Shwedagon Paya

Shwedagon Paya in Yangon is truly an awesome sight. It ranks alongside the Eiffel Tower of Paris, Opera House of Sydney, Statue of Liberty of New York as one of the most impressive iconic monuments of the world. It is just sad that it is not given the prominence it deserves probably because of the political situation in Myanmar.

Glitters in gold during daytime and shines at night. A spectacular sight which I never got tired of viewing while I was there. Stayed from around 2pm until 8pm to fully enjoy this spectacular monument. It is one of my favorite sites in the world!

Air Asia flight to Yangon and Yangon Airport

My Air Asia flight left Bangkok promptly at 6am for the short 1 hour flight to Yangon. The flight was great value. However, since i am on budget fare and I did want to pay any extras like for privilege of choosing seat on aircraft, my seat was assigned by the computer. You can not also move from this assigned seat even if there are a lot of vacant seats.

In Cebu Pacific, upon check in you can request for a particular seat which will be given to you if available. You can also change seats once the aircraft is on the air. I guess that makes Cebu Pacific better value than Air Asia!

Anyway, my Yangon bound flight was only a little over 25% full. It was off season in September and not a lot of tourists go to Yangon because of the political situation. Passengers were also mostly Caucasian. Very few Burmese on board. I guess because of travel restrictions for locals.

My surprise upon arrival in Yangon was the relatively modern airport! Not as good as the airport in Bangkok but better than the ones we have in Manila.

No problems at immigration even if Myanmar is under military rule. The immigration officers were actually polite and courteous.

I was picked up from the airport by a taxi arranged by my hotel. The taxi was old and dilapidated, a 60s model car. This was the start of my traveling back in time in Myanmar.

Budget Airlines - Asia

Thanks to proliferation of budget airlines in Asia it is now very cheap to travel around Asia. Recently traveled to Myanmar from Manila on a US$120 airline ticket. Got a US$60 Manila Bangkok Manila ticket on Cebu Pacific, and another US$60 for Bangkok Yangon Bangkok on Air Asia.

Cebu Pacific flight left Manila as scheduled 9pm and landed in Bangkok at 12 midnight. It was a smooth flight. There was a 6 hour wait for my Air Asia flight to Yangon. But that's a small price to pay considering the cost of the Air Asia flight was also a cheap US60.

It was my first time to land in the Suvarnabhumi Airport. Was impressed with the design but there's a problem with air conditioning. It was a bit warm and that made the 6 hour wait for my Yangon flight uncomfortable.