Dhaka to Yangon on Biman Air the Bangladesh Airline, short (1:50hrs) and expensive flight, there are very few options on this route. I got an Uber to Dhaka Airport, traffic was the usual chaos, a policeman offered to bypass the queue at the Airport Entrance for a fee, I declined. Chris Gayle after successfully winning the Premier league cricket final the previous day was also on his way out of the country.

Yangon formerly Rangoon, population 7 million was the old capital of Myanmar formerly Burma.

Landing in Yangon from Dhaka was like arriving on another planet, clean and traffic actually staying in lanes and they drive on the right unlike the surrounding countries which all drive on the left. Apparently this change from left to right happened overnight in 1970 due to the whim of the reigning dictator but most of the cars and busses still have the steering wheel on the right and many of the road signs have not changed either hahaha.

I booked a car and driver (no guide) for 2 days in each of the cities I visited Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan in advance through a travel agency (Hue Nguyen, https://myanmartravel.com/). They also booked my train ticket from Yangon to Mandalay and bus ticket from Bagan to Yangon.

First thing I did was get an MPT SIM card costs 1500 kyat ($1.50) and 2GB Data for 30 days 2999 kyat ($3), you have to give them a copy of your passport photo page. It started working straight away 4G and fast, amazing. Sightseeing for the day was Sule Pagoda, Independence Monument, High Court and the City Hall, Botahtaung Pagoda, Bogyoke Market, Shwedagon Pagoda, National Museum, St.Mary’s Cathedral, very big lying down  Buddha Paya Chaukhtatgyi Temple and huge sitting Buddha Ngahtatgyi Temple. This is the only country I have been to where you have to not only take your shoes off when entering a religious site but also your socks, a real nuisance.

Bago is a town 91 km north east of Yangon and it has the distinction of having the tallest pagoda in Myanmar, on the way is the Taukkyan War Cemetery, the most visited cemetery in Asia, mainly Indian and English soldiers. At the first site you visit in Bago you will be sold a ticket for 10,000 kyat which gives you access to a number of other places.