Yangon or is it Rangoon?

I've been so excited about my trip here for awhile. I flew into Rangoon, didn't arrive till 2AM as the flight was delayed. Couldn't believe how tiny the airport was - it's comparable in size to Prestwick, maybe even smaller. I booked a hotel room as I heard many hostels don't keep your reservation if they can sell their room off to someone else and as I was arriving so late that would probably be the case.

I got a good sleep and ate a big breakfast and was out exploring by 7 in the morning. Did loads of walking and exploring the city. It's really interesting to walk about in Rangoon as there are so many things happening there is a real buzz of activity. The buildings are charming and reminiscent of an era long gone, this city is changing very fast and you can see plenty of foreign advertisements on huge billboards. I'm sure that's gonna become even more the case over the next few years as the government looks for more and more investment in the country.

My only obligation on my first day was to change money, so once I did that and collected my huge wad of notes (it ended up being far too much for my trip) I spent the rest of the day exploring and chilling. I'd walk about take a bunch of photos then sit and have some tea or a snack then go and wander about some more. I only realised this afterward but I didn't actually speak to any foreigners till I got to Bagan. The hotel was pretty much filled with old people and I didn't see that many tourists on my walking trail. I actually didn't go to the main site Schwedagoya Pagoda because I wanted to leave that for when I flew out of Rangoon a few weeks later.

Sule Pagoda.

Selling oranges, apples and kids apparently.

Central Rangoon.

Under these umbrellas are snacks and the bettel tobacco for the worker's at a nearby building site.

Overlooking the train station.

These types of dilapidated but still charming buildings are all over Rangoon.

This was by the docks on the Irrawaddy river

The gold hurts your eyes in bright sunshine, is it real?

Around the Botataung pagoda.

This explains the different parts of the pagoda structure.