Departed SFO on Wednesday Nov 18.  Snagged business class seats to Osaka on United Airlines.  Nice uneventful flight, but did have a 10 hour layover in Osaka.  Efren slept and we chilled at the lounge and the time passed quickly.  Our flight from Osaka to Bangkok was on Thai Airways, and we scored First Class seats on that leg.  What a difference!  The seats were incredibly comfy and the flight staff attentive beyond belief.  Wish that 5 hour flight was longer!  The only catch was the lavatory was missing a sink.  Oh well, can't have everything! Arrived at BKK around 5am to be met by a friendly Thai Airways staffer who helped us through security (Craig's scissor was confiscated) and brought us to the lounge that would open in about an hour.  Amazing Thai Airways service -- if you ever have the opportunity to fly them First Class -- do it!  We relaxed in BKK for a bit and our flight to Yangon left in about 3 hours.  Relaxed in the lounge and then made our way to the boarding gate.  This flight was business to Yangon, so not as plush as before but still no complaints! We were surprised at the folks in the boarding gate for Yangon.  Very few "locals", and a lot of tourists.  Most tourists were older folks (Efren and I felt like teenagers), and many from France.  Seems that youngish backpackers aren't headed to Myanmar quite yet -- probably the lack of a party atmosphere which is prevalent in nearby Thailand is the reason.  No worries -- we weren't headed to Myanmar to booze out. The flight to Yangon was uneventful and about 1 hour late.  The steamed chicken served for breakfast raised the eyebrows of many passengers, but we found it quite tasty.  Upon arriving in Yangon, the process for getting our e-Visa was simple.  We lined up and provided the letter stating we had applied online for the visa back in October.  Our visas were approved and passports stamped.  Within about 5 minutes we had our bag (Efren checked his, Craig went 100% carry-on -- pretty impressive for a nearly 3 week trip).  We left the arrivals area and quickly met our tour guide from Myanmar Shalom Travels who was carrying a sign with our name.  We could tell right away we were going to get along well with Nemu (probably not spelling name right -- sorry!).  After some hello formalities she brought us to the bank window where we exchanged US dollars for Myanmar currency called kyat (pronounced "chat"). So before departing we had read Myanmar was a cash society, so we had brought in US dollars the payment for our tour (in crisp $100 bills) and brought a good chunk of additional US dollars to use for expenses.  We each exchanged $500 and we astounded that each of us received a brick of local currency.  One chunk of 1000 kyat (worth less than 1 dollar each) and another chunk of 5000 kyat (worth a bit less than 5 dollars each).  We hardly had room in our luggage for all that money! Nemu brought us outside where our driver was waiting.  As we soon learned with Myanmar Shalom, they are meticulous with details.  Each and every time, the driver was waiting for us on time (or early).  We really appreciated this and it is only one of many very positive comments we have for this tour company. So it was now about 10am Friday morning in glorious Yangon.  It was hot when we got outside.  We knew to expect this, but still quite a shock.  The next shock was the Yangon traffic.  Our hotel was only about 15 km away, but Nemu told us it would be at least 1 hour.  Really?  It can't be that bad, right?  Well, it was!  We were introduced to our driver, Mr. Aung, and noticed hand towels and bottled water was ready for us in the comfortable van.  We headed off out of the airport into Yangon.... The traffic was a standstill most of the way.  The road to the downtown where we were staying (Pyay Rd) is basically a 2 lane road with the flow of an interstate highway.  Add to that the construction on the road, building of condos on the side (and without sidewalks that construction zone oozes into the road) and folks walking all over the road (often with ridiculously huge baskets on their heads) helps explain the crawl.  There are traffic lights (which cars obeyed), but what we noticed is the lights are red for 3-5 minutes.  That really slows down the pace! After about 1 hour as promised by Nemu (we would soon learn she is almost always 100% correct) we arrived at the lackluster Central Hotel in downtown Yangon.  We knew our hotels weren't going to be 5 star, but this one looked a bit tired and dated, but we soon found it was entirely adequate and the central location (hence the name) was a real bonus.  Nemu helped us check in and we paid her the balance for our tour.  She then gave us the vouchers for the rest of our hotel stays while in Myanmar and the airline tickets for the flights we'll be taking later in the trip.  It was now rest time and she would be back around 4pm to take us to the highlight of a visit to Yangon -- Shwedagon Pagoda at sunset. The benefit of business/first class flights is that when you arrive at your location you're actually pretty well rested.  We decided to go for a quick stroll around the hotel in the afternoon.  Yangon can be a bit off-putting if you're not prepared for the heat, the traffic and the complete lack of sidewalks.  Ever nook and cranny on the side of the road is covered with vendors selling everything from fruit to books to maps to crickets to old Burmese coins.  Not to mention the food and juice stalls which looked very tempting, but we were advised to shy away from at least until our digestive systems were a bit more adjusted.  We clamored along through the dusty noisy streets snapping a few pictures.  The walk wasn't pleasant, but one thing we noticed right away is a complete lack of being "pestered" as tourists.  We didn't feel threatened in any way, although we definitely got a lot of stares as obvious foreigners and were greeted with "mingalabar" frequently.  That means "hello" and it would be something we would experience over and over again as we traveled through Myanmar. Eagle-eyed Efren spotted one of his favorite words "Illy", and our hopes were raised that a good coffee might be in our future.  We walked into Bar Boon which is a very western establishment selling coffee, pasties, etc.  It was just what the doctor ordered as we didn't want to venture and eat anything too exotic.  A latte and a delicious Myanmar beer later we were a bit rejuvenated and walked around a bit more before returning to the hotel and relaxing a bit before meeting Nemu at 4pm.     Craig stopped by the lobby to get some more towels around 3:30pm and lo and behold Nemu was already there waiting for us.  Craig grabbed Efren and soon we were off to Shwedagon.  We learned that "shwe" means gold and "dagon" is the old name for Yangon (or Rangoon as the British called it).  The traffic was still horrific, so it took more than 30 minutes to drive the short distance to the pagoda.  When we got there we were dropped off by Mr. Aung.  Nemu got our tickets and before long we were talking off our shoes and stepping onto an elevator to take us up to Shwedagon. Shwedagon is considered Myanmar's greatest temple and holiest site, and one of the world's most majestic Buddhist monuments.  Most folks living in Myanmar, when asked where is the one place you want to visit, answer with Shwedagon.  We were really looking forward to seeing this place.  The pagoda towers over Yangon and can been seen from most places in the city -- shimmering gold taking on different hues during day and night -- when it is all lit up.  A visit at sunset is most popular when people come to pray and the last rays of the sun's illuminating the vast stupa provide an even more majestic glow.   We spent at least an hour at Shwedagon taking 100s of pictures as the sun set.  One thing about Myanmar is that once the sun sets, it gets dark almost immediately.  We were brought back to the hotel and relaxed a bit before heading to a restaurant for dinner.  We were looking to try Shan Noodles and found a place in our guide book that looked close to the hotel.  Of course walking there in the dark (no sidewalks, huge holes on the side of the road) was a bit of an adventure, but we eventually got there and had a good meal.  The whole thing came to less than $10 for the two of us.  We walked back and got ready for bed.  Nemu was picking us up early tomorrow for our trip to Kyaiktiyo -- Golden Rock with a stop in the city of Bago.  The drive would be at least 5 hours.  Since we'd be back in Yangon after one night at Golden Rock, we would be able to leave our luggage and just take what we needed for the one day/night.  It would become clear a bit later on in our journey to Golden Rock why keeping luggage to a minimum was advisable.