Wandering in Yangon | Myanmar

Yangon truly is a bustling city. Despite the fact that it’s the former capital of Myanmar ever since 2006 rolled around, and the government relocated to Naypyidaw, it’s still the country’s largest city and commercial center. Over 5 million souls call it home.

The city is also known as Rangoon, but the name was changed to something more nationalistic by the military junta in 1989, along with other colonial-era names, including the country itself; Burma became the “Republic of the Union of Myanmar”.

I was there for 2 1/2 days in total, first when I arrived in the country and before flying out to Bagan the following morning. Then another full day and a half before coming back home.

Arriving in Yangon was a bit shocking at first; as soon as you get out of the airport, you encounter men wearing the traditional skirt (longyi), the locals chewing betel nut, and spitting its reddish juice; you clearly see their addiction to it when they smile, showing their teeth stained in a reddish color. The women were covered in their traditional thanakha make-up. As mentioned in my other post, you really feel that the clock has stopped here.

But Yangon has a lot to offer, I believe that it is often overlooked.  At least for me, photographically speaking, you can spend several days here. The city may be in disrepair, but there are number of colonial buildings worth seeing. There are parks to wander, street markets, the circular train, and of course the Shwegadon Pagoda, (namely the biggest one in the world). There is so much to see and do, that I’d recommend anyone traveling to stay at least 3 days in Yangon, especially if you are into street photography.

I’ll be posting more photos in specific a specific post for the street market, the circular train and the Shwedagon Pagoda. In the meantime I’ll leave you with some photos that I liked the most from the amazing Yangon.

Well, that’s all for now, more coming soon….

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