Lost in time in Yangon
A charm of its own: Colonial buildings in Yangon makes for a picturesque scene. Picture: Liz Price
Liz Price
Sunday, March 15, 2009
YANGON is a city of generators.
The pavements are full of them, from small portable ones to large ones the size of a car. And they are noisy, but necessary. The electricity supply is insufficient to cope with the demand and blackouts are frequent.
Downtown is a contrast of decaying buildings with new ones popping up in between. There are some grand old colonial buildings such as the huge but no longer used Ministers' Office, and the High Court and financial area buildings.
Although Yangon is still the commercial capital of Myan-mar, the administrative centre was moved to Naypyidaw in November 2005.
Despite being a Buddhist country, in downtown Yangon there seems to be more mosques and churches than Buddhist temples. Standing on one corner I could see three mosques within a few hundred metres of each other. There is also a scattering of Hindu and Chinese temples. Just up the road from my hotel was the Muslim free hospital, for the poor of all communities.
The roads are built on a grid system, with lots of narrow lanes connecting the main roads. These lanes are lined with buildings around four storeys high. The architecture is so varied, some buildings have balconies and verandas, windows of different sizes, ornate features.
There are not many sites to see. The most famous one is the Shwedagon Pagoda. This splendid stupa sits high on the sacred shrine of Singuttara Hill, and houses relics of The Buddha and three Buddhas that preceded him. Shwedagon is an impressive place, and the brightness of the abundant gold paint is almost dazzling in bright sunlight. It's not clear how old the pagoda is as archaeologists and Buddhists give different ages, but the current stupa was built in the 15th century and is 98m high. It is one place that every visitor to Yangon has to see.
Another thing to do in Yangon is have high tea at The Strand. In colonial days, The Strand was the hotel, built by the Armenian Sarkie brothers. They also built the E&O in Penang, and Raffles in Singapore. I was lucky enough to stay there in 1986 prior to renovation. But even now you can still see the grandeur of the place, with its wooden and rattan furniture, high ceiling fans and old style shutters on the windows.
Myanmar and Yangon have not really changed much over the decades and still retain an image of the past. Twenty years ago, it was common to see old cars such as Austin on the streets but these have virtually all disappeared, which is quite sad. However you can see some older cars, mostly Japanese.
Yangon is still worthy of a visit, especially if you like to go back in time and see how things were before the modernisation changed things.
The Brunei Times
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Source URL:
http://www.bt.com.bn/en/en/travel/2009/03/15/lost_in_time_in_yangon
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