hotels are very near in within the main city area. You will be able to walk to most of the places from here. There are a significant number of Tamils living in Myanmar. While generally you will see that Myanmar people are poor and only have the basic standards of living, the Tamil community are very much under privileged. Particular area across the Yangoon River is the home for almost 200,000 Tamil people. Most of them do not have any kind of identification card, passport of receive any benefits from the government. It is quite saddening to see the state of the Tamil people. The language is also vanishing over time. The 1st and 2nd generation still speaks Tamil. The third and fourth generation barely understand Tamil but fluent in Myanmar language.

Below is the view of the Golden Pagoda from the Asia Plaza Hotel. It is pure gold and beautiful at night. Overall if you like to see the local people and their lifestyle, you would appreciate a visit to Myanmar.