Just one more night bus away, this time a modern one with a working seat and no naughty monks (but still no sleep) lies Yangon.

Founded in the 11th century and formerly known as Rangoon, this city turned out to be one of my favourite in Asia. It has a great vibe, it’s a real city where as a visitor you are made to feel welcome but it’s not overrun with tourists. I could walk down the busy streets as the only Westerner and feel completely safe. In fact in Myanmar I haven’t worn my money belt or bothered to lock my backpack when I leave the room – it just hasn’t felt necessary.

Yangon was the capital until 2006, when the  government relocated the capital to a purpose-built city, Naypyidaw, in central Myanmar. There are over 7.3 millon inhabitants – I really enjoyed breakfast on the hotel rooftop looking out at some of these people busy tidying their roof gardens and one woman brushing her teeth up there 🤐

I’ve seen a lot of Buddha images since I arrived in Sri Lanka on 1st January and travelled through India and Thailand. I’ve lost count of how many. But just when I thought I’d seen them all, Yangon gave me the Swedagon Pagoda, the mother of all Buddhist temples and this absolutely blew my mind.

In this temple complex there are over 2000 gold Buddha images. How many?! Most Burmese Buddhists visit here at least once in their lifetime. See video for a tiny glimpse…

I tried my best but I’m not sure the awesomeness of this place can be captured on camera or video. There is one huge temple in the centre, surrounded by dozens of mini versions forming a circle, with a little shrine for each birth day, where you pour a cup of water for each year of your life. Or one per decade if you’re going to be there for a while!

In the main temple, according to Buddhist beliefs, there is something very special – the hair relic of The Buddha. Sri Lanka might have had the tooth relic but this is 1-0 to Myanmar in my book.

I made a stop at the National Museum for once and it was entertaining, even if it didn’t meant to be. The rooms were huge and spacious, but mostly empty with a few exhibitions dotted around. In the biggest room was the magnificent Lion throne which was returned from India in 1885. I spent a while walking around the dome looking for the other 7 thrones before reading the text properly and realising they were destroyed many moons ago 🤦🏻‍♀️My other favourite was a collection of weird and wonderful musical instruments, all shaped like snakes or other animals. No photos unfortunately as we had to lock our bags away before entering.

This is something that would have annoyed me if I was on the way to work in London rush hour, but we rode the circular Commuter Train for a few stops to get a feel for the area and admire the view from the open windows as the train passed through surrounding villages. But it wasn’t that busy and nobody seemed to mind although I declined the insect snacks and dried plums that vendors were selling!

Yangon is a good place to explore local markets, full of colourful produce and nobody really tries to sell you anything. I avoided the fish market and the place where they make the dreaded Fish Sauce by burying layers of fish in the ground and leaving it for one year. People are so friendly that I could take lots of photos of the fruit, vegetables and tofu laid out on the ground. I tried some red bananas – slightly sweeter than the yellow ones.

Inside, women were perched on tiny platforms, stitching away on ancient looking sewing machines. It felt like going back in time.

A particularly fun way to get around in Yangon is by tricycle, where you sit side car style on a bicycle. They go pretty fast, especially into oncoming traffic 😂 – see video!

My final day in Yangon, and in fact Myanmar, was spent wandering the old town and admiring the colonial style buildings. This part of the city reminded me a little of Mumbai.

Food was also excellent and although a little more pricey, it meant a change from the daily vegetable fried noodles (“tatalo, fish sauce no!”) – I had the chance to try banana blossom, and ordered a vegetable samosa salad which I did not expect to come as a soup 🤦🏻‍♀️

Inke and I share a love for massage treatments so we headed to a local spa and indulged once again in the full works ❤️

Two weeks in Myanmar has flown by and I’m not sure where the time went. I’ll definitely return when I’m in this part of the world, to visit the beaches in the south and hopefully the mountains in the north will be be more accessible.

I can’t recommend Myanmar strongly enough although I don’t want it to be ruined by tourism. This is the internal dilemma you face daily when travelling – you want a place to be easy to get to but for nobody else to be there 🤔. Just be prepared to move at a slower pace – your meals might take an age to arrive, you might be served the wrong dish, and you’ll have to learn to love the squat toilet but you’ll be rewarded with old fashioned hospitality and be greeted with a smile. Go! ❤️