Sally Robinson explores the former Burmese capital and finds a city and culture unshackled and ready to shine.
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Yangon is a beguiling blend of ancient Buddhist pagodas, tree-lined boulevards and majestic colonial buildings. It's also dusty, chaotic and in danger of turning into a gridlocked building site, so visit now before the bulldozers arrive.
In the past two years Yangon has transformed from a cultural backwater, frozen in time due to 50 years of military rule, to a city on the cusp of joining south-east Asia's boom. Right now it feels like a frontier town in transition. The locals still dress in traditional longyi and only 5 per cent of the population owns a mobile phone, yet shiny new apartment blocks are springing up between the peeling colonial facades. The best way to get around is to walk or take one of the city's cheap and plentiful taxis - just don't expect suspension, seatbelts or airconditioning.
8am
Start the day at Let Ywe Sin, Yangon's answer to Starbucks, the traditional tea shops found on every street corner. Perch on a low wooden stool and sample the local brew - delicious hot, sweet tea made with evaporated milk. Let Ywe Sin, 128 Sule Pagoda Road.
9am
Whatever you need, it's at Bogyoke market, the lively colonial emporium built by the British in 1926: More than 2000 stalls sell clothes, cosmetics, bolts of fabric, rubies and sapphires and lacquerware. Don't leave without buying a traditional longyi, the sarong-like garment worn by the locals. Closed on Monday. Bogyoke Aung San Market, Bogyoke Aung San Road; see bogyokemarket.com.
10am
The cool of the morning is the best time to see the city's remarkable collection of crumbling colonial buildings built during the period of British rule, which ended in 1948. Most are concentrated in a block along Pansodan Street and Strand Road, making a neat walking tour. Start at the 2000-year-old gold-domed Sule Pagoda, which has an ungainly home in the middle of a traffic island in the centre of the city's commercial district. Immediately opposite is City Hall, an architectural mash of colonialism and oriental styles built in the 1930s and still used as government offices. Turn into Mahabandoola Road and you can't miss the scaffolding-clad Department of Immigration building, abandoned in 2005 when the government relocated to new capital Naypyidaw, 300 kilometres north of Yangon. In its prime, it was occupied by the swish department store Rowe and Co, known as the Harrods of the East, but now lies empty. Take a right into Pansodan Street taking care not to trip over the piles of second-hand books for sale on the pavement - anyone for the Times Compact Fun with Idioms? Next up is the earthy-red former high court building, built in 1911. Across the road and further down at 44 Pansodan Street is the imposing mildew-flecked Inland Water Transport building and, a little further down on the corner of Strand Road, the vast, moulding facade of the Myanmar Port Authority. Peer over its window ledges, thick with dust, to see primitive high ceilinged offices with peeling paint, flickering strip lights and slowly turning ceiling fans. Turn left into Strand Road, which runs alongside the river, and walk past the Strand Hotel to the red-brick General Post Office. Stepping inside its cavernous belly is like entering a time warp, with its acres of dusty, antiquated wooden counters, primitive wiring and Bakelite phones.
11am
Double back for coffee at the immaculately restored Strand Hotel, built in 1901, where George Orwell, Somerset Maugham and Rudyard Kipling have all stayed. Inside it's all colonial conviviality: cool marble floors, potted palms and comfy rattan furniture. Once caffeinated, nip across the road and look back towards the hotel for one of the best views of Yangon's British heritage: colonial buildings stretch as far as the eye can see in both directions. Cross back and retrace your steps along Strand Road past Customs House to see the striking Law Court, built in 1927 but now abandoned and obscured by shabby hoardings. The Strand Hotel, 92 Strand Road; see ghmhotels.com.
Noon
Experience the city's working heartland at Sin Oh Dan Jetty on the banks of the Yangon River at the jetty opposite the Chinese temple on Strand Road. Most workers live across the river and a stream of long tail boats does a busy trade ferrying them to and fro. Larger ferries also arrive here from the fertile Irrawaddy Delta, disgorging sacks of rice onto the backs of men who heave them off to be sold in the city. A village of stalls serves up rice, noodles and freshly cut fruit to the workers. Tourists are not allowed to cross the river here, but can catch the passenger ferry from Pansodan Jetty, opposite the Strand Hotel.
1pm
Yangonites are never far from a snack; food stalls line the streets selling everything from noodles and rice to sliced pomelo and watermelon, fresh eggs and prunes marinated in chilli and fish sauce, a local delicacy. The best-known street eat is mohinga, rice noodles in fish soup, traditionally a breakfast dish but available all day. One of the best areas for street food is Chinatown, west of the Sule Pagoda. For a sit-down lunch, Feel Myanmar Food (124 Pyidaungsu Yeiktha Street) serves tasty, inexpensive local dishes laid out on trays - just point to what you'd like; or try Monsoon for Thai, Vietnamese and Myanmar food in a restored colonial shophouse at 85-87 Theinbyu Road; see monsoonmyanmar.com.
