The intense heat and the blackouts continued in Yangon. My guest house didn’t have a working generator, so when the power went out, so did the A/C and the fan. And so I went in search of a coffee shop with air conditioning. Along the way, I picked up a…
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VIDEO: Streetside Repairs in Yangon
One of my favorite aspects to living and traveling in Asia is that it is often far easier (and cheaper) to accomplish daily tasks. In Taiwan, for example, getting a new muffler on your scooter can take thirty minutes. You simply drive up to the shop, they remove the old…
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VIDEO: Lunch in Yangon, and a Hostel Tour
This video was shot before I got sick in Yangon. I just never had the chance to upload it at the time because the Internet cut out mid-upload constantly (with all the power blackouts), and I gave up. I wasn’t going to upload it at all, but I figured I…
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VIDEO: Slow Ride in Myanmar! On the Circular Train in Yangon
I’d heard about the circular train in Yangon from a number of people, and it seemed like something that was right up my alley – a chance to just sit back on a 3-hour train ride to nowhere and watch the world pass by. That it was in Yangon, Myanmar,…
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Yangon River Crossing – Big Boats and Little Boats in Myanmar (Burma)
It was another hot day, but I took to the streets to walk down to the Yangon River. I didn’t know what was down there, and I wanted to find out. Was it an industrial wasteland? Was the shoreline dotted with fishing villages and fishing boats? Could I even reach…
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Near Heat Stroke at Stunning Shwedagon Pagoda (Yangon, Myanmar)
Heat stroke might be overstating things a bit, but perhaps not. The heat was intense on my trip to the beautiful Shwedagon Pagoda, and the sunlight bouncing off the white stone tiles was so bright that it was difficult to even keep my eyes open at times. The stone was…
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Myanmar Water Festival | Thingyan 2019 | Burmese New Year Day 3: Happiness Level Extreme!
On Day 3 of the Water Festival, I knew a bit more what to expect. Thinking back, I probably should have gone to a different part of Yangon, but I didn’t know where else to go. So I stayed in my own neighborhood near City Hall and Sule Pagoda. I…
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Myanmar’s Thingyan Water Festival 2019 – Day 2: Happiness Level Higher!
Once again, I had no idea what to expect on Day 2 of the Thingyan water festival in Yangon. Would things change? Would they just pick up the festive air and the music and the water wars from where they left off on Day 1? If anything, things got more…
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Thingyan Water Festival 2019 – Day 1: Happiness Level High!
I knew about Thingyan. I knew it was Myanmar’s biggest annual festival. I knew it celebrated the arrival of the new year. AND I knew it was a water festival. (That’s one of the reasons I bought a waterproof GoPro and brought it with me.) But, honestly, I had no…
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Sule Pagoda – Beauty at the Heart of Yangon
The Sule Pagoda is over two and a half thousand years old, and it marks the center of Yangon. Right from when I arrived at the airport, its name came up because the final stop of the airport bus was Sule Plaza, and my hostel was located just a couple…