Yangon is Myanmar’s largest city and used to be the capital of the country. Yangon is also known by its former name Rangoon. While overcrowded and parts in poor condition, Yangon is seeing investment and rising real estate prices.
Not surprisingly, there is a lot to do in Yangon, but you aren’t going to find the modernity of many other large Asian cities. A lot of the buildings are from the British Colonial period.
Some of the things to do and see include the following:
Shwedagon Pagoda:
This is a rather large Buddhist temple that features various spires some of which are wrapped in gold.
Not surprisingly, there are a lot of other pagodas that can be visited in Yangon as well. Another famous one is
Bogyoke Market
The Bogyoke Market is a long standing market in Yangon that sells a variety of food products as well as many trinkets. Shopping in markets is something that I am both excited to do because I’ve never experienced it before, but I’m also a little nervous just because it is so very different from the shopping we do here in the States.
Inya Lake
Not only is this supposed to be one of the more romantic, beautiful places in Yangon, but it is also in a very prominent area. The property surrounding the lake are some of the nicest, most expensive estates in Myanmar. So exploring the lake area can give you some view of how the more prominent Myanmar citizens live their life. Unfortunately, it won’t be representative of actual life in Myanmar for most residents. While, I think it would be interesting to see, I am definitely more interested in seeing how the average Burmese person lives, not the extremely fortunate.