2pm
The Ministers' Building is the most atmospheric and politically significant of Yangon's colonial buildings. This majestic, decaying Victorian red-brick building, sometimes known as the Secretariat, was built in the late 1800s and takes up an entire city block. It was once the seat of British power in Myanmar and was also used as the military's headquarters after it seized control in 1996, but has been deserted since the capital relocated to Naypyidaw. Independence icon General Aung San (the father of Aung San Suu Kyi) was assassinated here in 1947 when his daughter was two. Guards and a rusting perimeter fence prevent entry but it's fascinating to walk around the outside peering through the overgrown gardens to the crumbling building beyond. Ministers' Building, bordered by Anawrahta, Theinbyu and Maha Bandoola roads, and Bo Aung Kyaw Street.
3pm
Escape the afternoon heat in the National Museum, a cavernous new building opened in 1996 that chronicles Myanmar's art, history and culture. The organisation is slightly haphazard, but it's still worth browsing the 5000 exhibits that range from from art and ornaments to historic memorabilia. Don't miss the Royal "Lion Throne" used by King Thibaw, one of the last Myanmar kings. National Museum, Pyay Road (no website); closed Monday and Tuesday.
4pm
Take a taxi to the home of Aung San Suu Kyi on University Avenue on the shores of Lake Inya. It was here she spent the best part of 15 years under house arrest before being given her freedom in 2010. During her confinement the road was closed but any signs of turmoil are long gone. Since Suu Kyi's release, the house has been renovated. A manicured grass verge studded with flowers runs alongside a newly erected wall topped with coils of shiny barbed wire. The red flag of the National League for Democracy flaps gently in the breeze. A single guard dressed in longyi and shirt stands outside the closed gate, which bears a photograph of Suu Kyi's late father, General Aung San. There's no need to get out of the taxi, instead ask your driver to head back to town via the nearby Bahan Township (known locally as Golden Valley), where Yangon's seriously wealthy live in a collection of restored colonial homes and newly built mansions.
5pm
Nothing has changed since Rudyard Kipling visited the Shwedagon Pagoda in 1889 and described it as a "beautiful winking wonder that blazed under the sun". One of Myanmar's holiest Buddhist sites, the 2500-year-old pagoda is astonishingly beautiful. Its gold diamond-topped stupa, 110 metres in height, can be seen glinting from all over the city. The lower and upper stupas are plated with more than 21,000 solid gold bars and the top of the stupa is studded with 4531 diamonds. A 4.85-hectare site surrounds it, containing hundreds of temples, statues, shrines and Buddhas in every shape and size. Visit at dusk and watch as the pagoda transforms into a magical fairyland of twinkling lights. Shwedagon Pagoda, Dagon Township, open daily from 4am until 10pm; see shwedagonpagoda.com.
6pm
The leafy boulevards of the embassy district is the place for an early evening martini or two. Head for the upstairs Kipling Bar at the Orient Express-owned Governor's Residence hotel, a luxury teak-floored mansion set in tropical gardens. The Governor's Residence, 35 Taw Win Road, Dagon Township; see governorsresidence.com.
7pm
Le Planteur is the place for a blow-the-budget dinner. Run by a Michelin-starred Swiss chef, it serves French Indochine cuisine in a sprawling red brick mansion with a pretty candlelit garden (22 Kaba Aye Pagoda Road; see leplanteur.net). If the kyats are running low, eat at House of Memories for tasty Myanmar food at budget prices in a charming dilapidated faux-Tudor colonial mansion, once the office of General Aung San. Best seats in the house are on the first-floor balcony. House of Memories, 290 U Wisara Road, Kamaryut Township.
9pm
Join Yangon's expat population at the laid-back 50th Street Cafe Restaurant and Bar, one of the few late-night spots in Yangon. Housed in an old colonial shopfront, the cosy interior has exposed brick walls, live music and pool tables. 50th Street restaurant, 9/13 50th Street, Botahtaung Township; see 50thstreetyangon.com.
FAST FACTS
Getting there Singapore Airlines has a fare to Yangon for about $1028 low-season return from Sydney and Melbourne including taxes. Fly to Singapore (about 8hr) and then to Yangon (2hr 55min). Phone 13 10 11, see singaporeair.com.
Australians must apply for a visa from the Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. Phone +61 2 6273 3811, see mecanberra.org. Forms can be downloaded from the website. Visas are issued for a stay of up to 28 days and are valid for entry within three months from date of issue.
Staying there There is a chronic shortage of hotel rooms in Yangon so book early and don't expect bargains. For high-end colonial luxury, stay at The Strand, from $US380 ($399) a night, or the Governor's Residence (ghmhotels.com, governorsresidence.com) from $430. A cheaper option is the Savoy, from $US280 (savoy-myanmar.com).