(This post has been updated.)
About Yangon
Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, is Myanmar’s largest city with a population of 6 or 7 million.
It was the capital of Myanmar (Burma) from 1853, in the days of the British Empire, but in 2006 the military government moved the capital to Naypyidaw, a purpose built city in the centre of the country.
The iconic Shwedagon pagoda can be seen from all over the city of Yangon in Myanmar.
Yangon has relatively few skyscrapers but in Downtown Yangon a lot of the old colonial buildings are still standing although many of them are in a dilapidated state.
The lack of high rise buildings means you can see the city’s most famous landmark, Shwedagon Pagoda, from just about anywhere.
Traffic is a huge problem; traffic jams are frequent and not helped by street vendor stalls spilling onto roadways.
Cars, trucks and buses clog the highways but you won’t see any motorbikes – they’ve been banned in the city since 2003 although they’re the most popular (cheap) form of transport in the rest of the country.
It means that there are more cars and trucks on the road, and rush hour traffic is a nightmare.
Most tourists only visit Yangon on the way to somewhere else, but there are some fascinating things to see and do there so if you have a day or two to spend in the city read on.
Bogyoke Aung San market ( Scott’s market)
Bogyoke Aung San Market in Yangon is housed in a beautiful colonial-era building
A shopaholic’s paradise!
Bogyoke Aung San market was once known as Scott’s market and is named after Aung San Suu Kyi’s father, a former leader of the country who was assassinated in 1947.
The market is housed in a beautiful (and unusually well maintained) colonial building and contains somewhere in the region of 2000 stalls selling luxury items, handicrafts, food, clothing, jewelry, fashion and consumer goods.
Stalls in the material section of Bogyoke Aung San Market in Yangon
There are also more up-market shops in the arcade at the front of the building.
It’s a great tourist destination but also popular with locals.
Scott’s Market, Yangon, Myanmar has about 2000 stalls selling material, jewellery, antiques, luxury goods and food among other things.
We spent several hours wandering around, browsing and bargaining, and bought lacquerware, stone paperweights, jade eggs, material and woven bags. Super place to buy souvenirs and great fun!
A cloth stall in Bogyoke Aung San market in Yangon, Myanmar.
It’s open from 10am to 5pm, closed on Mondays and public holidays.
A walk in downtown Yangon
Driving through the centre of Yangon in an air-conditioned coach might be cool – literally – but at street level the noise, heat and the sheer number of people make for a more memorable experience.
We used Lonely Planet to plan a route that started at Scott’s Market.
This street in central Yangon is an area for vegetable sellers to congregate
The streets, and particularly the side streets, were crowded with pedestrians like ourselves threading our way past stalls hawking vegetables, cooked food, clothes, CDs, bags, shoes … you name it and it was probably there.
The streeets in the centre of Yangon are croded with stalls such as this one selling snacks
Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue
The Moseah Yeshua Synagogue is the only synagogue in Myanmar and serves a Jewish community of about 20
We visited the only synagogue in Myanmar, a beautifully kept building although it now serves a community of less than 20, down from about 2500 before the Second World War.
The MusmeahYeshua Synagogue is the only synagogue in Myanmar and serves a Jewish community of about 20. It sits between an Indian paint shop and Muslim traders.
It lies down a side street, 126th St, off busy Maha Vandula Street, between Indian paint shops and Muslim traders.
Opening Hours: 09:00 – 12:00 daily, Saturdays and other holy days open until evening.
If the building is closed you can get the key from a caretaker next door.
Sri Kali temple
The Sri Kali Temple in the Indian area of Yangon has a roof covered with colourful carvings of Hindu gods.
The Sri Kali temple is in the Indian area of downtown Yangon.
It was built by Tamil migrants in 1871 and is dedicated to the Hindu god Kali.
The exterior, especially the distinctive entrance tower (gopuram), is decorated with colourful sculpture and carvings of scenes from Hindu mythology.
‘Colourful’ is really too dull a word to describe it. Gaudy? Vibrant?
It’s quite spectacular, anyway.
The local Indian community maintains it.
Watch out for the flocks of pigeons on the power lines near the Sri Kali temple.
Watch out for the flocks of pigeons on the nearby power lines!
As in all Hindu temples, footwear must be left outside in the space provided.
For more information about the architecture see https://www.yangongui.de/shri-kali-hindu-temple/
Sule pagoda
The Sule Pagoda in central Yangon is situated in a roundabout but is still a fully functioning temple
Not many cities have a roundabout with an entire, functioning temple in the middle, in fact Yangon’s Sule pagoda is probably the only one.
