Ho Chi Minh City- Accommodation, Food, Shopping and Transportation

Ho Chi Minh City is a metropolis with population exceeds 10 millions. Most of the attractions are located around District 1 in the city. To be more specific, the old French Colonial buildings are scattered around Ho Chi Minh City Hall at Nguyen Hue Road. It is the place where modern sky scrapers erect as well. As the mass-transportation system is still developing, it is always better for us to stay at a spot which we in vicinity of shopping complexes, eateries, and the heritage area.

Accommodation

We have two choices- Somewhere nearby Pham Ngu Lao Road or Nguyen Hue Road. After a deep consideration, we chose to stay at Saigon Pink 3 Hotel. The hotel located at Ho Tung Mau Street- a block away from Nguyen Hue Road. The hotel is located on the same street with Bitexco Tower, which by foot, 10 minutes to the city hall, another 15 minutes to Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral, 10 minutes to Saigon Square and Ben Thanh Market, and it is surrounded with local and international eateries.

Saigon Pink 3 Hotel is a small hotel at the middle of shop lots. The room was small, but with enough amenity for a comfortable stay- coffee making facilities, LCD flat screen with international programs, safe box, air-conditioner, fan, and water heater in bathroom. The room service was punctual and the staff were friendly. Anyway, we found only two of them could speak fluency English. The issue of communication was the only downside of the hotel. Frankly, with the room rate offered, the service given was beyond our expectation. 

Saigon Pink 3 Hotel from the roadside. As the name suggested, there were Pink 1 and Pink 2 as well. So, we brought the name card of the hotel with address stated in Vietnamese language, just in case we need to return to the hotel by taxi.

The staircase (upper left) leads to the lobby of the hotel (upper right). The room was nicely decorated with wooden furniture (lower row). The fan was useful in extreme hot weather.

The hotel was located along a quiet street, in a neighbourhood with plenty eateries and convenient shops.

Nguyen Hue Road is a block away from the hotel.

No doubt, both Phan Ngu Lao and Nguyen Hue areas are strategic, but for us, Nguyen Hue Road and the area in vicinity are the better one. Next, we would like to share about the food.

Food

No doubt beef noodle or pho is the must try food in Ho Chi Minh City (as in many other places in Vietnam).  Then comes banh mi- the Vietnamese wheat bread, or sandwich is something special available in the city. The bread was introduced by French during colonial period, and now is becoming one of the most widely found food in Ho Chi Minh City. The bread is light and airy, with crunchy crust. It is always filled with mixture of meat, fish, egg, and vegetable. Other traditional Vietnamese food can be found in Ho Chi Minh City as well.

We took our first breakfast in Ho Chi Minh City at Bun Bo Hue 44 not far away from our hotel (upper left). The shop was operated by local, with mostly local customers (upper right). The pho was nice (lower right), and served with free flow of raw vegetable.  The taste was more spicy, and a bit more sour than the pho we tried in Hanoi. The price for a portion was VND55,000, approximately MYR8 (USD2). Not cheap, but worth a try.

After a few days strolling around, we found cheaper pho- the roadside stall a few steps away from our hotel (upper left). The price for the noodle with fried chicken was VND25,000 (upper right), and pho with pork was VND30,000 each (lower row). The taste, very nice, with much cheaper price.

Just like other places in Vietnam, people in Ho Chi Minh City like to dine beside the road with their small chairs and tables.

Choose the noodle, choose the way of cooking (dry or soup, and the meat), and find a place to sit. Well, the best way to choose the dish- look around the bowls in front of the customers, find one we wish to have, and point it to the cook. 

We were not big fan of baguette. But banh mi was something that so special in HCMC that we had no choice but to take a try. Our took our first banh mi at Hoppy, an eatery on the same street with Bun Bo Hue 44 (upper left). The shop was fully air-conditioned, so it was a nice place for a meal in hot afternoon. The banh mi was cheap, with special discount at VND29,000 (lower right), but the drinks were quite expensive.

We bought banh mi at the roadside stalls like this one as well. Cheaper price (VND15,000). Tasted just like any other banh mi we could find in the city.

Ben Thanh Market is one of the best place for us to get local Vietnamese food. There was a problem with that place- very hot in the afternoon.

The food stalls in Ben Thanh Market were clean.

