After an amazing breakfast included in our dorm price, we went out to explore. The train station seems to draw us to it, because that is where we ended up. We took the Yangon circular train around the city. Well, kind of. Today it wasn't doing a complete loop but out and back to a place called Insein. We purchased tickets and the train left soon after. The scenery wasn't so interesting; rubbish, railway embankment poor homes, grafitti. But the ride was great fun and the best part was watching the people inside the train.
Darryl spent the outward journey flying a tissue like a kite out of the open window. The tissue was given to him by a fellow 6 year old passenger sat next to him, who was also flying her tissue out of the window. Not wanting to miss out, her 8 year old brother also flew his tissue out of the window too! All 3 of them seemed to be enjoying the game.
We arrived at the final stop and went for a short walk before getting back on the train to return to Yangon. We waited for ages before we actually left. The carriage filled up and lots of people were transporting vegetables and cute green birds in cages. Poor birds, we are certain they really didn't want to be locked up!
We thought we would try a local lunch of Barking Deer Rice Salad, which was tasty. Next we started walking from the centre to the outer edge of Yangon. We passed and explored amazing pagodas. The outside stupa is painted gold and really stands out. Inside is totally different and we have lots of pictures of mini buddhas lining the walls, beautiful carvings gifted from the royal family in Nepal and beautiful umbrellas.
We continued on to the Shwedagon Pagoda which was enormous. There was so much inside; so many buildings, Buddha statues and monks. What a spectacular place! The sunset whilst we were there and the light made the gold stupas glisten beautifully.
As it was dark now, we made our way to the People's Park opposite. Apparently on a Friday there is a dancing fountain and light show. We tried to explain to the ladies on the ticket counter that this is what we wanted to see and they looked confused but said 7 o'clock. We walked around the park amongst many teenage courting couples and explored the fairground area. There seemed to be a large gathering of people celebrating Chinese New Year. A band was playing and they were dining together.
We were not exactly sure where the fountain show was on but we saw a few people running and asking directions at 6.59pm. We just followed them assuming they were looking for the same thing. Great, we had found the fountain area! A married couple were having their photos taken there with the huge Shwedagon Pagoda in the background. At 7pm, we waited and waited but no fountain show! However the park was really nice.
Our walk back to the centre was along the main road and we needed to cross several junctions. The traffic here is quite busy and drivers drive quite fast. They don't give way, slow down or let you cross at all. In fact we are certain they would run you down should you edge out. A very different style to Thailand, where the drivers are quite courteous and India, where they just swerve around you.
We ate at our favourite restaurant where the food is really good and great value. Another plus side is one of the waitresses speaks perfect English.
Bedtime was fast approaching so we walked back to the hostel before they locked up for the night.