Fortunately there are pedestrian bridges crossing the road to reach it because the traffic at most times of the day is heavy and fast.
According to legend the original small pagoda was built during the lifetime of the Gautama Buddha, about 2500 years ago but was later enlarged by several kings.
It was named after the Sule nat, a spirit who lived on that spot for millions of years and who found the location where Yangon’s iconic Shwedagon pagoda is built.
The Sule Paya opens daily from 6 am until 10 pm. Entrance fee is US$ 3 per person.
For more information see https://www.renown-travel.com/burma/yangon/sulepagoda.html
Afternoon tea in the Strand
The Strand is a Victorian-style hotel that opened in 1901.
The Strand luxury hotel in Yangon, Myanmar
It faces the Yangon River although you can’t actually see that because there’s a park in the way.
During the colonial period, The Strand was one of the most luxurious hotels in the British Empire with a clientele of exclusively whites.
In 1941, during World War II, following Japanese occupation of Burma, the hotel was used briefly to quarter Japanese troops.
The Burmese were allowed to use the hotel for the fist time in 1945. However following independence in 1948 the government neglected the place and it fell into disrepair. It was sold in 1989 and after renovation was relaunched in 1993 and is once again able to call itself “the finest hostelry East of Suez”.
Its afternoon teas are the stuff of legends as we can confirm after sampling one.
We reached The Strand at 2.30pm, the exact time that afternoon tea begins. After a hot walk around Yangon the cool interior of the cafe was heavenly, as was the selection of delicate sandwiches, cream and jam scones, lemon meringue pies, fruit tarts, chocolate cakes and coconut slices all washed down with Earl Gray tea.
Recommended!
See more about The Strand here.
Check the High Tea menu here.
Yangon’s Circular Railway
Central Station, Yangon, Myanmar
The Circular Railway is the closest thing Yangon has to a metro. It’s a loop of 39 stations that connects the centre of Yangon to the suburbs and satellite towns. The carriages are dilapitated, the stations well-worn and the tickets cheap (200 kyat or about 20c). About 100,000 tickets are sold daily, mostly to poorer people.
Trains and buses are the cheapest forms of public transport in Yangon but the train is more reliable. Apparently it runs from 3.45am to 10.15pm but I wasn’t around at either end of the day to check that out.
For tourists it’s a wonderful way to see more of life in and around Yangon.
Circle Railway train at Pha Yar Lan station, Yangon, Myanmar
There are two rail tracks and trains run in both directions around the loop. Most tourists leave from Central Station although we started a couple of stops away at Pha Yar Lan having missed our way in a jumble of alleys.
Fruit vendor sells a bag of oranges on board a Circle Railway train in Yangon, Myanmar
There are food and drink vendors on most stations and many also travel on the train to sell their goods.
Some trains cover the whole circuit which takes two to three hours. Our train terminated at Insein, paused while a cleaner swept the carriage and then reversed direction.
Well, it wasn’t the most comfortable of rides but it was certainly one of the more interesting.
Shwedagon Pagoda
When in Yangon you can’t miss the Shwedagon Pagoda.
It sits on top of a hill and is 99 meters high. It can be seen from most places of Yangon by day and at night the golden dome illuminates the city.
Shwedagon Pagoda lights up the night sky. It is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in Myanmar
And the dome really is golden.
It is covered with hundreds of gold plates and is “topped by a stupa containing over 7,000 diamonds, rubies, topaz and sapphires, the whole giddy concoction offset by a massive emerald positioned to reflect the last rays of the setting sun”.
It is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in Myanmar and is said to contain eight hairs of the Buddha.
Even in the rain the Shwedagon Pagoda has many worshippers and tourists
When visiting Shwedagon pagoda (or any other pagoda) follow the dress code – wear trousers or at least knee length shorts or skirt; t-shirts with elbow length sleeves are also expected and you are expected to be barefooted when entering Shwedagon Pagoda.
It is customary to circumnavigate Buddhist stupas in a clockwise direction.
Flower and book stalls, peddlers of religious souvenirs and tea shops line stairways and bridges leading into the main sanctuary.
Opening Hours: 04:00 – 22:00 hrs. Fee $8.00 .
More information here and here
See more photos from Myanmar on our Gallery pages – Faces – Places
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Here are five suggestions for tourists visiting Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon.