Yangoon

This is going to a short post i think because there isnt a lot to say about Yangoon or Rangon. Its just blah. It's KL dirtier, dustier, hotter, and with a whole lot of abandoned buildings.

The best place to stay in Yangoon, is at the Garden Inn, it costs only 10USD for a night for a double room, and thats in the peak season! 

The few things in Yangoon that might be worth it:

1) Shwedagon Pagoda -- I didn't like it that much. It was majestic and beautiful and one of the main attractions in Burma but it was just another glorified huge Buddhist temple. It apparently has 53 metric tonnes of gold on the huge Pagoda in the middle, and to me that just does not make any sense because the poverty level in Yangoon or Burma as a whole is ridiculous and here we were staring at a complete waste of resources. But you would see many many people there, praying and worshiping and its funny how everyone thinks Buddha is god. I guess leave anything long enough in the world, and ideas get mixed up and flawed eventually. We are after all only human.

Mahabodi tree and the wall opposite tells the nice stories of Buddha and his magical ways

2) The amazing breakfast at The White House Hotel -- On the last day , 31st of December, we couldn't find any of the many recommended cheap hotels in the lonely planet's guide to Myanmar that still had rooms and the prices were all jacked up for the new years apparently and we were on a strict 10USD budget for a room for the night. Then we stumbled upon this very humble hotel just up a few shops from yet another UNavailable lonely planet recommended hotel called Daddy's Home. Yes i know. And it was for a modest room, with an "outside" shower and toilet, but it was very clean although i tried not to take as many toilet trips or shower trips! Then we soon discovered that this hotel was featured on Discovery Channel for their "amazing breakfast buffet". The buffet we had the next morning on the rooftop was absolutely worth it and was the only thing that saved Yangoon for me. It was a fully vege breakfast with mostly fruits. They had fried rice, and fried potatoes, and papaya juice which was amazing and 10 different types of homemade jams to try. We stuffed ourselves enough to last us for a whole day. And then we climbed even higher for a nice chillin' time on hammocks (first ever for me!) and then even higher for the REAL rooftop filled with plants and just a view of all the other dingy neighbouring buildings rooftops.

3) A meal at Sky Cafe in Sakura Tower -- This was only another one of the lonely planet's recommendation "Take a FREE ride to the top of the tower to get a 360 degree view of the city" . Little did we know that the free, aint so free now. There was a nice cafe/bar/restaurant at the top where the FREE view used to be so we sat ourselves down by a window and ordered the cheapest thing on the menu. Unfortunately, after a day of walking around Yangoon looking for recommended places only to discover they've been abandoned, we truly did enjoy being there in the fancy cafe. The had nice beer food to go with the one glass of beer we ordered and we stayed about 4 hours just looking at the view and taking in the atmosphere.

The view from the Sakura Tower, with the Shwedagon Pagoda in the background

With their fancy menus and their prices, and a beer promotion

4) Kandawgyi Lake -- This was also a waste of time. It was deceiving because they had two entrances, and we didnt know the entrance we paid for didn't actually lead to the nice parts of the lake, only the dirty side and when we tried to enter the other side, they insisted we paid an additional 2 USD each but we just didn't want to do that. There is an awesome restaurant on the lake though called Karawek Palace or something like that, that has cultural shows every 6pm but costs a whopping 15 000 Kyats which is just a little under RM 75 each.

The Palace!

It would probably be wise to get a newer edition of Lonely Planet and to not totally believe the prices in there, cause it turned out for us that nothing was as it said in the book. And the Bogjoke Aung San Musuem that we walked half an hour to find had been shut down by the government, because well anything of anything that reminded them about freedom and democracy obviously had to go.

Transportation:

1) Busses -- Good and cheap and plenty around town. There's a bus that goes to almost every part of the town. Getting on the right bus is a whole other story though. Hotel staff, wherever you stay are very helpful though so its wise to ask them to write down the number in the Burmese numbering system of what busses you should take. We took a bus to Kandawgyi Lake and to the airport although we were taken for a ride there. Sule Paya, the pagoda right in the center of Downtown Yangoon is the main waiting area to take bus number 51 to the airport. You would have to sit in a share taxi after the bus ride though but its not even a 10minute ride.