We tried several traditional Vietnamese dishes in Ben Thanh Market, including beef pho (upper left), fried chicken rice (upper right), shrimp and pork spring roll (lower right), and shredded pork spring roll. The prices were between VND40,000 - VND65,000 per dish. Reasonable as the portion was big. Pho and chicken rice tasted average, while the spring rolls were good.

Vincom Center was a good place for food. We went there everyday, looking for food, souvenirs, and to escape from extreme heat outside. The food court and eateries were located at the lowest level of the mall (upper left). Again, beef pho (upper right) and spring rolls (lower right). We tried the Japanese BBQ buffet as well. The food over there were a little bit more expensive than Ben Thanh, with average taste. The price for Japanese buffet was around VND300,000 per person.

Mon Hue could be a good place to "sweep" many Vietnamese traditional dishes in one round, only if they had English-speaking staff (upper left). We had a bad experience there- delayed order, wrong order, wrong food served, and at last, wrong bill, all might caused by ineffective communication. We tried the spring roll (upper right), the pork rice with pickled shrimp (lower right), and the steamed rice pancake with fish. Portion was small, but the taste was good.

We bought food and beverages from convenient shops as well. The price was a bit expensive, but conveniently available!

Freshly brewed Vietnam coffee was available in the convenient shop. The price- VND15,000. The taste was surprisingly good.

We visited Nguyen Trung Coffee House for a sip of Vietnam coffee. The taste was just like old time.

Shopping

Ho Chi Minh City is not a great place for shopping. You might disagree with us. But no doubt, if compared to other shopping heavens in SEA countries, things in HCMC were more expensive, even for the fake or rejected international branded products. Some local branded products were reasonable in pricing, but not widely available. 

We visited Saigon Square, Ben Thanh Market, Vincom Center, Bitexco Tower, Parkson, Diamond Plaza, and a few shopping streets around District 1. The cheapest souvenirs were hunted along Le Loi Street, while bargained clothes were purchased from Ben Thanh Market. The famous dried fruits were available at Ben Thanh and Vincom Center.

Bargaining in Saigon Square was hard. For street shops and Ben Thanh Market, we could get discounts up to 60%. But it was highly depending on our luck. Vincom Center, Parkson, Bitexco and Diamond Plaza offered fixed price items only. So unless we could endure the hot weather and walk down the streets, or else hunting for bargained items would be very difficult.

Saigon Square is a small mall, with stalls selling food, clothes, coffee powder, bags, watches, and souvenirs under one roof. Be aware that most of the branded products which are sold with extremely high prices, are suspected fake (from our point of view). Bargaining was difficult. The only good thing about the mall- it was fully air-conditioned. The mall from the outside (upper left), the entrance (upper right), and stalls inside the mall (lower right). There were some stalls selling local food like dried fruits and coffee powder. But we would advise to buy these products from Ben Thanh Market just at the other side of Le Loi Street.

Ben Thanh Market was the best place for shopping local products and souvenirs, of course only if we could visit it before the blazing sun turned the market into a big hot oven. Anyway, bargaining was easier than Saigon Square- 10% off for food and up to 60% off for clothes. We would recommend dried fruits- mango, lotus seed, and coconut were good.

Souvenir shops are scattered around the streets (upper row). We need to survey the price one by one. Bargain was hard, unless we bought in a bulk. Le Loi Street was a good place to hunt for souvenirs (lower right). Stalls selling souvenirs were available along the street.

The best air-conditioned shopping mall in HCMC- Vincom Center. We bought some dried fruits as souvenir at Vincom Center. Diamond Plaza and Bitexco were a bit too small for shopping.

Transportation

We would like to share about our experience with taxi in Ho Chi Minh City.  We took taxi a few times in HCMC. To us, taxi was the most convenient transportation available, when walking was not a choice. We read many articles and reports regarding taxi scams, as highlighted in Scam Free Ride. So, the best way to avoid the scam is to take the taxi from two companies only- MaiLinh (green colour) or Vinasun (white colour). The taxi from these two companies were strictly run on meter, taxi drivers were polite and professional as well.

The taxi from the airport to District 1 was fixed around VND170,000. We had a night ride on arrival, so we paid extra VND20,000 at the taxi counter. From hotel to airport, we paid VND140,000. Within District 1, the fare was not more than VND40,000.

Both our travel mates took their chance to travel by bus from airport to district 1. According to them, the bus service was punctual. The bus was clean with and air conditioned.

