Today we head back to Yangon and meet up with Lars' parents. It is not a long drive, so we are not really in any rush. We only have one stop on the way. We hope that this will be our last breakfast of eggs in a while, and load up the car. We are off around 8:30 AM. We are heading back the same route that we came down on. The interesting sight of this drive is seeing the local Muslims taking the cattle out to be slaughtered for Haji. It also turns out to be National Day, so many people are about but there is very little traffic.
After about an hours drive, we arrive at our one stop for the morning - the Commonwealth War Graves at Taukkyan. As with all well-kept war memorials and graves, it is very moving. There are over 27,000 Allied soldiers buried here who lost their lives in the Burma and Assam campaigns of World War Two. Sometimes it takes a visit to a sacred place like this to understand, appreciate and remember the sacrifices made by so many people for our greater good.
The place is immaculate and is almost a bit of an oasis in a dry, dusty and run down country. The grave stones are simple and indicate the broad spectrum of people that fell for the British Crown in the war. We spend about half an hour wandering through the place, paying our respects and taking in the many names and ages and backgrounds of the fallen. We left with both a heavy heart (why did so many have to die) and a renewed hope in the human spirit (there are people willing to make such a sacrifice for future generations and for what is right).
As we head into Yangon, we decide to see if we can find some shops that might have some interesting things to sell at a reasonable price. But the few shops that were open on this holiday disappointed us. Things have certainly changed from our last visit. We get back to Yangon and the hotel before noon and check-in. We run into Lars' parents in the lobby and they report that they had a wonderful time (even though for them it was also a bit expensive for what you got).
After dropping off our bags, we head out for a quick bite. We decide to check out one of the Shan noodle shops that we had heard about. It was pretty good - had a nice mix of both locals and tourists. Then back to the hotel for a bit of a siesta.
We wanted to spend the afternoon shopping at Scott's market, but due to the holiday, it is closed. So we just wander the streets - full of people enjoying the holiday. Flags are flying from every apartment.
We also take the opportunity to go and have a drink at the Stand Hotel. Expensive, but if you are in Yangon, you got to drop by the Strand for a drink. Once back at the hotel, we get ready for dinner.
We head out to the Kandawgyi Palace Hotel on the Royal Lake where we will have dinner and a cultural show - Myanmar Cultural Variety Show as they call it. It is a buffet dinner, so we are able to stuff ourselves for the OK selection of food. The show is not too bad, especially the truly local stuff. They have also inserted some performances, such as the hula hoop, that did not quite seem traditional.
We have the usual excitement getting taxis to take us back to our hotel. They are quite run down and try to over charge us, but we are able to hold our own and do not let them take too much advantage of us.