Hello from Yangon, Myanmar! I've been here for four nights and I am already quite smitten with this place. Yesterday I went on the Free Yangon Walking Tour (my first one in Asia, but a common activity in Europe) and learned so much about the history and culture of this place. And we only tapped the surface!
I can't wait to explore this country even more over the next month. While this country is growing very rapidly, the internet connection here is spotty at best depending where you are. This means that blog posts will also be spotty at best...depending where I am. I already have so many stories and pictures to share of this place. I'm not breaking my New Year's resolution though as I will be writing every week, but I just can't promise it will be posted. ;) One quick story - I tried to find a Couchsurfing host for Yangon, but everyone was booked or one guy was sick. After the Free Yangon Walking Tour I went to an Indian restaurant recommended by our guide (there is a heavy Indian influence here). The only customers were me and a Myanmar guy. I overheard him speaking English on his phone, so when he got off I decided to try to make conversation with him. When he mentioned he had just been recovering from a sickness similar to the guy I had messaged, I asked him if he did Couchsurfing. Turns out it was the same guy! Of all the Indian restaurants in the city and of all the people to be sitting in that restaurant. It was an incredible small world moment. We ended up chatting and walking around the city for the remainder of the evening. It was such a random event and now I have a new friend in the city! Couchsurfing is a great social connector. I have a post about that coming soon... Moving on, here are my "plans" for the next month. I use quotation marks because I've been making "plans" for the last month, only for each and every one of them to be overturned by something or another. But here they are for now, and I really can't wait to update you all on what happens.
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