myanmar day 3

May 2, 2016

We aimed to start our day around 8:00 AM by, once again, hitting up the fitness center.  Just as before, the same crew occupied the space when we arrived.  I started off with and ended up only doing a 20 minute or so run on the treadmill in my Crocs branded shoes.  Not the most comfortable of runs, but not the worst either.  I did end up with a few blisters and callouses though.  At the fitness center we met a fellow American, Keith.  He had spotted my Dick Evans Memorial Road Race shirt and asked if we were from Hawaii.  A short conversation presumed and the morning exercise was finished.

To our surprise, the breakfast menu had changed, albeit a minor change.  At the end of the day, our breakfast was still your basic Chinese-inspired food.  There was Chocolate cake and it was much better than the warm buttercream cake.  That was probably the highlight of breakfast for me.

Again, we kicked our adventures off at 11:00, catching the circular train to Yangon Main Station.  This time, we took the shorter route and it was much faster than we had thought it would be.  Our goal on this morning was to once again visit the Ministry of Toursim to purchase our tickets for our bus ride to and from Bagan.  The ladies working there were once again extremely helpful and made our lives so much easier.  We again didn't have any particular plans other than visiting the Shwedagon Pagoda later in the day, so we asked for suggestions regarding activities to do or sights to see.  After a few suggestions, we decided that we would catch the ferry from Yangon and cross the Yangon River over to Dala, a small and much more rural fishing village.

The walk to the ferry port was very short, yet very hot.  We decided to search for a longyi, but gave up and decided that at some point, we would find a store with reasonable prices.  While walking to the port, we once again encountered Keith.  He had just come back from Dala and gave us a few suggestions and tips about the ferry.  He mentioned it was worth taking a rickshaw tour around the town and also to look out for anyone trying to scam us.

We hopped on the ferry and were quickly greeted by an all too friendly kid who seemed interested in making a buck off of us.  We ignored him for the most part, and got to enjoy the madness that is the Yangon-Dala Ferry.

Yangon-Side Port

Aboard the Ferry

Exiting at Dala

The ferry itself was a bit reminiscent of the circle train.  There were essentially only locals on this ferry, transporting goods to and from Yangon and Dala.  There were people selling fruits and drinks, and also a few children begging for money.  I should interestingly point out that the port was built and funded by the Japanese Government.

As soon as we exited the ferry in Dala, we were approached by another all too friendly kid who wanted to show us around Dala on his rickshaw.  I had a hunch that this kid was going to try to rip us off at some point, so I tried to ignore him for the most part and insist that both Erik and I are uninterested.  Erik took it one step further by pretending to only speak Spanish.  Now, this kid insisted, and was correct, about the fishing village being too far to walk to.  However, we weren't about to let this kid have his way.  So we continued walking in the hot sun and he continued to follow us.  We were probably pestered for around 15 minutes and ran into a couple, who were perhaps the only other foreigners in Dala who were also being pestered by another kid.  We had a little laugh about it and continued walking.  I had no idea where we were going, but at this point, I was just amused that this kid still insisted on following us.  He eventually broke and told us that he would drive us around for free.  Nothing is free in this world, so that when we could confirm that this kid really was trying to scam us.  Since it was hot, we decided to find a place to sit down and have a drink.

We found a "bar" that seemed comfortable and unsurprisingly, found the couple that we saw earlier sitting down already enjoying a drink.  They offered us a seat on their table and we enjoyed a short conversation with them.  Also ex-pat's, working as teachers in Vietnam, we talked about places of travel and also discovered that one of them was a former JET.  It was a nice conversation despite the heat and a good time to cool down with a drink.  They decided that they wanted to head back to Yangon so they left us to catch next ferry.  Erik and I decided that we'd have another go at finding a rickshaw and eventually stumbled upon a good guy.

