Myanmar Vlog | Hidden Gem of Southeast Asia | Yangon 2022 | EP 01

Hello, good morning and welcome back to my channel. So, it's a new day, new video and we are going to a new destination today. So, today is 4th of November and my bags are packed. I am heading to Myanmar. Okay, so arrived to Yangon airport and now going for the rapid antigen test. Immigration was very smooth and the process, whole process is very fast. So, the process is something like this that you arrive, you go for the immigration and just before the immigration they check all your documents like your insurance. You are supposed to buy a Myanmar insurance which is mandatory for you to buy Myanmar insurance. Local insurance like our Tata AIG and all will not work here and then you show them all the documents, your vaccination certificates, arrival documents and then you have for the immigration. After immigration immediately you're taken to this antigen test. It takes like few seconds to do this antigen test and then there is a waiting. This is the waiting zone, so you wait five minutes and then after your results I suppose. So, just came out, got this taxi from the taxi booth heading to my hotel. They took 15,000 kyats from me. So, I'm going to get food. I arrived to my hostel. The problem, what happened was that I booked another hotel but when I arrived the hotel was closed like the hotel was not functional. So, I'm going to get food. I'm just going to grab a taxi. So, this guy is guiding me to a place called 19th street where you can just find a lot of street food. So, this is the 19th street, a place here in the south side of the Yangon where I'm going to find some food for tonight and explain the whole story again. I sat down at this restaurant outside of the restaurant and there were two interesting food choices. Able to eat some insects. There are some insects also, prawns and it will be here. The restaurant and the seating area. This man is cooking cockroach. If somebody wants to have cockroach, can have perfect setting. So, once again welcome to the vlog and let me once from a capital of Myanmar. The capital now is Naypyidaw. So, my for 10 days in Myanmar. I'll be going to tomorrow by night bus to Inle which is a very famous tourist attraction. I'll spend there I think two or three days and then after that I'm going to Bagan. After Bagan, I will be going to Mandalay and from Mandalay, I will return back to Yangon again. It's a very happening place. Now, the story that happened with me is that I booked a hotel through booking.com backpackers wedding breakfast and once I arrived to the location, I found out that this hotel is closed like many other hotels in Yangon because of the covid, because of this market that I've shown you right now. There are hardly like three or four percent of tourists which are European or foreigners. 95 percent of people are fellow tourists. So, join me in the journey of Myanmar for the next 10 days. I'll be showing you a lot of pagodas, a lot of adventurous things to do in Myanmar, Vietnam. It's even better in terms of cost. So, join me and hope you like this vlog. So, 10.30, the market is almost empty. People have already had their dinner. I'm going back. I'm also done with my dinner. I'll try to find a taxi now to my hotel hostel. Good morning from Yangon. So, it's day two. Morning 9 a.m. I've woken up, got ready in my hostel. So, I'm just going for breakfast now and the program for today is that we are going to be doing some sightseeing in Yangon and after that I'm taking a night bus to Inle Lake. It's a place so I'm taking a bus to Nongshwe. So, these nice people, they helped me with the bus booking. This is the Myanmar traditional bread, this one. This is toast, coffee. This is the breakfast I'm having at my hostel. In Yangon, getting around is quite easy. Although they do not have a metro rail infrastructure but they do have a Yangon circular railway which operates a 45.9 kilometer 39 station commuter rail network that connects Yangon's satellite towns. The system is heavily used by the local population selling about 150,000 tickets daily. Other than this, you can easily hop on a bus but the language could be a barrier to this. Taxis are a very convenient option and they do not cost a lot to go around the city and you can always bargain. But it's always very easy to get a normal taxi. Just wave at the driver and hop in. Other easier option is GrabTaxi. It's a tech-based aggregator similar to Uber in other parts of the world. If you have internet access, just download the Grab app and start ordering a taxi or motorbike or even a tuk-tuk from the Grab app. The prices are very reasonable. So, I didn't get to include the option of a shared tempo but it seemed it could be an exciting way to travel with the locals. The city has a population of about 7 million people and the primary religion practiced