Hopefully a lot of people are going to blow you guys minds especially if you meet me again.
You have already blown our minds! Yeah! At the end of last year, we went to Myanmar.
The last truly unspoilt frontier of South East Asia has been marred by controversy.
75,000 Rohinja Muslims have fled what human rights groups call ethnic cleansing. Amid
worldwide boycotts and condemnation, What is Myanmar really like? And should you visit
Myanmar at all? After a lot of deliberation, we decided to go ahead with our trip, but
if you're planning your own I urge you to do your own research. From the very start,
I knew that Myanmar would be completely different to anywhere I've been before. And within the
first few days, we ended up in the deep countryside of the Yangon region. An area completely untouched
by tourism. Eventually we found ourselves in the back seat of a tiny tuktuk, wearing
traditional make up, whilst being serenaded with a Beyonce song. Myanmar is unlike anywhere
else on earth. We arrived into Yangon international airport and we headed straight into the centre
of Myanmar’s capital city. On the surface, Yangon looks a little rough around the edges.
But as we explored some more we found a city full of many surprises. From it’s beautiful
nature to the stark reminders of it’s British colonial past. With grand ornate publics buildings
still in use today. But it's the spiritual side of Yangon that is it's most striking
feature. One fairly obvious thing . you'll notice when you get to Yangon is that the
city is covered in golden pagodas. You genuinely can’t drive a block through the city without
seeing a golden stupa towering over the streets below. The Sule Pagoda, one of the city’s
most important religious monuments is slap bang in the middle of a busy roundabout. Which
is somehow still an oasis once you step inside. But the most iconic and magical of them all
is the towering Shwedegon pagoda: the giant beating heart of this city. Local pilgrims,
monks and tourists flock from all sides of the city to climb up the many steps into the
complex. The shining golden stupa stands at over 100 metres tall. The sheer scale of this
place is just insane. You really can't get a good idea of it until you're here in person.
The experience of walking barefoot around the pagoda was completely surreal. We joined
the continuous flow of worshippers as they stopped to pray and lay down offerings. As
sun started to set, the spires start to break out into a magical glow. A truly otherworldly
experience. And Yangon had another surprise just a few kilometres away. In the shape of
it’s vast, green public parks. If you're looking for a more peaceful place to escape
the buzz of the city there's nowhere better than Kandowgyi Park. The last thing I expected
to see in Yangon was a stunning lake like this. It's a great place to unwind and a really
good example of how Yangon is building for the future. This whole area is undergoing
some pretty big changes at the moment there's quite a lot of construction work going on.
They are building a giant aquarium just over there and there's lots of other buildings
being built around the lake so it will be very interesting to see what this place looks
like in a couple of years time because once tourism comes it moves fast. But it was in
a different city park where everything on this trip changed. Just across from the Sule
Pagoda is the Maha Bandula park which is a really nice public space with so much to see
from every side. This place really comes alive in the late afternoon when people finish work
and all the locals are hanging out with tourists as well and it's just a really nice atmosphere
and it's a great place for people watching. And it was right here that we met a guy called
Htoo Htoo. He randomly approached us outside of the park entrance and at first, we weren’t
sure if he was trying to scam us or not, because that does happen quite a lot around the touristy
areas of the city. But the more we spoke to him and heard his story, the more it was obvious
that he was genuine. He had just started his own tour business, showing people around the
rural area where he grew up. So I live 2km away from the Yangon region, I mean it's in
Yangon region but completely different. He didn't push us into anything, we just swapped
phone numbers and later that night we decided to ask if we could join him for one of his
tours. Yeah hopefully a lot of people are going to blow you guy's minds. Especially
if you meet me again. Yeah! You have already blown our minds! Yeah! Early the next morning
Htoo Htoo picked us up from our hotel and we walked down to the river. Tutu lives in
a village called Dalla, which is across the river from the main Yangon city. So we joined
the sea of locals looking to make the morning commute by ferry. Apart from the other tourists
in the same group as us, we were the only foreigners we saw for the rest of that day.
We are going straight on! We honestly had no idea what to expect from this tour. Htoo
Htoo just put us into a couple of Tuk Tuks and we headed out into the countryside. Coming!
Let's go! The difference in landscape from one side of the river to another was completely
mind blowing. Our first stop was a bustling local market which sells just about everything.
Htoo Htoo showed us around all of the different sections of the market, where they have all
of the freshest produce from the local farms. From fruit and vegetables, to meat and fish
and even bunches of flower offerings for pagoda offerings. The sounds and smells under the
covered section of the market were unlike anything that I’ve experienced before. I
suddenly felt like I had walked through a gateway into a completely different world.
They even had a section of local fabrics and tailors. During our day we made six more stops
in Dalla including a local pottery studio, where we attempted to make our own pots and
bowls in the traditional way. I don't think you have a future in pottery. I don't think
so either. We visited some more humble religious sights than what we saw in the city.
The first of which has a very unique twist. So we're just about to go inside the snake
temple. Which is exactly what it sounds like. Inside this tiny waterbound temple. Over 40 pythons have made
their home. Apparently they have never hurt anyone, but there was no way I was getting
closer than this. Luckily the next temple was far more serene, but again it was unlike
I’ve ever seen in why life. It’s probably about time that start talking about that big
question: Should you visit Myanmar? And honestly it's a very difficult question to answer because
there are so many factors here. Every stop we made on this tour we were surrounded by
groups of local kids. None of them were begging, none of them were trying to scam us. They
just wanted to hang out with us for a bit and say hello. These people these kids are
extremely poor and the growing tourism industry of the last few years has created new jobs,
new opportunities for work. And it's created some hope that they can start living better
lives. Now again this is just my opinion, but the way I see it if you choose to boycott
an entire country based on the actions of a government. The main people that you're
really hurting are the people that need your money the most. In the evening, we ended up
at Htoo Htoo’s house. Where his Mum made us the most amazing spread of local Myanmar
food which is genuinely one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever had. By deciding to take
small local tours with people like Htoo Htoo you are taking more steps to ensure that your
money is going directly to the communities that need it. I quit my studies a year ago
because my Dad got made retired from the government office, you know, he was a clerk. So due to
our culture if you were the oldest sister or oldest brother which means you are second
Dad or second Mum. So I was upset but you know I'm a family person. So when I see my
family's faces in my brain and in my eyes nothing can you know, knock me down. Work
with your heart, if you work with your heart, honesty, open minded, good ay communication
then all of the travellers will be falling in love with you too. Before we left Htoo
Htoo insisted on giving us a bit of a local makeover. This is a natural domestic paste
called Thanaka that locals sometimes where on their face and their arms. There you go.
I did my best. Very nice. With our new looks we got back into the Tuk Tuks and headed back
to the ferry as the sun was starting to set. And little did we know, that this was just
the beginning of two transformative weeks of travel, in country unlike anywhere else
in the world.