Blog: Myanmar Queueing Problem

Advise for visitors of Myanmar:
If you are surrounded by the average citizen and you don't see people queueing aka lining up. Don't.
If you see people queueing and you do, be prepared to stand your ground cause its very likely you'll get cut.

It saddens me to say this but the average common citizens of my beloved country do not know how to queue.

I first experienced this in Citymart when I had been patiently queueing to pay for my groceries. An older woman cut in with a basket full of item and positioned herself to be served. I politely told her we've been waiting a while and that it's proper to queue. That woman barked back and me and said I'm a rude girl. Unbelievable.
P.S: I didn't back down from that fight but that's another story.

I'm not sayin that my fellow citizens are rude, uneducated, Neanderthals.
This can happen anywhere in the world.
Myanmar people are the loveliest people.
Most just don't know how to queue.

Any experiences? Share your stories of queue problems - whether it be in Myanmar or around the world!

One Year Later

I cannot believe it has been one year ago when I left the big apple and came to Yangon.
My plan was to stay only one year, see how things are with family and the "new" Yangon and return.
And then plans changed when in 2014 I got myself a job. Now I don't know what the future holds for me.
But my past year has been amazing (no chronological order):


The birth of my kittens

Experiencing amazing food with amazing friends

Visiting Singapore since my last time in 1997 with my boyfriend

Getting my first ever full time job and getting to go to The Oxford Report event

Last but not least, my best friend's wedding. The biggest event of my past year in Myanmar.

And of course one can't forget meeting new people along the way.

And old friends visiting me all the way from Japan.


Thank you for reading folks. Sorry I haven't been able to take you along the last year's journey but this year on I will do my best!

Till next time!

Review: Xi Yang Yang

I found out via friends that there was a Xiao Long Bao place in Yangon and... not going to lie. I went MAD.

I bugged every soul to take me there (as yours truly has the worse road sense) and finally I was taken there Sunday by my childhood friend.



Note: Parking there is a nightmare (in that township area in general) so I highly recommend you go there via cab.

It's a two story narrow building. I can't attest for sure how many fits but I can safely say: not much.
I hope they have plans to expand.
Their utensils are cute.
This means that it was cleaned via a service.

And so we ordered... and we ordered a lot....
The main reason I'm here...

Sesame buns

The variety of soy milk. P.S: dark soybean was best

Fried dumpling + Beef rolls

Fried rice + Pork ribs
(we just wanted the rice to be honest...)

Shrimp wanton

Gotta have them vegies: Kalen

And we ordered this cause the other table ordered and it looked good: taro


Review: I was not disappointed. It actually surpassed my expectation and my expectation was top of all Xiao Long Baos: din tai fung. The soup dumpling had more soup and just as much meat. It didn't have that "msg" flavor. Not that there's any at din tai fung (or so they claim). Just natural flavor. Would I return? Most definitely! It's even my favorite. I truly hope they expand cause after this... I might no longer get a spot to sit anymore.

Till next time.

Review: Alamanda Inn Restaurant & Bar

In a secluded place of the pristine real estate area, the Alamanda Inn is a beautifully resort styled place. I've seen it before driving by there but never went there till the other night. And it is gorgeous!

I only went for the Inn's Restaurant & Bar but judging that I feel it is enough for me to declare the Inn as a BEAUTIFULLY decorated place! Just look at it!


Source:tripadvisor
Though while the decoration was beautifully done, the food... was missing a lot of quality control.

I ordered the pork loin and mash potatoes (priced 9000 kyats). The mashed potatoes were amazing but the pork loin... oh lord .... I wondered if the meat went through some tough times because it was HARD AS HELL! I could not even stab the meat with a fork!

I ordered pork because I've always had a tough time with beef in Myanmar in restaurants and the pork was just as bad... UNBELIEVABLE! The sauce was great but the meat being that tough was unbelievable. Apparently my meat was not the only one as the beef that was ordered by my two friends was not to their taste. One ordered hers medium-rare and got medium well... till one part where it was finally medium-rare. I think the fire just wasn't burning well or too well cause the other ordered hers medium-well done and it was practically well done.

Most of the main dishes are priced from 9000-12,000. Mode prices being 9500 kyats roughly 9-10$

Will I ever return? Maybe to try the chilli dish but if that fails, perhaps not unless for a drink.
If you don't own a car its extremely difficult to return from a place like that. Taxis waiting there are like vultures, ready to overprice you to get out.

Have you been there? Did you have a different experience. Let me know if there's something out I'm missing out or not noticing or anything.

Till next time!

Review: The Lab

The Lab, a tapas place, is the latest "restaurant/bar" to hit Yangon. Opened no more than a few weeks ago, it's already become the hottest spot for people to go hang out, drink, and eat.

