Tips & Tricks Yangon
- the best views of the Shwedagon pagoda are towards sunset. Just reach around 4:30 pm to allow enough time to visit the complex and than just relax waiting for the sunset and enjoying the changing colours of the stupa; entrance is 8000 kyat for foreigners (roughly 6 USD);
- choose a place to stay in Downtown; it will make it easier to reach Sule Pagoda and even Shwedagon Pagoda;
- walking is your friend in Yangon; for longer distances (including for returning in the evening from Shwedagon Pagoda to Downtown) just grab one of the cabs you will easily find on the street; they are pretty cheap (as an example a trip one way from Downtown to Inya Lake was 3,500 kyat – roughly 3 USD);
- pay attention to the floors in the pagodas especially if it’s raining or the caretakers cleaned the terraces;
- a small umbrella could prove useful towards the end of the rainy season although there are plenty of places to take cover;
- you can find these days money exchange machine in the Yangon airport as well as money exchange offices; there are plenty of ATMs all over Yangon and some places even accept payment with cards (Visa seems to be accepted usually);
- there are no traffic lights for pedestrians; for cars the traffic light is located usually on top of the street in front of the cars; if you want to cross the street usually use the corners and cross when the cars have a red light if possible; same rules as in other Asian countries would apply, look before you cross, don’t run just walk and try to estimate the right time to pass; if in doubt follow a local.
