Thursday, February 26: After having my light lunch at The Strand, I walk up Pansodan St., a street with monumental buildings that was, a century ago, a prime business address in Yangon.
I turn down 37th St., brimming with street side bookstalls; it’s known as Yangon’s open-air library. I love seeing all the colorful books stacked neatly on the shelves.
It seems every inch of sidewalk space is filled with vendors of every type.
I love the wrought iron balconies, their once bright colors fading and peeling.
I always love to look at newspapers in other countries and wonder what their headlines say.
I am now determined to visit the famous Bogyoke Aung San Market, also known as Scott Market, but it’s hot and a long walk; my feet are killing me. I sit down on a plastic stool at this man’s lemonade cart and enjoy an ice-cold lemonade.
Scott Market serves both locals and tourists and sells cloth, gems, souvenirs, cosmetics, sewing supplies and cheap clothing. At the market, I buy three more pairs of the cotton pants I’ve become so fond of.
I keep marching on, although by this time, I have blisters on my feet.
I happen to come across a foot massage place, Sapel Foot Spa. I get an hour-long foot massage, with back and shoulders included, for around $15. I like my masseuse’s haircut so I take a picture of it and ask her to recommend a hair salon. I head immediately to the recommended spot for a haircut because after 6 weeks of traveling, my hair has become quite shaggy. I get a long shampoo and head massage which I think – and hope – will never end! All of this plus the haircut for around $7. Sadly, the haircut doesn’t look the same on me as it does on her. 😦
While I’m walking back to my hotel, I stumble across a street celebration of some kind.
I go back to my room to relax awhile then go out later to a place called Mr. Chef. I get irritated because they don’t have anything I order: I ask for shrimp wontons, shrimp & cauliflower, a banana yogurt shake – all listed on the menu. They are out of all of those! I finally settle on an order of prawn spring rolls.
I’m exhausted after my day-long city walk in Yangon. Tomorrow will be my last day in Yangon; I fly back to Mandalay on Saturday, where I’ll spend the night. I’ll fly back to Kunming on Sunday, March 1, and then to Nanning on Monday, March 2. The end of my six-week holiday is fast approaching….
Love those faded Colonial buildings!
Me too, Sue! Thanks for dropping by and for commenting. 🙂
You are most welcome
It’s so colourful and I also like foreign language books and newspapers, even though I can’t understand them.
I keep forgetting to come back here, Cathy, but I saw the last post on Facebook. Any idea how many more posts to finish the series? It’ll be sad in a way. End of an era 🙂
Thanks for coming back, Jo, to finish out this very long series!! I took so many pictures in Myanmar that it took me ages to go through them! I have one post in the making for tomorrow, then possibly one more post which will finally finish off my trip to Myanmar!! At that time I returned to China, and at least I finished all of those. I guess that will be the end of Asia for me for awhile. 😦
It’s been an incredible effort. The Shwedagon is definitely a favourite 🙂
Thanks, Jo. Shwedagon is quite amazing all around. It would have taken me all day to see everything there; it had so many shrines and sweet spots to explore. 🙂