A couple of days in the parallel world of Yangon

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wilder-beast migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
0
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
7
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
3
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling food market
5
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
5
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
8
Overall Score
The highest score of nature or culture, + fun factor, + avoid the crowds, + the highest score of world famous or unique. Then turned into a score out of 100. More details at the bottom of the page
57 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
continent
Asia
country
Myanmar (Burma)
Length of time
1-2 days
Rough cost
Obviously people have different tastes, so this will depend on those tastes, but this is a rough idea of price of the whole experience based on 2 people able to split the accommodation costs and excluding travel there and back
$ 175
Time of year visited
May
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
Big city Buddhist site Market
All Tags
Lakes
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site
244th/372 This travel experience's ranking compared to all the other experiences on this site
Top 70% SUMMARY RATING: Worth doing

Summary

Really is a parallel world in Yangon, which certainly makes it worth the visit.  You’ll want to check out the key attraction of Schwedagon Paya, but for me the highlight of Yangon was just wandering through the bustling streets with magnificent former colonial buildings being used as markets (or nothing at all) and seeing subtle ways that the Burmese way of life is so different to the rest of the world

Main tips is to make sure you get to one of the main 4 markets: Bogyoke Aung San Market, Theingyi Zei, San Pya Fish Market or Coconut and Banana Market; and to consider Yangon as part of a 2 week trip for the highlights of the country – 2 weeks itinerary for the highlights of Burma here

highlights

31 Heading to any one of Bogyoke Aung San, Theingyi Zei, San Pya Fish or Coconut and Banana Markets to see the real bustle of Yangon

#2 Looking up at the Schwedagon Paya’s main zedi, with its 26 tonnes of gold leaf and acting as a unmissable landmark for the city

#3 Trying to jump on any of the local buses - an experience!

#4 Wandering around Kandawgyi Lake’s boardwalk and seeing the Karaweik Palace Royal Barge

#5 Taking time to check out the rest of the Schwedagon Paya site, which has huge significance in Buddhism and has been a site for 2600 years 

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Score Detail

Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"?  That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others.  That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score

This overall experience score is calculated by:  take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10).  Then convert into a score out of 100

Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique".  Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides.  So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique".  But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience).  So, both of these scores are standalone