I was just in Yangon very recently, about two weeks ago. What an amazing place. I had very little time for the country (3.5 days) so I stuck to Yangon and made a day trip out to Yele Paya (Midriver Pagoda). That being said, I think 2 days in Yangon is plenty, though Schwedagon Pagoda is a sight in itself at all times of the day. I stayed at the May Shan Guesthouse (I'm a student) and paid 20 bucks a night for a triple on the 6th floor (yes it was just me, but the views of Sule Paya were fantastic and worth the extra 5 bucks over a single with no view). The staff at May Shan, a family of Chinese origin are very kind, can arrange tours, have internet services (1 buck for 10 mins) and do other things. My room was spotless, had satellite tv, air con and of course a decent bathroom.

I noticed that Yangon was quite a worn city, many of the great buildings dilapidated, the roads only in decent condition. Sidestreets were bumpy and of third world nature, with open drains and what not. Everyone wears the traditional lungyi and the women where the golden colored stuff on their cheeks as a type of makeup, sunscreen, religious thing. Pretty cute. People were just unbelievable kind and friendly. Everyone stares at tourists as it is not seen as impolite. All it takes is for you to stare back for a few seconds and smile. Immediately, your smile is returned by many more smiles. A beautiful thing indeed. People are more than willing to help and I was never reall accosted by touts, like I was in Cambodia or Thailand. Once in awhile I would be offered a Taxi or Foreign Exchange.

I met a total of 3 people who spoke badly against the Military Junta. The first was on my first day, when I visited Sule Paya. A monk took me aside and we went into this house cum room. We spoke about everything and then the topic turned to the US and Iraq. Then he turned to the Military Gov't and pretty much went off on it. I made sure to stay quiet as I was quite scared as to what could happen to me if the Gov't heard anything from me. He finished his tirade with, "You go and see... Go and see if anyone in this country opens their mouth. No one will." And it was pretty much true. The Burmese seem to be a very quiet and reserved people (duh, or they could face time in a Burmese prison if lucky.. or just get shot). The second man was my tour guide at Shwedagon. He spoke English quite well and it was abvious he was educated. I think he had studied Botany or something (maybe that was my driver?) either way, he had advanced pretty high up on the scale and when he was finished, he began to teach. He was told to teach music, or something totally unrelated to this field of study, by the government and therefore, was no good at it. He bemoaned the educational structure of the country and how the children cannot ask teachers any questions because they teachers will not know the answers and then will get angry with the children because they don't know the answer. He said it was a vicious cylce and that he wanted no part in it, so he left. He also complained about the fact that universities were placed far apart from each other in order to keep students apart (confirmed later by my driver). This was his shot at the government, but he only mentioned the word "gov't" and the word "military" about once or twice. Of course he looked over his shoulder every five seconds and asked us to move once in awhile. I made sure not to ask too many deep questions, since I know he would answer them anyways. The third person was my driver, who took me to Yele Paya and some other places. It was a long day and I got to know him well. He said nothing of the gov't until after Yele Paya when he noted that Gen Khin Nyunt, the present leader was born near there. I stupidly asked whether he liked Khin Nyunt more than the last guy (Nyunt just became the leader in 2003). He smiled and said he could not answer, while I, in realizing my error, profusely apologized for being an insensitive ........ However, that night, after dinner we were going by Shwedagon when he pointed out the Parliament building across from it. He looked at me and said "Parliament not working right now." He smiled, paused and began laughing "Parliament not working for very long time!" We both had a good laugh at that and left it there.

The Bogyoke Aung San market is very cool, though all the carvings are teak wood and not Ebony wood as I previously had heard. Apparently there are no Ebony forests in Myanmar and the black carvings are merely teak with black shoe polish (I saw the guys putting shoe polish on them). Carvings are still cheap and beautiful though.

Due to sanctions, no credit cards are accepted. It is also imperative to note that I could not access my web based email, yahoo, as Gov't firewalls blocked it off. However one could get into yahoo mail via mail.yahoo.co.in and other non US manipulations. However, once the server figured out that you were a US user, access to your inbox was denied. So I think Indians and Singaporeans and non Burmese enemies can access Yahoo, but I am not sure. www.mail2web.com or whatever that site is, did not work for me. Food is quite good. 999 Shan Noodle being a good place (thanks Lonely planet), and other places outside of town catering to Burmese (my driver took me). Great Indian food. Esp at the Maharaja Restaurant, ask any taxi driver and they will take you. Fantastic Indian fare for less than 4 bucks, nearly a months salary there, but cheap for us. Great service, they hail you cabs and above all the food is great. Myanmar Beer is also quite decent and cheap.

I saw most things. Shwedagaon Paya, Sule Paya, Yele Paya, another Pagoda en route to Yele, National Museum, Bogyoke Aung San Market. Definitely encourage people to visit this nation and see it for themselves. I feel terrible for the people. Such a great people are being repressed.