Yangon was swelteringly hot, full of crumbling colourful Colonial facades. Certainly there were slums in Yangon, but the city has many faces, as most do. The roads were chaotic but unlike in most other Southeast Asian cities, there was not a scooter in sight - they are illegal in Yangon. 

Contrary to what I expected based on TripAdvisor and travel blogs, (I read the internet was unusable, buses and trains were uncomfortable and unsafe, power cuts were frequent and long lasting, food and water were unclean and caused dysentery, the absence of toilet paper in toilets) Yangon is really not that bad. It is actually a pleasant city. 

My favourite part aside from pagoda-hopping across town, is eating. I developed great joy and an obsession with eating traditional Burmese food. Did I mention Yangon was hot? And that I was dressed conservatively throughout this entire trip out of respect when visiting the pagodas? It was worth the sweat though. I was quietly awed by the 2,500-year-old Shwedagon Pagoda. Its compound has hundreds of shimmering gold temples, stupas, statues, Buddha images and pieces of art.