We arrive in Myanmar and head for the Strand Hotel

Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar

We docked here in Yangon this afternoon and walked across the street to check out the Strand Hotel, right on the main road that runs parallel to the docks. Walking on the road and getting across the street to the other side where the hotel is located proved to be adventures in their own right. There was a traffic light, but no real defined crosswalk so we just tried to clump in with others crossing at the same time, hoping that a group might encourage cars and trucks to stop. We made it, but learned from our guide the next day that the pedestrian has NO RIGHTS here. Vehicles don’t have to give way and very often don’t! The advice was to be VERY CAREFUL when near the streets. On the way to the Strand Hotel, you pass the British Embassy and the Australian Embassy, old colonial era buildings. The street is paved, but very rough and dirty. It has a third-world country look to it, with most buildings seeming in need of major maintenance and most people looking intense. I didn’t see many smiles on the street until we reached the hotel and met the very friendly staff at the entrance.

We checked out the shops in the hotel and the galleries too – some very nice paintings that I really liked, jewelry that I thought looked fun. We didn’t buy anything, but I was fascinated by these interesting musical instruments called “saung-gauk’ – sort of like a small harp, I find out, although we didn’t actually hear one played. I’m including pictures of a couple here that were beautiful.

Finally, to the bar for a beer with many compatriots from the ship. We could just imagine our British friends sitting here in ages past – this was apparently one of the only places with ceiling fans, which would have provided some relief from the sun and heat. Ah, heat! It’s in the 38-40C range – and actually, it’s not nearly as humid as some of the other places we’ve been recently – so that’s a good thing. One of the absolutely blissful parts of our day is having a shower and changing clothes before dinner – we are SO civilized, I think! And – good news – the air conditioning on the ship has been wonderful – and always works! So many things to be thankful for!

Tomorrow, they start serving breakfast on the ship at 3:15am! Why? Because many of us will be hopping on a plane to fly to Bagan. Our group will depart the ship at 5:00am and take only carry on luggage for our one night stay in Bagan – let’s get to bed early tonight!