I finally took a visit there to see what the hype was all about.
The place was pretty busy, there was one large group table, probably put together for large group convenience and four tables for a group of four.

We sat at a bar and ordered wine from the chalkboard located right above the bar:
We then proceeded to look at the food they have to offer from the digital Menu:
We ordered Baba ganoush and chicken balls.
(I swear they had a fancier name for it, I can't remember it now for the life of me.)

Food was amazing. Wine... not so much. I ordered a glass of Casa de campo. It was very sour and not to my palette for the night: I was in the mood for something sweet.

How was the overall atmosphere? It could have been less echoy. I feel that the echo destroyed the what would have been amazing atmosphere. Everything else was alright. Here's a panoramic view of the place:


Will I return? Perhaps. I've yet to taste their cocktails but based on their wine and tapas (their main focus) very unlikely. It wouldn't be my first choice but it's not a place I would scratch off.

Thank you for your reads. Comment below if you have visited and would like to share your experience.

Lethwei Workout

Lethwei: unarmed Burmese martial art similar to its siblings - IndoChin Kickboxing, Muay Thai, and etc.
(image source: Unlimited Martial Arts)
My manager invited me to this kick boxing training she's started going to and I joined. I went BELIEVING I was gonna get some punches in after a personal life stressful week. I went BELIEVING I was gonna get a workout.

I got one belief accurate. Didn't get to punch a bag and let out my frustration but I got one HELL of a workout.

The workout was at a living legendary lethwei fighter, Lone Chaw, house. I think it was his house It's also called the Thut Ti Lethwei Gym run by multiple former Golden Belt Winner.

This is Lone Chaw. He's a tough trainer. He killed me.

This was my first day and so it went "easy".

We started right off by balancing ourselves on car tires. I was concerned I would literally flat one out with my body-weight. And right after we're comfortable with our balance you're expected to bounce on it while maintaining the pose. I didn't know you could do soft bounces and did some really high jumps. My feet sole KILLED This went on for 15 minutes. Switching from soft bounce and to speedy switching bounces.

After that we were asked to do some stretch routines and some push up and core exercise. Went on perhaps for 10 minutes. Funny thing. It hurt doing this more than the actual techniques taught.

And for the rest of the class we were taught the basics: fight dance, back kick, roundhouse kick, and maintaining steps.

It was a great learning experience. Lots of swearing was heard from me. It's been a while since I exercised and I really went AT it. I felt bad but if not swearing you'll see me dead. Some people just react differently to painful workouts. Me? I swear with all the colourful vocabs of different languages.

If you decide to go for this you can book ahead by calling (or texting even in English) to this number: 09401538133
Address is: 893 Wontharekkita St. Mayangone Tsp
Along Kaba aye Pagoda Road.

You don't have to be a dedicated person wanting to learn this. You can be. Or you can simply be going there to lose weight/get fit.

About the Gym:

Bring your own towel

You train in his backyard

They sell cold water + 100 plus. '

Change beforehand

5000Kyats per session (as of post date)
The only thing about this is they don't have changing facilities and bathroom... I didn't tempt the hygiene gods by going to the bathroom so change and go to the bathroom beforehand.

Will I go back? We'll see...

Restaurant Review: Jasper House

(Source: Jasper House Website)
Address: 54 Alone Rd. Dagon Township. Yangon. Myanmar
Phone: (95)9-517-2589, (95)1-230-2011
Website: http://www.jasper.com.mm/

Review: I didn't hate it nor did I like it.

Pricing is mostly 4000 - 6000 Kyats per dish or $4 - $6 (at 1000Kyat to a dollar rate).

We ordered 7 dishes for a table of 6, simply because food portions are small. Taste of the food is a hit and miss. Some were really good like the fried tofu. But some had a lot of msg taste. Especially the crab dish from the chinese menu. One thing I recommend are the drinks. They taste amazing. I personally prefered the avocado shake among the ones I taste which were mango, lime juice, banana and something.
Note: they're not fresh fruit blended drinks but juice drinks blended with ice drinks.

The website has the menu so you can go there and have a look before you decide whether or not you're in the mood for what they have to offer.

Service was terrible. It took a long time for drinks and food to get to us, including a bottle of water. Aside from our table there was barely anyone else. So it was not a busy night excuse. The decor is probably the best thing about this place, after the drinks.

Rating: 3/5

Would I return? Probably not. The food was not special to attract me to return even in a lack of restaurant world (in comparison to New York City) and the terrible service really didn't help.

This is just my opinion as a customer of the restaurant.

Comment below if you've been there and have anything to say about it. E.G: you like it and how dare I dislike it. It's your opinion. It would be great to know different views and fellow blog visitors would definitely appreciate all perspective.