"Green Taxi" in HCMC.

Ho Chi Minh City is a beautiful and clean city. With the development is still blooming, we expect to see more sky-scrapers and shopping centers in near future. The city was easy to navigate with travel map. The lack of public transportation like LRT, makes taxi the most convenient choice for the moment. Staying in District 1 is great as most of the tourist's attraction are there. For food, the price is a bit high, but, we can always go for the cheaper choices- street food. HCMC is definitely not our shopping heaven. Still, our choice for shopping- Ben Thanh Market and Vincom Center. 

This is our last post on our trip to Ho Chi Minh City. More about our experiences in Ho Chi Minh City and other places in Vietnam are available:

[Ho Chi Minh City Tour] [Ho Chi Minh City Tour Continued]

[Cu Chi Tunnel, a Must Visit Site Near HCM City] 

[Stroll around HCMC] [Getting around HCMC]

Danang, City of Hue, Hoi An, & My Son

[The Ancient Town of Hoi An] [My Son, the Relics of Old Champa Civilization]
[Trip to Danang, the Third Largest City in Vietnam]

[Tombs of the Emperors & Tien Mu Pagoda] [Imperial City of Hue]
[Food, Accommodation, and Moving Around Hue] [Hai Van Pass & Lang Co Beach]
[All Our Destinations]

Hanoi & Halong Bay

[Getting Around Hanoi] [Food in Hanoi] [HanoiKids, the Ambassador of Hanoi]

[Amazing Ha Long Bay Cruise Experience]

[All Our Destinations] 

Hue- Food, Accommodation, Shopping and Moving Around

We stayed in Hue for 3 days 2 nights, visiting several places of interest such as the tombs of Nguyen emperors and the Citadel of Hue. These UNESCO heritage sites were really must visit places in Hue. To get around Hue, let us start with accommodation.

Accommodation

Finding a place to stay is easy, from high class expensive resorts beside Huong River to the small family-run guest houses between the streets, the choice is yours. However, we would recommend to stay somewhere within the boundary of four roads- Le Loi, Nguyen Chong Tru, Le Quy Don, and Hung Vuong. That is the area where many tourists gathered. Night market along the esplanade, eateries, shops, Truong Tien Bridge, and even the Citadel of Hue are within walking distance from that area.

We stayed in Holiday Diamond Hotel, which ranked high in Tripadvisor with a reason- outstanding service with only USD24 per room per night. We arrived late at around 6:15 pm.We were immediately served with welcoming drinks and fruits. The hotel staff explained briefly on the attractions in Hue and approximate fees for the tours before leading us to our room. The room was readied with high speed wifi, flat screen TV with satellite programs, safe box, wardrobe with hangers, coffee making facility, mini bar, water heater for bathroom, hair drier, and even fruit served everyday. We were surprised by very nice buffet breakfast with more than 30 items on the menu. By the way, if you wonder where can you get the best "bun-bo", the beef noodle of Hue in the city, our answer is- Holiday Diamond Hotel. However, the dish was not listed in the menu, so you might need to ask the waiter to prepare one for you.

Holiday Diamond is small, and located some 30 meters from the main Nguyen Cong Tru Street, which is not accessible by car. The location might bring some difficulty in case of raining, but the location itself promises quiet environment and a good night sleep. The staff were helpful, with a few of them could speak very good English. The stay at Holiday Diamond Hotel was a very good experience and we really learnt a lesson on how to "win by service". We would like to express our special gratitude to all the staff, especially Anna. She had helped us a lot in finding good deals for the local tour and recommending good local food around Hue.

The outlook of the hotel (upper left), which the front door leads to the lobby (upper right). Holiday Diamond Hotel is connected to the main street through a lane (lower right), where a sign of the hotel can be seen from the main road. This little lane was shared by two other hotels.

The room is big for two with cozy design (upper left). Coffee, tea, fruits, and drinking water were complementary (upper right). Local fruits were served as welcoming refreshment (lower left) and during the buffet breakfast.

Food

Hue offers various types of local food. Although eateries can be found at every corner of the area, not many of them serve nice local food. We tried as many as possible during our stay- pork rib rice, chicken rice, beef noodle, spring rolls, grilled minced pork on lemongrass stick, rice paper roll with BBQ pork, and many more.