It was actually a bit more difficult than we originally had thought to find someone to give us a ride.  Apparently the only people who approach you are the ones who want to scam you.  In the end, we met a man by the name of Tada (of course I assume my spelling is incorrect).  Although he told us that he was only 36 or 37 years old, the harsh life of Dala must have taken a toll on him as he looked much older.  He took us around the village and gave us opportunities to take pictures and stop as we pleased.

Rickshaw through the village

A cattle minding his business

Dala 

Fishing boats along the river 

A pagoda in Dala

Tada was a genuinely kind man who worked hard for his money.  We assumed that he mustn't make very much money as there didn't seem to be any sort of tourist presence in Dala.  We paid him his asking price and then some in thanks for his service.  He even let me pedal the rickshaw upon request for a bit.  It was easier to pedal the 3 us than I thought, but it's still no walk in the park.  Visiting Dala was probably one of the highlights of this trip to Myanmar for me.

By this time we were exhausted.  We returned by to Yangon by ferry and began looking for a Longyi.  A nicer-looking store gained our curiosity and we ended up buying a Longyi from this store in addition to me having a pineapple smoothie there.  Catching a taxi would have been convenient, but we opted to walk to Swhedagon Pagoda.  I don't know exactly how far it was from the Port, but it definitely wasn't close, especially in the 100 degree heat.

Although walking in the heat is tiring and taxing on the body, it is a good way to see the city.

Yangon

Their menu suggested nothing related to Hawaii

Myanmar Soccer Leauge

We eventually reached Shwedagon Pagoda in the late afternoon.  We put on the Longyi's with the help of one of the workers there and made our way up to the Pagoda.  Luckily by this point, the sun had, for the most part, gone down.  This made our barefoot walk on the tiles much more bearable.

The pagoda was big and exquisite.  There was a lot going on.  I'd come across a lot of similar sites to the Shwedagon Pagoda while in India, so it had a familiar feeling for me.  Despite this, the pagoda was still breathtaking.

The pictures of the pagoda can speak for themselves.  Although, these pictures do not justify the magnificence of the Shwedagon Pagoda.  I'll say this... Legend says that strands of the Buddha's hair are buried beneath the pagoda.  In addition, legend says that there are countless amounts of treasures buried as well.  So much in fact, that it was said the value of the treasures beneath the Shwedagon Pagoda equate to more than the amount of money all the banks of England have.  This is something that we may never know, but it is interesting to learn.

The sun began to set and we left the pagoda, headed for the Chinatown Night Market.  We again walked from the pagoda to Chinatown and the sun had completely set by the time we arrived.  When we arrived the streets were already bustling.  The vendors were out and the streets came alive.  Again, it reminded me a bit of India, but this time around, I felt safe.  Not a single vendor tried to sell either Erik or myself anything, nor did anyone seem to stare at us.  It felt completely normal.  It was a great feeling.

Vegetables

Fruits

Vegetables and fruits

Food stalls

More food stalls

Even more food stalls 

Bugs.

Big ass durian.  If you know, you know.

It was fascinating to see the various things sold at the stalls and to see the locals socialize in the streets.  We walked down a side street that appeared to have many places to eat.  There were tables set up, practically on the street, and we noticed there were quite a bit of foreigners there.  I thought this must be the safe place to eat at.  So we got a table.

Our table was shared with a group of locals.  We didn't speak to them, but we were fortunate enough to get accidentally spit on by them and their betel nut.  It wasn't good times.  But despite that, it was a good experience.

Fried rice and Fish

The streets were alive.

While eating, we saw Keith looking for a place to eat so we called him over.  We had a lengthy chat and really got to enjoy the Yangon vibes.  Although I ended the night having smoked an entire pack of cigarettes through second-hand smoke, I found it to be another highlight of the trip.  It felt like I was able to experience Yangon.  It's difficult to explain, but it was a moment that could have never ended and I would be content.

Soon enough it was nearly past 10pm and it was time to call it a night.  It seemed in our best interest to actually catch a taxi back to the hotel so we pooled with Keith and eventually said our goodbyes.

There was no soccer on this night, so the day came to an end.