Long time ago we had booked our flight to Bangkok from Yangon. Because Katie (our Hsipaw trekking friend) intrigued us with her stories about hidden gems of Yangon, we decided to have a full day there, before we left Myanmar. Katie was also so kind to offer us a corner in her apartment – we would not miss a chance to get to know another part of Yangon and avoid worrying about finding a place to sleep for two nights. We stayed in a truly Myanmar block, distant from the tourist area. With a monastery right across the street. A lot of locals and no foreigners except Katie and us.
We had many ideas and plans for our last day in Yangon, but as we woke up and got out side, we realised that it was too hot for running around trying to catch new impressions. First we stopped by a photo salon to make the special size passport photo that I will need for Thailand visa (4×6 cm). We also had to print out some documents and make copies of our passports. I ended up having a very interesting outcome, when my documents were copied. Now I know, how a more Southern version of mine would look like. I guess it is better, if I stick with my original skin tone…
Once, because of heat, we did not manage to get to the Kandawgyi Lake. We were keen to do at least that on our last day in Yangon. Before having a walk around the lake, we had a meal in the Signature Restaurant – popular among tourists, local expats and upper class locals. Pricy place with mediocer food.
The Kandawgyi lake has wooden bridges crossing it, making it a romantic couples to hang a round (we saw so many Myanmar couples there. In the middle of a Wednesday – don’t they have to go to school or work???) and crazy tourists like us, who like to sweat their days away. It was stil very hot, so hot that we did ot have much of inspiration to walk around the whole lake. We made it through the half, playing the game – do not step on the old and cross-marked (aka about-to-colapse) planks that have to be replaced. I can imagine that the lake is musch nicer early in the morning or around the sun set. And probably in a different seasone too. It was begining of January, the water level was low, the water lillies were done with blooming, everything looked dried out and green-brownish.
We also met there our first seriously ill puppy, who might have had rabies or some other fatal desease, but I will skip that story.
My highlight of the day was finally buying a whole watermelon I was craving to do that for days, maybe even weeks. To buy a whole fruit (berry) and eat it until I can not have any more. So I did it and it was great! In the summer time watermelons are popular in Latvia, but in Belgium it is not so easy to find a good one. It was my chance to fulfill my sumertime dream in January and absolutely did it. (Other could eat it too)
Our last dinner in Myanmar was to be one of the best (in my opinion) that we’ve had on our trip. Out of few suggestions we picked a Japanese restaurant Gekko. We started our meal with some attractive cocktails (one of them was named “horse neck”) and the ordered a big plate with mix of sushi and sashimi – fresh fish, shrimps and who knows what else. That was one of the best meals I’ve had on out trip. I know that Stijn disagrees, as he is not a big fan of raw fish and seaweed, but I was in haven.
The next day we were off to Airport to spend the following week in Bangkok. It feels like we had too little time in Myanmar. We saw only a very small part of it. I would not wait too long to go back there to do more trekking, go further in the regions and meet more locals.
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