I didn’t realize how big Kandawgyi Lake was until I was trying to walk around it. There were a couple of hotels and restaurants which are on its banks. But what concerns me now is where do I go now? My bus ride doesn’t leave until 3 in the afternoon and I still have few more hours to spare. I think I would be better if I got to the city center to pass the time hopefully in an air conditioned mall, or so I thought. Along the way I managed to pass by the iconic Shwedagon Paya which apparently was nearby Kandawgyi Lake.
I sat in a waiting shed planning my next move. Carrying all my stuff on my back on a hot summer day can really get to you. Finally, I decided what to do. I finally hailed a cab and asked him to bring me to the market in the city center. Along the way, I got a nice look a the city of Yangon. A lot of the city can be considered modern. Though, larger parts of it are still old. Colonial houses are the norm here in Yangon. As if it was stuck in the 1950s. The cars plying the streets are quite old and makes you wonder how they managed to get them to continue to run.
What was obvious here was that the Burmese are a deeply religious lot. There are Buddhist temples on practically every block and it is not unusual to see young monks walking down the street. Not only that, the taxi also passed by a couple of Christian churches. It seems like the religions other than Buddhism are tolerated here. For all the negative news I have been hearing about this place, I thought that was a good thing.
Finally, we arrived at the Bogyoke Aung San Market. It was an extremely busy place and it seems like it was right in down town. Much like a Chinatown of some sort. The market is housed in one big structure and it all seems quite interesting. However, first order of business would be to have some lunch. I walked around the market area but didn’t really find anything interesting. There weren’t any fast food joints here and the eating places were mostly small eateries.
That was when I decided to do what the Romans do. I went inside the market where there was a small cafeteria. The cafeteria itself was very dark and it took me a while before my eyes could adjust to the darkness there. There were stalls inside and all of them have English menus. It seems that this is a popular spot for tourists, in fact, there were a group of tourists eating at that time. I ordered myself some Chinese noodles and watched cafeteria in action.
I found it amusing that the stall owners would all caused a rukus by calling out to anyone going in the cafeteria. They would then surround the customer-to-be by offering their menus and trying to persuade them to go to their side. Other stall owners are more aggressive than others and thus get the bulk of the customers. I noticed that they actually physically pull the customers towards their stall. It is a surprise to see that they actually have any customers at all!
My Chinese noodles wasn’t really fantastic. In fact, I probably had something similar in Singapore or in the Philippines. It only goes to show how significant the Chinese culture has in Burmese society. I really wanted to hang out in the cafeteria since I was very tired from carrying my backpack. But it was really hot in there! One of the nice customers even started fanning me! I was so embarassed I thanked her and paid for my food lest I continued to be fanned by a another paying customer.
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