Located at 28 Vo Thi Sau Street, Thanh Na Restaurant is just 5 minutes by foot from our hotel (upper left). It was a place where local people gathered (upper right). During our visit, we found that none of the staff could speak English. Luckily, the menu was prepared with simple translation. So, we could get what we want by pointing at the dishes on the menu. The price of chicken leg served with rice and vegetable was VND 55,000 (lower left), while pork was served with much cheaper at VND 30,000. Fried noodle with beef was served at VND 50,000. The taste, really delicious, especially when we were hungry. We took two meals (one dinner and one supper) at this restaurant during our stay in Hue.

We had a supper at Golden Rice Restaurant at 40 Pham Ngu Lao Street (upper left) with good atmosphere (upper right). The price for three fresh spring rolls with beef was VND 59,000 (lower left), and the "bun-bo" or rice noodle soup with beef and pork was served with VND 55,000. The food was average and a bit expensive. But the service was good- staff were attentive and could speak in simple English. The second floor of the restaurant was air-conditioned.

The eateries beside the roadside might not be the cheaper choice (upper left), if it is close to the Citadel of Hue (upper right). We spent our lunch time at a small eatery beside the citadel. The price, VND 50,000 for 4 spring rolls (lower left), VND 50,000 for vegetable and pork rice paper roll (Nem Lui Heo), and VND 70,000 for fried pork without rice.

The Hanh was located at a corner of Pho Duc Chinh. By foot, it was around 15 minutes away from our hotel.The restaurant offered delicious traditional food with relatively cheap price- 6 nen-lui (pork with lemongrass stick) with VND 60,000 (upper left), fried and fresh spring rolls (upper and lower right) with VND 40,000 respectively, and ban cuon (rice paper roll it yourself with vegetable and pork) with VND 30,000 for a portion of 4 person! Cheap, delicious, and highly recommended, but we need to do a little bit of walking to get there.

The Hanh is located at a corner, the street was quiet.

Must try food in Hue- Rice paper roll. We can wrap it, roll it, fold it, or in anyway we like, with pork, beef, or simply vegetable. Next is bun bo, or the beef noodle. If you are a big fan of Hanoi's beef noodle, then you may want to try this- the taste, a bit more spicy and sour compared to the one that we tried in Hanoi. Nen-lui is special, but the taste was nothing extraordinary, while we prefer Hanoi's spring roll than the one in Hue. Overall, the food in Hue was good, but the price was not as cheap as we thought.

Shopping

What to buy in Hue? Many will tell that we can buy silk, bamboo works, and wooden items there. Incense made by natural woods can be purchased as well. If you like one of these thing- bamboo hat, bamboo fan, wooden carved items, or clothes made by silk, then Hue is a place for you. For us, we are not interested in any of them. But we did get some souvenirs with bargained price.

Night market beside Truong Tien Bridge was the only night market at Hue. Locals went there to get what they need, so the price of the items were expected to be cheap. Please do bargain "extensively", starting from 1/3 of the price, or even 1/5 of the original price. It would then end up with a deal somewhere around half of the original price. The clothes, food, fruits, and some other items were marked with very attractive prices, but most of them had no price tags on them. We learnt from others that we should insist to pay in Dong. Paying in USD gives a sign of "we are rich" and will close the door of bargaining.

Items available at the market. Some music instruments were sold too.

The incense and bamboo work factory was not attractive, at least for the one that we had visited on our way to Tu Duc's tomb. The items were much expensive than what we found in Dong Ba Market.

Dong Ba Market is located at Tran Hung Dao, some 3 minutes from Truong Tien Bridge. It is one of the oldest market in Hue (upper left). We could find local fruits (upper right), local bamboo work (lower left), groceries, and many others there. Again, when we asked for price, the offer would always be in USD. When we said that we would pay in Dong, the price immediately went down by 20%. When we asked for a discount, then the prices went down further by 70%. It was the offer we got for one of the silk product.

Food stalls at Dong Ba Market (upper left), groceries (upper right), gold products (lower right), and red prawns sold in Dong Ba.

Dong Ba is not a big market. It was not a pleasant place- poor ventilation, squeezy and humid. So, if you don't like to go to wet market, then Dong Ba may not be a place for you.

Truong Tien Plaza is just beside Dong Ba Market (upper left), fully air conditioned, with a supermarket (upper right) and a fast food outlet (lower left) at ground floor, and a food court and departmental store at the second floor.

