What we found was a city seemingly little impacted by tourism and a window into what other South East Asian cities may have been like 30 years ago. As Yangon doesn't hold the major tourist sites of other areas in Myanmar, we would walk the streets and not see another tourist - an unusual and pleasant experience. There was no touting or hawking, prices seemed genuine with no tourist "premium," and market vendors didn't bat an eyelid at me speaking Mandarin (humph! I am special damn it!).
The people were extremely warm and quick to flash a big smile with a little encouragement. Beautiful children, a huge diversity of races and faces.
Shwedagon was an impressive a site as any religious building I have seen. Move over Catholics, the Buddhists can do it to.
The food was fantastic. A real mix of Asian flavours in the cuisine highlighted by seeing South-Asians cooking you tiao and East Asians cooking chappati!
