Yangon

Hello, greetings from Yangon, which is HOT. I had contradicting news about the existence of Internet cafes, but luckily, there are quite a few in Yangon and despite what Lonely Planet says, even hotmail is available. Not from every terminal, but from some.

I flew with Qatar Airways, that I only used so far once, when flying to Nepal and that flight was my best ever. It was again a very pleasant journey, with personal screen for each passenger, various games to play, 3 types of main courses to choose from and the best of all, only half-full planes, so I could have a whole row for myself and sleep. The only problem is that we all had to get out for a 2 hour transit halfway through the journey, in Doha, but that's all the bad side.

I was a bit excited not having a visa (no embassy in Hungary), but I arranged a "visa on arrival" on the Internet. It sounded a bit unbelievable, but it came true, that a lady called Mie Mie was waiting for me at the airport and game me all the stamps I needed. She also arranged for a cab driver to town for 6 USD. The cab was an old vehicle, but the driver was friendly and he even stopped with me to change money at a black market dealer - in a small dark room with a ventilator and six cats, but I got very good rates.

My hotel is OK, although the room is very smelly because of an insect repellent. I can survive. I only had time for a short walk and a light dinner on my first evening. It is not easy to walk around at night as the streets are not lit, and the roads and pavements are in terrible condition. There is litter everywhere, and the houses are rundown as well. The people, however, pay attention to their clothes, they dress nicely and very clean. The men wear long skirts with nice white shirts that I find quite pretty on their narrow hips despite the cheap plastic flip-flops they all wear. 

I slept 14 hours and could get up around noon on Sunday. Even then I was not full with energy, could only walk a few blocks down to a church, then rested for about an hour on its steps. Then I slowly walked to the other side of the street to a Chinese restaurant to sit and watch the streetlife some more. I moved later on to the Strand Hotel, which was built in 1901 and was once the nicest hotel in the continent. Even now, the royalties and celebrities still stay here while in Yangon. I had a chocolate cake for 12 USD, my most expensive cake ever, but well worth it. The grand teak doors, the dim light through the curtains, the chandeliers and the quietly moving waiters with the tea pots made a perfect colonial atmosphere. I just wished the loud German tourist-group was not there to ruin it all.  

In the evening the group arrived and they look quite all right. We are 12, half male, half female, all singles. Luckily, a boy and a girl are friends, so they share a room, so the company had to pair up five ladies. There are two elder ones, and two in the 20s, so it came natural that I get the single room. For free, yep! A Canadian, an Irish, a Swiss, three British, five Aussies and myself - a good mix.

We had sightseeing in the capital today, visiting the main temples, most importantly the Shwedagon Paya, with its 16 tons of gold. Quite a sight. I just could not get enough pictures there... .