Transportation

The best way to go to Hue from Da Nang International Airport is by taxi. The taxi ticket counter was located in the airport arrival hall, and the price was fixed at VND1.15 million per trip for 5 seaters sedan (approximately USD55). Of course, we have to pay more if we wish to use Hai Van Pass, as we shared in our previous post.

Many hotel and tour operators were waiting for their customers outside of the arrival hall (upper left), with the taxi station located at the same level (upper right). The check in counters (lower left) and the departure hall of the airport was clean with modern look.

The standard taxi fares from Danang International Airport to Ba Na, Hoi An, Lang Co Bay, My Son, and Hue were shown in the airport.

Bicycle and motorbike can be rented on daily basis in Hue, with quite a low price.  Riding on our own can be economical, but only if you can adapt to the Vietnam style of driving. You can visit Wikitravel for more information on the transportation in Hue. For us, we used rented car with driver for a one-day trip, from 9 am to 5 pm, with USD45 on our second day in Hue to visit the emperors' tombs and the citadel of Hue. The metered taxi could be a good option for short trips around the tourism area, with the fee calculated in Dong. 

Street

From our hotel at Nguyen Cong Tru Street we had walked around the main tourism streets- Le Loi, Vo Thi Sau, Ben Nghe and places in vicinity. The street was safe both during the day and night. However, we need to be careful about the traffic. Most of the people in Hue follow the traffic lights, but we still need to follow the "Vietnam rules" as in Hanoi and Danang. Electric powered bicycles could be the "deadliest", as these silent vehicles moved very fast without any noise.

Hue in day time (upper row). Some streets can be very quiet, while others can be very busy. The streets at tourism area are basically closed to the traffic (lower left). The night life area was concentrated around Le Loi Street, Doi Chun, Pham Ngu Lao Street, Vo Thi Sau Street and places in vicinity.

One thing that we need to keep in mind- watch out for the incoming traffic (upper left). Locals with their daily activities around the market area (upper right and lower right). The electric powered bicycle was very popular around hue.

Most of the people in Hue could not understand English. Their body language was not as good as what we could find in the night market of Bangkok, or the hawkers in Hanoi. A map is important, but not a must.

After staying in Hue for 3 days, we continued our trip to My Son, Hoi An, and Danang. Follow us now for more updates.

We share more about Hue at:

[Imperial City of Hue & The Museum of Royal Fine Art] 

[Tombs of Emperors & Tien Mu Pagoda] [Hai Van Pass & Lang Co Beach]

[My Son, Relics of the Oldest Civilization in South East Asia] 

[The Ancient City of Hoi An]

[Trip to Danang, the Third Largest City in Vietnam]
[All Our Destinations]

Our sharing about other places in Vietnam:

[Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Places Nearby] [Exploring Hanoi Old Quarter]
[Food in Hanoi] [Getting Around Hanoi] [HanoiKids, the Ambassador of Hanoi]
[Amazing Ha Long Bay Cruise Experience]
[Vung Vieng Fishing Village at Ha Long Bay]

Getting Around Yangon

Visa

First of all, we need visa to enter Myanmar. We got our visa from Myanmar Embassy in our country, through a travel agency. Pearl Holiday in Kajang settled our visa in 4 working days. The price was RM150 per person (RM120 for visa and RM30 for transportation and insurance). 

We learnt that visa application is available online, which we just need to fill in online forms and pay using credit card. We can get the visa upon our arrival at Yangon airport. The online service, however, required about RM220 per person. 

Currency and Exchange

We changed USD to Kyat in Yangon airport as Kyat was not available in Malaysia. The exchange rate we got was approximately USD1 to 860 Kyat in Yangon International Airport, while we got USD1 to 910 Kyat at Bagan. On our return trip, the best rate we could get at the airport was 925 Kyat to USD1.

There are many money changers in Yangon airport, so we don't have to rush to fill our wallet and purse with Kyat. Why not take a walk around and look for the best rate? By the way, in order to exchange our USD to Kyat, we need to fill in a form- name, nationality and passport number are required. 

Well, we found that it was more convenient to use USD to pay for the entrance of tourism spots. However, when it came to shopping in night market or eating at the stalls by the road, using Kyat might ease complicated convertion. By the way, please be sure that the US Dollar note that you bring to Myanmar is flawless, or it will be as good as an plain paper. The hotel receiptionist might reject the note with even a single crease on it.