The kids playing on the streets at night! foooottball!

The Sule Paya , dont know why it was covered and we had to pay a donation to enter

2) Taxis-- Expensive. A trip to the airport would cost you about 5 to 7 dollars and a bus only 150 kyats which is only about 75 cents per person. But if you're a good bargainer, then try your skills out.

Food:
1) The best meals are the meals by the side of the road, the ones prepared by hand! Scary, but awesomely delicious. And super cheap, one bowl of noodles would normally cost 300 to 500 kyats. And in almost all their noodles, there's always some kind of beans or peanuts, it was heaven!

An old coffee house with a lot of cakes and biscuits

The sales in Myanmar! =D

The ONE.

Ask anyone why they're still single, and the reply would almost always be that they have not found THE ONE. So who is this infamous ONE? It's that imaginary person in your head, the perfect partner. The perfect partner that opens the door of your car, or the perfect partner that you wished would just let you open the door for once. So could this person really exist then? The one. Are we all truly with all our ONEs or are we in fact just settling for the next best thing?

I for one, have come to believe that the one is yet just another illusion tv fairytales have told us about singing princesses and charming princes. It has made us believe that the only person that can be called THE ONE is the perfect person in our heads. That perfect really DOES exist. But frankly, I doubt that is does or that it did, or will.

My perfect person in my head, is in fact NOT perfect. But then what if my partner's ONE is indeed absolutely PERFECT? And its obvious to anyone that I am not perfect. And there IS someone out there better looking, funnier and smarter. So are we to go through life with the constant insecurity that the next time an 8/10 girl walks past your partner, our 7/10 ass better start making new accommodation plans for the night?

I'm beginning to think that it does. The days of movies that portray someone jumping on a 10 hours train ride to meet the love of their lives making any sense are gone. Now affectionate connotations are logical rational thoughts. We MIGHT stay together for the next year, I'm NOT SURE if I can be with just one person for the rest of my life.

These are all obviously very true statements but that would also mean I need to start burning my Jane Austen supply. As important as I think it is to be grounded when we're on the high of love hormones, I think romance is all about rash unfiltered irrational emotions that is "normally" ridiculous. It's sad that we need an excuse for such things, but as long as there is one, why not live in its moment?

Thaipusam in Batu Caves, why has it taken me so long?

The last thing i can remember about spending Thaipusam in Batu Caves amongst the trances and the kavadis, I was on my fathers shoulders so i could get a better view of the crowd and not be squashed to death. Now, if you've seen me recently you would know that I'm way too big to be sitting on anyones shoulders, so yes it's been THAT long.

Anyway, so this year we're going back to the chaos once again! 

Things I am definitely looking forward to:

1) The grinding --  Anyone who's ANYONE, on the KTM knows about the grinding! In thaipusam, there will hardly be space for you to breathe let alone distance yourself from the crotches of men wearing the thin white cloth of purity. 

2) The shoving -- Every year we read about stampedes almost, recently one in India, makes me think it's almost an Indian thing really and at a religious event. Ah what awesomeness, proof that religion brings out the beasts in us all.

3) The scams --  So I've heard about the legendary scam artists and the announcers that keep track announcing " One thalli missing, two thalli missing" "3 wallets missing", now if thats not something to experience i dont know what is. And then the famous trick of people falling into a trance, and then wham bham your thalli has gone missing as the perpretrator has dissolved into the crowd before you.

4) The chaos  -- I love the chaos and i love the loud music and the shouting and the COLOURS! and the FESTIVEness of it all. 

5) The stairs -- This I'm not sure I'll attempt doing, just the thought of being sandwiched between men, not because i want to. And the thought of suffocating there, between two things in life i;ve fought so hard to keep away, religion and perverted men, ah not how i'd thought i'd die.

Ah something new I'm anticipating this year is : the RM 10 indian tops! I would be sorely disappointed if there aren't any!  

But for the exact same reasons as above, Thaipusam in Batu Caves is something every person should see and experience i think. Once is more than enough, but wow to say you've survived Thaipusam, could it almost be as rewarding as conquering Mount Kinabalu?