Well, its been a bizarre sort of a day. Nevertheless, Yangon is starting to reveal itself to me. Today being a Monday, is the first working day since I arrived late on Friday. While I saw plenty of people working on the weekend, clearly there is a lot more traffic during the week. And it's officially pretty crazy. I thought there was something missing, and today I realised what it was. No motorcycles, and that includes scooters as well. Scooters are the staple transport of Asia, so what's going on? Then I vaguely recalled some info to that effect when Chris and I were planning the big trip 10 years ago. The ruling elite were quite concerned about the risk of assassination by fanatics shooting into car windows and getting away rapidly on motorcycles. And the guide confirmed as much today. I think they have been watching too many movies, personally.
Have to say, I wouldn't like to be riding in Yangon, and I'm glad I let Kay Kaesler from Big Bike Tours talk me out of it. They had three clients crash on the last tour they ran into Myanmar, all taken out by traffic. There are traffic lights, but not much else. It's very unpredictable, people make all sorts of movements, especially changing lanes (and there are few actual lanes marked) with no indication other than a quick toot on the horn. The only saving grace is that the pace is fairly subdued. Pedestrians go wherever they like, whenever they like, and the drivers in Yangon are not used to looking for scooters, so on a bike, it would only be a matter of time. Then there is the widespread use of right hand drive vehicles (there are thousands of them) but traffic drives on the right, so nothing makes sense, and the risk factors just pile up. I wonder what the rest of the country is like?
Today I crossed the Yangon River on a ferry, for a look at the much more rural heartland on the other side. It was like a different world. No problem with scooters over there, it was much more normal. I even saw a Honda Shadow, and thought about the one Roger Knapp killed in Alaska. Hi Rog ! Its a pretty substantial river, able to take full size container ships, and it buzzed with activity of all descriptions. Plus it gave me the opportunity to look back at the Yangon skyline. There is very little high rise, only a handful of buildings and a few cranes indicating construction. I assume that eventually it will go the way of all other big cities, but the question is when.
The area across the river was virtually third world, and quite confronting, but everybody seemed to be going about their business without a care in the world. Most of the buildings could best be described as shacks, possibly hovels, with stagnant water everywhere, breeding God knows what. Life looked basic and very hard. Not much air conditioning around here. And no fly wire! Skinny cats and dogs roamed the streets, and there was trash everywhere. Once again, the nemesis of modern day packaging strikes. It was all plastic wrappers, bottles, bags, polystyrene foam, Why don't people get it??? Nobody is ever going to pick it up and it won't go away until it gets flushed into the ocean by the monsoons. But of course, it will just keep on coming. Help!!
At this stage, I was being carted around in a bicycle rickshaw, like Lord Muck of the Fowlyard! I noticed the dismay on the face of the poor little guy who was pedalling when I got in. It didn't take long! About 15 minutes later, one of the overloaded tyres spat the valve out. I had to wait in a shop while he got it sorted. I asked for an orange soda, pointing to a refrigerated cabinet with Fanta or similar. Back came a glass of juice, freshly hand-squeezed by a kid with doubtful at best personal hygiene standards, AND it had ice in it. Hmm, to drink it or not? Against my better judgement, I did, and so far no problem. Here are a few photos, it was tricky trying to shoot from a moving rickshaw, but I didn't want to make the poor bloke lose his momentum. So these photos could have been a lot better, but I already felt like a bit of a dick pointing a camera at people from a rickshaw, like they were zebras or something.
River fish being dried (and fly blown) in the sun. Mmm-mm.
At one point, we stopped to have a look at some guys making some kind of thin crepes, similar to the kind they use in Vietnam for making cabbage or spring rolls. Talk about a rough job. These guys were putting the batter on searingly hot charcoal heated hotplates- by hand, mind you- while working under a tin roof. It was absolutely stifling. Then they handed them over to mum, who was sitting down counting them into bundles. What a way to exist. I counted my blessings.
Going back on the ferry, I was going for a surreptitious shot of the yellow powdery stuff people rub on their faces here. It's some kind of tree bark, ground into a paste, and probably 50% of the people you see, of both sexes, use it in varying degrees. Its for decoration, and also used as a sunscreen. This chick has put hers on with a trowel. Then I noticed the facial expressions in these two photos. At first, she's got some kind of problem, but in the second, a subtle look of triumph as she overcomes it. A total fluke, but an awesome photo in my humble opinion.