 The food menu is in Kyat (left) while the entrance fee is in USD.

People

The pace of living in this city was slow, about the same as Phnom Penh, but slower than Bangkok and Hanoi. Even slower compared to Kuala Lumpur. Down the street, we couldn't really feel that we were actually in a city with 4.5 millions people around us.

We could see people sitting on small chairs prepared by food vendors by the street all day long, drinking and eating, chitchatting, or reading a book, or tapping on their China-made smart phones.

People in Yangon like to sit beside the road, while enjoying their food and drink with their family and friends (upper row). As publishing newspaper daily is now permitted, more people are expected to have a copy of newspaper in their hand (lower left). The yellow flowers (in lower right) are popularly used as decoration.

Longji is the favourite costume for men in Yangon. Yongji is sarung type of cloth that ties at waist to cover the lower part of the body.

This photo was taken 7:30 in the morning. Two boys were walking down the street, carrying stuff for their business. The boy on the left was applying thanaka on his face. Thanaka is local sun block that produced from thanaka wood. Instead of getting the wood from the jungle, it is now available in the market. By the way, Mr. Psy will be very proud seeing his "horse-riding" style have found its way onto the t-shirts in Yangon.

Monks are everywhere, walking in sandals, cladding in reddish robes, and carrying containers for food donation.

Religion is a big part of Yangon. The temples were never lack of visitors.

Most of the people in Yangon were friendly, but couldn't communicate in English. In our three days' trip, we only met with several people with good English, a count with our fingers- two of the staff in the hotel which we stayed, a taxi driver who drove us to Shwedagon together with the tour guide there, a restaurant owner, a security guide at Trader's Hotel, and a few more.

Smile and wave. That's what we did most of the time, after starting a conversation in English, with Burmese in return. Lucky, Yangon was not a complicated maze. Finding way around was not difficult without asking anyone.

We highlight the language barrier, not to keep people away from visiting Yangon. Instead, we really need to prepare ourselves for more DIY, or find yourself a guide.

Place to Stay

The hotels in Yangon were over-priced. A small, old run-down hotel could handsomely charge USD30 per room per night. The hotel that we stayed, with the service at most 2 stars, asked for USD68 per night. The reason, demand rose high above supply. Some said the hotel's licence was strictly controlled by government. True or not, more hotels have to be built to cater the demand from the tourists.

Aung Tha Pyay Hotel was located at 38th Street at Yangon down town (upper left). It was a small hotel in the middle of shop lot. Taking the room and service into account, it was over-priced. However, it was new, and all the facilities were in good condition, and we couldn't find any better in vicinity. That's why we spent all three Yangon nights in that hotel. The photos show the lobby (upper right) and room for two (lower right) of the hotel. We found that the view facing the main road was not interesting, the people there tend to sit at the balcony and look right at us when we opened the window.

Staying at the down town area put us closer to the old Yangon. The historical buildings, although not well-maintained, were still attract tourists. Sule Pagoda, China Town, Bogyote Market, and many Yangon Heritage buildings were within walking distance from down town.

Traffic and Transportation

The most convenient way to move around was by taxi. The buses and small trucks were the public transportation that we could opt for. However, we had to get familiar with the routes before we squeezed ourselves on the fully packed box-on-wheels.

We took taxi most of the time. There was no taxi with meter, but the price is very much fixed- USD10 from the airport to downtown, 2,500 Kyat from our hotel to Shwedagon and so on. Room for bargaining was limited.  With or without air conditioner, the fare was the same. So, we always preferred the one with air conditioner.

Besides, we walked a lot at Yangon. Most of the main roads in Yangon were built with pedestrian walkway, so we had no problem walking around the city. Just bring an umbrella, and a bottle of drinking water, and a pair of comfortable sandals, and you can start your exploration right away. 

Road in Yangon was dominated by imported cars. Astonishingly, there was almost no motorbikes on the road. We were told that tut-tut had been banned to enter the city. But what had happened to the motorbike and bicycles? The drivers in Yangon were obedient, and most of the cars drove graceful. No red light violation was seen.

There are several ways to move around. If you are mentally unprepared to be packed into a small lorry (upper left), or getting onto a bus without any idea where the bus will go (upper right), then taxi will be your best choice (lower left). Getting a taxi is easy at Yangon. Trishaw is rarely seen around the city.

