We arrived early in Yangon . Burma is definitely off the beaten track which was noticeable on the flight as there were only 8 other white people and they all had dreadlocks. The Air Asia flight wasn't bad but for some reason they had seated us separately?! I (Grainne) was sat next to a German couple and Dan had a spare seat next to him so I just moved. They seem to have a habit of doing this as on our flight back we were sat next to each other but you could tell a lot of couples were forced to sit apart. The only reason I can think of is so you pay extra to choose where you're sitting?

The airport in Yangon was kind of nerve racking because I was scared they would refuse us entry for some reason they also had a plant quarantine and we had a few things in our bag made of wood that we didn't really want to give up so we just kept quiet which luckily was fine. A strange thing about Burma is that they have no ATM's so you have to bring cash, they also ONLY accept dollars and these dollars have to be pristine as in no marks no folds nothing, which after traveling for 4 weeks was an effort in itself. Another thing is that all the guidebooks tell you to go to illegal moneychangers because the exchange rate is so low from official exchange places. Apparently the official exchange rate was 8 kyat (pronounced chat) to the dollar but on the black market it would be around 800 kyat to the dollar!! A huge difference! However when we were waiting for the bags in the arrivals hall I had a quick look at the exchange place and was surprised to find 836 to the dollar! We decided to try and exchange one of our $100 dollar bills we thought we couldn't use because of a small stain but they also accepted that! It is nice to know that things like this show Myanmar is slowly changing for the better- 90% of people didn't even bother looking having trusted their lonely planets implicitly but this just shows how quickly info becomes dated. Also we found it pretty difficult to change money from then on we only had one person ask us if we needed money changing and whereas we had read people prefer to have dollars for payment the majority of people wanted kyats so I'm glad we changed when we did.

As soon as we arrived it was very different to the rest of Asia. Firstly all the men wear skirts, kind of like sarongs with different patterns on them. They are called longyi's and apparently each different tribe has a different pattern - so I guess its kind of like Scotland and their kilts and different tartans. They also all have very red teeth which are found out was from eating this nut that acts as a stimulant. People are really friendly here and more than once locals asked to have their picture taken with dan ( not me I'm afraid) we couldn't figure out if he reminded them of someone because even waiting for our flight home someone wanted a picture with him.

We got followed by one of the taxi drivers to the arrival hall because we needed to pick up our internal flight ticket for a couple of days time. luckily this guy had followed us because he knew exactly where he was going and told them what we wanted straight away. Because Burma is a former British colony a lot of people speak very good english which can be a great help but also they can hear everything you're saying which can be a hinderance. Usually when we are agreeing prices with someone if me and dan want to talk to each other we talk low and quick and usually they cannot make out enough of what you are saying to know what you are discussing. not here. this taxi man new exactly what we were saying but as he had helped us and we needed a taxi anyway we decided to get into his very old very dirty taxi to go book a night bus for that night. Our taxi driver again was extremely helpful with this as the "booking office" was no more than one girl, no more then 14, on a deserted street with a tiny little stand in a doorway. She also spoke no english so our driver sorted it all out and even requested back seats for us as they have the most leg room - something I had read before we had arrived in Burma also. He also said he could show us round town for around $30 and then take us to the bus station which is about 10 miles out of town. We were very tired after getting up at 2:30 am and couldn't really be bothered to navigate ourselves round town. Luckily this was a good move as things were very far apart and we wouldn't have been able to see everything hat there is to see in Yangon. First of all we went to the centre to see this temple that was also a roundabout and had lots of old colonial buildings around from when the British were there and they were very pretty but not kept in very good condition so they were kind of falling apart. Next we went to a large tourist market where we only saw 2 other tourists. Its amazing how people make any money here. Next we stopped for lunch which we wanted to sit somewhere with air con because it was boiling. The only place we could find was a sushi place. But rather than English type sushi it was proper with raw squid which was horrible. We went to a little supermarket to buy stuff for the night bus and we were treated like royalty with people not letting us queue and getting right to the front.

Next we went too this absolutely gigantic Buddha that looked monstrous it was that big. Finally we stopped off at shewgadon pagoda I think its called its the most famous temple complex in Yangon and is where Obama went when he visited Myanmar. I had rained by that time and it was very very slippy. It was good though but again it was temples and we were tired. On the way to the bus station which is actually more like a giant coach village rather than a station we had a sleep. We ended up getting there an hour early because we hadn't put our clocks back! But the bus station was fascinating with all the hussle and bussle and so many different business' all with different coaches going different places! Thank god we had kept that man because I would have no idea how we would've managed to find the right bus on our own!