During a recent chat with my Swedish buddy Peter, we
realized that we both had
a desire to visit Myanmar
(formerly known as Burma).
This will be the 70th
country that I visit in my
life.
Upon arrival to Myanmar coming from Thailand, it is necessary to set your watch back by a half an hour. Myanmar is one of the few countries in the world that doesn't follow the standard one hour difference between neighboring time zones. Perhaps that's an indication of a place that travels to the beat of a different drum.
On our first morning in the country, we set off to get some local currency. There is a "black market" (i.e. free market) in the currency as the official rate does not reflect the true purchasing power of the respective currencies. I think the official rate of Myanmar kyat is about 6.something to the dollar. On the black market, we got 1,140 kyat for one dollar. The best place to change money seems to be with the jewelry merchants at the Bogyoke Aung San market in downtown Yangon. Rates vary, so it pays to shop around a bit.
After that we went to the train ticket booking office to buy our ticket for the night train to Mandalay for tomorrow. The ticket cost a whopping $50 - but it was supposed to be for a super-luxury, first class sleeper train. I was looking forward to this ride as being one of the highlights of our trip. Something like the famous Orient Express was what I was expecting.
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