I finished the day at what is probably the top hotel in Yangon, The Strand, for their renowned High Tea. This place was really something, everything you would expect from a place that catered for the British upper crust. Not dissimilar to Raffles in Singapore. It was included in my itinerary, so I went with the flow. And yes, it was fantastic! Very weird after what I had been looking at all afternoon.
Have to say, I wouldn't like to be riding in Yangon, and I'm glad I let Kay Kaesler from Big Bike Tours talk me out of it. They had three clients crash on the last tour they ran into Myanmar, all taken out by traffic. There are traffic lights, but not much else. It's very unpredictable, people make all sorts of movements, especially changing lanes (and there are few actual lanes marked) with no indication other than a quick toot on the horn. The only saving grace is that the pace is fairly subdued. Pedestrians go wherever they like, whenever they like, and the drivers in Yangon are not used to looking for scooters, so on a bike, it would only be a matter of time. Then there is the widespread use of right hand drive vehicles (there are thousands of them) but traffic drives on the right, so nothing makes sense, and the risk factors just pile up. I wonder what the rest of the country is like?
Today I crossed the Yangon River on a ferry, for a look at the much more rural heartland on the other side. It was like a different world. No problem with scooters over there, it was much more normal. I even saw a Honda Shadow, and thought about the one Roger Knapp killed in Alaska. Hi Rog ! Its a pretty substantial river, able to take full size container ships, and it buzzed with activity of all descriptions. Plus it gave me the opportunity to look back at the Yangon skyline. There is very little high rise, only a handful of buildings and a few cranes indicating construction. I assume that eventually it will go the way of all other big cities, but the question is when.
The area across the river was virtually third world, and quite confronting, but everybody seemed to be going about their business without a care in the world. Most of the buildings could best be described as shacks, possibly hovels, with stagnant water everywhere, breeding God knows what. Life looked basic and very hard. Not much air conditioning around here. And no fly wire! Skinny cats and dogs roamed the streets, and there was trash everywhere. Once again, the nemesis of modern day packaging strikes. It was all plastic wrappers, bottles, bags, polystyrene foam, Why don't people get it??? Nobody is ever going to pick it up and it won't go away until it gets flushed into the ocean by the monsoons. But of course, it will just keep on coming. Help!!
At this stage, I was being carted around in a bicycle rickshaw, like Lord Muck of the Fowlyard! I noticed the dismay on the face of the poor little guy who was pedalling when I got in. It didn't take long! About 15 minutes later, one of the overloaded tyres spat the valve out. I had to wait in a shop while he got it sorted. I asked for an orange soda, pointing to a refrigerated cabinet with Fanta or similar. Back came a glass of juice, freshly hand-squeezed by a kid with doubtful at best personal hygiene standards, AND it had ice in it. Hmm, to drink it or not? Against my better judgement, I did, and so far no problem. Here are a few photos, it was tricky trying to shoot from a moving rickshaw, but I didn't want to make the poor bloke lose his momentum. So these photos could have been a lot better, but I already felt like a bit of a dick pointing a camera at people from a rickshaw, like they were zebras or something.
River fish being dried (and fly blown) in the sun. Mmm-mm.
At one point, we stopped to have a look at some guys making some kind of thin crepes, similar to the kind they use in Vietnam for making cabbage or spring rolls. Talk about a rough job. These guys were putting the batter on searingly hot charcoal heated hotplates- by hand, mind you- while working under a tin roof. It was absolutely stifling. Then they handed them over to mum, who was sitting down counting them into bundles. What a way to exist. I counted my blessings.
Going back on the ferry, I was going for a surreptitious shot of the yellow powdery stuff people rub on their faces here. It's some kind of tree bark, ground into a paste, and probably 50% of the people you see, of both sexes, use it in varying degrees. Its for decoration, and also used as a sunscreen. This chick has put hers on with a trowel. Then I noticed the facial expressions in these two photos. At first, she's got some kind of problem, but in the second, a subtle look of triumph as she overcomes it. A total fluke, but an awesome photo in my humble opinion.
I finished the day at what is probably the top hotel in Yangon, The Strand, for their renowned High Tea. This place was really something, everything you would expect from a place that catered for the British upper crust. Not dissimilar to Raffles in Singapore. It was included in my itinerary, so I went with the flow. And yes, it was fantastic! Very weird after what I had been looking at all afternoon.
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