Restaurant Doubled as Art Gallery

After I bid farewell to my fellow tour group-mates and guide at The Secretariat Building at the end of our morning heritage tour, I followed our original path back to a restaurant called Pansuriya for an early lunch before I left for the airport in the afternoon. The place was quite easy to spot on Bo Galay Zay Street on the eastern side of the city just across the street from the YWCA Building (another heritage structure built in 1902) – the path right outside is almost like a little garden of theirs lined with pots of green plants and the shop sign clearly visible.

Something New from an Unknown Region

Question marks floated over my head when I reached the door of Root Restaurant, a long 15 minute walk to a quiet neighborhood in the eastern side of Yangon. I saw the online reviews of this relatively new restaurant (opened 6 months ago or so) which talked about its specialty of Wa cuisine from Wa ethnic group residing in the mountainous area in the northern side of the country neighboring China. Well I know absolutely nothing about Myanmar geography nor its ethnic composition nor culture, but I was eager to try something new, something that I have not heard of before, let alone trying, so I decided to take a shot. But then when I arrived and found the half-empty restaurant with only a handful customers, I started to wonder whether it’s a good idea.

That Hipster Local Place

My friend was spot-on when she described Rangoon Tea House as a hipster joint serving fancy local food at an elevated price. That said, almost everyone I know who have visited Yangon – included those I trusted for travel and eating advice - recommended highly of the restaurant and so I went there to check it out, not once but twice, during my short stay in the city.

Walk in the Historical City

Before departing for Bagan on a domestic flight in late afternoon, I spent the morning on my last day in Yangon walking with a volunteer guide at Yangon Heritage Trust, an NGO formed a few years ago to advise, advocate and provide technical assistance in conserving many of the heritage buildings. Part of their work was to bring public awareness to their cause and shine light on the architecture and historical significance of many old structures that remained in the city, so they hosted guided tours twice a week on different routes, covering a good part of the city center.

Shopping in Yangon

It’s hard not to shop a bit in Myanmar as the country and its people were known for centuries the arts and crafts works, most of them still made purely by hand with traditional methods carrying on from generation to generation. The first stop of my shopping spree was at Bogyoke Aung San Market, one of the major indoor bazaar in central Yangon and one that everyone should not miss if they only had time to shop at just one place.

Mohinga and Noodles

Ask any local what’s the must-try dish in Myanmar and you would probably hear Mohinga mentioned more than once. Many considered this the national dish of the country and the breakfast of choice for most people. First time I tried Mohinga was at a restaurant called Feel near the embassy row where I went for breakfast on the second day. I made a leisurely scroll over after my morning visit of Shwedagon Pagoda on my way back to the hotel, and it’s almost impossible to miss the place once you reach the block where the restaurant was located. By 8am the place was packed with people with an interesting mix of locals and expats, some presumably working in the embassies next door on the same street.

Temple and Train

With the temperature potentially soaring to 36C high at this time of year, I tried to avoid being out and about on Yangon streets during day time at all cost. And thanks to the travel tip I got from my friend A, I started my day of sightseeing early, really early – by that I meant I woke up at 4:30pm and left the hotel before the sun came out. My first stop was the Shwedagon Pagoda complex which houses Yangon’s most famous landmark of the gold-plated giant pagoda viewable even from miles away. I figured by getting there early I could avoid some of the day-time tourist crowd, beat the heat, plus maybe I could find a good spot for some sunrise pictures.

First Night in Yangon

“Once a year, go some place you've never been before” – whoever said that got to be a very wise person. At the turn of this new year, I took advantage of having a break in between jobs to travel a little bit around, particularly to places that I have never been. So far in January I was in Kyushu then in Taichung, and it didn’t stop there. One night I casually mentioned to my friends that I would love to go to Myanmar if Cathay Pacific offered discount tickets for the direct flight to Yangon, the country's gateway city and former capital. Then a couple of days later, I had the air ticket booked through Cathay’s Fanfare promotion to travel there at the end of February.