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Business News/ Mint-lounge / Features/  Yangon | Tales from an accelerated city
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Yangon | Tales from an accelerated city

In this city that's suddenly burst out its cocoon, an explosion of the good life

The Shwedagon Pagoda. The temple’s legend goes back 2,600 years and its relics include eight strands of the Buddha’s hair. Photo: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesPremium
The Shwedagon Pagoda. The temple’s legend goes back 2,600 years and its relics include eight strands of the Buddha’s hair. Photo: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

It is past midnight and the only thing visible on a pitch-black horizon is the gleaming, golden Shwedagon Pagoda. It is a striking sight and to my margarita-muddled senses, it appears magical. Yet, no one else on my table is looking: They are busy talking about roses.

Roses and avocados. It is a serious conversation. The bar manager, whom we have just met for the first time, has told us that he owns five acres of land in Yangon, Myanmar, where he grows roses, and 15 more in the northern state of Shan State. He wants to know if my friend and I have any “contacts" who can help him to export his roses.

My friend, a practical sort of person, is not interested in roses. He wants to know if the bar manager grows avocados. He is convinced that Myanmar-grown avocados are the world’s best-kept secret (indeed they are, their quality is spectacular) and a future goldmine. Tonight he wants to be an avocado tycoon and will only hear of roses if it leads to a deal on avocados.

After some phone calls and long puffs at the mint shisha, a trip is arranged for the next day to visit some avocado and rose farms in the city, and in Shan State. Then, smoothly, the talk shifts to leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the street protests our bar manager plans to hold should she not be allowed to become president.

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Tourists stroll through the Bogyoke Aung San Market. Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

Thanks to the reformist wave that has taken root, practically overnight, in a country otherwise known for its pariah status and military junta, Myanmar is suddenly the place to be. It is a radical transformation that is attracting the whole world to its doors—for better or worse. Every world leader worth his or her name has paid a visit, as have rock stars and Hollywood actors. The World Economic Forum on East Asia was held here in June and the Southeast Asian Games in December. Tourism is booming, with 2.03 million arrivals recorded in 2013 compared to just 300,000 in 2010. As if to drive home the point, the European Council on Tourism and Trade has declared Myanmar the World Best Tourist Destination for 2014.

And if there is one city in Myanmar that has been most affected by this new-found attention, it is Yangon. As the country’s commercial capital, as well as the former colonial capital of British Burma, this city is Myanmar’s face to the world. This is where everyone arrives at and this is where everyone departs from. This is where everyone seeks their fortune, this is where everyone has a bit of fun. This is boom-town.

Infected with almost an irrational exuberance, Yangon today exudes the dynamism of a city at the peak of a gold rush. It’s mad and chaotic and broken and sometimes just plain sweaty, but it is throbbing with life. There are cities you love for their glorious past and there are cities you love for showing you a vision of the future. Yangon is a city drunk on the present and you have to love it for that. There is an air of urgency, of things happening right now, of everything being a possibility, and of a fear that if you don’t get in now, you will miss out.

Naturally, this has had a huge impact on the city’s entertainment landscape. Where, until just 15 months ago, your options for a decent cocktail or a fine-dining experience were limited to a handful of five-star hotels, today you are spoilt for choice: from terrace bars with gorgeous views (like Vista Bar, where the manager tried to cut us a deal on roses) to uber-chic whisky bars like Cask 81; from Michelin-starred chefs (at the French Le Planteur) to socially conscious gourmet experiences like Shwe Sa Bwe, a culinary and hospitality training school for underprivileged Myanmar youth that doubles up as a high-end restaurant; from international quality Burmese cuisine (Monsoon) to sassy cocktail places like Union Bar and Grill, Yangon has every big-city delight you can imagine and then some.

In fact, gallery hopping is one of the nicest things to do in this strikingly creative city of artists and painters. Concerts and gigs too are growing in number, with a talented core of indie performers bolstered by itinerant expat talent.

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Yangon today feels more cosmopolitan than Singapore and more fresh than Bangkok, yet carries a stronger whiff of the faraway and the exotic than a Phnom Penh or Ho Chi Minh City. It is certain that this will change, this city too will grow familiar, will lose its air of the zeitgeist. For now though, to be in Yangon is to be swept up in the swirl of history, to be made its witness. What’s not to love?

TRIP PLANNER | YANGON, MYANMAR

GO

Fares to Yangon from major Indian cities start at 25,000-35,000.

STAY

There is a shortage of rooms. It’s best to book early. The subtly luxurious Traders Hotel has the fastest free Internet in the city; fares start at $250 (around 15,250) a night for double occupancy (www.shangri-la.com/traders). For colonial charm, try The Strand overlooking the Yangon river (www.booking.com; prices start at around 18,000 a night for double occupancy). A more off-beat option is Alamanda Inn in Yangon’s posh Bahan Township, from $75 a night (alamanda.inn@gmail.com).

DO

Book a private tour with the Yangon Heritage Trust (price on request) or follow their tour maps. Yangon is a city bursting with art. Stop by the River Gallery (Strand Hotel), Inya Gallery of Art (Kamayut Township), New Zero Art Space (Dagon Township), and Anawmar Gallery (Yankin Township). Spend some time at the Shwedagon Pagoda ($8 entrance fee for foreigners).

EAT

For Myanmar cuisine, try Monsoon. For a more international fine-dining experience, book a table at Le Planteur, where Michelin-starred chef Felix Eppisser cooks you modern European and Indochine food. Try the Vista Bar for sundowners, the Escape Bar for more serious drinking, and the whisky bar Cask 81 for nightcaps.

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Published: 22 Mar 2014, 12:08 AM IST
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