Yangon was about 2 hours away in total. First on a small bus and then the rest of the journey was by taxi. I had heard of a few good hostels there but decided to put myself in a hotel to continue relaxing/recovering (as you can tell, the violin was playing constantly in my head, I was feeling very sorry for myself!!). Yangon is like Mandalay in that it's mapped out in a grid like system so easy to navigate. I was just north of Twante canal which connects with the Pegu River, south of Yangon right next to "Merchant Street". The hotel was sound enough, at 18 dollars I night I couldn't expect too much really. That afternoon I managed to get to a bit of a flash bar some 5 minutes from the hotel I was in. I enjoyed a few cocktails and some nice pork which was the first proper "western" meal I'd had for a bit and I really welcomed it. A few more cocktails followed and I then found a local shop and a pharmacy so stocked up on antiseptic cream and bandages etc. The weather was terrible my whole time in Yangon, absolutely hammering it down. So much so in fact that I bought my first ever "brolly" out there. The drainage system isn't really the best and the small streets crammed with various different food stalls and other shops often get flooded and are quite dirty. It reminded me a lot like Cairo. I stopped off at a chicken shack right next to my hotel but just as I was about to order, a huge bloody rat scurried past me. It was actually the first rat I'd seen since being in Myanmar and he just looked like one filthy s***...and to be fair so did the chicken. He probably gets the left overs at the end of the night so no wonder he was eyeballing me. I left him to it and then went back to the hotel to call it a relatively early night.
The next day I was determined to get out and about a bit more and see the Shwedagon Pagoda and also to pay my respect at the Taukkyan War Cemetery. The Pagoda was impressive, it's about 100meters high and is the most sacred Buddhist Pagoda in the whole of Myanmar. It really does dominate the skyline. After that I got in a taxi and went a good hour and a half out of town to get to the cemetery. As expected it was thought provoking and very humbling walking amongst these graves and appreciating the ultimate sacrifice that not just the British gave, but also many other counties who made up the Commonwealth. I saw a great memorial to Indian Soldiers that gave their lives in Burma. All in all 6374 soldiers are buried there with the names of 27000 who are remembered, but who have no known graves. It is absolutely exquisitely maintained and clearly respected very highly. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission do an admirable job. After a few hours walking around the cemetery I jumped in a taxi and retuned to the hotel. I'd decided that I was going to have just 2 more nights in Myanmar and head back to Bangkok and relax there as the weather is a lot better with more well equipped shops etc around. My feet were definitely on the road to recovery so I didn't bother with getting them checked out, I just ensured they were cleaned often as they were easing up a bit. That evening I looked to see if I could find any decent bars/restaurants nearby so I could pop out for some dinner. I found a place called "My Garden" which was a short taxi away. They have live music on every evening and the band was quite good. I finished my sweet and sour chicken and then ordered a Jonny Walker to wash it down with. I really don't know how it happened but the waitress then brought over a whole bottle and sat it on my table. She had already cracked it open by the time she got to me so there was no way back. I had a glass, hiding the bottle under my coat so I wouldn't get judged too much! I was dreading the price but it came to just under £9 for a full bottle! Absolute bargain. I paid up and skipped out the restaurant...bottle in hand.
My final full day I managed to visit a few more things that I had briefly seen when going around the city in a taxi. The city is known for the large amount of colonial era buildings which is understandable seeing as though "Rangoon" as Yangon was formally known, was the former British Colonial capital. I visited the former High Court as well as the Strand Hotel which was also from this era. It was interesting to see these buildings amongst the somewhat decaying high density of buildings, as well as the many buildings that are being newly built. I could only begin to imagine what the city was like 100 odd years ago during the might and pomp of the British Empire. Just to aid me with that thought, I popped to the Rangoon Tea House for a nice pot of tea and a cheeky pastry. Many elements remain that are all so quintessentially British including the streets/avenues you see that are lined with trees. A clear difference however is that they now drive on the right hand side of the road yet still the majority of cars are right hand driven. Which complicates things when some of the buses open their doors to ultimately let people off in to the main road! It was actually changed to this in the 70s but for some bizarre reason most the vehicles remain right hand drive.
I then went to have a look at St Mary's Cathedral. Not the most impressive I've seen but again, the fact it looks so out of place in the middle of this city made it quite a spectacle for me.
So that was my final place of visit in Myanmar. It was a huge shame I was cutting my time there short by 4 or so days but I think I was ready to call it a day at that point. I was disappointed I didn't travel to "the golden rock" SE of Yangon but that's just the nature of the beast. I genuinely didn't feel up to the 11km hike it would have involved. I see no reason why I won't return to Myanmar though, I had such an incredible time and I'm so glad I did it before it becomes too "touristy". I urge people if they're out this way to spend a few weeks over there, you would not regret it.
Now it's back to Bangkok for more RnR. I think it'll be a quiet few days just preparing myself for when I head to Tacloban in the Philippines to commence my month or so of volunteering, helping to rebuild villages that were smashed by Typhoon Haiyan at the back end of 2013. So unless something remarkable happens in Bangkok I will probably leave the next blog update until I begin the volunteering, at the beginning of July.