Was only a matter of time before I stumbled on to this TR, after finding Drron's the other day.
Again, a delight to read and thoroughly enjoyed seeing Myanmar from your perspective Roo Flyer
I don't want to hijack this TR, but Roo Flyer and Drron's trip reports got me thinking, and I thought it might be time for a few interesting bits of trivia to show the changes over the past 15 years in Myanmar...
- Motorcycles were banned pretty much overnight by one of the senior Generals in late 1999. An official explanation varies depending on who you ask- but the strongest rumour blames the ban on some affluent military offspring running around in gangs causing a ruckus.
- The use of car horns in Yangon was banned around 2003. It was brilliant. People visiting rarely notice until it is pointed out to them, but compared to the horn-blasting cities of Bangkok, Manila, Beijing etc it makes such a difference on unnecessary noise pollution.
- Traders Hotel as it was then known cost around $40-50 a night in the late 90's/early 2000's. Less if you knew the GM (which is not a DYKWIA boast, rather that there were bugger all expats in the country in those days)
- Still on accommodation prices - the company I worked for used to put us up in the Sakura Residence whenever we were passing through Yangon (at the time one of the few serviced apartments there). Our rate was $35 a night from 1999 right through to around 2004, and I think it went up to at most $45 a night. Its now pretty much fully booked out with long stay expats, so getting a room for a night these days is not easy - but it will now set you back around $300 a night
- For years, TG ran only 2 flights a day between RGN and BKK - one in the morning and one in the evening. It was always a 2 class Airbus A300. One way Y cost $100, but we learned very quickly that you could pay $50 cash at check in and they would bump you to J, with the appropriate status & mileage to boot.
In those days, 40 international sectors on TG earned you *G, so you only had to do 20 Bangkok runs in the space of 12 months or less to grab gold. A lot of us did this far quicker of course - and so earning Gold cost as little as $4k in Y runs and $6k in J. In a short space of time you got to know Thai Airways and their staff very well, and we were treated brilliantly.
- Another RGN quirk - for the princely sum of $10, you could arrange incoming pax arriving into Yangon to be met personally at the aircraft stairs by a beautifully presented lass from Phoenix Services based at the airport. They would escort you inside the terminal, through immigration, to a private lounge (complete with bar service) - where you waited while they collected your luggage. The best part of this? If you were waiting for an arriving friend or colleague, you had the option of going out to the aircraft with the Phoenix girls and meeting your arriving guest yourself. I surprised many arriving friends by doing this, being at the top of the stairs as the aircraft door opened.
- For some years, mobile phones and fax machines were illegal items in Myanmar and could be confiscated or bonded by customs if found when arriving. Once the first mobile networks were introduced in the early 2000's - a mobile phone cost a minimum of USD$2,000 to buy and use in Myanmar (sims were tied to a phone in the beginning)
Those prices remained until as recently as 2010!
- Due to a very controlled and restrictive import system, there were no new cars on the roads until just a few years ago. New and recent model second hand cars are a very new addition to Myanmar's roads (only in the last 3-4 years). Taking a taxi anywhere around Yangon normally involved a 20 year old rust bucket, and to say that your car was so clapped out you could see the road through the holes in the floor was not something you made up!
- Finally, something a little quirky but an enjoyable perk for many years. The expat community was so small in Yangon, you pretty much knew everyone there. Being registered with the Australian Embassy as a resident expat meant that I received personal invites for various diplomatic functions or special occasions throughout the year. One particular ambassador became a good friend, and he was able to come down to visit me at my place of work in some remote islands off the southern coast (his arrival on the old UB F-28 was hilarious - as a courtesy I had informed the local military commander the ambassador would be coming down, and through a mis-translation a guard of honour showed up on the tarmac to welcome 'the Prime Minister of Australia')
The close-knit expat community also meant access to consular assistance on a level rarely seen in other countries - such as me renewing an Australian passport without having to leave the island I was working on (I had the last Yangon issued passport before the system changed and renewals were sent back to Canberra for issue in Oz)
Anyway - amazing to see the differences now, and the current price of accommodation is just one of the few changes we could never have imagined a few years back.
Great to see more people are coming to experience a country that was pretty much closed off for decades - hopefully it doesn't become detrimental in the longer term...