in Yangon are Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Yangon boasts of the largest number of colonial era buildings in Southeast Asia and has a unique colonial era urban core that is remarkably intact. The colonial era commercial core is centered around the Seul Pagoda. I'm approaching my first destination for today which is the Seul Pagoda. It's quite near from my hood hostel. Just walking two minutes. Also looking for that SIM card shop. If I'm able to find that MPT or Mitel and get this eSIM activated because it's very difficult. The problem is that if you don't have internet connection then you will have to rely on the local taxis which might charge you quite a bit here and the good option is you can if you have internet you can use the Grab. Download the Grab app and then you can like similar to like Ola Uber which is very convenient. The Seul Pagoda stands in the heart of Yangon in a roundabout marking the intersection of Mahabandula Road and Seul Pagoda Road. While legends assert the pagoda was founded as far as 2600 years ago, the documented history of the pagoda only extends into the 15th century. Originally one of the many smaller pagodas in pre-modern Yangon, its importance grew after it was made the center of the colonial era city by British engineers following the conclusion of Second Anglo-Burmese War. Its critical position at the nexus of major thoroughfares and its ease of visibility from around the city have made it an important rallying point for both the late 20th and early 21st century political protests. The oldest component of this pagoda is the core of central stupa. The core of the monument has never been subject to archaeological examination. The monument's centerpiece is its classic Burmese style stupa with a prominent flaring base, a bell-shaped body and a tall spire. Standing 46 meters high, it once dominated the surrounding landscape and still stands taller than most surrounding buildings. The pagoda is surrounded by four worship halls and an outer ring of shops and ancillary structures that completely obsecure the base from streetscape. While this creates an oasis of calm in the space between this base of the pagoda and the surrounding roundabout, it reduces the visual impact. Apart from the Siul Nath, the various worship halls honor the most recent Buddhas, Gautama, Cassandra, Konanga Mana and Kasapa, whose relics were ultimately interred at Shwedagon with the Siul Nath's assistance. Like why it's as per days, like tuesday wednesday okay but uh like why it's different days seven days seven different i i want to ask why it is uh different days like when one should prayer okay no it's okay it's okay i will find out okay so uh that was a visit to Siul pagoda and now i'm just going around it on my back you can see some church and this is some another monument behind me the women in Myanmar they apply a special makeup on their face which is which is actually tanaka wood it's called tanaka it's a wood paste mixed with water which they believe is going to give them or it's like they believe they will get good skin out of this product right now i'm in front of the another famous destination in Yangon it's called the and in front of this market you can see a lot of food stalls fruits some kind of so this is another food market with food stalls and on the left and the right sides of food stalls on the left some uh shops for basic grocery items so i'm trying this um something made out of rice yes okay how much 700 700 i wanted to give them give me half but i think they have made two pieces i want to like i'll have half but i'll pay for one okay thank you so much it's kind of sweet with coconut good taste sticky interesting so if i describe it it was rice with sugar syrup some coconut but it was very tasty but too much i told them give me half i'll pay for the full price so what they did was dissected it into two and made two pieces of it it's a very busy street so if there are cars you have to go back and to move back quite interesting place so that's the uh old Bogyok market and i think now they have constructed the new Bogyok market it's more like a mall it's on the other side says new Bogyok market so this is like a big square and there are like small small shops but it's uh i think more like a local market for the local people so buying there maybe in bulk so i sat down at this nice street style coffee place i'm having a nice tea this is a nice tea with the actual i think actual tea with milk but then cooled down this is how this setup looks like so it's my day one in Yangon and i've spent like half day but i can already say that the whole city is very clean there are good footpaths for walking lanes and the city is like not that kind of you know crowded and all everything is sorted traffic is sorted maybe it's a saturday that's why i feel like that but yes it's calm