Literally in Burma

Our last two days in Burma consisted of walking around Yangon's centre, seeing the Shwedagon Pagoda (which would have been impressive if not for the scaffolding all around it), and meandering around one of the lakes. 

Yangon is nothing special, but Burma is. It's a tease. It has the rich exoticism of India with hugely beautiful and moving architecture, punctuated by British colonial architecture and the friendliest and most welcoming people I've seen in Asia. 

It's mad. Absolutely bonkers, with its British cars that drive on the right (H&S nightmare #1), people that just sing in front of you with no shame, red marks from spat-out bitter leaf staining the ground, Burmese R&B songs on the radio complete with rap breakdown, and the only place in the world where I spent two weeks there and saw a total of three convenience stores. 

I loved it there. More than Thailand. But you can already see it changing with the influx of more tourists. In Yangon fewer people wear the traditional longyi around their waist, and dyed hair is everywhere, along with adverts for skin-whitening creams. I dread to think what it'll be like in a decade. So if you're considering going, do it soon, because Burma won't be Burma for too much longer.