Josh came and picked me up to go to the airport. (Thanks!!!) On the way we hit some heavy backed up traffic trying to get from I-64 onto the Watterson and then stop and go traffic on the Watterson all the way to the airport exit. When going on the exit we saw that the problem was a huge Christmas tree on a semi was stuck under the I-65 overpass. It was a good thing I had plenty of time to get checked in. Josh took a picture after he dropped me off and they had "Freed" the tree.
When I checked in at the Louisville airport, the ticket agent stated that it was showing on the computer that she couldn't check me or my luggage all the way through. That I would have to claim my luggage at the LA airport, transfer to the International terminal and check in there for the overseas portion of my journey. However, when she went to print my local boarding passes the computer did print all of the required passes and checked my luggage all the way through to Yangon. She was truly baffled as to why it did it but I was so thankful that I didn't have to deal with my luggage at the LA airport. All the flights were on time and uneventful and YES my luggage made it to Yangon.
Had to travel almost an hour to get from the airport to the hotel. It was interesting seeing this huge, spread out city which has around 5 1/4 million people. That is 3/4 of a million more than Kentucky. It is spread out over 230 sq. miles which is less than Shelby County's 384 sq. miles. The dense population means a very high rate of poverty (over 40%) which can be seen in a lot of the housing units as you travel through the city. Even the area right around our hotel has a lot of visible poverty. The streets have a lot of traffic and I think everyone knows how to use their car horns. One interesting note is that even though they drive on the right hand of the street like we do in the US, a lot of the cars are European style with the steering wheels on the right side of the car. That is because the majority of them are purchased overseas as used vehicles and resold here.
Here are some shots of the housing. This one is just behind our hotel.
Love all the satellite tv dishes.
Jim Edwards - how would like to try and figure out this wiring system?
Any way, there are some very beautiful areas of town. They have a lot of park areas and the temples are magnificent. Here is the entrance to the Shwedagon Pagoda which is the largest in Myanmar. We will be visiting there tomorrow.
A traffic island on a turn about landscaped.
A street market. I will be visiting several of them over the next few days.
When we arrived at the hotel there was a wedding reception in the conference room so our guide asked if we could come in and observe. So on my first day in Yangon I became a "wedding crasher". The bride and groom were really nice about it.
Well, that is it for today. I'm going to have an early supper and go to bed. Tomorrow morning starts at 7:30 so I need to try and catch up on some sleep.
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