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Monday, January 2, 2012

Old capital Yangon in the Myanmar!

Yangon or Rangoon

is the biggest city in the country with over 4 million and a great landmark, the Shwedagon pagoda. Myanmar travel almost always starts in Yangon and one of the first sightseeing tour is to the Shwedagon pagoda. Yangon Myanmar or Rangoon has plenty of other attraction, its a truly old fashioned Asian metropolis the visitor can feel colonial times almost at every second step.

Since flights to Yangon are cheap today,

around $ 100,- from Bangkok to Yangon a trip is easy but it needs a Myanmar visa. In Bangkok the Myanmar embassy issues visas within a day. The city is not only interesting during the day, there is also a substantial Yangon nightlife if there is a single traveler he can meet for sure an attractive Yangon girl in the bars and nightclubs.

The city is located in the Ayeyarwady or Irrawaddy delta, surrounded by water on three sides and hard hit by a Cyclone Nagis some time ago. There are plenty of Yangon Hotels to cater all the tourist and business crowd, cheap hotels in Rangoon are mainly family owned hotels off the center.

Bangkok to Yangon flights

are plenty this days and your Yangon flight will probably be from Bangkok or Singapore Changi Airport. There are also other flights to Yangon from Kuala Lumpur, several cities in China and from the Indian subcontinent. Yangon airport has got a new international arrival and departure terminal which looks good and works good. The domestic terminal is still the same. From the
domestic terminal the state owned Myanma Airlines via a JV and privately owned Yangon Air, Air Mandalay and Bagan Air are operating, actually the name is really Myanma Airlines, not Myanmar Airlines. Cheap flights to Yangon are available from Bangkok by Air Asia. From Yangon Airport you can easily reach the city center using the taxis waiting outside the new airport building, for another flight to elsewhere in Myanmar check with a travel agent.

Flights Bangkok to Yangon are not expensive,

the price range usually is Baht 4xxx,- for a return ticket from Bangkok to Yangon up to about Baht 9xxx,- to cheapest airlines are always Air Asia and Myanmar International Airlines and the most expensive are always Thai International and Bangkok Air. Flights to Yangon have been increased in the few years quite a lot after Chinese airlines started with flights to Yangon. You need to negotiate the price, there are also limousine counters inside the building, their cars are substantial more expensive to go to down town or elsewhere. Traveling downtown in a good taxi or limousines, is around $ 10,-. A cheaper taxi
Bangkok to Yangon Bangkok to Yangon Airport.
ride to down town is about $ 5,- for the trip, but this cheap taxies usually are really rotten, just moving junk and no air-condition. Yangon apartment operations are JV with Japanese companies. The landmark of the city is the Shwedagon pagoda.

Yangon Hotels are plenty

and easy to find in the city and relatively cheap. In general your holidays to Myanmar are not expensive if you like. If you use lets say the Central Hotel or Asia Plaza Hotel (a Myanmar girl is always around at the disco of the Asia Plaza Hotel) right in the center of you get a good room for about $ 30,-The Central Hotel is just beside the Trader hotel and opposite Bogyoke market. Hotel which is the biggest hotel in town.





The Trader hotel charge from $ 50,- upwards. Prices are probably higher now since they managed to get the UN personal to move to the Trader hotel from the International Hotel where the UN staff was before. After the cyclone Nagis almost all prices of hotels and other stuff got a push upwards since the UN and NGO staff pay any price, who cares about western taxpayers donation money who finance all this finally, they all are still in the country.
Basically there are 3 variants of hotels. First are the city hotels as indicated here, second are the smaller privately owned hotels off the city center, plenty of this cheap Rangoon hotels are in the Windermere district north of the Shwedagon Pagoda and third are apartments which usually also offer just the normal hotel services .





Central Hotel
Central Hotel

Yangon city hotels for every taste and budget. All kind of entertainment is on in Ragoon, from the simple bar in one of the hotels, to karaoke lounges, nightclubs, discos, marionette or puppet theater show , fashion show -mainly in the nightclubs and discos- if you are a single guy traveling Bangkok to Yangon Myanmar you can find a companion in one of the nightclubs very easily. There are several other good hotels such as the Kandawgyi Palace Hotel at Kandawgyi Lake, this Yangon Hotel is probably the most beautiful and has a excellent location at the Kandawgyi or Royal Lake, more.
The most expensive hotel is the Strand Hotel. During British colonial times the Strand together with the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok were the best hotels in the East. The problem with
Asia Plaza Hotel
Asia Plaza Hotel




this Yangon Hotel is the location, its Strand Road just along the port where most of the day a awful caravan of extremely stinking trucks are doing their job. About 30 minutes drive from downtown to the north is Inya Lake with the Inya Lake Hotel, a good hotel with a great location on the lake. The biggest problem with the Inya Lake Hotel is to get a taxi. At the same road is one of the other bigger hotels, the Sedona Hotel. The Queens Park Hotel is a budget hotel in downtown.

