Back to Yangon

Yangon - The night was woken with heavy rain.   The rain was a long awaited 'blessing' many Myanmar people as their padi field and vegetable plantations have be parched dry by the dry spell of many months.  

Driving around Naypyidaw was eerie with no people on the 20 lane road.

20 lane highway near the Parliament House

After the seminar and a light dinner, we drove to Naypyidaw International Airport.   It was a modern airport that can rival many International airports in the world with a serene lack of passengers roaming around the terminal.   This gleaming airport was built to handle 3.5 million passengers annually, but sits mostly empty.  Just 1,250 tourists arrived in Myanmar via the capital in 2012.

Domestic terminal

coffee cart of illy

The flight on Air KBZ was a bit smooth with seat beat fasten all the way due to the heavy rain.   We decided to eat at our ParkRoyal Yangon Hotel and the choice was Si Chuan Dou Hua.  This is a chain of the famous Singapore restaurant.

Signature 8 treasure tea

Yummy dishes

Left dish - diced chicken with green pepper, cashew nuts and chestnuts
Middle dish - diced beef with green chilli and capsicum
Left dish - brinjal stir fried with oyster sauce and garlic

Comfort food is great for the stomach....

Naypyidaw - the newest capital in the world

Naypyidaw - After the seminar, at around 4pm we drove about 5 hrs from Pyi Oo Lwin to Naypyidaw.  The highway was well constructed with no 'pot holes' and straight road.   Darkness drew very fast and along the way it rained so Dr Kyaw had to slow the car speed down as it might get slippery and the darkness blanket the horizon.

The Myanmar military government moved the capital 10 years ago to Naypyidaw on 27 March 2006.    Naypyidaw is the world's later example of a planned city, built from scratch in a remote and arid hinterland of central Myanmar.  Naypyidaw means 'places of kings'.  Travelling around this capital is like driving around a ghost town with hardly people roaming the streets of the capital.  Foreigners hardly want to come here as there is nothing much to do besides meeting with Government officials and also locals do not want to relocate here as there are not many good schools and amenities.

The government built 3 huge hotel zones - 2 in the south of the capital and one in the north.   But occupancy remains at most times below 10%.

Finally reach our hotel - Hotel Yadanar Theingha an eerie emptiness of this hotel.   I was brought to my chalet resort room and it was big.   The air con was not cold as I called for the technician to fix it - the service in Myanmar is good and efficient.

Dinner was at a nearby restaurant.

dinner dishes

After the long journey, I just slept after watch a TV series.   

Pyin Oo Lwin hill resort

Pyin Oo Lwin - is a scenic hill resort about 1,000m above sea level.   The Royal Reward Resort resort I stayed had many rustic chalets.

my chalet for the night

surrounding chalets

The garden in the center of resort

Our seminar @ the resort

Hearty buffet breakfast and onward to Mandalay

Yangon - Park Royal has a very wide spread of Burmese breakfast.  This is a unique banana on one of the buffet platter.   Big and flat banana,

Saba Banana

Different kuek

We had lunch with Dr Kyaw @ The Golden Duck restaurant - the famous Chinese duck restaurant and then afterwards as a guest in his big house.  We waited till 4:30pm before we set off to the domestic airport bound for Mandalay.

Flight K7 

Air KBZ from Yangon to Mandalay and the flight K7 was a 2 seater per aisle turbo prop airplane.   As the weather is so hot, I was sweating on the plane and took the emergency plastic sheet and starting fanning myself.   The sweltering heat onboard the plane was unbearable even after take off.  Only after 30 mins into the flight the plane after to feel cool with the air-con now in full throttle.    Light snacks was served of sandwiches, butter cake, tea, water and a chocolate.

The flight time was just 1.5hrs...shortly after, the pilot announced that the plane is about to land soon.

Dr Kyaw drove about 2.5hrs from the airport to Pyin Oo Lwin by car which is our final destination.   The journey up the hill resort was dark and winding.   There were also many cargo trucks driving along the same direction with very careful manoeuvring in and out of traffic.

2nd trip to Yangon

Yangon - It was a breeze walking through customs and immigration as there were not many people on board the SilkAir flight.   The temperature is so hot in Yangon @ 41 degrees.   The taxi cost Kyat 8,000 to Parkroyal Yangon Hotel and I was immediately greeted politely upon arrival.   Upon the formal check-in; I was shown my room and it was freezing cold - so I had to set the thermostat to a comfortable temperature.

Mohinga

This is a rice noodle and fish soup staple of the Burmese culture.   It was good and nice to eat.