The White House Hotel is conveniently located in right in the middle of downtown Yangon. It is hidden in the jungle of tall but old British era colonial buildings. This makes it an ideal place to start exploring Yangon on your own. From the roof top of the White House Hotel you can get a great view of the surrounding area. Somehow it is just tall enough not to be obstructed by the surrounding buildings.
Yangon by the looks of it, seems to be an old city and it shows. It seems that ever since the British left Burma, not much construction has taken place. It was like everything was frozen in time. From the roof deck of White House hotel you can see all these colonial buildings slowly giving way to age. The plant life from decades of rain has growing, giving the buildings that old but authentic appearance. It guess this is in contrast to the presumably old but squeaky clean, newly painted shophouses that can be found in Singapore, I’m not saying that being squeaky clean is a bad thing but the old feel or Yangon feels more authentic.
The White House Hotel is located nearby several landmarks including the market which was just around the corner. The building could might as well be a shopping mall in this day and age but right now it is just a market. The streets of Yangon are noticeably quiet during my visit. This was because of the approaching Thingyan festival which the whole country seems to be preparing for. I wonder what goes on during this time…
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