24 hours after landing, these are some of my first impressions from Yangon..
1) It's nice. It might be a huge city but it feels like a small town. Green, not too crowded, friendly people everywhere, and beautiful colorful (though dirty) colonial buildings lining the small streets.
2) It's safe, but not completely risk-free. We were cheated out of half the money we exchanged on our first day here. Myanmar is supposed to be an extremely safe place for tourists; nonetheless we were very careful; nonetheless we were cheated. I guess it was some hand trick by the kid-trader, since at the end of the day we realized we had the equivalent of $20 less than we thought (and no, you can't spend that much without noticing). Still, you can feel the safety in the air, and monks everywhere increase that sense.
3) Pleasant surprise: no bugs!! Well, more bugs than Geneva, less than Tel-Aviv. We did see some extraordinarily large moth-butterfly thingies, but other than that, no ants, bugs or mosquitoes in sight. Victory!
4) It's not that under-developed. On the one hand, the limited amount of tourists means you can't find a place to do your laundry by the kilo; but after visiting a market and a supermarket, it seems we can get pretty much anything here. Internet at our guesthouse works perfectly, and the guesthouse generally seems to be working just fine. No power-cuts observed yet.
After a 24-hour break from real life, it's time to get down to business. I've started contacting both professional and private contacts from my list, and hopefully we'll meet some of them already this week. The thought of getting a job here, and staying here for a while, is really exciting. And in the meantime, over our noodle-soup brunch this morning ($3 including water and tea) we looked at some day-trip options in the area: temples, towns, rivers and beaches, to be commenced soon!
1) It's nice. It might be a huge city but it feels like a small town. Green, not too crowded, friendly people everywhere, and beautiful colorful (though dirty) colonial buildings lining the small streets.
2) It's safe, but not completely risk-free. We were cheated out of half the money we exchanged on our first day here. Myanmar is supposed to be an extremely safe place for tourists; nonetheless we were very careful; nonetheless we were cheated. I guess it was some hand trick by the kid-trader, since at the end of the day we realized we had the equivalent of $20 less than we thought (and no, you can't spend that much without noticing). Still, you can feel the safety in the air, and monks everywhere increase that sense.
3) Pleasant surprise: no bugs!! Well, more bugs than Geneva, less than Tel-Aviv. We did see some extraordinarily large moth-butterfly thingies, but other than that, no ants, bugs or mosquitoes in sight. Victory!
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| This animal looked more impressive, and slightly scary, in reality. |
4) It's not that under-developed. On the one hand, the limited amount of tourists means you can't find a place to do your laundry by the kilo; but after visiting a market and a supermarket, it seems we can get pretty much anything here. Internet at our guesthouse works perfectly, and the guesthouse generally seems to be working just fine. No power-cuts observed yet.
After a 24-hour break from real life, it's time to get down to business. I've started contacting both professional and private contacts from my list, and hopefully we'll meet some of them already this week. The thought of getting a job here, and staying here for a while, is really exciting. And in the meantime, over our noodle-soup brunch this morning ($3 including water and tea) we looked at some day-trip options in the area: temples, towns, rivers and beaches, to be commenced soon!
cute :)
ReplyDeletetell me when it is ok to come visit. it all sounds and looks great :)
Looks like a great adventure indeed! I look forward to more updates! Have a blast!
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