Street

The main street was clean and tidy, with walkway prepared for the pedestrians. Some of the places were quite crowdy. Many comments pointed that Yangon was in fact one of the safest city in the world. That's true. The last thing that we could feel on the street was getting robbed. The second last, being run over by anything with wheels.

39th Street in Yangon (upper left). Road crossing was safe (upper right). Well, at least, the vehicles stop when the traffic light turned red. Vendors narrowing down the pedestrian walkway (lower right), and food stalls beside the street.

Book stalls selling second hand books can be seen on the street (upper left). We could see dogs on the street once in a while. Lucky, the dogs were tame (upper right). Public phone was something unique. We needed to pay to the operator sitting next to the phone before we start dialing (lower left). We saw one very talented young girl selling her drawing beside Bogyoke Aung San Market.  

If you have seen the flats of five or six storeys, and wonder how the people living on the top floor getting down the street, buy some fritters, and getting back to the dining room without sweating, well, the secret is in this photo. These ropes were hanging from the residence's balconies, so that the delivery guys below can tie the stuff on the rope. Pulling up the breakfast is far better than going through the staircase, twice.

There were many abandoned colonial-time buildings along the street. These buildings, either totally abandoned, or only been occupied on the ground floor. In many places, these buildings have long found their way into tourist's directory, or have been bought and refurbished into luxury hotels or restaurants. Well, in our opinion, just a little bit of polish, these buildings will turn into attractions that shine brighter than any sapphire and emerald that we could find in Yangon.

Totally abandoned (upper left) and partially used buildings. These hundred years old buildings are the hidden gems of Yangon.

Drinking water was available on the street, free of charge. However, there was one problem- it couldn't slip through our lowest hygienic requirement. The containers and the cups were shared by the whole city. We saw the people passed by just took one of the cups, drank, put the cup back, and left.

The weather was hot. What could be better than putting a drink station beside a public phone? The water is free, the only thing is, there is only one cup for everyone.

Shopping

Yangon is not an exciting place for shopping. We could survive in a city without any shopping mall. However, in Yangon, getting souvenirs for our friends and family was more challenging than we thought. Most of the clothes, key chain, handphones, sandals, except for food and beverages, if not made in Thailand, then should be made in China.

During our three-day stay, we went to several places for shopping- Bogyote Aung San Market and area in vicinity, China Town, and streets around our hotel.We brought home a few hand-made fridge magnets and rattan works at Bogyote Market, which were authentic to be considered as "made in Myanmar". Then, we bought some Myanmar coffee from a local departmental store. We visited two departmental stores in Yangon- newly opened Parkson at Montgomery Road (near to Bogyoke Market) and Gamone Pwint Shopping Centre at the junction of 42th Street and Merchant Road. The international brands sold there were more expensive than what we could get in our country.

Bogyoke Aung San Market, the place that we could come out with local made souvenirs in our hand.

Some of the local made items on sale- hand made bracelet and necklace (upper left), jewelleries (upper right), clothes (lower left), and fridge magnets with wooden decoration.

Gamone Pwint Shopping Centre at the junction of 42th Street and Merchant Road. By foot, it was just 5 minutes away from our hotel. It was a good place for us to stop and enjoy the cooling air inside. Food court at the top floor good only for one thing- no need to wipe away the dripping sweat while eating.

Yangon's street was dotted by vendors- snacks, drinks, noodles, fruits, books, clothes, handphone accessories, etc.

Food
We have our sharing about food in Yangon in another post.Please read it here.

Overall Remark

Yangon is a good place to spend a few days. Everthing was cheap, except the accommodation. Although there were lack of stunning sceneries and exciting shopping centres, the old colonial buildings and the variety of food could compensate in another way. 

The public transport was not friendly to tourists, which made the taxi the top choice for us. English was limited, but the friendly people and extremely safe street brought merits to the city.

We shared our experiences in Yangon in other posts as well. Please refer to the links below, or you are most welcome to visit All Our Destinations too.

[First Day in Yangon- From 38th Street to Bogyoke Aung San Market]

[Second Day in Yangon- From Shwedagon to Karaweik]
[Food in Yangon] [Getting Around Yangon]
[Bagan,Ancient City of Myanmar] [Getting Around Bagan]

[All Our Destinations]