Photos

Enjoy some happy snap photographs taken in Myanmar...

If you would like to see absolutely stunning, professional photography, check out local Myanmar photographer, Chris James White's site  here.  Also check out his Facebook page hereYou can get a great feel for Myanmar by looking at his photography.

 

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 Shots from downtown Yangon.

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Street scene in Yangon.

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flowers from our garden..

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Daily, you see people walking around with umbrellas, whether rain or shine. When the sun beats down, they're used as parasols.


 The taxi wasn't switching lanes. It's just the way many people drive.  See the truck background? See how there are two cars either side of him? It's because he's driving straddling the lines. This is normal.

Even less than one year ago, there were NO new vehicles on the road. All cars were old, rusting, falling apart 1980's toyotas. OK, I'm sure there were some that were a little better than that, but not by much. In April, the country allowed cars to start being imported.

Since we arrived, and honestly EVERY WEEK, there are more cars, more traffic. Yangon is struggling on how to handle it.

Photo taken from upstairs window at home. This ravine separates our house and a golf course. Sometimes, guys show up and fish. This man made his fishing pole out of bamboo. He's wearing a plastic helmet....like...a viking helmet or something! 8/31/2012, Yangon, Myanmar.


 Our house, Yangon, Myanmar.

Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon, Myanmar

 Daughter at Shwedagon Pagoda, holding fragrant jasmine flowers as an offering to Buddha, Yangon, Myanmar

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One of the many beautiful pagodas (Buddhist temple) very near our house. Yangon, Myanmar.

Beautiful kids hanging out not too far from our house. Yangon, Myanmar 

12 comments:

  1. Hi Becky, my husband and I will be moving to Yangon in the new year, and I'm very excited to find your blog. You house is incredible, I am not sure how private you are about where you live, but we are wondering if you could give the name of your neighborhood or area where you live. Or at the very least, how far are you from Shwedagon Temple? Any information you are willing to give would be much appreciated. It is very hard to find Yangon housing information on the internet.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Gretchen,
      Thanks for reaching out! I'm happy that you found my blog. There's not a lot of information online about living in Yangon (as I'm sure you've noticed), but things are rapidly starting to change. I am also happy to help answer any questions that you might have about moving here.

      Before I say much more, I want to let you know about a super cool website that is about to launch on Wednesday (Halloween). It's called what's on yangon. So if you google whatsonyangon, it will come up. It will take a little while to upload all the content we hope to have on it, but we will have a section for people who are planning to move here, including forums where you can ask all sorts of questions about housing and shopping. :) There will also be an events calendar so you will be able to find out what's going on in town.

      Anyway, we do not live super close to the Shwedagon, though there are places near there: it just depends on what sort of housing you want and whether you have kids or not. Most housing is extremely expensive; but if you live downtown, you can find flats that aren't too bad and there are more and more apartment buildings going up all the time.

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    2. The Shwedagon is kind of the middle of Yangon, basically. That's how I view it. Being around the Golden Valley (or around Damazhedi Rd) is a nice place to be because you're half-way between downtown and the airport. Unfortunately, it's quite difficult finding an affordable place around that area.

      Because we have a kid + wanted space, we didn't want a flat. Our house is not too far from the airport, so we're quite far north. We have a car (provided by my husband's company), so this is not really an issue for us. We live in a quiet place with a huge garden + mature trees, so we're lucky. Our rent is $1200/month. This is pretty cheap. But we had to move far from where my husband's work is + my daughter's school to afford it. There are more + more cars here and more and more traffic. Sometimes it takes awhile to get home because of traffic; but if we miss most of the peak hours, it's OK.

      Housing really varies drastically and rent just keeps going up + up. Generally, people hire agents to help them find a house. When it gets close to the time you arrive, we can give you names of agents.

      It's advisable to take the time you need to get a place that seems right. Also, if you're working for an organization or your husband is, do be sure to have their maintenance team come out + check the electricity + wiring + plumbing on the place. It's extremely common for places to need quite a bit of work + generally, once people move in, home owners are not responsible for any repairs whatsoever.

      Unless your organization will help with maintenance keep-up of the property, then you will REALLY want to make sure that the place is in ship-shape order, or expect to have to pay for A/Cs to go out/need repairs, wiring to be an issue, power to be an issue (sometimes houses don't actually have enough power supply being generated in the home, painting, phone line issues etc. It took about four or more months for our house to be in pretty good working order....

      Usually, we had a maintenance team coming out to our house at least once a week to fix things for that amount of time. They only come out about once a month now or so.

      This isn't me just sort of complaining about life here. It's just something you have to accept and wrap your head around. Things break a lot and there's still a lot of basic infrastructure things that need improving. I am certain it will get there. But in the meantime, do MOST definitely expect there to be things that break down quite often that need repairs. Good thing is that it's easy to get things fixed. ;)

      Strongly recommend getting a place that has a generator. Power cuts are just normal. Inverters are necessary.

      Please feel free to ask any questions! I'm totally not an expert, but I am more than happy to help in any way that I can. ;)

      Myanmar is a beautiful country and Yangon is a nice place to live. ;)

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  2. Hi Becky. Thank you for your blog..just quick question...how is schooling over there? International School and is it expensive? Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. Hello,
      Thanks for reaching out. Yes - international schools are very expensive here, but it depends on which one you're looking at. International School Yangon (ISY), the most expensive/elite school, costs over USD$25,000/year.

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  3. Hi Becky nice blog!

    I love South East Asia and especially I find Myanmar amazing. I have been traveling all over Myanmar and I am doing a photoblog with all my pictures.

    I want to share it with you and everybody.
    www.myanmartravelessentials.com
    www.facebook.com/myanmartravelessentials

    Hope you like it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Becky!

    What a brilliant idea to set up a blog! And my husband is reading your book at the Kindle at the moment...but before I read it I just wanted to connect and ask you a few BIG questions. As you have guessed, yes, we have got a job offer from the UN and might be moving to Myanmar next year. We have previously lived in Bangladesh and are used to "hardship" as in electricity disappearing, mad traffic, bad english and international schools. Now...the BIG questions....any idea how difficult it is for spouses (ie me) to find something to do? I am in the development aid sector, and a fiction writer, but am worried about workpermits etc. Any idea? And next BIG question....are there more than one school that is OK? We have a 14 years old and a nine years old...bilingual english-swedish. And last BIG question....do you like living there? Do people like living there? Is there anything to do, once the touristy things have been ticked off....? (In Bangladesh there where NO touristy things at all, but always tonnes of things to do...at least for expats). IF you have time I would so very much appreciate your reply!! And perhaps we meet one day...or are you packing to leave?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Photo taken from upstairs window at home. This ravine separates our house and a golf course. Sometimes, guys show up and fish. This man made his fishing pole out of bamboo. He's wearing a plastic helmet....like...a viking helmet or something! 8/31/2012, Yangon, Myanmar.
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    ReplyDelete

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