Here is a short hotels

and accommodations listing:
Grand MeeYaHta Hotel & Apartment - high end
Summit Parkview Hotel - medium range - (beds are totally worn out and over used)
Savoy Hotel - high end
Governors residence - high end
Trader Hotel - high end
Thamada hotel - low end
City Star Hotel - low end
Queens Park Hotel - low end, but reasonable and cheap.
Central hotel and Asia Plaza Hotel - medium range and probably the best hotel deal in the city considering the price, location, service and amenities. A good low budget hotel alternative would be to try one of the small family run hotels which are everywhere in the city and particular in the area north of the Shwedagon Pagoda around the Sakura Hotel and Apartments which itself is a high end accommodation, flights to Yangon are available to let you experience a great Myanmar vacation. If you want to stay a little bit longer have a high end hotel and apartment try the Grand MeeYaHta Hotel, this place has a












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shwedagon pagoda
Shwedagon pagoda is the Landmark of Yangon city.
excellent location in the city center. If you are out for a adventure hotel accommodation you could try the Asia Plaza Hotel in downtown, they have a low price, the rooms are ok and quite spacious, even a bathtub is there and hot water works, a good location and the best nightclub in town with plenty of Myanmar Model Girls working there, they do fashion show and more, this place is closed now (end of 2011) but will open again sooner or later.
Bangkok to YangonBangkok to Yangon









for a single guy who want to have some positive experiences, guess why ' So what to do ' flights to Yangon are the first step is legend that's the Shwedagon Pagoda, but there are plenty more. The Shwedagon is the top, a prime pilgrim destination in the Buddhist world, in particular Buddhists from Korea, Japan and China are on a pilgrim tour to Myanmar and the Shwedagon Pagoda, most come in via Bangkok to Yangon. If you do a visit to the Shwedagon do it in the late afternoon, at least after 3 pm, because at that time there are already some shadows along the building of the pagoda platform (the Shwedagon is not only one Buddhist temple or pagoda, there are dozens of shrines and small pagodas) since the sun heats up the marble slabs to a extreme temperature, you cant walk there between 10am and about 3pm. Visiting Yangon pagodas are highlight of any travel to Myanmar, there are plenty and the biggest and most spectacular pagoda is the Shwedagon, read more.
Yangon shopping from a travelers point of view means Bogyoke market. What would Yangon travel be without visiting Bogyoke market, Bogyoke Aung San Market in the city center is the premier bazaar and probably in whole Myanmar. The right place for the special Myanmar souvenir you better bring back home from your Myanmar trip, read more. Jewelry shops offer famous Myanmar ruby and other jewelry, the little problem is, style is rather old. You can find pearls shops, plenty of jade shops offering beautiful jade items, like jade bangles and jade rings. Puppets or Marionettes are very popular with tourists, also all kind of wood carved items, more.







, although it is very chaotic as in almost every Asian city I have never a major road accident in more than 20 years since the people are very careful, when I am in Thailand I see a major road accident every day, that's real, no yoke, more.





is the place for shopping in the city. This is an old fashion bazaar with all the goods which are attractive to foreigners and tourists who want to shop for some country specific items and souvenirs. There are plenty of jade shops, ruby stores, Myanmar jewelry shops. Woodcarvings, tapestries, puppets or marionettes, clothing, antiques, Buddha Statues. Some of the most attractive items are jade jewelry, some are amazingly low priced, but are genuine jadeite. This is one of the very last genuine oriental bazaar, all other old markets elsewhere in the region were pulled down and changed to some faceless shopping malls, more.
Yangon shopping
Jade Bangles Bogyoke Aung San Market
At Yangon city street markets
are around everywhere also very close to several Yangon hotels, its like the street markets in Bangkok, men's carrying fruits, chetty or cigars seller are around they usually also sell betel and cosmetic items. Women selling lemonade by simple pouring the liquid over some pieces of
Street Market
Street Market
at Chinatown Yangon Map





ice into a cup. Many people have Indian roots, a legacy of British colonial times are very busy on the roads. Myanmar golf is also a British legacy. Actually downtown are several quarters where mostly Indian people are living. A other quarter, not far off to the west along the main city roads is Yangon Chinatown.

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Ref:www.allmyanmar.com
 
 
Yangon Chinatown

has one strange feature, its the only Chinatown in Asia where there are no Chinese letters visible. Compared to other similar places such as Kuala Lumpur Chinatown or Penang Georgetown Chinatown etc. its real unusual, more.
is almost behind ever "second" corner, selling fresh vegetables, fruits and local fast food. The markets are usually full with all kind of local fruits such as apples, oranges and much more. This is very different to other south east Asian countries because Myanmar is one of the very few countries in the region who has large parts of lands at a higher altitude, this is mainly Shan State and Kachin State, more.


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