As we checked our bags at Yangon International Airport, one of the female airline clerks gave me a warm, beautiful smile to which I responded "Mingelaba", which means good day in Burmese. She responded by saying that all you need to connect with our people is three words. - Mingelaba - good day; Jesuba -thank you; and Anate - no thank you. Elsa and I both laughed as those were the three words we had mastered during our travels in Myanmar. And those words had stood us in very good stead wherever we had gone. In our two weeks of travel and six internal flights visiting five different locations, the Burmese people were gracious, warm an d welcoming throughout. Nary a cross word or nasty or comment.
As we walked through Yangon International Airport with it's LED screens and spacious waiting areas we were being prepared for our return to more developed surroundings. The local airports in Myanmar, including the domestic terminal at Yangon, were all much more basic with bullhorns rather than sophisticated screens the mode for alerting passengers of their flights.
We are flying from Yangon through Bangkok to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Just before landing we checked our boarding passes for our next flight. We thought we had an hour or so layover in Bangkok, but our boarding passes had a different flight number and a much later take off time than the information Odysseys had given us previously, including our e ticket Chang had given us this morning. We checked the flights once we landed in Bangkok and learned that our original flight at 1:45 had been cancelled and we are now on the 5:30 flight. So we are wiling away the afternoon in the Bangkok airport shopping and drinking Jasmine tea. And we have learned, or more aptly said, we are trying to learn thank you in Thai, which is "Khob Kun Ka".
So now with plenty of time and no excuse not to write, a few words on our last day and a half in Yangon.
We arrived in Yangon Saturday afternoon. Our flight had been delayed about an hour so we asked Chang privately what he was planning to do for the afternoon. The itinerary for the afternoon included a visit to a museum on the history of Myanmar followed by a trip to Scott Market, the big market with stalls in Yangon. His understanding was that our afternoon was free and that we were returning to the hotel for lunch on our own. He then fished out his copy of the itinerary to confirm his understanding and we showed him ours. And sure enough, they said two different things. Elsa and I said that we did not care about going to the museum but that we would like to go to the market. Ten minutes later, he got on the microphone on the bus to tell all of us we would be going to the museum and market. He had checked with his office and apparently he had been given the wrong information. I loved how seamlessly he handled this situation.
We appeared to be the only ones in the museum and the air conditioning was meager at best, so it was really hot, but complaints aside, it was very interesting. Chang gave us the one hour tour and we saw the throne of the last king of Burma. After Burma was defeated by the British in the mid-1800's, and the king deposed and forced into exile, the British carted the throne and other royal treasures to London to display in the Victoria and Albert Museum. After gaining its independence in 1948, the Burmese prevailed upon the British to return the throne and some of its treasures to Burma (some still reside in the Victoria and Albert Museum). The museum recreates the original throne room, with the throne in the middle of the room, and replicas of the kings other thrones used in his various palaces for different purposes (receiving signatories, meeting out awards and punishments, etc.), displayed in cases around the perimeter of the room. Unfortunately, cameras were not permitted in the museum.
Lunch in a Burmese style coffee shop followed with light fare, which was a welcome change from our multi course lunches. Elsa and I had grilled cheese sandwiches, which Burmese style had fried egg on the bottom. Steve's ham and cheese sandwich was more akin to our version save the crustless white toast (a bit of English influence, maybe?).
The Scott Market was fun, save for the unbearable heat. We were all drenched by the time we headed back to the hotel.
Our farewell Dinner, as Steve described in detail, was at a French restaurant with beautiful outdoor landscaping. It really felt like we had already moved onto another venue!
Some final morning site seeing, including a visit to the huge reclining Buddha and stop at Aung San Suu Kyi's home (from a safe distance of course without traversing the lake on which it is located), followed by another trip to the market for Elsa and me to finish purchasing beads for Ellen took up the better part of our last day in Yangon. Two of our group members departed mid-afternoon, and Steve and the other three in our group took off after dinner. Elsa and I began our journey onward this morning.
We are now sitting the airport food court. I balked at getting a Starbuck's coffee so we got Jasmine tea and a vanilla muffin from Ritazza, which is based in London (we think). We are sitting in front of the Dairy Queen, just steps away from the Burger King and across from the Subway! Oh what we Americans export!!
I just got up to check on our flights and walked past the Thai monks at the table next to us. But unlike the Burmese monks we encountered, these guys would not look my way as I passed. Welcome back to the tourist "friendly" developed world!
Our 5pm flight finally took off at 7:30 and fortunately the Odysseys guide was waiting for us at the airport in Siem Reap. By the time we got to our hotel we had been in transit for well over 10 hours - not very good for what should have been a short travel day. But after a good night's sleep we are ready to embark on our Ankgor Wat adventure.
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