Yangon

I arrived in LCCT the night before around 11 pm after rendezvous with my backpacking mate; we had decided to stay a night in the airport since our flight was early the next day and it was more convenient to do so. We lingered in McDs, before bunking on the benches outside the domestic arrival hall with the others. LCCT is always full of people, whither day or night, rain or shine.

We checked in uneventfully, got through the immigration and finally boarded up our 20 minutes delayed flight. And here we were, on our way to Myanmar, the land of thousand pagodas. 

Having awakened by the captain's announcement of our imminent arrival to Yangon International Airport around 8.15am local time, we braced ourselves for the landing, which was one of the smoothest one I've had to be exact. Yangon airport seemed rather modern and grand to me, to my disbelief, and swiftly we were ushered out to the arrival hall, through the immigration and customs officers, in a breeze. Myanmar's hunger for tourism evidently can be seen with signs and banners stating "Warmly Welcome and Take Care of Tourist". I was somehow taken aback by their initiative. Probably, with all the economy sanctioned against them, it's one of their best way to generate income. 

We managed to exchange our USDs to MMKs (Myanmar Kyats) at a good rate in one of the local bank kiosks in the airport, with USD300 to MMK 261000. I had to stuff these huge stacks of Kyats into my rug sack, terrified that it'll get pick-pocketed or we would get mugged outside. Well, I realized I was wrong when I found out nobody really robs tourists here in Myanmar!

I had already made a reservation for a room in the Ocean Pearl Inn in Yangon for USD30 per night, en-suite bathroom with air-cond and wifi. Well, the main reason was that they had complimentary pick-ups from the airport, which saved us USD5 each. So, the hotel staff met us up at the arrival hall and shoved us into the hotel van and off we went to our hotel, with a Canadian, and 2 other Malaysian aunties.

On our journey to the airport it was an eye-opening, seeing locals walking on the streets with they daily livings, reminding me of how the rural scene in Malaysia is. Folks wearing their longyi, occupied with their daily routines while spitting out red splutters which seemed like remnants from betel nut chewing from their mouths. Street pedlars trespassing the busy roads, sieving through the cars marketing their goods, trailed by the paupers in shabby clothes knocking on your window panes for alms. We passed through shrines and stupas of various shapes and sizes, until we got lost counting them, and finally the van entered the city centre, noisy and dusty and hot. 

We finally arrived in our hotel around 10am, after an arduous journey of 26km from the airport to the CBD. Having checked in and refreshed ourselves, it's time for a new journey to Yangon!