Nana and Grandad on their travels - Day 1

Just arrived in Yangon. Got to our hotel, the Winner Inn, at 11am ish. Nice place. Not quite as advertised, surprise, surprise! It will do the job just nicely. Very, very hot. 36 degrees c and quite muggy. 

Quick trip from Singapore but a long, very hot drive from the airport. Pretty interesting though cos today there is the first day of the water festival. The road was packed with wee trucks loaded with people of all ages with barrels of water on the back, water guns, buckets etc throwing them over people they passed and each others trucks. Even kids sitting on the roof. Along the side of the road all the way from the airport were people skirting hoses and throwing buckets of water. Loud music. Real water party atmosphere.

The water festival or Maha Thingyan is to celebrate the BurmeseNew Year. We got drenched walking to and from the  Shwe Dagon Pagoda. The town is buzzing with smiling, wet faces. People are outside their closed businesses with barrels of water and hoses throwing them at passing trucks crowded with people on the back. All ages are involved from wee toddlers to older people. We were hosed and had buckets of water thrown at us. All in good fun. I had a whole bucket tipped over my head. I feared for my camera but my quick reactions saved the day! Bit of a shame because I wont' be going out with it again today. 

It is pretty cool being here during a festival but it means that most stuff is shut. Thats okay. We didn't come here to shop and we are coming back at the end of our trip so we will see what it is usually like then. 

Not long after a bucket of water was tipped over my head. 

We stopped for a bit of kai on our travels to look at the pagoda. Curried Duck and Curried Fish with spinach and garlic and fish broth. Not to mention good old Myanmar beer which seems to be the brew of choice in big bottles. Nothing like a cold one to get you going. 

The Shwedagon Pagoda was a pretty spectacular set up. Puts the old Christchurch Cathedral to shame for sure. The top bit, they call the umbrella weighs 5 tons and half a ton of that is solid gold. The very top bit has 4531 diamonds in it and even more gold on it. The bit that sticks out at the top, the vane has over 4000 gems in it. Such a poor country. Such extravagant temples. 

The temperature at the temple wasn't pleasant. Our feet were burnt on the tiles. Even on the tiles in the shade our feet cooked. We lay down with the locals and the monks for a short time to get out of the heat. It was 37 degrees celcius when we left our hotel (the Winner Inn!) and that was about early on. Hate to think what it was this afternoon. 

After the pagoda visit we went and lay by a lake. We were stared at and had lots of greetings yelled out to us. Two wee girls were just fascinated by us. We said hello and the went to their family saying "Hello, hello, hello..." over and over. They kept coming for another look at us. When we left I said "Bye, bye" and then they giggled and said that over and over. So cute. I guess that is what happens when you travel with a tall guy in Asia. 

Mick's plans were ruined at park today. 

Personally I just like wandering the streets seeing the stray dogs, the locals doing local things and interesting buildings, fences, footpaths and powerlines. It is certainly in a state of disrepair in some places but it has character. I noticed today that it doesn't really have that putrid smell that we noticed in Hanoi and Phnom Penh. There were a couple of places that we noticed what I call the "South East Asia Smell" but very few place. 

Everyone seems so friendly. Most the truckloads of New Year celebrators waved and yelled out to us on the way past. We seemed to be a bit of a novelty to the locals at the temple. Lots stared and some asked to have photos with us. We only saw one other European looking person there today and seen only four others in our travels in the town.